Mica Illustration 2008

Hey everybody, Bill Cotter here

The last few months have been some of the craziest in my whole life. I made a little money over the summer working MICA Pre-College which is always a blast. All of my roommates, Andrea, and a bunch of illustration undergrads were on board this year. I pretty much had no idea where I was going to move until about two weeks before I absolutely had to make a decision. I was leaning towards Chicago for a long time but in the end the breeze of the windy city pushed me towards Brooklyn. I'm living with Jason Hoffman and Adam Okrasinski which has been amazing because it's been a lot easier to tackle an intimidating city like New York with two of my best friends in the world at my side. The neighborhood is great, we live around where Jay-Z grew up so we hear his music being blasted in the streets everyday. Our neighbors are super cool too. They even have come up with clever nicknames for me like 'snowflake' or 'cracker'. We're all such great friends!!

I just started my internship in the art department of Rolling Stone. Their offices are amazing! One of my favorite parts about working there is the amazing original art hanging on the walls done by illustrators that I have worshiped for years. They have the most badass collection of 6 ft tall original Philip Burke oil paintings. RS is located in the heart of midtown right next door to Rockefeller Center (where 30 Rock takes place if anyone's a fan) and everytime that I'm on lunch break I pray that Conan O'brien will walk by so I can gaze upon his luscious melon-head. Sometimes they'll make me do typical 'intern' work like organize clippings or get coffee, but yesterday they asked me to help pick out an illustrator they need for a Metallica album review. I had a very surreal moment when I realized I was chatting with the head art directors of Rolling Stone fucking magazine, casually helping them pick out an artist. I peed a little.

The internship is unpaid so right now I'm getting paid to book bands at this awesome little venue in Manhattan. I've had a hard time making images lately, and not having access to MICA's facilities isn't helping. I think that working in an art department and sketching on the subways is striking a good balance with me at the moment. Music and art have always battled for my attention. Right now music is winning but I know that eventually I will be drawn back to art.  I miss you guys and I hope that you're doing well.

        All my best,

        Bill