New wordpress site

Hi guys,

Please check out the new illostop site at illo-stop.com. Don't worry; eventually this domain will redirect straight to the wordpress site. Hope you enjoy the new design, and a special thanks to Jason, John, and Charlene for setting it up!

Growing Pains and Site ReVamp

Hi folks,

Just a quick note that Illostop will be undergoing some design and hosting changes. Please bear with us while we migrate to Wordpress with a new and improved layout. Thanks for your patience!

Enjoy the Day,
Illostop members

The War on Reporters for The Washington Post

The Obama White House is at war with leakers, according to The Washington Post. In an effort to stop would-be whistleblowers from disclosing classified information, the Department of Justice has been applying pressure to journalists. The administration has gone so far to prosecute some reporters using the World War I-era Espionage Act. Read the whole the whole story here. Art direction by Marianne Seregi.

Education Assignments- Chris Whetzel

Here are a couple recent education assignments:

The first article deals with how education is currently focusing on the wrong areas. Apparently, a large emphasis is placed on HOW teachers approach their class material and not WHAT that material is; basically, teachers are being told: "Teach with this setup, test formats, etc; but you teachers decide what content students need for real-world application." Does anyone else see an issue with that approach?

It seems so as teachers and reformers are up in arms about it and how it makes for a non-unified education. There seems to be movement toward teachers collaborating across districts to create lesson plans that relate in an effort to improve a student's education.

Sketches:

 Solution: working together for a cohesive Common Core

 Problem: non-defined content with only a focus on standardized testing goals

Situation: structure without content

Final:

The second article deals with how schools are taking on learning management systems in an effort to streamline the various duties of teachers and the options they have for such systems. The article focuses mainly on open-source vs paid systems; open source is free but full of issues/bugs/lack of customer support, and the article favors spending a little for a better experience.

Sketches:

Choice: Paid system served ready-to-go vs aid that is free but incomplete

Situation: Having to invest effort to avoid paying

Mutual partnership: companies helping teachers with workload

Final:

Thanks for reading!

Enjoy the Day,
Chris

Les Parisians - Sophisticated Lady

A personal project illustrating select people that I see around Paris. I saw this stunning woman standing in the background watching musicians play on St. Louis Bridge one day in early spring. J’ai vu cette éblouissante femme debout à l’arrière-plan regardant les musiciens jouer sur le Pont Saint Louis un jour au début du printemps.

I meet some of the people in my Parisians series on the street and get their email and later ask them some questions. I finally did the hand lettering for Catharina's story. Catharina in front of cafe "Le Progress". Jacket by "Mimi's Beer". She was born in Germany and a few weeks later her family left for Paris. Her passion was horseback riding and she was winning all the jumping competitions but at 18 she had to choose between horses or studies and she chose studies. She was also a model and published a book in German about her experiences. Catharina devant le cafe "Le Progrès". Vest par "Mimi's Beer". Elle est née en Allemagne et quelques semaines plus tard sa famille part pour Paris. Sa passion était l'equitation et elle gagnait toutes les compétitions du saut, mais à 18 ans elle du choisir entre les chevaux et les études et elle choisi études. Elle était aussi modéle et a publié un livre en Allemand sur ses expériences.