ILLUSTRATION FINAL!

How is it already time to be putting together a final portfolio for illustration? I'M NOT READY! I feel like the class just started and I am just starting to get the hang of this. I am definitely going to have to continue illustrating after this class! I don't want to lose what I have learned! Here is a sampling of what I have done over the course of the semester. The first 10 slides are a series of exercises that we did to practice different illustrative techniques.

EXERCISES: I definitely had no idea what I was doing in this class and still barely do. We did all kinds of things including just color work, color and line work, guache pick-outs, and digital illustrations. I didn't really like the digital illustrations which is why there aren't any included. I have really enjoyed the process of this class and am finally getting comfortable with the different mediums. I really like working with guache especially with the pick-out technique. I am also learning to love watercolor because I love the quickness and fluidity of the medium. With illustration I have definitely had to learn not to overwork the images. I really want to keep practicing watercolor/guache because I want to get where I can just lay down color shape in like 2-minutes and it looks like I really had to try! THAT IS MY GOAL!

MARKER COMP.: How in the world do people produce GOOD marker comps.?! I don't get it. I feel like making marker comps are a whole different technique that you have to learn. How the heck do you blend markers and make them look awesome? I feel like out of all the comps I did this was the one that ended up closest to my final artwork as far as composition and color. One of my frustrations were when I am at home trying to create marker comps. I only have a limited number of colors. This comp was done with the markers at school. For the future I plan on investing on some more markers including lighter tints.

GUACHE MONTAGE: This was one of my most favorite projects. I really like the guache pick-out technique because I find it easier to start from something rather than nothing. It was also hard to pick three RANDOM images. I actually spent quite a bit of time thinking about what random images could work compositionally together. This was a fun project because even if you don't intentionally want there to be content in your artwork someone will find a meaning somehow.

PRODUCT ILLUSTRATION: The product illustration was kind of a fun project. It was different than our others in that it required a lot of time and attention to detail. For the medium I used guache because I wanted it to be very opaque but still be able to act as watercolor. I also chose the Heineken bottle because it was very bright and I wanted to tackle the challenge of imitating water droplets. The hardest part for me was probably loosening up to create the really tiny 'implied' text. I was really happy with how this turned out. If I were to do it again I would illustrate it at a much larger scale than the original. I did this illustration not much bigger than the final printed artwork.

DUST JACKET: For the book cover dust jacket I chose do the classic book 1984 by George Orwell. I chose to do the guache pick-out technique because I feel like it is one of my strongest. I really like making designed work like this because it is a fun challenge to figure out how to layout imagery and text cohesively. If I did this again I would definitely design the front and the back cover at the same time. I did the back illustration pretty quickly after I had already started putting the entire design together. I would have like to have some kind of wrap around illustration besides just a visual texture on the back. I am still really happy with how it turned out. I definitely think it looks like something that could be sold in stores!

ALBUM COVER ART: I was really excited about this project. I always love looking at album artwork on CD covers and am usually drawn to illustrated covers. For this my goal was to go back to watercolors because I wanted a more fluid feel. I was really excited how these covers printed. They were so vibrant and eye catching. This was exactly what I had hoped for. For the future I really want to work on incorporating color and line work better. For some reason I am stuck on only being able to use one thing at a time. I need to get more confident in my drawing skills.

So this is Illustration in a nutshell!

CAN I TAKE THIS CLASS AGAIN?!

Just kidding, but I feel like I have barely got exposed to this field.

It's CHEESY TIME!

FINALLY! Here is my cheesy airbrush! I can officially say that if I can't find a job when I graduate I can always be a carnival worker as a backup! I had a lot of fun with this image compared to previous airbrushes we did! It really does make a difference depending what airbrush and how well it has been taken care of! I was so excited that with the newer airbrush I used I could actually CONTROL what I was doing! This image was kind of frustrating because I did have to start over part of the way through. I also had to do a little touch up work in Photoshop once the image was scanned into the computer. My contact paper left some weird sticky-ness in spots on the image. Then awkward fuzz stuck to it! I had a lot of fun with this project. THE BEST PART WAS THAT I CAN NOW AIRBRUSH MY NAME!

'1984' by George Orwell

It is complete! Here is my final dust jacket for the book '1984' by George Orwell. This was definitely a learning process. Once I began putting together the book cover on the computer I realized I probably should have done an illustration for the back cover. I quickly did a simple illustration of the repeated grid pattern that is seen on the front cover. Also, after i had the entire cover done I realized I designed it for a book that required a jacket that was 22" long! WHAT?!! My printer can only handle 13x19 paper. I quickly had to search for a smaller book that I could make work. Thus, why on the front cover there is a lovely little banner at the bottom of the book that says AMAZON.COM BEST-SELLER! That's right. My original illustration was .25" short of the new found book. I made it work! Here's the final book!

Ben Folds [supersunnyspeedgraphic]

Here is the final album cover for Ben Fold's album titled 'Supersunnyspeedgraphic'. I'm really excited how it came out. It's is very colorful and vibrant. It is what I envision when I think of the title of the album. It was a big challenge to figure out how to create the text and also how to make the album artwork look good at all three sizes. Even though I had planned where I was going to put the text before I created the illustration, I still ended up manipulating the illustration to change the text placement. I had to magically add more image to the bottom of my illustration so I could fit both lines of text.

Album Cover Artwork [artwork]

Here is the album artwork as is. I did it in watercolor because I wanted that kind of effect. I will now take it into photoshop and add text and other awesome effects! I was kind of worried how this illustration turned out but once I get it into photoshop I think it will be awesome! I hope that this artwork looks good at such a large size. Now I have to create the three sizes: LP (12.375X12.375), CD (4.75X4.75), and itunes (290px X 290px). I'm going to try and create more depth in photoshop and also do a knock-out text effect with a cool water color wash effect inside the letters.

'1984' by George Orwell

Here's the final artwork (or close to the final) for the cover of '1984'. I'm pretty happy with how this turned out. I really like the eye in the center TV and the static. I think this is an eye-catching cover that would definitely intrigue people if it was sitting on a shelf at a bookstore. I know I definitely judge books by their covers! Boring covers must be boring books!

SAY CHEESE!

It's officially time to be super CHEESY with the CHEESY AIRBRUSH image! I made a list of everything cheesy I could think of. Here it is:

1. butterflies

2. rainbows

3. ducks

4. teddy bears

5. sunsets

6. hearts

7. smiley faces

8. dophins

9. cursive names

10. 'v' birds

11. kissy lips

12. frogs

13. candy

14. balloons

I decided to combine BALLOONS, CURSIVE NAME, TEDDY BEAR, and HEART! I'm going to re-do my comp and maybe have the bears waving hand come out of the frame of the heart. Also I will have the teddy bear hold a cluster of balloons and they will all come out of the frame! Hopefully this turns out great! But it's unlikely since my airbrush skills aren't up to par!