When Greg Betza received this commission from Thomas Jefferson University to contribute to their magazine he was excited as he’s always been drawn to butterfly imagery and the idea of metamorphosis, but that was not at all what this was about. Butterfly disease is a devastating disorder that often leads to an aggressive and fatal skin cancer. People who have this rare genetic condition have skin as fragile as butterfly’s wings because their bodies do not make enough collagen to hold the layers of their skin together. This leads to painful blistering and ultimately cancer. Most patients do not live to the age of 35.
Fortunately this article was not only about the disease, but the promising research into a therapy to treat the disease. You can read the article and see more of Greg’s illustrations here: RESEARCH: Thomas Jefferson University
Greg Betza had a great collaboration with the team at Bowdoin Magazine on 2 illustrations for their Fall issue.
He was asked to illustrate the story of Bowdoin alum Ed Burton who searches for American soldiers who never came home. Whether POW or lost in battle his research has brought closure to countless families.
Studio 1482 would like to take this opportunity to thank every one of you that visited our site, liked our work, or just offered a note of support this year. It made a very difficult situation a little bit easier knowing you were there.
Because we couldn’t physically mail our annual calendars to you this year we have made them available as a FREE pdf download. We hope that our art brings you joy in the year to come.
Welcome to Armchair Travels, an invitation to travel around the world through the reportage illustration of Studio 1482.We have gathered art from our travels to share with you in the hopes that, while you can’t get out and see these places (yet), our experiences may bring some happiness and light to your day. Please check back often as we will be posting new adventures weekly.
Enjoy Chicago by Greg Betza…
The first drawing I remember making looking down the Michigan Avenue Bridge.
I first visited Chicago back in 2010 or 11, I can’t remember exactly, but what I do remember is that I fell in love with what I saw. Now Chicago is a sprawling area and I only had time to see the “downtown” area, but it was beautiful. Being from New Jersey New York City is my major U.S. city of record, and it is second to none, but Chicago is similar to New York just less crowded, congested, and to my eye, much cleaner (probably due to the almost 6 million! less people than NYC…). The major differentiator though for me is the Chicago River that cuts right through the city.
Chicago River
That was my first visit. What I missed, and a major reason why I came back, was that I did not have the opportunity to spend time drawing the city. In 2013 the opportunity arose when the Workbook announced their Creative Carnivalwould be held there. Fellow Studio 1482 member Dominick Santise and I decided to hit the road and head out to the windy city to attend…and spend a few days drawing!
Cloud gate, better knows as the Chicago Bean
Willis Tower
And draw is what we did. All day. For two guys in their late 30s (at the time) we really got around. Looking back at the drawings I’d think we had bikes, but I assure you we did not.
Trump tower Chicago
Chicago Theater sign
Chicago Theater
The city had a great energy, and for October it was quite comfortable. It was the perfect time to just be out drawing. And what I enjoyed so much about my time there was that the time was just spent drawing, for the love of doing it and nothing more. I picked up whatever materials felt right at the time, played around, made a mess, found something new here and there.
Chicago Theater and passers by
Picasso public sculpture
Rides at Navy Pier
Navy Pier ferris wheel
Chicago is a city full of incredible architecture, attractions, food/drink, and friendly welcoming people. I’ll always remember fondly the time I spent drawing there and the late night meals Dominick and I had to end our long days. A cider for him and a few local craft beers for me, not to be missed!
To see more Armchair Travels from the reportage artists of Studio 1482, please click HERE.
Welcome to Armchair Travels, an invitation to travel around the world through the reportage illustration of Studio 1482.We have gathered art from our travels to share with you in the hopes that, while you can’t get out and see these places (yet), our experiences may bring some happiness and light to your day. Please check back often as we will be posting new adventures weekly.
Enjoy Times Square, NYC by Greg Betza…
Times Square, that section of midtown New York City that has been referred to as the “Crossroads of the World”amongst other things (both favorable and not so much). It is a place that many native New Yorkers avoid at all costs and yet it is a not-to-be-missed destination for all tourists.
As a New Jersey native that spent a great deal of time in New York City, I have a certain fondness for Times Square, though I completely understand why you’d want to avoid it as well. What a contradiction!
Get me outta here!
Speaking of contradiction, could there be a place more antithetical to our current “new normal”? To think of the thousands of people that would traverse the area each day; have it reduced to a near ghost town in a matter of weeks. Chalk that up to things I’d never thought I’d see.
It was the masses of people that first brought me to Times Square to draw. It was a challenge. So many people, so much movement, even more personality. The architecture, the advertising, the lights! To learn to capture and tell that story was a lesson so important in my development as a reportage artist and illustrator. Here are a few early attempts.
Trips to draw here gave me the full sensory experience. Ears assaulted by honking horns, indiscernible shouts, tourists asking for directions…, music, discernible expletives, and of course, the pigeons!
The smells. Oh boy. From hot garbage in the summer, to the constantly wafting smell of something frying from the endless row of chain restaurants.
And watch your step, the garbage cans often overflow!
Now while this may sound horrible, it is what makes Times Square unique and as an artist you need to take it all in…the good and the bad, to tell the truth with your reportage. And despite all of this (and there is more) people flock here anyway and stay awhile. As did I, many, many times.
On a more positive note, looking up and around when you are here is inspiring. On the surface it can appear a soulless theme park devoted to consumerism, but if you can get past that tired and overused criticism, Times Square is home to so many visions realized. As a student of advertising I love to see the campaigns compete with each other publicly. How each brand approaches this space and how they utilize technology to bring their message to the masses is truly impressive. It’s a constantly evolving gallery.
One of the last times I spent a long day drawing in Times Square was back in 2010 when Mayor Bloomberg closed several sections to traffic, allowing the area to become more pedestrian friendly. I remember it was a very peaceful day, the people seemed to enjoy the space more than they had in the past and I believe I noticed more native New Yorkers hanging around that day too :)
I’m excited to introduce Armchair Travels, an invitation to travel around the world through the reportage illustration of Studio 1482. We have gathered art from our travels to share with you, in the hopes that, while you can’t get out and see these places (yet), our experiences may bring some happiness and light to your day. Please check back often as we will be posting new adventures weekly.
My trip to Joshua Tree National Park in southern California is an experience and an adventure that has made a lasting impression on me, both visually and emotionally. Although my visit to the park was only for one day I have frequent memories of the unique landscape of Joshua Tree National Park.
The Joshua Trees are extraordinary and different from any tree that I have seen. They wildly spread out in every direction with unlimited energy. The colors of the trees are bright and exciting and varying in so many ways.
They flare out and exude energy and vibrate against the sky.
Other than the Joshua Trees there are rock formations that are also intriguing with various patterns and colors.
The park landscape is a beautiful mixture of the trees and the rock formations and is also a combination of the two deserts, The Mojave Desert and the Colorado Desert.
Originally declared a National Monument in 1936, Joshua Tree was redesignated as a National Park on October 31, 1994, by the Desert Protection Act. The park is named for the Joshua Trees native to the Mojave Desert. Native Americans knew the Joshua tree as a source of food and fiber.
If you ever have the opportunity to visit Joshua Tree National Park please do not hesitate to go. You will love it and cherish your memories of it always. I am thrilled that I could make a few watercolors to add to my memories of my day in the Joshua Tree National Park. Right now the park is under quarantine, but hopefully it will open a little later this summer.
To see more Armchair Travels from the reportage artists of Studio 1482 please click HERE.
We hope that you and your loved ones are safe and well in this time of crisis.
Here at Studio 1482, we want to thank the medical professionals, first responders, and essential workers who are out there working for us every day. So we each created an illustrated thank you card for them.
To give to the heroes in your life, click the links below each illustration to download the images as either shareable digital files or for print on Avery 5315 note cards:
For the past few months I’ve been teasing this project on my Instagram and I’m so pleased to finally share it. I was commissioned by Smith Creative Labs to illustrate 3 short animations for the InterContinental Hotel Group’sLive the InterContinental Life campaign.
The animations were based on podcast interviews which told stories of empathy, worldliness and fascination and were recorded in London, Beijing, and New York City. Smith and animator Mark Bellncula were incredible partners to work with, granting me a tremendous amount of creative freedom and support. I couldn’t be any happier with how the animations turned out.
I loved that these pieces were created in a mostly traditional way, using sequential hand made drawings and paintings. Some of the longer panoramic drawings were so long that I had to work on my floor…and my floor became my desk! Whatever works.
I did my best to document the process of creating the animation art which I’ve included below. I appreciate you taking the time to look!
Pose 1
Large scale thumbnail drawingMy floor/desk
Many hours hunched over the light box!
chop chop chopMolePanoramic drawing of the kitchenMy wife and I enjoying a drinkself-portrait
The other day my son and I went to see, draw and SMELL the famous and rare Corpse Flower at the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx. It was a great adventure waiting on long lines in the 90 degree weather, and squirming through crowds in the humid tropics of the conservatory. I kept calling it an adventure to keep my son from running for the hills. Haha. But once he started reading about it and after finally seeing it, he was impressed.
We hung around the perimeter of the room drawing for about two hours and made a few friends from various media outlets. Click the photo of us below for a link to the BuzzFeed article we were featured in! We got a kick out of that. The NY Post interviewed us extensively but I don’t think we were used for their piece about the exotic flower.
P-U! Striking a pose for BuzzFeed
It was hard to settle down and concentrate with an energetic boy in the middle of huge crowds but I’m glad I got to get in some quick drawings of the crowds and the tallest flower I’ve ever seen.
Just standing around gawking at a huge stinking flower!Constant crowds with smartphone cameras snapping away
So, the flower is beautiful. But it smells ugly. And it’s scientific name, Amorphophallus titanum, means large misshapen phallus. I kept thinking they should’ve surrounded it with some orchids (meaning:testicles). So, on the lower left, I drew some little balls to go with the large penis. Hey, everyone there was cracking jokes, too! Anyway, besides being X-rated, the drawing is loaded with marks and dirty, “ugly” colors to illustrate it’s most famous feature. Because, in the end, it’s not the size or the rareness or the phallic shape or the 10-80 year bloom cycle that draws the crowds. It’s the stench. All those droves of people basically felt compelled to act when somebody said “Oh God this smells awful! Smell it.”
I was commissioned by Bloomingdales to ‘live-paint’ portraits of their customers. It was so nice to see their clients’ faces when they saw their likenesses appearing on paper. I don’t often talk about art with people who are not artists and it amazed me how impressed and fascinated they are by the process of creating art. Their observations and opinions are diverse and genuine. I learned a lot.
I went into the day thinking mostly about the job that I had to do and how I would execute it. I came away with so much more…meeting new people, of all ages, and hearing their thoughts on what I was doing and how much they enjoyed the process.
Thank you to Bloomingdales for asking me to live-paint portraits of your patrons. Great day!
I was commissioned this summer to work on a reportage assignment for NJ Monthly magazine. Being born and raised in New Jersey it was just that much better to be asked to drive around the state to visit and draw different “landmarks” throughout to help make the case for the best downtowns in New Jersey. I had a great time. Here are the drawings which appeared in the magazine (out now!) and the additional ‘rejected’ pieces that I made as well.
I’m excited to share this latest bit of good news with you. I was contacted earlier this year by a company designing a new Chicago office space for a global consulting firm. The company had seen my reportage drawings of Chicago and thought they would make a great addition to the space. I’m truly satisfied when I do work that I love and enjoy doing and someone finds a use for it. Here are a few photos from the new space. You can see the rest of my reportage here.
I was recently asked to create an illustration for Four Seasons Magazine. The story is about how children in Shanghai, a city with very little “green”, are being educated about the environment. I was really inspired by the opportunity to add a cultural feel to the illustration. Here is the final watercolor.
I’ve always been a fan of Guy Fieri, so I was thrilled to get a call to do some illustrations for his Miller Lite Grillin’ For Greatness campaign. Again, I was asked to draw a stadium! First, NBC Sports calls for the Stadium Series and soon after, Guy. The theme behind the stadium imagery is that his recipes (and Miller Lite) can be used during your tailgating parties this football season. Overall a fun project to work on. Here are the illustrations and the final print ads. #grillwithguy
It’s been a few years since I’ve worked for Four Seasons magazine, but I’m happy to have been asked to illustrate for them again. My last illustration for them dealt with Doctors Without Borders and this time I was asked to create an illustration for Australia’s Oaktree Foundation. Oaktree is a youth movement aimed at ending extreme poverty. It was amazing to learn about their foundation and to see how this group of young people turned their beliefs into action.
