Sightseeing in England


For some reason I only end up posting my drawings of England on rainy days! But here are some "Greatest Hits of England" drawings from the trip. First up, the White Tower in the Tower of London complex, built in 1078 by William the Conqueror.


Parliament Square: Big Ben, Parliament, Westminster Abbey, double-decker buses, and a statue of Winston Churchill! 


The Shambles is the oldest street in the city of York, with timber-framed buildings that teeter over the narrow cobblestone path. Many of the buildings date from the late 14th and 15th centuries.


Finally, a beautiful sunny day in the gardens watching the swans, at the royal palace of Hampton Court.

For more of Evan Turk's travel illustration, check out the link below: 
Evan Turk Travel Illustration

Winter at Mystic Seaport & Ezra Jack Keats Honor



It's been a while since my last post, but I've been busy finishing up the artwork for my next children's book! It is my first book as author and illustrator, called The Storyteller, due out in 2016 (more to come soon)! I'm also thrilled to announce that I received the Ezra Jack Keats Award Honor for New Illustrator for Grandfather Gandhi! Keats was an incredible illustrator, and I am so honored to be in his company in this way.


I also had the chance to go back up to Mystic Seaport with Dalvero Academy this past weekend, for a snowy and beautiful couple of days. The first day was COLD, so my hands only emerged for brief amounts of time before I ran back inside. The Charles W. Morgan looked like an ice-stranded Arctic vessel in the frozen Mystic River.


This was our first time seeing Mystic Seaport's newest acquisition, the Mayflower II! Built in 1957, it is a historical replica of the original Mayflower, created in England as a symbol of partnership between our two countries after WWII. She's an odd looking ship, but a lot of fun to draw! I'm looking forward to learning more about her as the restoration continues.


The next day we were treated to the most beautiful snowstorm, with snowflakes the size of butterflies settling over the quaint New England houses. A small flock of hooded mergansers (some of the most adorable little ducks) flitted all over the frozen river.


As the snow cleared away, all of the color began to return to the landscape.


Blue sky and sunlight finally broke through the clouds.


Still trapped in the ice, The Morgan seemed like it was coming to life too.


Hopefully this is a sign that spring can't be too far off, and the ice will be melting soon.

For more of Evan Turk's travel illustration, check out the link below: 
Evan Turk Travel Illustration

Olives of Gethsemane



For the start of the new year, I thought I'd post some drawings I did near the beginning of last year from my trip to Israel. Outside the walls of Jerusalem lies the Garden of Gethsemane, a grove of ancient olive trees said to be the same trees Jesus prayed beneath the night before his crucifixion.


Whether or not these could really be the same trees is up for debate. The trunks of three of the trees have been dated as old as 1092, 1166, and 1198 CE. Nearly one thousand years old, but not old enough to have witnessed times during the life of Jesus. It is said that when the Romans conquered Jerusalem in 70 AD, they cut down every tree in the area.


But olive trees have a miraculous ability of perseverance and regeneration. Beneath the thousand year old trunks lie even more ancient roots. Some say that the roots may be over two thousand years old.


Olive trees can regenerate themselves from their roots, even after fire, destruction, and decay. Despite the hollow, scarred trunks, the new life in the branches springs from the life of the ancient roots.


Olive branches are a symbol of peace, but also of the essence that survives hardship and renews itself.


So here's to a brand new year, with the possibility of healing, growth, and new life!

Happy 2015! 

For more of Evan Turk's travel illustration, check out the link below: 
Evan Turk Travel Illustration

Cubic Greco-Romans


I had the chance to go to the Metropolitan Museum of Art for the first time in a while yesterday! I got to check out the new 65 million dollar entrance (meh) and the new Cubism show (yay!). It was a quick trip, but I got to spend a little time drawing around the Greco-Roman galleries afterwards.


It is always a nice palate-cleanser to go to such an amazing museum after working on projects for a while. It helps to scramble your brain a bit, and point it in new directions.


Can't wait to go back next week!

