Rolemodels: Opening Reception Details

All New Fantasy Playing Card Game & Exhibition

Pack your crested armor, dust off your old cloak, and get your troops ready for battle!

Light Grey Art Lab's upcoming exhibition will take you on a journey through the ancient forest, over the rigid mountain spine, and through the land of fire, as you explore our fantasy land of Vyk' Tornaahl and the honorable, magical, and devious characters who reside there.


Detail of Murd of Lamb by John DeLucca

The Rolemodels exhibition is a fantasy portrait show, highlighting artist's personas, role-playing characters, and sharing more about themselves through their choice of weapon, talent, or epic legend. This show features the work of 99 artists, illustrators, games designers, and concept artists who hail from Microsoft Games Studio, Fantasy Flight Games, and more. These artists have traded in their pens and brushes for magic wands, massive broadswords, and supernatural abilites. Rolemodels celebrates each of these artworks, along with the artist and role model who created it: our real life art warriors.


A sneak peek at Toron the Unseen by Bart Tiongson

Rolemodels runs from October 25th through November 30th, with an opening reception on Friday, October 25th from 7pm-10pm. Visitors are invited to dress in fantasy costume in celebration of their RPG alter-egos and Halloween. Light Grey Art Lab will be transformed into a place of legends, our Hall of Heroes, featuring portraits and landscapes by 99 artists, an ancient map of Vyk’Tornaahl, banners of the four kingdoms, and a space for playing the Rolemodels: Battle for Vyk’Tornaahl card game.

You can see a sneak peek and read more about the Rolemodels card game here: Rolemodels: Battle for Vyk'Tornaahl



This is also our Halloween party, so get ready for an exciting evening! We will have Witch's Brew and Goblin Cure drinks, artwork give-aways, and costume contests! To see more information about the opening reception, visit our Rolemodels Facebook Event Page.


Ansel the Half by Henry Christian-Slane

Click here to see the full list of participating artists!

We can't wait to see you here!

Create, Concept, and Collaborate Recap!

Wow! Create, Concept, & Collaborate is already over, and it was a huge success! This past weekend we were honored to have the incredibly talented duo of Mike Yamada and Victoria Ying visit us at Light Grey Art Lab to host a weekend workshop dedicated to visual development. As Visual Development Artists at Walt Disney Animation Studios, Mike and Victoria brought with them an incredible wealth of talent, experience, and insight.



The weekend kicked off with a public lecture in the Minneapolis College of Art and Design's auditorium, which was packed to the brim with excited artists. Mike and Victoria gave a great introduction on what it actually means to create visual development and concept work for a company like Disney. Their body of work is hugely impressive and it was a great lecture! You can listen to the full lecture it on the latest podcast episode, here.


A packed house over at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design!


Mike and Victoria share upcoming projects, animation stills, and concept art for Disney Animation Studios.

Afterwards, everyone moved down the street to Glam Doll Donuts, where we had a bustling All Creatives Meet & Greet. Spirits were high, fueled by Glam Dolls delectable donuts and plenty of coffee. It was a great event, and the people at Glam Doll happily dealt with the throngs of hungry artists like pros.


Artists line up to talk to Mike and Victoria, say hello to each other, and fill up on some delicious donuts!

The first day started bright and early, with introductions and an opener discussion with Mike and Victoria about personal work, their brainchild Extracurricular Activities, and sharing the portfolios that got them into the industry. Mike and Victoria highlighted some of their favorite pieces to date, shared current and in process works, and the differences in their personal and professional works. It was wonderful to see the changes from project to project!



Then, Light Grey led a series of workshop exercises, focusing on experimentation and exploration in story-telling. Splitting into groups, each team was given a short prompt and challenge to create a children's story with limited resources- Rorschach ink blots! As a humorous ice-breaker, this was a perfect project to start the day: it focused on group improv, brainstorming, and creative problem solving. The exercise was followed by reflective worksheets and discussion on project ideation.


Groups work on creating a playful and quick children's story, all with ink blots and abstract shapes!


A giant and fun brainstorming session to get all of us awake and thinking.

After a breezy outdoor lunch at Jasmine Deli and a coffee break at the Spyhouse, boardgame art director Mike Linnemann came by and talked about the relationship between art directors and participating artists. Mike is a bright and honest guy, not to mention an incredibly experienced and prolific director. Along with a presentation, students were able to peek at a few of the games and card decks Mike has helped produce.



