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.

The New Yorker

Here are two recent pieces that I've done for The New Yorker.  

The first is about the genre of crime fiction novels based in Florida.  

The second piece is for and article that argues for the legitimacy of Sex And The City as a dynamic drama, not just a rom-com.  It shouldn't be overlooked next to crime-dramas like its peer, The Sopranos.

The portraits were a quite the challenge, but hopefully they're pretty close.

Digitally Spying Parents for Worth Magazine

Howdy! Here is a quick image I recently created for Worth magazine. It was great to work with an AD who was familiar with my work from the Alt-Weekly papers that basically jumpstarted my career as well as finally working with a magazine I've been trying to get my work into for years. The article was about how some parents hire private investigators to set up surveillance on their kids. This is usually done to protect them (bullying, drug use, etc), but it still brings up ethical issues...

Sketches:

I went for a pessimistic view of the subject matter as that seemed to be the nature of the article (and my own thoughts on the subject). No matter what age, who wants ANYONE accessing their private texts and phone calls. (Hello? Government? Are you listening?)

Final:

I wanted to play with fun juvenile colors while maintaing that dark ominous feel in the art. I submitted two versions (with and without the little trinket), and I was happy to hear this one was in the article.

Thanks for reading!

Enjoy the Day,
Chris

Lebron James for Nike - Jason Raish

Finally finished this piece. Nike T-shirt project that ended up getting killed. I did Kobe Bryant also. This was back in 2010 when he Lebron was with Cleveland Cavaliers. They wanted him to have his first shoe on, the "Nike Air Zoom Generation". This was what he looked like walking into the arena back then.  Here is Kobe