Taurine75's avatar

Taurine75

Alex Bodnar
127 Watchers111 Deviations
21.6K
Pageviews

Biography

2 min read
I first drew, with the intent to draw, at the age of nine. It wasn't until high school that my drawing talents were confirmed by the Art Instruction Schools company (I guess I was able to draw their pirate and their turtle. LOL). My parents managed to sponsor the first half of this popular and expensive mail-in art program. When funds dried up they enrolled me in a portrait-drawing workshop at Santa Monica College while I attended high school.

Enjoying my experience at Santa Monica College, I became a full-time student taking just about every available art class. This allowed me to experiment with various forms of art media at minimal cost. I eventually earned my Bachelor's degree in Fine Arts at the University of Southern California. I later enrolled at Cal State LA and earned a multiple subject teaching credential, single-subject teaching credential in art, and a Masters in Education degree while teaching at the same time.

Since 2008 I've been teaching art professionally!

I am an avid art book collector and I enjoy purchasing illustrations. During my free time I attend workshops from artists that I respect adding to my own personal professional development (www.linkedin.com/in/alexbodnar).

I will be publishing an art book mid-2016. I love illustration and I love good storytelling so comics and storyboarding seem to be natural vehicles for self-expression in the future.
Join the community to add your comment. Already a deviant? Log In

About Me

2 min read
I currently have an affinity towards marker illustration. I was first introduced to the medium at Santa Monica College in the mid-1990s. I only did a few illustrations for an art class that focused on this tool. When the course ended I turned my efforts toward improving my portrait drawing abilities. I also began to dabble with a variety of media that included airbrush, watercolor, oil, acrylic, photography, film, and digital illustration. Almost ten years later I felt that I was ready to bring my drawings to another level. I always loved the beauty of concept marker studies and I remembered how my marker class conceptually complemented my watercolor training. Marker painting involved building the darks while preserving the lights. After scanning and uploading a couple of my marker illustrations I noticed how similar they looked and felt like watercolor paintings but with the ability to render at a more precise finish. The beauty of using markers has been their ease-of-use and portability. My current marker studies were all completed at either a Barnes and Nobles, In & Out, or IHOP restaurant.

I love (marker) painting whatever I'm attracted to at any available moment and I have a laundry list of subjects on this To-Do list. I find that when I do these studies I am able to pick the brains of the artists I'm studying from. These only take a few hours to complete and the natural process of completing each illustration affords me the opportunity to modify the drawing as I go. I begin each illustration with a photographic reference. Within the reference I am able to study the surface material of each subject. I then do a traditional drawing using a blue animation pencil in my 6" X 9" marker paper. Once I'm fairly happy with my drawing I'll paint right over my pencil work gradually working from 10% French Gray to black. I later touch up the piece using Prismacolor French Gray pencils and use a bit of white paint marker for any "hot spots."

I plan to apply these studies towards my own illustrative works/interpretations.
Join the community to add your comment. Already a deviant? Log In
Featured

Biography by Taurine75, journal

About Me by Taurine75, journal