Following Mike Linnemann's talk, Victoria led an incredible character building demo, where she talked about the shapes, relationships, and dynamics to think about when creating interesting character.





Victoria creates her version of Hansel and Gretel, showing how she ideates, creates characters, and builds personas.

The demo ended with a project prompt for a character building exercise, which the class worked on while each participant started in their one-on-one (or one-on-two, in this case) chats with Mike and Victoria. Individual students were able sit down ask questions, review their portfolio, and talk about their personal work.



After a long day, the whole workshop walked to Uptown's Chino Latino for some great food and some much needed R&R. We reflected on the day over colorful and exotic dishes and fun drinks!



Sunday morning started with an open and honest discussion about social media, promotion and marketing. This was a round-table discussion, and each person had great things to say about their personal experience, thoughts on promotion, useful and inspiring tools, and resources. From books to podcasts to online articles, this discussion was both insightful and necessary- shedding light on some of the most wondered and important questions. It was a very positive conversation, fueled by the variety of past experiences of participants, Mike and Victoria, and the Light Grey team.


Erik Krenz sharing his views on tumblr and social media.


So much enthusiasm!

Next, Mike led a lively landscape, character and painting demo. We all watched in awe as Mike effortlessly painted his interactive characters and background. He shared his personal techniques and tricks for painting in photoshop, as well as creating dynamic and informative compositions.



After the demonstration, we packed our bags and headed to Midtown Global Market for a quick and delicious bite to eat! Midtown is one of our favorite places to get lunch because of its endless and unique entrees, bubble teas, and handmade crafts. During lunch, we were able to relax and talk about our experiences so far, developing stories, and talk about our plan for the afternoon work session.



With the day half over, the group quickly got back to work! They spent the afternoon developing and working through their character building project. The review meetings continued throughout the afternoon, along with peer revisions, conversations, and a few Light Grey tarot readings!


Busy at work!


Partners were able to critique characters and look an each others work.

To close the day, Mike and Victoria walked through a portfolio building presentation, outlining the do's and don't's of portfolio creation, tips for unifying work, and how to make a portfolio a "reflection of yourself." The talk was not only about creating a portfolio, but how to share it, where to bring your portfolio, and how to get noticed. After a two full days of working, this was a perfect cap to share hopes and plans for the future.

To celebrate the weekend and new friends, the group moved to the Lowry for a great dinner and to give out final goodbyes. There were several drawing contests, such as "Cutest Kitten", or "Batman With Your Eyes Closed". Information was exchanged, including a hypothetical conversation about future workshops and dream projects.




Overall, it was an incredible weekend with so many talented and motivated individuals! Thank you to all of our participants, as well as those who were able to attend the lecture, meet & greet, or parts of the class! To see the entire collection of photographs from the weekend, you can check out the flickr gallery.

You can see more artwork by Victoria Ying and Mike Yamada here!

In Place Opening Reception Recap

A huge thank you to everyone who was able to make it out to the opening reception and book release for In Place! It was an incredible celebration with so many fantastic artworks, and we were happy to share it with all of you!



Each In Place piece was displayed in a larger-than-life format, allowing viewers to 'get lost' in the image and truly discover these breathtaking, culturally relevant, and magical, yet real places! Ranging from the Congo River, to the Shalimar Gardens, the Bavarian Forest, and Marakeesh, Morocco, each piece is captures the discovery of ends of the earth, our awe-inspiring journeys, and our love for curiosity!



The In Place books arrived just in time for the big event! Visitors were able to pick up a copy of their own, have local participating artists sign their In Place Books!



In the next few weeks, there will be several more opportunities to get to know these artists, check out the books, and hear all about the In Place book and process. Dates and information for signings (Magers & Quinn and Boneshaker Books) coming soon! Keep an eye out for all of the invitations!

In Place will be up and on display at Light Grey Art Lab until September 13th! Stop by during our gallery hours Wednesday-Saturday from 12pm-7pm, and Sundays from 12pm-5pm.

If you can't stop by in person, check out all of the wonderful work and In Place book on the permanent In Place online gallery and Light Grey Shop!

In Place Opening Reception Tonight!

The wait is over! Join us tonight to celebrate the work and collaboration of 50+ illustrators, concept artists, and designers as we take you on a journey around the world...and back!


