Cover Art by Ron English – ‘Batman and Robin as Charlie Brown and Snoopy’
As part of our ongoing mission to promote the artistic community, UP Magazine partnered with Sharon Volpe, a local artist and high school teacher at Queens Technical High School in Long Island City, to hold a contest for her students. Inspired by Ron English and UP‘s upcoming Issue 5: Icons, the students were tasked with sketching out their alter egos.
In class students learned about the contemporary artist, Ron English and some highlights from his career. They focused on how English takes famous and iconic characters, and put his own unique spin on them. Ron English and his team generously donated stickers and merch to the students.
Volpe explained, “Students created several variations of sketches where they drew a character and then transformed the character into a hybrid or alter ego. For Example, a scary Mickey or Powderpuff Girl meets Dead Pool. They then had to show evidence of shading from dark to light to dark following the form of the characters elements.”
The. students who participated were from Volpe’s creative art class – periods 2, 3, 5, 7 and 9. They were graded by the following rubric:
1. Attention to Detail
2. Creativity in Altering a Character
3. Scaling the character to fit the page
4. Careful shading with many layers to build up the dark to light to dark values
5. Care and effort
6. Refinement
Volpe narrowed down the winning students to a group of six, and UP chose the top 3.
Contest Winners & Their Work:
Jazmin Ministro is a 9th grader. She is on the honor roll. Her artwork was a mix of Max and Ruby and The Statue of Liberty. She likes art because it helps her relax.
Gael Vazquez (@vibingael) is in the 9th grade at Queens Technical High School. He is on the honor roll. His artwork is unique because it combines two separate characters with complete different personalities and characteristics. He enjoys art because it helps free his mind.
Mohammad Salam (@hyphen555) is a 12th grader at Queens Technical HS. He is on the High Honor Roll. This artwork is an unlikely version of Mickey Mouse as the famous mouse is known to be sugary sweet. Art allows him to put his thoughts and creativity on paper which is why he likes it so much.