Rainy England

 

It was a rainy day in New York City today, so I thought I'd post some drawings from some of the rainier days of my trip to England this summer. It rained for about half the trip, and although it impeded some drawing opportunities, I don't think I'd have had it any other way. The countryside just looked so much more English on the rainy days. The painting above is from the village of Ebrington in the Cotswolds, which is possibly one of the quaintest places on the planet. I started the painting during a brief break in the rain, but soon the rain began to pick up. The colors started to blend into one another, and everything took on a soft, squishy look that was much more what the village felt like. The mist dappled the watercolors and made them feel just like the moss that covered every surface.


Continuing the soft and squishy trend of the English countryside were the flocks of adorable sheep that dotted the hillsides. I painted these one very rainy morning from our bedroom in a local farm house that overlooked a field covered with sheep.


Sheep are hilarious looking animals, with silly, huggable shapes that seem predestined for nursery rooms and plush toys.


I couldn't get over how cute the lambs were. Often, two of them would run at their mother from a distance and begin suckling on either side with their tiny tails wagging.


The last rainy painting was from our journey to Highclere Castle, or as it's more commonly known, Downton Abbey. Like all good American tourists, my knowledge of English culture is dictated by a melodramatic soap opera with gorgeous production values! I have to say, TV show aside, the Highclere estate really is incredible. The house is surrounded by lush, rolling hillsides covered with dark forests, scurrying white lambs, and enormous bushes of rhododendrons and azaleas in sunset colors.

For more of Evan Turk's travel illustration, check out the link below: 

People of Marrakech


I just returned from a trip to Morocco where I was exploring, drawing, and researching for an upcoming children's book about Morocco. I met amazing people, saw amazing things, and left feeling bewildered and inspired. Most of the work I did there, I will be posting closer to the release of the book (2016!) but I couldn't resist posting a few snapshots of people in Marrakech.



 

 

For more of Evan Turk's travel illustration, check out the link below: 

National Geographic Traveller: India & Let's Get Busy!


I am back from a wonderful trip to England with some VERY exciting news to announce! Before I left, I was asked to create illustrations for the Indian edition of National Geographic Traveller magazine to go with an travel article about places throughout India that were important in the life of Gandhi called, "In the Footsteps of the Mahatma". They used illustrations from Grandfather Gandhi to represent several of these places, and asked me to create three new illustrations in the same style to show different points on Gandhi's life.

As a huge fan of National Geographic and travel illustration, this was a dream job to get. Even more, they surprised me by putting one of my illustrations on the cover of the issue! It was an amazing feeling seeing that iconic golden rectangle around one of my illustrations. Thank you to the innovative editor Niloufer Venkatraman for the opportunity! You can preview the issue on their site, here: National Geographic Traveller: India


First, was his childhood home in Porbandar, which is maintained as a historical site. Here, young Gandhi is shown in his favorite room on the upper floor of the house. He liked to read up there because the room was so airy and well-ventilated.


The second was Rajkot, where Gandhi lived as a boy. He attended the stately Alfred High School in the background (now known as Mohandas Gandhi High School) and loved to play cricket.


The last (and my personal favorite) was Gandhi as a young lawyer in Mumbai, getting off the train in the Churchgate Station.

In other news, I was also recently featured on the Let's Get Busy! Kids Literature podcast, where I was interviewed by the wonderful Matthew Winner! We talk about travel, my upcoming projects, and the story of how I came to work on Grandfather Gandhi! It was a great pleasure to do, so I hope you enjoy listening! (Link below)

Israel: Jerusalem: Western Wall


The Western Wall, or kotel, in Jerusalem is considered the most sacred place in Judaism, and has been a pilgrimage site for Jews since the 4th century. A wall of enormous blocks of Jerusalem limestone is all that remains of the Jewish temple built by King Herod in 516 BC, after its destruction by the Romans in 70 AD. When writing about holy Jewish and Muslim sites in Jerusalem, every sentence is a political statement. Even the previous sentence is loaded, since some Muslims believe that Judaism has no religious claims to anywhere in Jerusalem. When discussing the area around the Wall, it becomes even more difficult. Under Jordanian rule, from 1948 – 1967, Jews were forbidden to come to the wall. When Israel conquered Jerusalem in 1967, they liberated the wall for Jews in an emotional celebration, and demolished the Muslim neighborhoods that surrounded it in the now non-existent Moroccan Quarter.


