Communication Arts Illustration Annual 54

Hey guys, I am very proud to announce that the "Big Bad Wolf" illustration I made for last year's "Month of Monsters" was selected for publication in the 54th Communication Arts Illustration Annual. So if you go to your local Barnes and Noble and pick up the May/June issue of CA and flip to page 201, you'll see this:

And even cooler, you'll get to see the Jeb Kennedy name forever immortalized in print:

This is a huge honor and felt very surreal to me, because Communication Arts was my first real exposure to contemporary illustration. I still remember flipping through the magazine at JBU my freshman year and first seeing the work of illustration greats like Josh Cochran and Frank Stockton. 

I am super grateful for having Jeb Kennedy in my life, and I can honestly say that I would never have recieved this honor without it and the help of my fellow Jebs. Jason, Kyle Armstrong and Kyle Blair have all been incredibly supportive, consistently offer invaluable art direction and advice, which is one reason why I consider Jeb Kennedy to be a sort of crash-course graduate art school. So thanks guys, and thank you for reading this dang blog and keeping us motivated. 

Please pick up the May/June issue of Communication Arts, in magazine stands now, and check out the full list of winners here.

Ladies and Jebs #12

A little late, and kinda breaks my theme, but I've wanted to draw this for a long time.

Ladies & Jebs Guest Art #3

It's the last weekend of April's theme, "Ladies and Jebs", which means it's time for some new guest art from yet another talented lady, Heather Charise!

I have had the unique pleasure of knowing Heather for many years, and watching her creative talent flourish. A multi-talented artist, Heather seems to keep herself very busy. An illustrator, a designer, and photographer, Heather not only does it all- she's actually good at it all. I'm sure I'm even forgetting some of her other talents. She's probably also a master at the oboe or something.

Since she would never brag on herself, and maybe you don't believe me, you can always check out her stuff for yourself at, http://www.heathercharise.com/

Ladies and Jebs #11

It's week four of Ladies & Jebs, which also means it is our last full week of lady-art. We didn't know if we would make it this far, but we are on the home stretch! 

Here we have yet another ocean-themed lady illustration. Maybe that's too many ocean girls for your taste, but hey, plenty o' fish in the sea! Right, ladies?!

Ladies?

-Kyle B

Ladies & Jebs Guest Art #2

This weekend brings us our second guest illustration for "Ladies and Jebs", by the super talented, Becca Masters!

Becca is a current, and soon to be graduating, senior at John Brown University. Last night I attended the JBU Art Department's "Senior Portfolio Review", and visited Becca's table, where she had some amazing artwork. Her work included the above screen print, digital 3-D art, a flip book, a very impressive sketchbook, and much more. It was really refreshing to see some great work coming from the place all of us Jeb guys met, and we are proud to share Becca's work with you guys. 

You can see more of Becca's work, and learn more about her, at her website, becca-masters.com.

Ladies and Jebs #10

Happy wednesday everyone! Here is my latest lady:

I'll admit that I spent way more time on the skin than the hair. But hey, that's what happens when you're on a time crunch.

Painted in photoshop CS5 (about one hour) with a photo reference.

Ladies and Jebs #9

I don't have anything to say except "Check it out, its the bowler!".

Ladies and Jebs #8

Wow, it's week three of Ladies & Jebs already! Thank you for holding our hands through this treacherous, and unknown land. Hopefully it has been as educational for you, as it has been for us.

For instance, did you know that according to recent census data in March 2013, about 6% of U.S. families in 1976 had a woman as the sole income provider? That same census shows that 23% of U.S. households today have a woman as the sole income provider.

We hope you enjoy week three of Ladies & Jebs! Feel free to leave any feedback, questions, or lady-facts on our Facebook page.

-KB

Ladies & Jebs Guest Art #1

Today we proudly present the first guest art submission for "Ladies & Jebs", by Jesse Skidmore!

Jesse has been the subject of envy more than once among us Jeb guys. She is an awesome illustrator and lover of color, and you can find her illustration work in the children's books of Tate Publishing. It's an honor to share the work of our friend, and especially great this month, to share the art of a real lady in the business.

