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        <title>Daniel Fishel at ohger.com</title>
        <description></description>
        <link>http://ohger.com/ofishel</link>
        <lastBuildDate>Wed, 02 Jun 2010 14:48:59 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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        <item>
            <title>Made in America Group Show</title>
            <link>http://ohger.com/ofishel&amp;area=blog&amp;item=9023</link>
            <description><![CDATA[
	I was graciously asked by my good friend Brad Haubrich to be part of a group show at the newly renamed TRUST gallery, located at 204 Arch Street, Philadelphia, PA. The show consists of a lot of fresh talent, a couple Ohgers, and a few pretty established folk (Jude Buffum, Mark Price, and Nose Go to name a few). 

	The theme of the show was "America". I was told it could be about anything about America, and that it was pretty loose to how I could interpret it. I struggled with this because I didn't want to make something serious, political or economical. I had so many ideas that were political/economical, but wanted to keep it laid back.
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            <pubDate>Wed, 02 Jun 2010 04:46:05 +0000</pubDate>
        </item>
        <item>
            <title>Why I â™¥ Ohger</title>
            <link>http://ohger.com/ofishel&amp;area=blog&amp;item=9005</link>
            <description><![CDATA[


	
		The School year is done, and the week after class' have ended, I was able to hang out with a slew of people from this site. On Thursday Tae, Mikey B., and the super talented Alyssa Deville with her very generous Aunt, were able to all hung out getting sushi. Afterwords, we all went gallery hopping in Chelsea, checking out the Mark Ryden show at the Paul Kasmin Gallery, the Shawn Barber show over at Josh Liner as well as the SVA MFA SECOND YEAR THESIS SHOW!
	
		The next day I was able to hang out with Alyssa again as we viewed the Student show at Society to see her amazing painting on display. She took alot of photographs so they should be online soon. Then on Friday at the reception at the Society of illustrators, I was able to meet other Ohgers/former classmates, Sara,and Jimmy as he received an reward for his beautiful piece.
	
		For me I am honored to be part of this site filled with students and young professionals. When I joined Ohger I was blown away by how many of these people I already followed on Blogger, and now I am one step closer to having a more personal interaction with people my own age that I deeply admire and are going through the same motions getting their careers started. I am also really thankful for a lot of people who have commented on the blog, giving positive feedback, constructive critiques, and sending me emails when they really wanted to tell me that the hand I drew looked really bad and didn't want to look mean in the public space. I have created unique bonds with people in New York, the whole way across to the west coast because of this website. For this, I am greatful to Zimm for going through with making this site, and all those who joined it.
	
		Any other Ohgers that are going to be in New York this summer, or other illustrators/designers/web designers/animators/creatives (students or pro's), please let me know when your around and wanna get coffee or something. The more we connect and talk about what's going on, the better we can act as a community. Wither thats under the umbrella of Ohger or as creatives. I am looking forward to hearing from you. 
	
	
		(especially you Dadu!)
	
		
		

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            <pubDate>Sat, 08 May 2010 18:19:03 +0000</pubDate>
        </item>
        <item>
            <title>Getting Positive</title>
            <link>http://ohger.com/ofishel&amp;area=blog&amp;item=9001</link>
            <description><![CDATA[
	One dorky thing I have on my studio wall, is a list of 20 Art Directors names that I really want to work for, and 10 of which I want to get my work in front of and work with this year. I was completely caught off guard when one of those A.D.'s off my top 10, called me on the phone. Who called? Catherine Gontarek from the Pennsylvania Gazette. 

	The article that she asked me to illustrate was about a unique masters program at U Penn, called Positive Psychology. The idea of the program was to learn about various philosophical texts that talk about what "the good life" was, and how to engage others into more positive thinking that would lead to living a better life. 

	 

	I am posting half the sketches I sent to Cathy. Most of the time I send three or four, but I felt the need to really hash this out and work with her on the article. She liked the idea of the women on a bicycle and the metaphor of using tools to bring upon happiness, so I went with that. 

	 

	Originally, I had a pony tail on the lady, but Cathy thought she looked alittle man"ish". So I made up the hair photoshoped it into the painting. 