Politics aside, there is no denying that the Western Wall is an incredible pilgrimage site for millions of Jews around the world. This pile of stones, with no special aesthetic value above any of the other stone walls around the ancient city, is made sacred only through the prayers and connections of the millions of pilgrims that place their hands against its cool, hand-worn surface.

 

In contrast to the solemnity and darkness of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the outdoor Wall Plaza is often full of singing and celebration. Bar mitzvahs, celebrations for boys entering manhood at age 13, are held in front of the wall every Monday and Thursday.

 

Boys beam from ear to ear as they carry enormous Torah scrolls with the men of their family. 
 

After the ceremony is complete, the congregations erupt into swirling circles of dancing and singing of the hora, as female relatives and onlookers peer over the divider between the men’s and women’s sides of the wall and toss candy as tradition.


Another Jewish tradition, tefillin, which consists of small black boxes containing verses from the Torah, and leather straps wrapped around the head, arm, hand, and fingers, is worn by observant Jews during weekday morning prayers. The origins of tefillin in the Torah are fairly vague in their symbolism, but they are described as a reminder of God’s bringing the Israelites out of Egypt and a protection against evil thoughts.


There is a stall near the plaza that will wrap the tefillin for you, to experience the prayer. The man asked if I would like to try it, and I asked what the meaning behind it was. He described the leather strap, which runs from the parchment scroll box, around the arm tightly down to between the fingers, serves as a symbol of connection between mind, heart, and hand. It is a physical reminder that a person should strive to connect his thoughts and feelings into action.


I saw a group of soldiers from the Israeli Army have the tefillin tied and the talit, prayer shawl, draped around their shoulders. They all then prayed at the wall, and several of them also wrote notes and put them in between the cracks of the stones.


Most of the moments at the Wall, though, are of quiet, personal connection. Young men and old men alike place their hands and heads against the Wall in quiet prayer. Proud fathers lead their sons to touch the wall for the first time.


Men often leaned against the Wall for so long, eyes closed, sometimes with tears falling down their cheeks, that when they opened their eyes, the sun was too bright and they looked like they had awakened from a trance.


The cracks between the stones burst with prayers and wishes written on scraps of paper and pushed as close to holiness as possible.


It is these spaces in between the stones that are sacred, physical reminders of hope. Like the plants that grow from in between the stones, there is the potential for life.
 
 

The Wall stands, not as a monument to a temple that existed two thousand years ago, but as a monument to tradition, hope, and connection.

For more of Evan Turk's travel illustration, check out the link below: 

Gay Pride Seattle/Gay Marriage NY in 'Understanding Illustration'


I am excited to announce that my reportage of Seattle's Gay Pride Parade and the passing of gay marriage in New York were featured in the book 'Understanding Illustration' by Derek Brazell and Jo Davies! Inside are several of the images from the reportage and an interview/essay about the process and meaning behind them. The book was released in the UK last week, and came out today in the US.


I received my copy, and the book is beautifully designed and curated, with 37 different artists whose work is examined in-depth to look at how they communicate through images. I am so honored to have been included in the book, and hope you will all take a look, as there is a great collection of artists inside. A big thank you to Derek Brazell for including me in the book!





You can take a look at my original posts on the events below, from my Picture for 1000 Voices Project on gay rights:

Gay Pride Seattle
Gay Marriage NY



Grandfather Gandhi


Today is the release date for my first children's book, 'Grandfather Gandhi'! Written by Mahatma Gandhi's grandson, Arun Gandhi, and author Bethany Hegedus, it is the story of a young boy learning to use his anger to create change, with the guidance of his monumental grandfather.


