Here is a quick card I made for a close friend. I have been so inspired being back in the Colorado landscapes these past few weeks: they are stunning and lend themselves well to the holiday season. I'm sorry Florida, but Colorado will forever have my allegiance. 

Crustmus

Here it is folks! The Doersch Christmas card 2011. Ink, Photoshop and Illustrator. I has a blast working on this, plus Otto my dog looks like a total G. Have a wonderful day everyone!

Sneakin

Hey all, here is a little preview for my family's Christmas card. My mother, the aesthetic authority figure of our house, has given me free reign to design our greeting for this year, and it has served to be a stress free project so far. More to come soon!

12.21

A quick sketch for December 21. Today was spent lounging with one of my favorite people, stuffing my face with sushi, and now it is snowing outside. In other news, check out Britt Wilson. I am crushing.

Arizona Sketches

As some of you know, Jeff and I recently took a mini road trip from ASU in Tempe back to our home in Colorado Springs. I took a similar route early this past summer, and each time I have been awe struck by the beauty of Arizona's landscapes. I know that Georgia O'Keeffe spent the better part of her career there, and I can definitely understand why. The color and contrast is what got me: deserts paired with snowy mountains, smooth and jagged shapes, I basically spent 13 hours wishing I could take perfect mental pictures of what I saw. Although I was unsuccessful on that front, I did manage to get a few sketches:

I also found a few sketches from the past two weeks that I wanted to share with all of you:

Holidays are the perfect excuse to practice some lettering :)

Yes, a real human being actually had this haircut. It was my duty to document it.

Composition has been my focus in sketching recently. I have been resistant to this idea up until now despite so many sources telling me to do so, drawing without a box is more fun. BUT - learning is all about the challenge right? Challenge: Make drawing in a box fun. And so far it has been.

Art & Fear

After wanting to for several months, I FINALLY got the chance to read David Bayle and Ted Orland's book Art & Fear. This past semester has been difficult in many aspects for me, one of which surrounds my confidence and inspiration concerning the things I make. The contents were so helpful to me in trying to get back into the right groove, and would serve anyone with creative interest well. 




Here were some thoughts that stuck with me:


The far greater danger in not that the artist will fail to learn anything from the past, but will fail to teach anything new to the future.


To see things is to enhance your sense of wonder both for the singular pattern of your own experience, and for the meta-patterns that shape all experience. All this suggest a useful working approach to making art: notice the objects you notice. (e.g. Read that sentence again.) Or put another way: make objects that talk --and then listen to them.


Some things, regardless of whether they are discovered or invented, simply and assuredly feel right. What is natural and what is beautiful are, in their purest state, indistinguishable.


Artmaking grants access to worlds that may be dangerous, sacred, forbidden, seductive, or all of the above. It grants access to worlds you may otherwise never fully engage. It may in fact be the engagement--not the art--that you seek. The difference is that making art allows, indeed guarantees, that you declare yourself. Art is contact, and your work necessarily reveals the nature of that contact. In making art you declare what is important.


To make art is to sing with the human voice. To do this you must first learn that the only voice you need is the voice you already have.




I will gladly discuss this book further with anyone who is interested. And if anything, do yourself a favor and go find a copy of this book STAT!

Bitch

Illustration based on the short story Bitch by Roald Dahl.

You know all of those neon prismacolors we never get to use? ...I finally got to give them some lovin.

The Next War

Based on the poem The Next War by Wilfred Owen.

The Stash

This project was based on the idea of creating something that could be used within our area of interest in the illustration industry. With my mind being plagued with the excitement of flying home in a few days, I chose Burton Snowboards. They do this cool thing called The Stash, which I made this poster to promote.

Snowboards fo lyfe!

Nu Noos

First and foremost, I now have a portfolio website! Please take a minute to stop by:

cargocollective.com/alliedoersch

And for you all, this means that [fingers crossed] I will be able to share a little bit more on this site. This semester has been one of a lot of changes, and I am very excited to be taking some new steps in my creative development.

I always enjoy applying the artistic itch to venues other than school work or traditional finished art. Primo example for this time of year - cookie decorating. Here are a few that I smeared up for some freinds this past weekend. I know that December is going to be wonderful on this end, and I hope the same for you.