	 



	Thanks again Catherine, for working with me! Hope to to work on another assignment for you soon. If your interested in reading the article Click Here 

	
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            <pubDate>Tue, 04 May 2010 01:49:09 +0000</pubDate>
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        <item>
            <title>Grand Central Station</title>
            <link>http://ohger.com/ofishel&amp;area=blog&amp;item=8999</link>
            <description><![CDATA[
	In 2008, I was very lucky to scrap together enough money to stay in New York City for an entire week for the ICON5 illustration conference. I stayed at a hostile on the upper west side for $30 a night, while my peers stayed at the Roosevelt hotel at a discounted price of close to $200 a night. Everyday I would take the number 1 train to 42nd street, and took a shuttle to Grand Central Station. 

	 

	Every time I would show up to the station, I would see different bits of detail, and ornamentation from past that would bring new life and appreciation of what is being done today. 

	 

	For the last fifteen weeks for my drawing on location class, I took the time to do some drawings of this awesome station, doing a drawing or painting once a week. These are just some of the few pieces that I really enjoyed and I wanted to share. I tried to focus on understanding how to create a short hand for expressing how something looks without going to head strong into the detail. 

	 

	 

	 


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            <pubDate>Sat, 01 May 2010 23:31:24 +0000</pubDate>
        </item>
        <item>
            <title>Blood, Sweat and Silk Screen Ink</title>
            <link>http://ohger.com/ofishel&amp;area=blog&amp;item=8991</link>
            <description><![CDATA[
	So yesterday I finished screen printing the 12"x12", 3 color, Balance and Composure / Tigers Jaw posters, to only be sold through the pre-orders via no sleep records.

	 



	I am not going to lie. I hurt so bad printing alittle over 100 of these bad boys. I havent printed in almost a year, so my arms kept failing on me. Alas, they are done, and I am pretty proud of the final product and glad to see it go to finish.

	 

	A big thanks to my friend Barb, down at NYU who helped me out printing these things. She is the one holding the print in the classic "heres the print" pose.
]]></description>
            <pubDate>Tue, 27 Apr 2010 01:36:54 +0000</pubDate>
        </item>
        <item>
            <title>You Should Go To The Ely</title>
            <link>http://ohger.com/ofishel&amp;area=blog&amp;item=8981</link>
            <description><![CDATA[


	It has been almost a year since I graduated from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, and alot of my friends there are now seniors. As I scroll through my facebook and twitter feed, alot of them are getting really excited for the departments big event. The William H. Ely Exhibit!

	The exhibition is of 4 pieces of art, per student, in a series for a specific target market. This is the first time students had to research a market head first, and make a series of works for their "dream client". Everything from posters for the Philadelphia Zoo, Editorial illustrations, interactive book jackets, and so on were made.

	If your an Art Director in or just happened to be be in Philadelphia, you should go to this event at Hamilton Hall on the Corner of Broad and Pine street, Center City. I sadly, will not be attending. I had planned on going but grad school/pro-illo work has been kicking at my heels, keeping me from going down to the City of Brotherly Love.

	So Please, Go support the future of illustration tomorrow from 3pm-5pm.
]]></description>
            <pubDate>Sat, 17 Apr 2010 22:31:36 +0000</pubDate>
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        <item>
            <title>Going Away To College</title>
            <link>http://ohger.com/ofishel&amp;area=blog&amp;item=8960</link>
            <description><![CDATA[

	A few weeks ago I sat down with my roommate Matt, and we got onto the subject of attending college in terms of Today versus Ten to Fifteen Years ago. One thing we both thought was interesting was how when we were in middle school, we were told it was ideal to go to college because honestly, what can you do with just a high school diploma? Fast forward today, when it comes to job hunting after college, it seems that a lot of places are looking for either &ldquo;3-5 years experience&rdquo; and/or a masters degree attached to your resume. Matt and I have been struggling to find a part time job anywhere really in New York City while we are attending school.  Luckily for me, I was able to pick up two paid internships. (thank you guys!)