Salar de Uyuni by Victor Maury

The In Place opening reception and Book Release begins at 7pm at Light Grey Art Lab! There will be several local artists, the In Place Books, and of course, all the the sublime and majestic large-scale works of places from around the globe. From a tiny alley way in Shinjuku, Japan, to an expansive mountain scape in Germany, In Place celebrates all sacred, mysterious, cultural, and awe-inspiring places- the places that inspire us to create, travel, and wonder!

You can see more about the opening reception on our facebook event page
Or check out the entire collection on our permanent online gallery and Light Grey Shop!


Marakeesh by Victoria Ying

We hope you can make it to the opening, as well as our book signing and discussion Saturday, August 24th from 12pm-3pm at Verdant Tea! At noon, we will kick off the event with delicious tea and conversation. Starting at 1pm, we will talk about the process of the book, inspirations by Light Grey and the participating artists, and tons of images and books to look at! Stick around after the event for a traditional tea tasting and a Q & A. You can read more about the event here.

Shalimar by Sidharth Chaturvedi

Let's honor these inspiring places and all of the incredible artwork!

Artist Interview: John Lee

As the Station Zero show comes to a close, we wanted to take one last opportunity to speak to participating artist John Lee. John Lee is an incredibly talented illustrator, with clients that include National Geographic, FedEx, Harmonix, and The National Park Service. We wanted to ask John about his influences, experiences and process behind his gorgeous and expressive work. And of course we couldn't help talking about his favorite aspects of Science Fiction.


Hi John! I know you're not local to Light Grey Art Lab, so where are you from? Where'd you grow up and do you think your surroundings playing a large role in your career as an artist?

I grew up in Memphis, TN and am absolutely influenced by the South. My childhood was spent playing war in the Memphis summer evenings, surrounded by fireflies and honeysuckle, watching kung-fu movies after eating home-made fried chicken at family gatherings, and drawing spaceships on x-ray backing boards with fruit-scented markers.

I always drew a lot as a kid, and my parents picked up on that at an early age. They exposed me to a lot of Caldecott award winning children's books, comics like Calvin & Hobbes, and traditional Chinese art collected by my grandparents or family friends. I also remember trying to duplicate the visuals from the video games that my brother and I would play (since we could only play a certain amount every week).

Currently, I find myself thinking a lot about the South in terms of my specific racial experiences within it when I was growing up. Memphis is a city with a deep and complex history when it comes to race relations-- after all, it's the city where Martin Luther King Jr. was murdered, and where rock was born from the blending of black and white musical traditions. However, I'm a 2.5 generation Chinese/Filipino, and there weren't a lot of kids who looked like me in school. There also wasn't really a place for Asian-Americans to fit into the larger common narrative of black/white racial history in the South, even if they were just as affected by prejudice as any other group. Recently, I've been doing a lot of research through museums and first hand accounts of family members, trying to piece together just how complex this history is.

I guess what I mean to say is that I think artists should reflect the times in which they live. And I think as illustrators, it's always best to inform your work, not just stylistically, but through content, with personal stories and experiences. You hear this idea tossed around as finding visual distinction through one's illustration "voice." Right now I'm mining my own formative experiences for -- something. Somewhere in this weird intersection of X-Men comics, Super Metroid, Han-dynasty guardian lions, dogwood trees, cicada broods, and schoolyard scraps, there's a story to be told that is currently influencing my trajectory as an artist.


In process work by John Lee

I see you're an instructor at the Memphis College of Art! What attracts you to teaching?

I actually just quit teaching at MCA this summer, so my website is a little out of date--which I apologize for! I had the privilege of teaching there for 2 years, and taught foundational level courses for illustration (composition and color), as well as a senior-level portfolio development and professional practice course.

I think what I love the most about teaching is that I get to share. You can sit in your studio and just absolutely geek out about a color temperature shift in a Winslow Homer piece, and then bring it into the classroom where everyone not only gets it, but is just as excited about it as you are. This idea of being unapologetically ecstatic about things that you love is essential for leading a creative lifestyle. It's also the lynchpin that binds the illustration community together, and why I feel like illustrators are some of the nicest people out there.