Ladies and Jebs #7

 

Merrill Garbus of tUnE-yArDs.

Ladies & Jebs #6

This piece actually started out as just a quick practice. But it was looking really nice to I decided to finish in up and get it ready for the Jeb blog.

I hope all this exposed skin doesn't offend anyone.

Ladies & Jebs #5

Welcome to week two of Ladies & Jebs!

I realize that the lady in this illustration is just a little lady, and she only takes up about 5% of the illustration, but I really wanted to do this, and I call the shots. Besides, little ladies are still ladies, you guys.

Monsters Inc. is probably my favorite PIXAR movie, and I love the relationship between Sulley and Boo. Also, in true PIXAR fashion, I threw in a few easter eggs for the kids at home.

Hope you're enjoying Ladies and Jebs so far! We're receiving a lot less hate mail over it than we thought we would!

-Kyle B

P.S. Keep an eye out for some lady-themed guest art later this month!

Ladies & Jebs #4

Woo! Okay I did a piece for Ripley!

Ladies and Jebs #3: Yoani Sanchez Portrait

Yoani Sanchez is a pretty cool lady and a super talented writer. She lives in Cuba and has a blog named "Generation Y", where she writes about the government and daily life in Cuba. Since the Cuban government controls who has access to the internet Yoani has had to go to some pretty extreme lengths to post on her blog, including posing as a tourist or emailing blog posts to friends in other countries. Because she offers a different (and sometimes less than flattering) perspective of Cuba, she has undergone a lot of persecution from the government and some of it's citizens. She was just recently allowed to leave her country to go on a speaking tour after having been denied permission to leave for the past 6 or 7 years.

She has been awarded the Maria Moors Cabot prize, the Ortega y Gasset Prize for Journalism, and "100 Most Influential People in the World” by Time magazine in 2008.

You can read a great interview with Yoani here, or read some of her writings over at the Huffington Post.

Jason's First Lady

You knew there was going to be a monster in here somewhere:

Ladies & Jebs #1

Welcome to our first ever, Ladies & Jebs! All this month, we will be featuring artwork under the theme of "ladies". It's pretty broad, we know, but it's for good reason. Unlike some of our past themed months like, Month of Monsters and Batman Buildup, where we focused on subjects we love to draw, this month we are choosing to focus on something that challenges us.

For whatever reason, the four of us usually steer clear of drawing females. Could be because it just wasn't something we practiced a lot growing up, (too busy drawing Ninja Turtles and made-up Batman villains), or perhaps it's because we are just too intimidated by women in general. Regardless of the reasons, we realized that we were doing an injustice to females everywhere, and it is high time we pay for our crimes.

Hopefully this will be a time of growth for all of us. And we apologize in advance for anything that may offend- we are really just fumbling around in the dark on this one.

Starting things off, is my first illustration about a lady and a surprise visit. Hope you enjoy it!

-Kyle Blair

Announcing "Ladies & Jebs"!

Ladies and Jebs (Ladies and Gents, get it?),

Here at Jeb Kennedy Industries, we think it's high time for another month of illustration. So we decide that April will be dedicated to the thing we love/fear most (but mostly love): Women. Being mostly comprised of 100% dudes, we thought it was getting a little too male-centric around here at Jeb Kennedy. Which is natural since we just draw men better, and are generally terrified of the female form! But April is all about turning over a new new leaf, pushing those paralyzing fears to the back of our minds, and plowing forward into uncharted waters (hold my hand, guys!).

So sit back, relax, and get ready to get in touch with our feminine sides. "Ladies & Jebs" starts in one week!

Walt Disney Illustration

We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we're curious...and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.

–Walt Disney

Thank Ya! ...ya filthy animal

Hey y'alls! Here is some recent lettering work that I had the pleasure of making, commissioned by a Jeb Kennedy friend, Natalie Slater, for the purpose of thank you cards. If you would like even more fascinating information on this project or Natalie, you can hop over to my personal blogger here. I live just next door.

-KB

art and stuff

it's what we're all about.