Susanne Lamb

Mind the Mini Robots

2011-04-21T17:48:00.000-07:00

brief available here

Still Still Alive

2011-04-21T13:50:00.000-07:00

I'm the worst.

Still Alive

2010-08-25T19:27:00.000-07:00

So I wish I was updating because I have new work but I don't.
I haven't been the best blogger recently because:

I haven't been making much new art
I can't scan what I have made very easily
I just helped my friend Greta move to Colorado

I ate corn nuggets
I learned how to twist a pretzel
I saw the future birthplace of Captain James T. Kirk

My apartment in Somerville burned down. I was meant to move in next week. This is sad for many reasons:

I was really excited to go to the MOBA
I was going to have a cat
I was going to have a grape arbor
LOOKING FOR APARTMENTS IS REALLY HARD
the cute boy next to me on the bus from Logan also lives off of Inman Square

In conclusion, I am currently accepting submissions for a new life plan. (The picture is taken out of my sketchbook from happier times.)

Louie!

2010-08-03T23:54:00.000-07:00

Here are a few new scans, as promised! If you would like to see the whole story you know where to find me!

Louie, Louie

2010-07-17T10:12:00.000-07:00

I recently spent a couple of days updating Louie. The book is essentially the same but I redid the images so that they are no longer colored digitally.

The reasons being:

the original files are relatively lo-res, because I had no concept of the future when I made this book last fall
the originals were shuffled into an oblivion in The Great Hard Drive Crash of two months ago
I wanted the style to be more cohesive with the rest of my work, which involves minimal computer work and maximum watercolor abuse
this book is my recess

I will try really hard to get better scans in the near future. Once that is done I would really like to hear what people think about the change. I actually think it's a lot better!

LFO Illustrated

2010-07-10T15:19:00.000-07:00

A decade ago, you may have been touched by the words of the Lyte Funky Ones, more commonly known as LFO. Get ready to be (appropriately) touched again by "LFO Illustrated".

I promise I also did a lot of real work today but since I'm afraid of hair dryers I need something to pass the time while the watercolor dries. (If you are wondering what is so scary about hair dryers, it's part of a noise thing that includes vacuum cleaners and lawnmowers but I should probably save that information for susannelambiscrazy.blogspot.com.)

Graduation

2010-06-28T17:29:00.000-07:00

Ooops, I forgot to do a graduation post!

I wasn't too fond of the robe and only wore it for pictures after the ceremony. Synthetic fabric in an unflattering cut? No thank you!

Orange Sketchbook

2010-06-25T18:43:00.000-07:00

For our final installment in The Series (for now) I bring you The Orange Sketchbook. It starts off pleasantly enough, of course, but then chronicles my slow decent into madness. I plan to dedicate this sketchbook to similarly ridiculous ventures as this one:

Spring Sketchbook 2010

2010-06-25T18:14:00.000-07:00

The Series continues with this old favorite that captures all the joys of a RISD spring:

Fall Sketchbook 2009

2010-06-25T16:28:00.000-07:00

To continue our Classic Sketchbook series is an assortment of pages from last fall's sketchbook. Since it's word-heavy you can read my thoughts.

2009 Summer Sketchbook

2010-06-25T10:35:00.000-07:00

While I haven't been quite as prolific as I would like this summer, I did manage to figure out the new Lamb scanner and get some old work in there to test it out. The first of our Classic Sketchbook Series is last summer's sketchbook which is edited much less than it should be. I would say enjoy, but I'm not going to set unrealistic expectations for you.

Look at my Book!

2010-06-03T13:13:00.000-07:00

I'm only putting up bits of this online because I live in fear of plot pirates but will gladly show any of you the full dummy upon request.
So heeeeeeere's Johns!

Story Sketches

2010-06-01T11:52:00.000-07:00

This is a look at the general beginning of working out the illustrations of a book. I always begin with a story but have a general sense of what my characters might look out while I write it. Then I do a few loose doodles to work out the basic idea of my characters, then commit to a full page of playing with color and expressions, trying to reach a level of consistency and understanding.

The notes on the page are only for my benefit and only occasionally have anything to do with the story.

And there you go! Hopefully I'll post up a couple more Johns-related images soon.

Mailer and Story

2010-05-19T13:00:00.000-07:00

So this is a sneak peak at one of the finishes for my new book Johns but, in the nearer future, what my mailer is going to look like. Obviously in the book there are less "susanne lamb"s and "dot com"s and more text that you can read and enjoy. But, we'll get to that later.

Oh, Show

2010-04-25T22:20:00.000-07:00

Thankfully my show is over. It was a lot of fun and I might be able to resume sleeping at some point.
Aren't Lorraine and Laura pretty?

Wisdom

2010-04-18T22:46:00.000-07:00

I emailed Maira Kalman with general life questions which I admitted were "fairly broad." Here is her response:
"Greetings Susanne.