Additionally, for me teaching is one way to pay it forward. I remember when I was first starting out as an illustrator, I was fresh out of school with a tangential degree and nothing but a barely functional ability to draw. I was referred to Nathan Fox, who was living in Kansas City at the time, and I dropped him a line for lack of any other options really. Nathan was really awesome, invited me over to his studio, and essentially got me set up. He did a review of the work that I had cobbled together as a "portfolio", showed me how he interacted with clients, and even went so far as to give me some of the documents that he used to for invoicing and contracts. It was the crash course that got me started, and I owe a lot to him because of it.

So when I would interact with students, I would try and keep that experience in mind. What did I want to know at that stage in the game? What did I need to know? Every student's path and style of learning is different, and my knowledge base is only so deep, so I definitely felt like I had varying degrees of success as a teacher. But at the end of the day, I wanted to feel like I helped someone towards their larger goal in some small way. Because everyone deserves that chance, and maybe one day they'll pay it forward to someone else.


Typography process for Station Zero by John Lee

That seems like a really wonderful and generous approach. So if you could give one word of advice to anyone who's just starting out, trying to be a successful freelance artist, what would it be?

My very first piece of advice would be to be careful on whose advice you internalize. Know the context in which people's experiences are formed. In my case, I still consider myself a journeyman illustrator in a lot of ways, and that I still have a lot to learn and a ways to go in terms of my career.

My second piece of advice for students and artists just starting out would be to reevaluate what your definition of success is. Decide what your goals are within art, or illustration, or whatever, and use that as your true north for every decision that you make here on out. Maybe you want a Ferrari one day. Maybe you want to write a children's book that changes how a whole generation thinks about storytelling. Maybe you want to settle down and have a few kids.

Whatever it is, be honest about what you want and then go for it with all of your being. I think about an awesome interview with Bruce Lee that I heard: "When you want to move, you're moving, and when you move, you are determined to move. (If) I'm going to punch, man I'm going to do it."


Process for Station Zero Show by John Lee

From looking at your work it seems like you like to draw everything under the sun! Is there any one subject that you like drawing the most and why?

For a while, I was really into drawing little feral Mononoke-hime-like kids. I like to draw foliage, and also rocks because I'm boring. I've also been drawing little cartoon sheep since I was in 4th grade, and I use them currently for my "branding." But mostly, I just like drawing people. And I don't really mean figure drawing in the academic sense. Honestly, anatomy, muscle groups, etc. kind of bores me to death. I mean drawing people in a way that captures some kind of honest expression or story. I think Harvey Dunn said to his students something along the lines of "if you want to paint the people, you must become one of the people." Sterling Hundley put it another way in a critique at the Illustration Academy when he said "the great unwashed masses are us." So, I really like just going out in different situations and drawing people as much as I can.

You post on your blog a lot of images of you doing observational drawings in your sketchbook at museums and other inspiring places. What about drawing from real life do you enjoy most, and what is your favorite environment to make art?

For me, drawing is much more effective at capturing an experience than say, photography. When I look at a drawing that I've done, I can remember where I was, who I was with, whether the sun was on my face, or it was windy at the time. etc. It's probably a byproduct of having to invest a lot of time and concentration into making a drawing, as compared to simply clicking a button. Drawing is more personal, and becomes more than just reproducing what's in front of you. You have to constantly edit information, accentuating some things while downplaying others.

On a more technical note, drawing from observation allows you to perceive form, value, and color more precisely than from a photograph. These repetitions build muscle memory and strengthen your perceptual vocabulary, which you can then use back in the studio.

My favorite situation for drawing is when it starts a dialog. So like when I'm drawing, and someone who is into it comes says hi, and a conversation starts. I guess it goes back to that idea of liking things unapologetically.


Sketches by John Lee

What is your process like, and what materials do you typically use?

My current illustration process is in a lot of flux as I'm figuring things out currently. But in general, my finals are either some kind of linework with digital color, or messy digital paintings that are collaged together from scanned bits and scraps of all sorts of things like monotypes, palette paper scraps, blotting sheets, etc. On the digital side, I use an older 09 Macbook Pro, Wacom Intuos 4, PS CS6, and a Canoscan LiDE 600F scanner.

I'm a drawer first and foremost, so all of my painting sensibilities tend to emerge from that. For instance, I have a tiny Winsor & Newton watercolor set that I have for sketching, but most of the heavy lifting is done with Caran d'Ache Supracolor watercolor pencils. I use Nasutomo Niji water brushes, one with water and one with 60/40 ink and water, a technique I stole from James Gurney. But again, I really like them because they kind of remind me of scummy Chinese calligraphy pens. I also use a little Zebra ballpoint pen for drawing when I don't have anything else, because of James Jean.