	 

	This isn&rsquo;t an unusual kind of story. A few of my friends from my hometown, who got degrees to become teachers, accountants, and so on, that seem safe to get jobs with benefits, just aren&rsquo;t as available as they were five to ten years ago due to the economy. I read the graphic novel &ldquo;Breakfast Afternoon&rdquo; by Andi Watson, which pretty much is the same thing. Two lovers get laid off, they are struggling to find work, the one goes back to school, finishes and then cant get a job because she doesn&rsquo;t have experience or the next degree up from that to get one. 

	 

	It just seems like people are getting the degrees that they need to achieve a better life, but no one is getting in the door.
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            <pubDate>Fri, 02 Apr 2010 06:12:33 +0000</pubDate>
        </item>
        <item>
            <title>The Future is almost here</title>
            <link>http://ohger.com/ofishel&amp;area=blog&amp;item=8913</link>
            <description><![CDATA[
	Wired Magazine is ahead of the curve on moving toward digital publishing. Really excited to see who's next to follow.

	
		

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            <pubDate>Mon, 22 Feb 2010 19:01:35 +0000</pubDate>
        </item>
        <item>
            <title>Spirit Desire</title>
            <link>http://ohger.com/ofishel&amp;area=blog&amp;item=8906</link>
            <description><![CDATA[
	I had the pleasure of working with Chuck from Tiny Engines Records on a really awesome project. Chuck asked me if I was interested in doing illustration and design for a limited edition cover that would be screen printed for the last Tigers Jaw release, "Spirit Desire". I was happy to accept the job so I forwarded over some sketches. Out of the 5, they liked two of them.

	

	When I create a sketch for a client, I don't want my brain to get in the way of my hand. In art school, they often told me I was lazy or I didn't show I care about the sketches and it made them feel like "Why should I care about this piece you COULD create, if you don't show it worked out?" This isn't true at all. I feel like if I get to caught up in the detail to early on, that I will loose steam as I go to the finish.

	

	So I got an email back saying they like the one with the girl with the swirls but they like the guy with the smoke coming out of his neck. So I finished both. The guy with the spirit smoke coming out of his neck is going to be the 7" wrap around and the other illustration is going to be a poster that the band is going to sell on tour.

	
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            <pubDate>Mon, 15 Feb 2010 23:09:47 +0000</pubDate>
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        <item>
            <title>Nick Dewar</title>
            <link>http://ohger.com/ofishel&amp;area=blog&amp;item=8894</link>
            <description><![CDATA[
	I remember it pretty clearly. It was near the end of my junior year and I wanted to find a few illustrators past and present that caught my eye and really set a spark in me. I was lucky to stumble upon Nick Dewar's work.
	
	



	I was sad to hear that Nick, recently past away. I have never met, or talked to Nick, but his brilliant work has made a huge impact on me. My heart and thoughts goes out to Nicks family.



	]]></description>
            <pubDate>Tue, 02 Feb 2010 01:26:48 +0000</pubDate>
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        <item>
            <title>Happy Holidays</title>
            <link>http://ohger.com/ofishel&amp;area=blog&amp;item=8842</link>
            <description></description>
            <pubDate>Sat, 19 Dec 2009 19:19:14 +0000</pubDate>
        </item>
        <item>
            <title>Decision</title>
            <link>http://ohger.com/ofishel&amp;area=blog&amp;item=8835</link>
            <description><![CDATA[
	
		I want to Thank Everyone that commented on my image a few days ago. The multiple insights helped improve the image to a better read, than it would have otherwise. 
	
		Thank you.

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            <pubDate>Thu, 17 Dec 2009 13:32:57 +0000</pubDate>
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        <item>
            <title>Book Seminar Project Preview</title>
            <link>http://ohger.com/ofishel&amp;area=blog&amp;item=8819</link>
            <description><![CDATA[
	In the first semester at the School of Visual Arts, MFA Illustration program, we all take an intense 15 week class called "Book Seminar". The idea behind the class is that we take a story that we are all given and run with it. We can do whatever we want in the class as long as it relates somehow to the story.
	

