faves saved

Cartoons, fashion, and cats put Julian “Jules” Hinmon on cloud nine.  

“Cats are great emotional support animals.”

Recent favorite animated features of Jules include Spider-man: Into the Spider-verse and the upcoming How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World.  

Jules features both cartoon characters and cats frequently in his artwork, including the cardboard “cut-outs” that he’s known for.

 

Cartoons and cats also come together in Jules’ “pet projects” — pun intended! His art series “Who We Are” and “Kitten Around” feature anthropomorphic animals that “combine personality features of both their animal and human selves”.

You can also find Jules’ characters in comic form online (“Kitten Around” and “Who We Are”).

 

Jules says he wears his influences (for example, Rocko’s Modern Life) on his sleeve, but wants to make a show that is its “own beast” – an accidental, and very welcome, pun!

 

Make Studio artists are counting down each day until our ninth anniversary celebration by sharing something that puts them on cloud nine. To help us celebrate, join them here on the blog all month through February 22nd, and in-person on February 23rd at Cloud 9!

Attending studio events, and other festivities, tends to put Kareem on cloud nine.

As a sneak peek of his contributions to Make Studio’s upcoming 9th anniversary exhibition, here Kareem shares the recently completed tribute piece to A Star is Born, his newest favorite movie. He shared some thoughts about his cinematic experience:

• He liked it so much that he saw it twice upon its release in October, both times at Hampden’s CineBistro.
• The previews before the film lasts  over thirty minutes long! So, he enjoyed some food while waiting for the feature to begin.
• Seeing a preview for Mary Poppins Returns (reviewed here by Gary) inspired Kareem to later see that movie, too.

 

 

• Kareem really enjoyed the plot, in which Jack, a country singer played by Bradley Cooper, meets a waitress named Ally, played by Lady Gaga. “Ally becomes a great singer and they fall in love by the end.”
• He felt that the leads’ on-screen chemistry was “great!”
• Kareem’s favorite songs in the movie were “Shallow” and “I’ll Never Love You Again.” Kareem thinks Lady Gaga, overall, is the better singer and Bradley Cooper is the better actor.
• Kareem also likes to read movie reviews, and agrees with the critics who gave this movie 4 or 5 stars out of 5. He’s excited for the movie to be released on Blu-Ray so he can continue enjoying it.

 

 

Make Studio artists are counting down each day until our ninth anniversary celebration by sharing something that puts them on cloud nine. To help us celebrate, join them here on the blog all month through February 22nd, and in-person on February 23rd at Cloud 9!

Margie has a lot of favorites that keep her up on cloud nine. Like for Jimmy, it made sense for her to share them in list form. But, she opted to break down her favorite things to “the third degree” except in the case of favorite art subject matter (perhaps Margie’s favorite amongst her favorites)!

Favorite Holidays
1. Thanksgiving
2. Halloween
3. Christmas

Favorite Foods
1. Pizza
2. Tomatoe Pie
3. Pasta
4. Candy

Favorite Cookies
1. Chocolate Chip
2. Peppermint Kiss
3. Hershey Kiss

Favorite Things to Draw
1. Party’s For Hosting
2. Snowman
3. Snow Angel
4. Flowers
5. Drinks, Hot off the Press

Favorite Movies to Watch
1. Hallmark
2. Disney
3. A Winter Castle

Favorite Weekend Activities
1. Church
2. Coloring Books
3. Snowshoeing

Favorite Part of Costco
1. Food Samples
2. Shopping
3. Frozen Yogurt

 

Make Studio artists are counting down each day until our ninth anniversary celebration by sharing something that puts them on cloud nine. To help us celebrate, join them here on the blog all month through February 22nd, and in-person on February 23rd at Cloud 9!

Long-time Tuesday studio artist Zach explained what he’s working on for the Cloud 9 anniversary:

“This piece is two panels of a character I invented named Diana Enola. She is a reporter for Channel 6 News, has a deep love for her fellow man, and goes out of her way to make her stories as accurate as possible in order to serve the public’s trust. She holds telling the truth over everything else, including her own self-image.

Diana is based off an old drawing I did back in high school of  businesswoman from a visual in a realistic style. My mother dusted it off last year and convinced me to do something like that again.

I did something similar, except in my own style, and came up with a story to go along with it. I like telling stories and making character pieces, and occasionally that can contain an uplifting message to boost people’s spirits in dark times.

Things that put me on cloud nine are animation, video games, and being able to share time with friends.”

 

Make Studio artists are counting down each day until our ninth anniversary celebration by sharing something that puts them on cloud nine. To help us celebrate, join them here on the blog all month through February 22nd, and in-person on February 23rd at Cloud 9!

Malcolm likes “bad” driving games – the cheesier the better:

“Like when the graphics are obviously not realistic, or they glitch, but it’s a good glitch.”

He’s considered including a vehicle from a favorite “bad” game in his artwork: a dragster pizza car with police lights on top. 

Often dressed all in tie dye, which matches his multicolored artwork, Malcolm says about these things that put him on cloud nine, “I won’t go into detail, it would take 15 minutes!”

 

In his most recent piece, Malcolm is reversing his usual art practice, starting with marker outlines with crayon color on the inside of forms, instead of crayon outlining marker-filled forms. Noting the line work and “blendability” of his materials, he is excited for this combination in his latest piece.

“For this piece, I started with the last 5 letters of the alphabet, made them like block letters. Then I connected them together and simply filled in the empty space. That was completely abstract. I usually don’t like green outside of landscape, but I thought that blue-ish green or turquoise was a good color for this. It’s definitely not what I thought would end up in the anniversary show because it wasn’t one of my styles before, and I hadn’t done a lot of fully abstract work.”