John Lee's art making materials

Most your work has an amazing rough quality to it, but is still very recognizable and controlled, with beautifully harmonious color combinations. What are your biggest influences that have helped created you as an artist and how have they helped mold your style into what it is today?

I think in general, I don't like having absolute control over my imagery. I want things to surprise me and my drawing to have elements of tightness and looseness, all within the same image (which is funny considering I work mostly digitally). I love when you're looking at a John Singer Sargent painting, looking at all these chunky daubs of murky browns and blues, and then suddenly this beautiful portrait emerges from it. I love the idea behind Cezanne's paintings where you're giving just enough information and then your brain has to reconstruct the rest.

Absolute representation is already known. We know what something looks like when it's realistic. Where's the fun in that? I tend to focus much more heavily on composition and design than the actual rendering of things.

In terms of color, I heard it explained this way (by Jeffery Alan Love, again at the Illustration Academy): "There are those that have to sneak up on color, and there are those that explode it." My grasp on actual painting color theory is tenuous at best, so I tend to sneak up and "find" my color schemes halfway through my pieces. However, the undergrad printmaker in me comes out at certain times and says "if it's red, make it freaking' red" so that's why you'll see some pretty garish saturated colors in my drawings. I think it's important to be honest about your influences. It's terrible when people won't admit being influenced by someone, even when it's really obvious. I think it's also important to look at who your influences were influenced by. I look at and absolutely love a lot of work, but I find myself only really going back and looking at certain people. Chronologically, it goes something like: John Singer Sargent, Howard Pyle/Harvey Dunn/Dean Cornwell, Charley Harper, Coby Whitmore, James Gurney, Gary Kelley, Sterling Hundley, James Jean. Obviously, the more contemporary your influences are, the more dangerous it becomes.

Graduating with a BFA in Creative Writing, I'm sure you have a list of favorite books. What are some of them and if you read sci-fi novels what are some of your favorite of those as well?

My favorite book is One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. I don't know if it's not cool to like that book, or whatever, but man. I love the scale of that book, the weaving narratives, and beautiful matter-of-fact vignettes of the supernatural. Italo Calvino's Cosmicomics is on that list for much the same reason. And as a Southerner, I love Flannery O' Connor's A Good Man is Hard to Find. I actually don't read a whole lot of sci-fi! I think the last one I read before The Jewels of Aptor was A Canticle for Leibowitz, by Walter M. Miller. I get most of my sci-fi dosage from other media. So like, Battlestar Galactica, or the original Ghost in the Shell and Appleseed comics by Masamune Shirow, or incompetently dropping marines off to their deaths in an occasional game of Starcraft.

What about Sci-fi intrigues you, and how did that influence your approach to your cover?

My absolute favorite thing about science fiction is that it stretches our imaginations. How many scientists, programmers, physicists, etc. discovered their passion by watching something like Star Trek or Star Wars as a kid? I also love science fiction when it can make an otherwise fantastic situation feel emotionally real. A series like Battlestar Galactica does that really well-- it forces us to engage with the story in terms that we can all relate to. For my cover, I chose to show one of the main characters, the White Goddess Argo, as the figurehead on the bow of an old frigate. The Jewels of Aptor is a post-apocalyptic story, so there's been a tech reset for the surviving humans/mutants and they use old sailing technology to get around. The true identity of Argo is constantly in question throughout the entire story, so I wanted her to feel kind of ambiguous as to whether she was actually a carved figurehead, or if there was some actual life behind her. I also wanted to use the heavy drapery to tie her back to a previous period in art history, to suggest that the world that the book is describing is actually one that we know very well.

Thanks again to John for taking the time to chat with us! You can find more from John Lee on his website, on tumblr and on twitter @johnleedraws.

In Place Opening Reception, Book Release, and Sneak Peeks!

The wait is almost over! We are extremely honored to bring you In Place: wish you were here, a large exhibition and collaborative book project incorporating nearly fifty works by illustrators, designers, and concept artists from around the world.

Each artist has created magnificent, breathtaking, and detailed works, capturing the experience and history imbedded in each place. From the ancient rows of temples in Bagan, to an abandoned power plant in North Carolina, a tiny alleyway in Toyko, Japan, and a the forgotten Easter Island, In Place is about the beauty and mystery, as much as the culture, ways of life, and mark in history and imagination. These are the places that inspire us to create and dream!


