My comic, Employees Only, lent over it’s style and humor to a commercial project that will hopefully help kids in school do better at test taking!

Although I can’t share the whole comic  because it is now part of a product that the company will be selling to schools, I can share a few details that didn’t make it into the comic which I thought might be interesting…sort of a director’s commentary.

The concept circles around a duck (which I’ve privately named Pearson) that helps three kids prepare to take tests. Oddly enough, a lot of kids don’t really know how to take tests in general, nor do they know the best ways to prepare and study for them. I went with a duck because I figured it was odd enough that most kids would at least give it a chance.  However, because I was under such a tight deadline, the story stuck very much to the point and there’s no back story (IE – there’s no reason why there’s a duck helping kids take tests).

To me this is secretly hilarious. I love nonsense stuff, and ducks are perfect non sequitur in my opinion.

The student characters are also a little too busy being helped with test preparation that they don’t even get introduced properly, but for any who may be curious they are named Neil, Kevin, and Felicia. Each had a personality and as the story developed I started to really sense their identity, even though there wasn’t much chance for it to show through. I did squeeze in a small amount of shtick between Pearson and Neil though that was a lot of fun for me to include into the story – I’m really hoping that students respond well to it.

Overall I’m thrilled and honored to have worked on this comic, and I’m hoping it’s the beginning to similar opportunities in the future! Special thanks to everyone at Pearson who made it possible!

Copyright © 2007 Ian Castruita

Be sure to click the image to see the full painting!

Started in 2008, I began this painting with the hope that it would revitalize my interest in continuing the “Little People” series I created at ASU. Two years later I am immensely proud of what I’ve finished (although rather embarrassed it took as long as it did). Known originally just as the “kite painting”, I choose the title “Abandonment” after searching around for something that would hopefully capture all the painting is meant to represent.

aban·don (ə ban′dən)
transitive verb
1. to give up (something) completely or forever to abandon all hope
2. to leave, as in danger or out of necessity; forsake; desert
3. to yield (oneself) completely, as to a feeling, desire, etc.
Etymology: ME abandonen < OFr abandoner < mettre a bandon, to put under (someone else’s) ban, relinquish: see ban
noun
unrestrained freedom of action or emotion; surrender to one’s impulses to shout in wild abandon

“abandonment.” Webster’s New World College Dictionary. LoveToKnow, n.d. Web. 1 February 2010. http://www.yourdictionary.com/abandonment.

As with all my personal projects, there are several metaphorical images presented within that relate to my personal experiences and history. The person on the kite, for example, is myself – but I’ll leave the rest a mystery for now!

This painting was created by preparing a full sized drawing which was glued to the surface of a masonite board with matte acrylic medium. The color study was completed on top of this with acrylic paint, and the final image is oil paint on top of that. After waiting a few months for the painting to fully dry, I’ve sprayed on a matte removable varnish.

For 2009 OnePoint asked me to create an illustration with a Norman Rockwell feel.  After a couple of setbacks, this is what I ended up with! The result is something I’m very proud of, and I’m looking forward to taking on more challenging projects like this in the future!

One of my favorite classes at the Academy was figure drawing, and this photo reproduction was a homework assignment that I spent over 30 hours to complete.  It’s a very patient process to reproduce a photo, and the closer to perfect you want to get it, the longer and more painstaking the process will be.  The results are always worth the effort however.

Gumby, a monk parakeet, is perhaps one of the meanest birds my family has ever owned.  That being said however, he is quite a character, and very photogenic.  One of the things that I really enjoyed about this project was that the models seemed to be sharing a laugh in the picture.

If you’re interested in seeing how this pastel painting was created, click here to be taken to EN•blog, where I have a series of posts about the process for making Marisol & Gumby.