~ 12/30/18 ~ What A Year It's Been!

Wow!  It's been ages since I've posted.  Rest assured, I've been quite busy.  Wrapped up a super fun year of art teaching and began another that's already off to a great start.  Check out my Instagram (@Mr_See) to see some of my students' AMAZING artworks.  I also took a couple unexpected turns in my art.  For starters, I began working as a freelance graphic designer (stay tuned for future posts on that).  I began a couple new illustration projects that are currently under wraps (updates to follow).  And I started a super fun art commission project (again, not done so stay tuned for future updates).

Perhaps most exciting of all, I started a student rock band program!  It just turned one year old!  We started up in November of 2017 as sort of a fun after school youth empowerment activity that naturally followed after a summer of giving private guitar lessons.  But it just snowballed.  Now we've got a music video and a fresh, pro-quality rock song recording!  We've got two student rock bands in the works with hopefully more to come!  Check out my new YouTube channel for more!  

Some Kids Book Projects and an Art Show! ~7/25/17~

Well hello!  Just wanted to share some fun updates about my Summer of art-making.  I've recently finished writing and begun illustrating two kids books: one about skateboarding and the other about a magical rainbow narwhal!

I was also recently scouted for FIXATE, an art showcase run by RAW Artists, an organization that helps up-and-coming artists gain exposure and opportunities.  In order to be officially confirmed for the show, I need to sell four more tickets (buy yours here: http://www.rawartists.org/dcondry).  I'll be selling art prints of my old favorite illustrations, plus some new pieces including the ones shown above.  Even if you can't make the art show, it's still cool to buy a ticket just to support my entry.  Hope to see you there!

A New Portfolio Piece ~6/2/17~

You may recall how back in September, I visited a children's book writers and illustrators conference.  There, I gained tons of great inspiration and technical tips to help further my work as an illustrator.  One of my main takeaways was that I needed to start working in more horizontal compositions that allowed more space for text.  Based on this advice, I created two sketches for illustrations that backers of my Kickstarter campaign have seen from start to finish.  I just completed one of them and have started in on the next.  See my progress above or read more about the project here!

The poetry for both of these illustrations was offered up by the one and only Jim Fitzpatrick, or James David Fitzpatrick as his pen name goes.  He's an artist of various sorts, often creating multi-genre music of deep emotional resonance, though he's also an amazing poet.  Pick up a copy of his poetry book here.

Daily Art Updates on Insta! ~4/16/17~

Happy Easter, y'all!  If you read this blog, you probably know I barely update it.  Maybe thrice per year?  But from henceforth, you can see my art updates EVERY DAY on Instagram!  Just follow me @map_of_dc.  "M.A.P. of D.C." stands for "miscellaneous art projects of David Condry."  Not only can you see my own artworks, like the sketchbook page above that I just posted today.  You can also see images of my K5 art geniuses' artwork!  It's been an amazing year of making and teaching art.  Come check it out! 

My Amazing Art Students! ~1/2/2017~

For the last couple years, I've been teaching art at an awesome elementary school. Above I've posted but a small selection from the many brilliant artworks created by my art geniuses. Here's to another great year of teaching! (Click one of the images to see all of them in a slideshow format)

Preparing for Children's Book Writers and Illustrators Conference ~9/12/16~

I'm taking some new steps towards getting my illustrations out there!  After chatting with a colleague, I was directed towards a certain children's literature conference where I might be able to meet an agent.  The conference is this weekend and I'm ready to go.  Having funded the entire experience with a recent Kickstarter campaign, I've got all my promotional materials ready.  And based on information I gather this weekend regarding the children's literature market, I'll soon create another series of images to freshen up my portfolio.  Pragmatically, the artwork will help hone my portfolio towards this desired market.  For me personally, this artwork will give me the chance to vet some cherished new ideas with a broader creative community than I've taken part in hitherto.  And for my Kickstarter backers, the new artwork will be available in a special high-resolution version.  More updates to follow.

Spectrum of the Galaxy! ~8/11/16~

I'm a huge nerd.  Having said that, I'm also extremely excited about this color wheel that I spent way too much time creating last night.  The original is a relatively huge file (as I seldom work on projects to print 40 inches wide) and my computer struggled a bit.  Save times lingered.  But finally, I've got my space-themed color wheel, which goes with my overall space theme for the art classroom this school year.  I'm really pumped about this poster because it demonstrates so many great elements and principles of art: complementary colors (via the adorable little rocket journeys portrayed), how to mix secondary colors (see, for example, how the orange planet has rings of red and yellow), tertiary colors, warm versus cool colors, and even shades and tints (seen in the modeling of the various planets).

I'm inordinately proud of this thing.  I should probably sell repros of it on a teacher website or something.  The above is a smaller version, but if you want the gigantic file to print out for your classroom or whatever, for now just email me and we'll work something out!  D@dcondry.com, with "AWESOME PLANETARY COLOR WHEEL!" in the subject line.  :-)