	As a spiller, I am going to say that the story we all had to interpret was Miroslav Penkov's, "Buying Lenin". It's a story about the connection between a bulgarian grandson and grandfather and the things they carried throughout their lives together. (loved ones dying of cancer/car crashes, the grandfather losing his country from communism to capitalism, ect) Many people took the story in different ways like a few people are doing 15-30 page comics, a girl is doing a light hearted childrens book version of some of the flash backs in the story, Will Varner is doing a series of posters based on Lenin's corpse..... We all are basically taking liberties with how we want to present the story or fragments of the story to relate to the project we are doing. They all don't need to even apply to fill into a book format either. A few folk are just making a series of images that relate to the story.

	What I am doing with my project is taking Life lessions that are applied throughout the story "Buying Lenin" and creating a series of conceptual images that relate and follow suite. It was very difficult text tonbspinterpret, but I was able to get 7 out of 10 proposed life lessions approved to move into finished images.

	The image above deals with the impermanence he has with his wife as later she would die of cancer. I depicted a younger version of the grandfather and grandmother, sitting beside one another (a scene from the story). The thing that has me excited more about this image than any other image I have done before is that it isn't a illustration of figures from the shoulders up. 

	Below here is some of things for this image for the class....

	
	

	

	Original Sketch: I wanted to originally have grandma fade away as flower petals, but the poetry to the image was alittle to much and was advised to just made her fade out. 



	

	Finished Drawing - This is the original drawing with a light touch of levels in photoshop before the actual painting. 



	

	First Round Finish - Everyone loved it, but it comes off more like the printer ran out of toner than a transparent screenprint over printed chairs. So I had to go into the painting and add some more wood pieces to shine it up some more. 



	

	Finished  illustration. 



	If you want to add in your 2 cents to make the piece better, please do so. If your afraid of looking rude on the public forum by bringing me down and placing your opinion, please email me - mail@o-fishel.com 

	I'd love to hear what you think.

	**** 
]]></description>
            <pubDate>Thu, 10 Dec 2009 05:57:26 +0000</pubDate>
        </item>
        <item>
            <title>Michael Cera</title>
            <link>http://ohger.com/ofishel&amp;area=blog&amp;item=8808</link>
            <description><![CDATA[
	I was very excited when I received an email to do an illustration for Alex Chow, over at Nylon Guys Magazine, because Nylon is on my top 10 list of magazines to do illustration for. So to do a illustration for Nylon Guys, is close enough to count as doing an illustration for Nylon. Plus, It is doing the second thing I love to do next to conceptual illustration. Likeness Portraiture.

	Alex asked me to do an likeness illustration of the actor Michael Cera for his role in the new movie coming out this January called "Youth in Revolt". It's a movie about an awkward boy who falls in love with a girl, who doesn't like him because he is sorta emo/nerdy/whimpy. So, he creates a bad-ass alter-ego, who blows stuff up, get's him laid, and a bunch of other awesome stuff.

	When it comes to the illustration itself, it's pretty much a weird surreal, mirrored image of him in his trailer (totally relate), and inside the mirror total bad ass. The hardest part of the illustration was the likeness itself. I had drawn his face many times over until it looked close enough to Cera's face. I had even shown it to my studiomates for a fresh eye to the piece and gotten some great imput. I still have alot to learn, and since I have been focusing so hard on creating characters to help tell stories, I feel the need now to work harder on getting more recognizable faces in practice.

	So look out for this magazine soon, and also look for my awesome contributor piece in the magazine too!! 

	I wanna thank Alex Chow, and Kristin Eddington over at Nylon for this awesome opportunity.