The book has been a dream job, especially for my first job out of school, and it's so wonderful to finally have it out in the world!

Below is the book trailer with narration from authors Arun and Bethany, music by Ustad Ghulam Farid Nizami, and animation and illustration by yours truly!


(Trailer also available on YouTube)

The reviews so far have been wonderful, including a starred review from both Kirkus Reviews and Publishers Weekly! Here are a few quotes about the art from early reviews:

Turk mixes carefully detailed renderings with abstracted expressions of emotional struggle, achieving a powerful balance. - See more at: http://books.simonandschuster.com/Grandfather-Gandhi/Arun-Gandhi/9781442423657#sthash.kCROT9aI.dpuf
"Turk mixes carefully detailed renderings with abstracted expressions of emotional struggle, achieving a powerful balance."
-Booklist, December 2013

"Turk’s complex collages, rich in symbolic meaning and bold, expressive imagery, contribute greatly to the emotional worldbuilding."
-Kirkus Review, starred review

"Turk’s illustrations are stylized, strikingly patterned, and rendered in contrasting purples and golds, blues and creams, blacks and whites, highlighting the tension between anger and peace. Dynamic visuals and storytelling create a rousing family story that speaks to a broad audience."
-Publishers Weekly, starred review


Also, check out the site for the book GrandfatherGandhi.com where you can read posts about the book, its creation, and its themes from myself and the two authors. You can also take a Pledge inspired by the message in the book, to Live Your Life As Light.


More to come soon on this blog about the making of the art and illustrations for Grandfather Gandhi!

 (Atheneum/Simon & Schuster)

Colorado Flood Relief Fundraiser

I am a Colorado native, and I happened to be back in my home state for my brother's wedding while the unbelievable flooding was happening near the mountains. While we experienced only heavy rain in my neighborhood, up in 15 other counties the damage was crippling. 8 people were killed, hundreds were missing, 19,000 homes were damaged, and over 1,500 were completely destroyed. It's going to take a long time, and a lot of help for people to get their lives back on track.

To help in any small way I can, I am going to be selling prints for the next 2 weeks (through October 20) with proceeds going to the American Red Cross disaster relief in Colorado. The selection of prints includes 3 drawings/paintings of the beautiful Colorado landscape done in Boulder and Rocky Mountain National Park, two of the hardest hit areas of the floods. The final selection is a drawing for an ongoing project on the history and future of the settling of Colorado and the west. This image is available in its full, panoramic format, as well as in three smaller sections.

All prints are signed and printed on gallery quality rag paper with archival inks, ready for mounting and framing. Price of print includes cost of printing materials and shipping, with the entirety of the rest being donated to the Red Cross. I will wait until the fundraiser has ended and send one large check. Payment through Paypal to evan@evanturk.com
Please e-mail me with your selection AND your shipping address, and send the donation through Paypal. (E-mail me with any questions as well)



"The Flatirons"
8.5 x 11 - $35
11 x 17 - $60


"Purple Mountain Majesty"
8.5 x 11 - $35


"Rocky Mountain Sunset"
8.5 x 11 - $35


"The West"
9 x 44 - $180



"The West: Settlers"
8.5 x 11 - $35
17 x 11 - $60


"The West: Collision"
8.5 x 11 - $35
17 x 11 - $60


"The West: Beginning"
8.5 x 11 - $35
17 x 11 - $60

 Please let me know if you have any questions!


Governor's Island: African Film Festival Celebration

The whole scene looked like a quilt, pieced together with vibrant patterns and shapes all moving and flowing together in rhythm to the beat of the drum.

This past weekend I went with a few friends to a celebration for the African Film Festival on Governor's Island. I had never been out there before, but this was a great way to experience the beautiful island for the first time. There was tasty food, huge shady lawns, and a big African dance class with several groups of drummers and choreographers from different places in Africa.