Sneak peek of work by Kim Smith

Come take a trip around the world, as we enjoy all these artworks in the In Place Exhibition, which opens August 23rd from 7pm-10pm. To see the full list of participants or more information about the opening reception check out our facebook event.


Detail of Hardangervidda by Maike Plenzke

Following the reception, August 24th from 12pm-3pm, Light Grey Art Lab will be doing a book signing, artist talk, and discussion at Verdant Tea! Stop by for some refreshing teas and traditional pouring, meet some of the artists, and learn more about collaborative book making and process! We are extremely excited to talk with the artists about their views and research along the way. You can see more about the book signing event here.
You can read more about the In Place book on our online shop, which is now available for pre-order!

Detail of Camelot by Jeff Johnson

We will be celebrating this project and exhibition for an entire month! So stop by Light Grey Art Lab or the permanent online gallery to see more about the show and view the entire collection. (available this Friday)


For more details about the project and the In Place book.

In Place Sneak Peek

This August at Light Grey Art Lab, we are celebrating the summer 'sense of travel,' our yearning for new destinations, and curiosity about mysterious places around the world, as we gear up for our newest exhibition opening, In Place.

In Place incorporates the work of fifty concept artist, background and gaming artists, illustrators, and designers from all over the work to collaborate on a awe-inspiring and sublime exhibition and limited edition artist book project.

Here is a preview and the preorder for the In Place book

And a sneak peek at some of the amazing artwork:


Chiang Mai Jungle, Thailand Sunrise by Angela An
Cenote, Yucatan Peninsula Cenotes by Juan Carlos Barquet
Congo, Congo by Francesca Buchko
Northridge Shopping Mall, Paris by Andres Guzman

Each artist has done an incredible job capturing these larger than life destinations, such as Chief Mountain in Montana, the Illuminated Caves in Okinawa, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, and the icy tundra of Antarctica. Each piece is accompanied by a written piece about the folklore, history, 'magical healing powers,' influence, and dwellers of each of these magnificent places. We cannot wait to share with you!

To see more information about the opening reception see our facebook event!

Artist Interview: Courtney Billadeau

With Station Zero going on right now, we wanted to take a peek into the minds of some of the many talented artists participating in the show. We were blown away at the expansive knowledge (and interest) in sci-fi that many of the Station Zero artists possessed, and wanted to give them a chance to speak more on the topic!

Meet C. Billadeau- a Chicago illustrator with a widespread pool of interests, ranging from comic art to book binding and much much more. Her work utilizes bold shapes and dynamic compositions (with just the right amount of texture sprinkled on top,) creating dramatic and eye-catching pieces. Aside from her work in several of our shows here at Light Grey Art Lab, C. Billadeau has been featured in Illustration West 48 and 49, CMYK 49, and Creative Quarterly 22. She has worked with Bioware promoting Mass Effect, and most recently participated in a short fiction anthology titled "THIS IS HOW YOU DIE."


Sebastian Orr Photography

What’s one sci-fi book you’d recommend everyone to read, and why?

As an avid reader and huge sci-fi fan, it is difficult to narrow the list down!

My favorite classic sci-fi is I, Robot by Isaac Asimov. The book itself is a collection of short fiction built on the premise of Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics and a logical society that believes them to be wholly comprehensive, with each story upping the ante in showing us robots finding loopholes in those laws and explaining how completely flawed the laws are. His other books in the Robot series are also really great.

If 'hard' sci-fi scares you or you're afraid of being labeled as a nerd or something (but really, it's great, come to the dork side), I'd recommend either China Miéville's The City and the City or the most recent trilogy by William Gibson, starting with Pattern Recognition. They both definitely fall more into the 'speculative fiction' side of science fiction along with "The City and the City", but are just as solid as any other futuristic sci-fi.


Work in progress for Station Zero

If you had to pick a sci-fi world to live in, where would you live and why?

Probably the world described in the Shadowrun tabletop gaming franchise (fun fact: the books are heavily inspired on the earlier, more famous William Gibson novels). See, a lot of my favorite sci-fi is about worlds or societies that are horribly, horribly flawed and that's why I enjoy reading stories about them (but not necessarily living in them).

Did you read the book you were assigned, or pieces of it? If so, what’s your favorite part of the book? Did that moment get included in your redesign of the cover?

