Week 5

Cartooning: At the DMV sketch development

These are the last three 3" x 6" sketches of the skeleton scenario. The last one has a suggestion from Rusty to add a line of skeletons in various stages of decay hanging as if the were in a dungeon... thinking it could work and it's a good way of filling al that negative space. I may have some perspective issues as well but we shall see.

Alright here are my initial sketches for the DMV scenario. I definitely misunderstood the assignment at first. It was

to come up with five gags in the setting of the Department of Motor Vehicles. So the first thing I did was to develop

this wonderful character and place her in five scenarios of the DMV... Well that obviously had to be re-worked, I thought she was cute though and I looked at a lot of cartooning sited to draw it.... anyway moving on.

I came up with five gags, three of which are pictured here. The first one is of a student driver hitting the sign that indicates the driver testing site. The next one is kind of playing off the idea of MAC computers making everything easier vs a PC but then again it's not so much about the DMV. The concept of the last one is based on the lengthy time one has to wait at the DMV... after talking it over I think adding a skeleton in the pic would make it funnier so that's my jump off point... LEt"S do this!

Week 4-Week 5

Memory Portraits

Final

Here is the final scanned in for print! I like the way it turned out. I chose the cartoon because I thought it would be fun and also I figured ZI could use flat color instead of a pick-out technique for the more realistic drawing. Wrong!! I had to do a gouache pick-out method because the flat color was not working!! On top of that water spilled all over it and washed of the paint because it was still wet, but hey I still think it turned out well :) I didn't want to do too much pick-out on the shirt and hair so I just chose some sections to highlight and maintain a illustrative feel. Finally I went over it with ink to make it pop and also to make it more cartoon like. I think it could have used some line variation but I think it still works. I may still go ahead and develop the other more realistic sketch for fun!

BACK TO SKETCHING fOR fiNaL

So I needed to work with the final drawing some more before I felt comfortable moving on to the final 8" x 10" color assignment, I did a cartoon version and then a more realistic version of my bro.

Color Studies

Moving on to the color sketches we were supposed to use the previous initial sketch and do three different color palettes for them. I think the color combination in the middle worked out better. I also took this stage to work with the composition a little bit and also still trying to figure out how to draw a more accurate representation of him... so I like color palette #2 and composition #3.... I used gouache for the color studies and really watered it down like watercolor for blending.

Sketches

For this assignment we had to develop a memory portrait of a family member without looking at a photo. Out of the five sketches I made the bottom sketch was selected as my most developed sketch and for me to tighten up for the next stages. I have to maintain the same general composition.

Week 4

Realistic Observation: Product Illustration

We had to make and 8" x10" illustration of a soda can, x-acto knife, or phone for this assignment, one that is good enough to be printed in an ad. The first one I did was of an x-acto knife using gouache pick-out method on a matte-gesso base. The gesso base allowed me to be able to work out all the different shades of gray. I think it could have turned out better as far as precision but I think the overall idea is there. After scanning it and printing it at 50% original size it definitely softened out some of the transitions. I also started working on a Pepsi can illustration which is still in the works... more to come!!

Illustration: Week 3

Goauche





















































So.... My first time working with gouache! It was cool, I actually enjoyed this method. The opaque quality of gouache is very forgiving and allows you to kind of "re-do" certain areas. I was a little worried about the color scheme but I think the tertiary colors worked out well. To finish off the piece I would have like to add in the rocks of the water but I still think it's successful without them. I also am very proud of how the face turned out, I still look like me!! The downside is gouache allows you to work and re-work the piece, I would have kept going if I didn't have to have it done, it's very easy to over-do it and not know when to quit. Looking forward to more...

Illustration: Week 3

Large Illustration: Rooster


















So.... we had to do a large illustration. I decided to go with a watercolor of a rooster. I spent so long looking for the pperfect image! Alas here it is. I chose the rooster because it has so many dimensions to the color and texture. So I found the imageI wanted but the background was completely ugly, so I tried to create a light woodland feel to play up the colors of the rooster. I also had some mettalic watercolor which came in handy with the shiny luster of the copper colored feathers and the silver fence. The fence was its own battle because of the perspective and the drawing is a little wonky, but hey don't look too closely :) The green kinda covers it up. I had a little problem also with how the color adhered to the illustration board but the effect grew on me. Next time I'll use a sponge.

Illustration: Week 2

Mixed Line and Watercolor




































I am loving the line over the watercolor. I haven't tried doing the line and then watercolor but I think it works better this way. Line definitely adds dimension and structure back into the work. I also enjoy using it as shading, by doing a sort of comic style line work to push some things into the background. I tried not to use it very much in these compositions but it's something to try in the future. I was also thinking about using different color ink or pens to get a different effect.... hmmm

Illustration: Week 2

Line and Watercolor


























I used a wet on dry technique here to lay down the overall color segments then went on top of the under painting while it was still a little wet to put in the bails of hay and the trees. The pen drawing, which I did before the painting helped in putting things in correct spacialrelations to one another. I think the precise quality of making an ink drawing vs. a watercolor makes the ink drawing more successful. Still the watercolor affords the quality of depth in the compositions which is less apparent in the drawing.




























The pen drawing of Baldwin Hall is far more successful than the painting. The windows are definitely easier to do without watercolor. I think having the line combination over the painting would have helped to achieve a more sophisticated piece. Also, I'm starting to realize that I like a sketchy quality to my line work, such as in the trees, it makes the work less static.

Illustration: Week 2

Architecture


Barnett Hall! I find it a little difficult to paint brick, and it's easy to try to overwork the shade. It's wet on dry method. I thought I could blend the shadows by applying it when the paper was still wet so it just bled into each other. Here I was trying a sort of deductive technique to king of make the viewer's eye make out the structure... yeah, I need more practice. I kinda of rushed it I suppose. I'll try again later, but the refinement of this technique evades me...

Illustration: Watercolor, Week 1

Landscapes















This painting is from a photo of a small cave my friends and I saw while hiking/ For the most part it's wet on dry. The tree limbs are wet on wet which gives it a sort of fuzzy quality. It could have been more successful if I used more pigment but I really like how the leaves and the tree bark turned out.















This is by far the most successful of my landscapes thus far. I actually was looking for some techniques in watercolor and stubled ona tutorial which I tried to emulate... not exactly though. I started by layering on the light green and black for the ground. The tree techniques was just blotting with pigment on paper towels.
















I started this painting in class, and with a little help I finally figured out how to make pine trees... they still need a little work but I think it turned out alright for a first timer... the clouds are pretty much my favorite part.

Illustration: Watercolor, Week 1

This cup was painted with a mostly wet on dry method. Some of the blending was done with the paper still saturated with color. It seems to have been a mistake to use the white pigment to try and bring out the luster of the glass surface, but tut just sort of muddles it. working on a small scale is nice and creates a sort of sketching feel to the work. My friends dog was an interesting subject. I think it turned out well, even though I had some issues wit trying to be too detailed oriented, I even started to clump the paint on there to give a little texture...What I learned... be patient, let the paint dry!!

Personally, I think I started to focus on the details and controlling what the wash does, which is not a very good idea... don't try to control, just go with the flow :)