Artwork © 2010 Hermann Mejia

Back a weekend or two ago I visited NYC and got a chance to sit in on a mini watercolor workshop with some pals and MAD artist Hermann Mejia. Hermann did s few demos for us and gave us pointers while we slapped the paint around. He also did a couple of quick studies himself. He gave me the little treasure above, an unfinished watercolor “sketch” of Sarah Jessica Parker. His painting seems so effortless. Amazing stuff.

Hermann at work

I just got back last night from a quick weekend trip to NYC where illustrators Ed Steckley, Ray Alma and I got the rare opportunity to work with the fantastic Hermann Mejia while he shared some of his watercolor expertise with us at Ed’s pad in Sunnyside (Queens). I haven’t really worked much with watercolor before (took a class once a million years ago), so this was a pretty new experience for me. I loved getting a chance to hang out with these talented artists, experiment with a new medium and especially to watch a true master of watercolor work his magic.

Ed slings some pigment

Herman shows how to lay down a large color area

Hermann works with the slow student…

Ed’s wife Heather’s put on a lavish spread of food!

I did a few color studies and basically dabbled about with the paints:

Overworked the hell out of this one…

This one was looser and much less labored over…

I liked the medium quite a bit, and I’m sure we’ll see some watercolor “sketches” now and again for the “sketch o’the week”. Actually some of the stuff I learned I’ll out to use doing my ink wash caricatures of the LOST cast… which continues tomorrow!

Last week my good friend, illustrator and caricaturist Ed Steckley, called me to chat and told me about a cool painting get together he and some fellow pals had planned for the weekend. Ed was going to host a watercolor mini-class by MAD illustrator Hermann Mejia for just he and another MAD artist, Ray Alma. He invited me to tag along.

Hello frequent flyer mile awards.

I cashed in a few of those frequent flyer miles and spent the weekend in NYC. On Saturday we bummed around Brooklyn, and checked out Hermann’s show at RocketShip comics on Smith St. See pics of the show below.

Wow. I had seen a few of Hernann’s orginals before but these were really spectacular.

What a rare opportunity to be shown some watercolor techniques by a true master. The “class” was terrific and I will post about it and some of the work I did tommorrow.

Meanwhile if you are in the NYC area stop by Rocketship Comics in Brooklyn to see some amazing work by an amazing artist.

Q: Do you ever get a hankering to stretch your artistic legs by doing some “serious” art like portraits or landscapes, or to try your hand at more traditional media like oils and watercolors?

A: Not as much as I used to, but I still like to break out of the box when I can. I am still challenged artistically daily with my regular work, but I have always found it relaxing and fun to switch gears entirely and work realistically or with different mediums. Life drawing I especially enjoyed, and just can’t find the time or the venue for it these days. Here’s an example of a life drawing pose I did at a co-op a number of years ago:

Some time back I also took a watercolor landscape class at a local art studio… my first realistic attempt at the medium. The results were not so impressive, but I learned a lot and found it very therapeutic:

Thanks to Timothy Houston for the question. If you have a question you want answered for the mailbag about cartooning, illustration, MAD Magazine, caricature or similar, e-mail me and I’ll try and answer it here!