I…didn't actually have a favorite part of "Cage A Man" because I really didn't like it! As someone who eats trashy pulp sci-fi like this for breakfast, I generally have a high tolerance for poor writing or dated ideas, but this was not the case here. There wasn't a lot of real plot to follow, as literally three-quarters of the book follow the main character's obsession with coercing and eventually forcing his female alien lover to get futuristic plastic surgery to make her look more human, simply because how she looks is offensive to his sex drive. No, I'm not actually kidding. All done in the name of "true love".

It's exceedingly problematic from numerous perspectives--feminist, racial, and otherwise--so it was difficult to digest because of that.

As such, I wanted little to do with the original content and ended up not specifically depicting anything from the book. I ended up relying on more abstract metaphors, instead, to describe a persistent theme throughout the book that didn't immediately make me backpedal away from the book--the concept of captivity, in its various forms.



What’s a piece of technology that you’d love to get invented in the near future?

Effective interstellar communication and/or travel--for research and knowledge! When I was a kid (and everyone else around me wanted to be a firefighter or a doctor or whatever their parents were), I only wanted to be an astronomer. Mainly to explore the unknowns of space from the comfort of Earth. I eventually grew out of that and into an illustrator, but I still find a lot of inspiration in the mysteries of the universe and deeply believe in what resources and knowledge we could find by exploring it.

What’s your ideal workspace?

My process is both part traditional mediums and part digital mediums, so having a large, dedicated desk where I can roll back and forth from messily inking something to my desktop is a must. As well as a huge scanner and copier nearby. I really prefer working with others, too--mainly for motivation and bouncing and sharing ideas off of each other.

Right now, I work in a space in my apartment with my significant other, but I plan to open up my own studio space with friends someday!


Work in progress for In Place

Do you listen to any music while you work? If so, what kinds?

Anywhere from industrial grunge to low-fi electronica. Music works, for me, less as a source of inspiration and more of a barrier between me and everything around me. I really can only focus on creating if I shut out the outside world for a bit.

What is your favorite medium to work in, and why?

I love working with ink. I make a lot of my textures by hand, mostly by slinging around ink with brushes on rough bristol.


Limited edition run of C.Billadeau's Mass Effect print through Bioware

In the future, what are some things you’d like to be working on/where would you like to go with your art?

I'm currently in the planning stages for a historical-fiction, surrealist graphic novel I've been doing the research for some time. I'm a commercial illustrator through and through, so, while continuing to do editorial and marketing work, I eventually plan to do more conceptual work for independent game design while making comics that I will likely serialize online.

Thanks Courtney!

To see more of her work, check out her blog or website, and be sure to check out her piece for Station Zero!

Sketchbook Project Sneak Peek

This September, is all about self-initiated projects here at Light Grey- about the work of the go-getters, their completed comic anthologies, artist books, and large series. It is all incredible work made by an individual artist out of pure motivation and interest. During the month we will celebrate these bodies of work in the Nights and Weekends Exhibition (we are accepting applications until August 1st. Click here for details) along with the process, rough sketches, and brainstorming found in the diverse and global sketchbooks of the traveling Sketchbook Library!

With the Sketchbook Project rapidly approaching (September 20th), we wanted to give you guys a brief preview of some of the super exciting things to look forwards to! First and foremost, a big thank you to everyone who chose to submit/participate in the event! It was a blast getting to look at the amazing diversity of the work created.

Collaborating with the Sketchbook Project on their 1703 Miles and Back Tour, we're excited to be bringing this phenomenal collection to Minneapolis for the first time!

Ulana Zahajkewycz

Not only will there be tons of brand-new sketchbooks joining the movement, The Traveling Library will also stop by Light Grey- letting you take a peek at around 4,500 sketchbooks from that year's collection (a small sliver of the 27,600+ sketchbooks collected total.) The Traveling Library will only be here for the 20th, so be sure to swing on by!

Amanda Brannin & Margriet Bokma

Besides the Traveling Library, we will be printing and displaying excerpts from many of the inspiring sketchbooks freshly collected here at Light Grey Art Lab! Unlike the Traveling Library, these will be here all month.


Monika Grubizna

While you're waiting for this awesome event, you can take a look at the Digital Library, to get an idea of some of the incredible work created through this project.

We also have a facebook event!
https://www.facebook.com/events/478252142268597/