That is a very broad question.

I will respond with a broad and specific answer.

If there is something that you love to do, then that is what you should do.

And if there is one requirement other than passion, it is patience.

So be prepared for the long story.

The rest is all doing and work.

All the best

Maira Kalman"

So there you go

LEFTOVERS

2010-04-14T23:34:00.000-07:00

My senior show opens Thursday April 22.
Jessica Lamb (no relation) designed the poster.
Laura and Lorraine are also in the show!

Louie's Lunch

2010-04-06T23:34:00.000-07:00

This is the start of my Louie book. Enjoy!

Spring Break

2010-04-06T18:45:00.000-07:00

LK

2010-04-06T18:15:00.000-07:00

laurakorzon.blogspot.com

Strand Rats

2010-03-26T10:27:00.000-07:00

I submitted this design to the Strand's tote bag competition. I think it looks a lot better printed out but this is a blog.
here is it on The Strand 's entry page

GIANT RABBITS

2010-03-23T22:03:00.000-07:00

H2Old Colors

2010-03-16T18:07:00.000-07:00

These are two pieces from my plastic animal series that I did last spring in Jason Brockert's Watercolor class. I was trying to paint toy farm animals at a scale more commonly used for live livestock, drawing attention to the imperfections of the miniaturized form. What happened with these two pieces is they each began to take on a tone and personality rarely used even for living farm creatures.

Sketchbook Start

2010-03-16T17:59:00.000-07:00

I started my sketchbook and this is what it looks like. If all goes according to plan I will be good about posting up a section weekly on this as well as putting up my other work that I am doing. Feel free to bet amongst yourselves on how long this will last.

Color NotWorking

2009-12-18T23:32:00.000-08:00

this i did in color works class but clearly we were not taught how to take pictures that make color look decent

DigOLDtal

2009-12-15T04:14:00.000-08:00

Speaking of bears, here are some bear cards I made for my Digital Illustration final Spring Semester 09. The text on the back was never completed but you get the idea.
(Under the cut bonus! An apology card to print out and give to your friends and loved ones!)

I'm not really sure what I was thinking when I made that last year, but I'm willing to bet it was not formulated by a well-rested clear head

Bloggers block

2009-12-14T18:35:00.000-08:00

I know it's been a good long while since I touched this but Susanne vs. Finals is not really a fair match. Here is a cow but look closer at this cow. Yes. This relates to an article about the yellowstone bison who are killed when they leave the park due to the fear that they will infect the cattle.

This is a sort of totem pole like stack of animals that are all connected to the dying Whitebark Pine that the beetles are destroying.

Collabusration

2009-11-20T18:55:00.001-08:00

I've been slacking on the updates a little bit but a combo of being sick, preoccupied, as well as working on a lot of longer-term assignments is to blame.
Here is a project I did with a couple of my roommates (Laura Korzon, Lorraine Nam) for a collaborative illustration show. There's not a whole lot to say about it and it sadly fell into many pieces when removed from the show. RIP, Monster.

South Padre Island

2009-11-12T10:24:00.000-08:00

This is the map I created of South Padre Island for my editorial class. I was the one person in class dumb enough to make a map when we had about three other choices for the Texas Bound article. I actually kind of like it which I don't think would have been the case with seven spots or some weird half page mash-up.

2009-11-08T09:34:00.000-08:00

Here's a few things I've done this semester. Not my favorites, but in the interest of keeping up my blogging regimen here we go:I'm not going to explain these, I don't think. I don't really feel like it right now but they are more children's book illustrations.

Children and such

2009-11-05T22:47:00.001-08:00

I am in a class right now where I have to write children's books. It turns out, that though I am half eight, (not four, like half of me) the other half is like a creepy uncle that frightens kids with anecdotes they are not ready for. So half the time I am totally inappropriate. I'm not actually an uncle.
Here's some art:

End of the World

2009-11-05T14:33:00.000-08:00

Here's a little something I cooked up for Chris Buzelli's editorial class a couple of weeks ago. The assignment was to do a cover for the New York Times Book Review for Hardboiled Wonderland and the End of the World. Needless to say, I was thrilled to have a book about split brains and unicorns.

I know the picture isn't the very very best but this is post three of blog and we're all going to have to assume I'll get better at this.

Bootcamp

2009-10-31T06:47:00.000-07:00

I believe drawing was one of my very last crits of freshman year, and the first moment I felt really confident about choosing Illustration as my major. Of course not everything fell into place after that, it's just nice to think about those instances when things suddenly click and know that it's going to happen again. So here's some seemingly irrelevant old work.

blogstart

2009-10-28T00:31:00.001-07:00

the idea of the blog is that it will motivate me to scan my sketchbook and document my work. it may just be a reminder to the world that I am good at neither scanning nor documenting.