	
	
	
	
	
		
			
	
	
	

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            <pubDate>Sat, 05 Dec 2009 13:22:53 +0000</pubDate>
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            <title>Separating Colored Inks in Photoshop</title>
            <link>http://ohger.com/ofishel&amp;area=blog&amp;item=8777</link>
            <description><![CDATA[
	It&rsquo;s no secret that I love creating digital paintings. What people may not know is the craziness I do on paper that translates into my off register silkscreen looking stuff I do. As a early holiday gift to everyone I am going to walk you through the beginning of my process of one of my illustrations. How to Color inked line work and/or colored ink line. (the magic wand tool is for chumps)



	First let me talk about tools and surfaces I use. I use Speedball Black india ink, and Liquitex Colored inks. I recommend mixing your colored inks, around 2/3 ink, and 1/3 distilled water. If you don&rsquo;t use distilled water, your inks may start to smell, as if you sat tap water out for a few days in the sun. I use Winsor Newton Series 7 #1 and #4 brushes because they handle well, and keep a sharp point for 4 to 7 months. I acquired 3 free box's of random sheets of different bristol, watercolor paper, and colored textured papers, so I don't know what brand of paper I am using. If you have to use anything, use a bristol or stone hedge for clean lines and Arches 80 lb. watercolor paper for textured lines.



	

	So you have a scanned piece of artwork with colored lines. Black, Blue, and Red work's best. A Blue Green line can work as a forth but it can be tricky to separate.



	

	Now go to Image > Adjustments > Levels and pump up your saturation by moving the black tool bar and kill some of the paper grain by pulling the white bar over. The levels is a tool to controls how much lights and darks are in a image. If you had just black line, you would move the black and white bar&rsquo;s at the bottom of the Shade and tint mountains. Those mountains represent how much light value and how much dark values are on that sheet.



	

	The next step is to make a new layer above your background image and click over to channels. Start clicking on Red, Green, and Blue separately. You&rsquo;ll notice different amounts of the colors you laid down show up. This is because channels is a way for the computer to separate different amounts of value of each hue to make up what you see when RGB is all put together. I like the amount of detail left in the red layer so I am going to drag it down to the sun (marked in red) at the bottom. After I do that, it selected everything that shows in that channel. Now click on the RGB channel before going any further from here.



	

	The next step is to go to select >Inverse. Once your selection is inversed, you can then go to your polygonal lasso tool and deselect area's you don't want, or you can paint in the area and just delete anything unneeded.



	
		 
	
		
	
		 
	
	


	Now I am going to add another layer, and then go back into channels, pick a different channel and repeat the steps above. In this step I did use the polygonal lasso tool to deselect area&rsquo;s I have already colored, and painted over this layer twice over to take it from the textured area&rsquo;s to a more solid filled thorn. 

	
	
	


	There you have it. The foundation to coloring colored line work and the beginning to coloring a digital illustration.



	
	

	Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!
]]></description>
            <pubDate>Wed, 25 Nov 2009 04:32:35 +0000</pubDate>
        </item>
        <item>
            <title>Long Distance Relationships</title>
            <link>http://ohger.com/ofishel&amp;area=blog&amp;item=8774</link>
            <description><![CDATA[
	
		We've all been there atleast once...

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            <pubDate>Mon, 23 Nov 2009 01:54:48 +0000</pubDate>
        </item>
        <item>
            <title>Communal Sketchbook</title>
            <link>http://ohger.com/ofishel&amp;area=blog&amp;item=8753</link>
            <description><![CDATA[
	So the First Years at SVA MFA started a communal Sketchbook to be filled by the end of our Second year. I think it is doable since it's the size of a phonebook. It's too bad the pages are 60lb, because painting in acrylics and inks on those pages starts to make the pages curl.

	Anyway, I filled this page up and added a few drawings to other pages (not shown). I had to stop or I wouldnt get any of my work done.

	I Call this - "Ode to New Jersey"



	Close up
	
	
	
		
	
		More to come later...

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            <pubDate>Tue, 17 Nov 2009 02:49:28 +0000</pubDate>
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        <item>
            <title>The Upsides</title>
            <link>http://ohger.com/ofishel&amp;area=blog&amp;item=8741</link>
            <description><![CDATA[
	I was asked by my good friends The Wonder Years to provide some hand lettering to go on to their new album, "The Upsides" coming out in late January.

	When I talked to one of the guys 9 months ago while they were in pre-production, why they were choosing to use photography for this record whenever other records they put out had been beautifully illustrated; the answer was simple. They wanted to try something new, and had a lot of friends that did photography they wanted to try out. None the less I was glad to draw up some hand lettering to go on the cover of their new record. Below is the chosen piece enlarged in the first round of colors sent off to the band.



