Cassal di Caelkriss

Kiki Strike is the title character of Kristin Miller’s Shadow City fiction series for young adults. It’s a fun and interesting read, really well written, and really well researched. I had started reading it shortly after I came back from a trip to New York, and I found myself being able to almost picture the exact corners of the locations that Kristin was writing about. The characters are a blast, and the interactions between them hold a lot of wit and charm.

I enjoyed the books so much that, after reading the second book, I was inspired to do sketches of the characters. I had planned on eventually painting them, but not any time really soon. However, I recently had the itch… that itch you get when you just have to complete something. It’s sort of like that feeling you get when you’re convinced that you can fly and you want to leap of the roof of a tall building just to prove it. Well, I leaped (figuratively) and this is what happened in the follow two days:

I’m sure I’ll find time to do the other characters soon, but for now my itch is leading me to work on other things.  Perhaps I’ll make the next one a tutorial.

Edit 12-21-2009
A few weeks ago, I had the idea to send this illustration to the author of the Kiki Strike series.  I was told by another fan that Kirsten Miller is very prompt in returning emails to fans, so I thought I’d give it a try.

Last week, she got back to me.  Here’s a snippet of what she said:

“I am completely speechless. (Yet oddly I can still type.) I can’t tell you how flattered I am to hear that my book inspired an artist of your caliber…  If you do end up sketching the other Irregulars, I would love to see them! … Thanks so much for this. It made my week.”

Well, that was a very pleasant read for the day.  Made my week too.  Well, as soon as I have more time to myself, I’ll get going on the other sketches.  But between church, wedding photography, wedding planning, and other work that needs to be done, we’ll see how much spare time I have.

Just last week, I did a shoot with a friend of mine at Elmhurst College.  He’s a regular performer at Six Flags in Illinois, and travels around doing workshops with showchoir groups.  He’s a huge talent, an amazing dancer and singer, and I was really privileged to be able to shoot his headshots.

Working with Erik in the studio was a really treat.  We did a session with several clothing changes in the studio, then went out to downtown Elmhurst to find an ally.  At one point in the studio, I had some music playing off of my iPod, and Erik asked if he could put some of his stuff on.  That was a great idea.  Once he put his music on, he really got into the groove of things, and we produced some really fun shots.

Elmhurst is a surprisingly photogenic town.  Besides what you see in plain sight (the trees, the beautiful homes, the great downtown lights), there are a lot of hidden features that are just waiting to be photographed.  Having gone to college there, I was familiar with some of these little crannies that were tucked away, and I’ve been itching to get out there with a model and a camera.

For Erik, we found a great ally between several buildings featuring several stairways and brick walls.  It was the perfect spot.  It was late afternoon/early evening in autumn, and the sky was giving some great natural even light.  We turned out some shots that we’re really happy with.

I hope to be able to get out there again soon, and get some more shots.  Here’s a few from the shoot.

Hey, just a quick update on a recent wedding.

In September, I did a wedding for another close friend.  It was really amazing to see.  The colors were just wonderful, and the entire atmosphere was different from other weddings I’d been to.

After the ceremony, we had an incident (non-life threatening) that called for the fire department’s help.  The father of the bride, being a retired fireman, was able to call them to the rescue, complete with a fire engine.  So, we had some great shots there that we never could have planned.

The bride’s mother had organized all of the decorating for the reception, and made most of the desserts.  I was amazed.  Here are some shots.

More can be seen on my portfolio site here.