 
Everyone was having a wonderful time letting loose.

The dancers' bodies were moving so fast, my hands could barely keep up.  
One beautiful woman had the face of a lioness, and danced pretty ferociously too.




Disneyworld: Hollywood Studios



I just got back from another wonderful drawing trip to Disneyworld in Orlando with 8 (long) days of drawing, studying, and learning. It's always nice to be able to completely reorient yourself and come back feeling exhausted, refreshed, inspired, and playful.


One of my favorite days this trip was a day at Disney Hollywood Studios (MGM) where I got to play around with a town of sunny and colorful California art deco.





iPad Portraits For Time Inc. Event

 

Last night I had the pleasure of being hired along with two other artists, Tae Won Yu and Jorge Colombo, to do "live drawing" portraits of partygoers at Time Inc.'s party for their "Top 10 NYC Startups To Watch".

 

It was a great party on a beautiful roof-deck in Chelsea, with a chance to meet some very nice people. It was a fantastic experience, and I hope to be able to do it again soon!

"Restoring a Past, Charting a Future" Opens at Mystic Seaport!



The Dalvero Academy show at Mystic Seaport is finally open! I had the chance to go up and see it this weekend, and I am so thrilled that the show has come to fruition after 3 years and so proud to be a part of it.

My contribution to the show focuses on the theme of woodcarving as a symbol for the creation of the Charles W. Morgan, the last surviving wooden whaleship in the world, and the carving of global culture that grew out of whaling and survives today. These are a few drawings I did about the woodcarver's shop. Definitely go check out the show! In addition to drawings, I am also exhibiting my own wood carved sculptures and an animated short film, not to mention the incredible art from the 23 other artists I'm honored to be showing with!

You can read more about the show and its artists here:

Dalvero Mystic

Birthday Cherry Blossoms

 

My birthday happens to fall right around cherry blossom season, so I try to make a trip down to see them every spring. Chris and I had a wonderful day at the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens where not only the cherry blossoms were in bloom, but the bluebells, lilacs, and wisteria. Definitely the right week to go!

Happy Spring!


"Restoring a Past, Charting a Future" at Mystic Seaport, Part 2


This is a drawing I made at last summer's Sea Shanty Festival in Mystic Seaport. Check out posts and drawings from other artists from the upcoming show "Restoring a Past, Charting a Future" by Dalvero Academy.

Alex Charner
Audrey Hawkins
Julia Sverchuk
Bill Martin
Si-Yeon Lee
Christine Foltzer
Danielle McManus
Rosa Lee
Veronica Lawlor

"Restoring a Past, Charting a Future" at Mystic Seaport


I am proud to announce that I am participating in an upcoming show at Mystic Seaport as a part of Dalvero Academy called "Restoring a Past, Charting a Future". You can see a preview of some of the wonderful art and learn more about the show here:

http://dalveromystic.com/

It is a group of 24 artists who have been documenting the restoration of the last wooden whaling ship in the world, The Charles W. Morgan, and the art that came out of that study and research.

Inspired by my friend and fellow Dalvero-er, Alex Charner, I'll be posting some drawings from Mystic that I've done that will not be at the show. Check out his beautiful daily posts here:

http://alexcharner.com/

As well as Julia Sverchuk's fantastic drawings from Mystic here:

http://juliaidrawings.blogspot.com/

Featured in Varoom! Magazine

Exciting news!

My reportage of Seattle Gay Pride was featured in Varoom! Magazine, a UK publication put out by the Association of Illustrators.



"Depicting the celebratory nature of a Gay Pride march is always going to include the most flamboyant participants, and Evan Turk's drawings from this year's parade in Seattle capture the muscle guys and drag queens with rapid lines and streaks of colour. He expands the story by turning his eye to those watching the march and equally celebrates the older people and possible first timers sharing an empowering event such as this." -Derek Brazell for Varoom!

Very exciting to see, and also exciting to see a whole section on reportage in a publication like this!

Another of my illustrations from the event was used on the website.