 

Make Studio artists are counting down each day until our ninth anniversary celebration by sharing something that puts them on cloud nine. To help us celebrate, join them here on the blog all month through February 22nd, and in-person on February 23rd at Cloud 9!

Katelynn shares her favorite activities that keep her on cloud nine:

I sometimes end up spending hours at the library. I can waste 2 hours searching for a good book. I also waste time reading books because I have a really nice window with nice light in my bedroom. There are just all these beams of light in my room. It makes me feel like I am a cat. I understand why cats sun worship. It was nice when it was cold out because the beams heat my room.

 

I like to experiment with different libraries. My favorite one in the winter is the White Marsh branch. There is a fire place there that crackles and I like the sound. It fills you with euphoria in a nice quiet place.

I like to browse from time to time and see if a title or idea in a book grabs my attention. I am currently reading and would recommend the Sarah Booth Delaney Mystery series by Carolyn Haines. It’s a good series so far.

I also enjoy camping, hiking, the outdoors. I highly recommend camping in Harpers Ferry area. You can get to the Appalachian Trail and it goes through multiple states and it’s so beautiful…there’s just something about it.

 

Make Studio artists are counting down each day until our ninth anniversary celebration by sharing something that puts them on cloud nine. To help us celebrate, join them here on the blog all month through February 22nd, and in-person on February 23rd at Cloud 9!

Seth recalls that he has been working on his art since was seven years old.

“Cloud nine means, like, Jesus; that God gave me the talent, the gift of art.” 

He expresses his talent in making comic-inspired art, digital art, sculptures, and particularly enjoys making portraits of celebrities.

 

He loves getting feedback from others, especially strangers who might not be familiar with his work. Seth has aspirations to be an art teacher and role model for children with disabilities someday.  

“[B]ecause, myself, when I was just a little kid, used to do artwork– back in the past I did stick figures. And now that I’m 34, I want to build my self-esteem– become solo, [be] a role model.”

He’s currently a role model for his two godchildren, Naomi and Hakeem.

Seth has attended Make studio since 2016: “[I’m an art master, a professional . . . [following] “in the footsteps of Jerry Willams.” Seth has known his friend Jerry, the first Make Studio artist, since many years before either of them worked at the studio. 

Seth’s recently completed painting is a mash-up between Batman and Chun-li from Street Fighter, and he’s just completed his painting (below) of “Marvel vs. DC” comics characters.

“It came out real good, came out marvelous. . .it took a lot of work– it was worth it.”

 

 

Make Studio artists are counting down each day until our ninth anniversary celebration by sharing something that puts them on cloud nine. To help us celebrate, join them here on the blog all month through February 22nd, and in-person on February 23rd at Cloud 9!

Video games, Star Wars, listening to music, and working at the B.C. Brewery Taproom in Hunt Valley put Tuesday studio artist Mike, a personable and very creative dude, on cloud nine. 

“Dude.”

 

“What?”

“I have a Star Wars App.”

“My favorite video game is Star Wars Puzzle.”

“A lot of things make me happy.”

 

Make Studio artists are counting down each day until our ninth anniversary celebration by sharing something that puts them on cloud nine. To help us celebrate, join them here on the blog all month through February 22nd, and in-person on February 23rd at Cloud 9!

Dasha’s most frequently recurring characters — the coffee bears — remind her of floating on cloud nine:

“The bears are carefree, life is good, coffee is hot, and good camaraderie!”

 

For the upcoming anniversary exhibition, Dasha is creating an elaborate apartment complex to house the coffee bears. Features of the apartment building to watch out for:

• Doubles as a dentist’s office — so the bears can “always have clean teeth after drinking lots of coffee.”
• You can peek inside the world of the coffee bears through the building’s  windows.
• Inside, the bears are drinking coffee (“of course!”), taking a shower, filming scenes for YouTube, and more.
• The couple of bears you’ll find outside of the building include one who is attempting to fly, and another waiting below to catch her.

 

 

In this and other pieces, Dasha wants to depict the coffee bears as “regular people with a home and place to stay.” The inspiration for their apartment complex came from the houses she’s seen in Baltimore, as well as puzzle houses Dasha played with as a child.

 

Make Studio artists are counting down each day until our ninth anniversary celebration by sharing something that puts them on cloud nine. To help us celebrate, join them here on the blog all month through February 22nd, and in-person on February 23rd at Cloud 9!

Erika thinks that “to ‘be on cloud nine’ means you are exuberantly happy and at a peaceful juncture.”

Watching, reading, or playing other media relevant to society — “so, like, strong themes” — fits the bill for Erika, even though that might bring up “politics and the state of society. . . you can’t really avoid it anymore.” But, interacting with books, games, or television shows that examine consequences and aspects of social conflict is enjoyable for Erika.

 

 

“Sometimes, when I’m in that mood” Erika will address social issues in her own artwork Recently Erika’s works have been skill-building challenges for herself — “anything creative, you need time to go back to the basics” — working on anatomy, perspective, and more advanced shading.

Erika thinks her last few compositions have bordered on being too detailed, and she wants to scale back a little and put more “emphasis on lines and shadows. . . so everything has contrast.”

 

Make Studio artists are counting down each day until our ninth anniversary celebration by sharing something that puts them on cloud nine. To help us celebrate, join them here on the blog all month through February 22nd, and in-person on February 23rd at Cloud 9!