47: Junior Year Wrap-up

...I can't believe I just typed that title, but it's true.  It was certainly a more enjoyable year compared to sophomore, with a bunch more classes which actually interested me; I allowed myself to really experiment with media and get a feel for materials for the first time in months, and it felt good despite losing my ability to concentrate and see through the fog of life for a few weeks.  In any case, you all are long overdue for this post!

Here are my three most recent projects- all three were huge media experiments combining watercolor, dye-based ink, marker, gouache, and colored pencil (often multiple layers of each) on watercolor board and hot-press watercolor paper.

 Second of three children's book illustrations.  I didn't plan on giving this one a proper background at first, hence why everything is on one plane in front, but I'm pleasantly surprised with how it turned out.

And the third finished illustration for my children's book class- this one was a battle of colors.  I thought it might be fun to try a bright pink underpainting and proceeded to do so...without realizing that it's hard to cover up fluorescent pink with gray and yellow interior light.  The result is...interesting.  Really, I'm more frustrated with bad planning on the window, which I've come to call the chalkboard because that's what it looks like.  Ah well, learning learning always.

My final project of the year, filled with plenty of follies but loads of fun.  Truly, I forgot how much I love putting my own spin on dinosaurs- even in this piece, which was supposed to be a scientific museum mural concept, I couldn't quite pull away from personification and a bit of cartooning.  This one took quite a bit more gouache than the two pieces above, due to repainting the color scheme almost three times: a horrible planning mistake that I won't make again!

You can see how I botched the color/light scheme early on- see how the left side of Cryoloph is clearly lit just like the right side of the Brachiosaurus.  When I realized I'd have to completely redo the color scheme I wanted to cry because I loved how this guy looked with his blue scales, but this early photo will have to suffice...

My next post will be filled with more doodly things!  Thanks for looking.

46: Odds and Ends

Here's a few things to make up for my absence from Blogger this semester. In a week or so I should have a more proper junior year wrap-up with all manner of giant pieces of paper. You know, assignments and things.

 

I've been fiddling with my watercolor and colored pencil technique a bit more, and I've found that my preferred surface is hotpress watercolor paper.  Now I'm simply testing brands.  :]

A sketchbook doodle that turned out quite nicely!  I doubt I'll ever get rid of turtle-drawing-disease...

An experiment with masking fluid and india ink.  "I'm glad that worked." - my art motto.

And some aardvarks because they are obviously the best animal.

45: Lotti & Basil

First finished piece from my children's book illustration project. Another experiment with watercolor and pencil...for a while there I was trying to get away from that combination, but it seems to be my calling! This one's fairly large for me, measuring 18x12" on hotpress watercolor paper.

44: Zebra & Quagga

A mock spot-illustration intended to illustrate a factoid. I chose to bring light to this interesting breeding project going on in South Africa, The Quagga Project. Whether the 'quaggas' they're attempting to revive are considered legitimate or not, I still find it absolutely mindblowing that dormant genes can be tapped into so easily! Quaggas weren't really bright orange, but I'll admit to being heavily inspired by Terryl Whitlatch's portrayal in her Katurran Odyssey illustrations. It also helped to obviously differentiate the two species, so I went with it. Like most of my work thus far, this piece was created with a haphazard mixture of media. I took some fairly awful photos in attempt to illustrate the process...

It began with a watercolor wash, which ended up being far too desaturated. Cue the bright blue marker layer, another watercolor layer, then the white gouache on the zebra's stripes. I followed up with alternating layers of watercolor and colored pencil detailing.

...and we finally arrived at a finished piece!

43: A Slapdash End of the Semester Post

I said I'd update by the end of the year, and by god I will. First up in this motley lineup is some of the character-based work I completed for my Illustrative Drawing class- I ended up calling the childrens book project 'Ruby & Dun: Arborfall' to insinuate that it's part of a series which could be expanded upon.

I was intrigued by Angela Rizza's technique of traditionally inking and digitally coloring her pieces, so I decided to try it out for the last two projects of the semester. The scenes above and below were completed in this way...it's definitely something I'll have to try a few more times to really get.

Trying to print this image gave me hell- another reminder that I need to work on my fluency with the digital art process.

Some adaptations of medieval gargoyle designs into characters. I didn't have to change much about them at all- gargoyles are truly one of my biggest inspirations in character design.

An extremely quick Christmas card illustration, and a mini-test of the digitally colored line technique.

And on a much more fine artsy note, here are my two favorite pieces from my landscape painting class, both oils on illustration board. The second is a 1-2 hour on-site study while the first is a studio adaptation of another study. Painting has always been a struggle for me, but I learned a lot in this class. Mr. Riley's passion for his craft and acceptance for different majors and skill levels was infectious!

Next semester should see an increase in the amount of art I produce- this one was clogged with a lot of liberal arts credits and slow-paced illustration courses. See you then!

42: Incoming!

The semester's almost over and I'll have quite a few pieces wrapped up in a week or so. Stay tuned!

41: Ruby Project Update

This project has been eating me alive, and I've only just figured out the overall plot of the story. It'll be typed up in its entirety fairly soon, so have some of the better concept sketches and heads in the meantime: