Tag Archives: chicago

ARMCHAIR TRAVELS – CHICAGO

September 29, 2020 Greg Betza

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.

New work, Reportage

Art in Space

August 24, 2015 Greg Betza

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.

New work

Chicago Magazine

April 1, 2015 Greg Betza

Had a chance to do some intricate line drawing for this illustration! It was interesting, and almost therapeutic, drawing all of these buildings and windows and streets and antenna and, and, and… And then I got to loosen up and work on a few lifestyle spots of things happening in front of the architecture. Great layout by the AD too.

New work

Another thing about Chicago!

August 10, 2014 Dominick Santise

The road to hell is paved with good intentions, or so the phrase goes. As I found a moment to freshen up the blog (the thing I promised myself I would stay on top of the last time I posted) I realized that the saying was hitting home on many levels. For one, I got back from Chicago—yes, last fall—with a renewed sense of purpose in terms of keeping on top of this portal. Work, family, home, the sun rising, pick a distraction. Good intention number one. Seeing that my Chicago trip was the last time I felt obliged to share, I found it funny that today’s subject was Chicago related as well. I had the privilege of doing an illustration for Hour Detroit magazine on a story about Asian Carp a few months ago. Turns out the US government brought the carp to Arkansas in the 70s as an ecological way of dealing with water treatment. Good intention number two. Flash back yet again, prior the carp story, and you find the Army Corp of Engineers connecting the mighty Mississippi to the Great Lakes, via the Chicago canal—enter Chicago and good intention number 3. Turns out the carp escaped form Arkansas and took the Mississippi straight north. It took a while but they are making their way through Chicago right about now en route to the Great Lakes—combine said good intentions and you have yourself a monster superhighway. For a great history of the Asian Carp in America, check out the article here. After that, check out this video on YouTube for another take on the issue.

Reportage

Chicago

October 18, 2013 Greg Betza

Last week, Studio 1482 illustrator Dominick Santise and I attended the Workbook Creative Carnival in Chicago. We then spent the next 2 days creating reportage drawings around the city. Now I love NY, but Chicago is like a friendly, clean, slightly more relaxed version…which frankly is nice from time to time. We navigated the city by foot, walking from landmark to landmark, checking out the wonderful public art all along the way, Picasso, Chagall, Dubuffet, etc. It was an inspiring few days and I’m excited to share of few of my drawings with you.

Events/Exhibitions

A Night of Drawing

October 14, 2013 Dominick Santise

Had the pleasure of attending the Workbook Creative Carnival last Thursday out in Chicago. This was my first time out to the carnival (no comments Bob) and it was a great time all around. It is really hard to have a bad time when you are asked to draw for prospective clients, get to mingle in a foreign city and help raise some money for scholarships. Thanks to everyone at Workbook for making the night happen. A few drawings and photos (thanks to Greg) from the night.

New work

The PrivateBank

February 23, 2011 Greg Betza

I had the opportunity to do some interesting line illustrations for The PrivateBank of Chicago. I was asked to create “continuous” line drawings for an employee booklet that illustrated “team values”, “stategic objectives” and “best people”. Below are the 3 spreads that I illustrated. Thanks Susan, it was great working with you!

Reportage

Traffic-Free Times Square Reportage

July 7, 2007 Greg Betza

As the weather has been beautiful and the cars have been banned, I’ve taken full advantage and have been out drawing every chance I get. These drawings are from a few weeks ago on a Saturday in Times Square. It was a real pleasure to sit in the heart of the center of the world on a free chair at a free table and draw. I highly recommend it!

Illustration