	


]]></description>
            <pubDate>Wed, 11 Nov 2009 22:48:41 +0000</pubDate>
        </item>
        <item>
            <title>Preparing for the future?</title>
            <link>http://ohger.com/ofishel&amp;area=blog&amp;item=8709</link>
            <description><![CDATA[


	
	


	When I was in my sophomore year in undergrad, I remember being the only person that wanted to truely explore the the realm of digital art. I saw nothing wrong with artist that wanted to paint in traditional media, I just knew that it was not for me. I wanted to get in front of the learning curve and really understand the medium. Last September I was talking to my friend Graham, who has aspirations to being an illustrator/animator about how I wanted to make my bread and butter in Editorial and book jacket illustration, and nbspthen not long after, the economy crashed.

	I created an entire book focused on targeting to market myself to the print industry, and a lot of places I had interest in are folding left and right. This isn't what I imagined when they said it would be hard to break into industry. 

	So instead of freaking out, just focusing on what is going on now, I am looking forward to what the future is. The future I see is in E-Paper, and in the Kindle's. 

	I believe that it's only a matter of time (like 10-20 years) before they stop printing books and possibly magazines and everything can be found on Kindles. What makes they more appealing than viewing them on your computer screens? As you will notice, your eyes probably hurt when you look at the computer screen. This is because when your looking at your computer screen, your looking at a 72 dpi display of whatever you got up. It's the lowest dpi that your eye can handle before the images are not translatable. Kindles on the other hand are rocking out at 250 - 300 dpi which is what print is typically seen in. E-Paper is the next wave of technology, made for magazine publishing and advertising. Folks in Japan are putting a lot of money into this because not only is it inexpensive, but it keeps a whole lot of trees from being cut down. Also E-paper/e-ink is pretty much the future in motion graphics on a low fi level to send out a message or advertise.(check out the link above.) 

	So what can illustrators of tomorrow do to prepare? Well for a class assignment, I was to create a Gif image animation made in photoshop, to illustrate/animate transportation/transport. Simple enough. This is the first image I have ever created that is animated, and it is something that could be the future of illustration. Low fi animated gif's for editorial illustration, E-paper advertisements, and a ton of other possibilities. 

	Edited Note: I updated the animation with a bird flying across recently. I had to save the image with less colors so it worked for the web. None the less it still looks awesome! 

	
	
]]></description>
            <pubDate>Tue, 27 Oct 2009 12:13:37 +0000</pubDate>
        </item>
        <item>
            <title>Summer Sketchbook</title>
            <link>http://ohger.com/ofishel&amp;area=blog&amp;item=8686</link>
            <description><![CDATA[
	
	
	
	
		So over the summer, I got my book making on and I made myself a sketchbook. I have pasted these images already on my blogger this summer but I wanted to bring these into this blog to show what I do in my sketchbook. These were all little experiments to try and draw without reference. Heres just a few of my favorites.
	
		
	
		
	
		

]]></description>
            <pubDate>Tue, 13 Oct 2009 20:54:27 +0000</pubDate>
        </item>
        <item>
            <title>Hello</title>
            <link>http://ohger.com/ofishel&amp;area=blog&amp;item=8680</link>
            <description><![CDATA[


	
		Hello Everyone on Ohger!
	
	
	
		My name is Daniel Fishel and I am currently living in Queens, NY. I am a recent illustration graduate from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, and I am currently enrolled at The School of Visual Arts, MFA Illustration as a Visual Essay program in Manhattan.
	
	
	
		I want to thank my former teacher Matt Curtius, for giving me the heads up on this great project. I would also like to thank the creators of this blog for giving me an additional opportunity for my work to be seen, and to share what I have to talk about.
	
	
	
		The Above image was for my Book Seminar Class here at SVA. The sketch for this particular piece was rejected. I still loved the sketch and ideas within it so I went ahead and finished the image anyway.

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            <pubDate>Mon, 12 Oct 2009 19:55:55 +0000</pubDate>
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