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!

'1984' by George Orwell

Here we go again. I did this same project in Visual Communications II. You would think I would want to choose a new book....NOPE NOT ME! I love '1984' so much I'm going to do it again! Here are some sketches I forgot to post.

I decided to go with the image of a bunch of TV's plugging into a person brain! I'm going to work on my color pallet so it's not quite so green. I might also play with placing an eyeball in each TV screen to add the intensity of being 'WATCHED'! I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do with the background. I was thinking it would just be a solid color but maybe I will do some type of grid to enforce the electronic side. I could also maybe do a faint grid over the top of the illustration. Give me your thoughts please?

Album Cover Artwork [marker comp]

We are designed the cover art for an LP (record), CD, and itunes thumbnail. I decided I wanted to do a cover for Ben Folds' album supersunnyspeedgraphic. It is a fun name so I though it would be great just to do a graphic design based on shapes and color washes. It will be primarily line art with color wash variations inside the shapes. Here is my first marker comp... I'm going to work on this more and try to get it LESS SYMMETRICAL! We all know I love symmetry!

CUBES...

We had to make cubes using masks that we cut out! This was really time consuming an the masks didn't last very long. We had to keep replying the mask, lining it up perfectly, and remove piece by piece. I was really impatient about letting the paint dry before I re-applied the masks. We had to do 10 cubes with masks so I should have made a new mask half-way through, but I didn't... The masks stopped sticking and got all gunked up with airbrush paint. The free hand cubes didn't turn out too bad! They were a lot easier than the freehand spheres! I was also devastated because I spilt a bunch of my green paint! SAD! Here are some of my airbrush exercises.

AIRBRUSH!

YAY! It's really fun to airbrush. It is just such a change from drawing or painting. Although it is hard to get the hang of. So far we have airbrushed circles! Sounds simple doesn't it? WRONG! We used circle templates to create some of them. That made things a little easier, but it takes awhile to figure out how to control the airbrush. We also did free-hand circles. BAD IDEA! I wouldn't call mine circles. They look like blurry donuts and bagels! Well we will just see where airbrushing takes me. Maybe I will be the next famous Carnival Airbrush Artist! HAHA! Something to strive for?

Dinosaur + Envelope + Pocket Watch [FINAL]

Here is my final version of my guache montage. I was pretty darn happy with how it turned out! It was a little frustrating at first, but I forget how long it takes to develop a guache. Lots of pushing around paint before it starts to come together. I think the composition and color choices were successful. I'm glad I really planned out the composition when thinking about what objects I wanted to combine. I think that helped in the effectiveness of the composition. My favorite part of the montage is probably the pocket watch. I really like how it stands out! Also, I incorporated the background color into the clock so that it would be cohesive throughout the piece. I think it's a fun montage.

Dinosaur + Envelope + Pocket Watch [TAKE TWO]

Here is my second marker composition for the guache montage. I finalized color choices and also make the pocket watch in the background larger in order to fill up more background space. Now it is time to actually start painting!

Dinosaur + Envelope + Pocket Watch

Now we are moving on to the famous Guache Montage! We have to choose three images to combine into one image. I randomly chose an envelope, plastic dinosaur and a pocket watch. Here's my first comp.... What do you think?

Product Illustration

Our task was to create a product illustration that looks good enough that someone would believe it was actually the product. For the first time this semester we are actually doing something that has to be a really tight and perfect image. I found an image of a Heineken bottle and thought it would be really fun to illustrate. I really like how it had water droplets on the bottle and the green coloring. I used guache since it can be treated like watercolors but can also be very translucent. I am very happy with how this turned out! It was a lot of fun to do also!

GUACHE PICK-OUT!

We had our first experience using guache. Things with the guache pick-out went pretty rough at first....until I realized I had ACRYLIC guache instead of watercolor guache. HAHA! I really like this technique because I feel like it is easier to start from something rather than nothing. I like the process of laying down a solid color and then making the image appear! For my first two guaches I chose to do a picture of my mom and dad. I'm pretty happy with how they turned out....especially for it being my first time! Here they are!

MIDTERM: GOOD & the VERY VERY BAD!

For our midterm rather than creating a portfolio, we were asked to pick our best and our worst piece to show our progress. WOW....I sure have improved in this class!

THE BAD!

It was almost difficult to choose my worst piece due to the fact that there were so many bad ones. In regards to this so called 'abstract cityscape' I was going for, I ask my self, "What is this?" In my early development of watercolor, I was really afraid of detail. I didn't understand how to make watercolor detailed. I felt like all I could do was big masses of shapes. I also got stuck on the idea of doing nothing but washes and and cool runs. This is all I would do. I wouldn't really go back in and add any detail. At the time a did this 'bad' image, I thought you could totally tell that it was a city skyline! YA...you definitely can't. When I first began doing watercolor I really enjoyed the process of working with the paint and brushes. Once I was finished with a piece I would step back and look at it and wonder, 'What in the world just happend? I thought this one was actually good!" Also, early on for some reason I didn't believe in drawing a scene in pencil first or using photographic references. I just kind of winged it and made things up. I DON'T KNOW WHY I WAS SO DUMB!

THE GOOD!

Now for something a little more pleasant to look at! I chose this piece because I felt like it was my first watercolor that really clicked. I wanted to try something different and just went for it. I based this whole image around the fact that I wanted to create some type of watercolor splatter. I wanted it to actually portray how expressive watercolor can be. I also felt like my figure was rendered very successful. I like how the beard and mouth turned out. I think the composition is fun. This watercolor was loose but still had structure. This whole time I have been fighting to not be so anal and loosen up with my brush strokes. I feel like I am finally getting it! Also, looking back at my early work you can tell that I was really afraid of color and water. I have learned that when dealing with watercolor you shouldn't necessarily try to blend every color perfectly together. I love how in watercolor you can see the fuzzed edge from color to color but it visually blends together.

RED BARN!

Here are the final watercolor illustrations for the Red Barn Brochure. The first illustration will cover the front and back brochure panels. Inside the hanging disk will be a place for text and a header to be inserted. The second illustration will go on the inside in the lower right hand corner. It will break the border into the second and third column with part of the figure and then the paint blotches. I am really happy with how these came out. I think I am finally starting to understand watercolors a bit better. I really like my inside illustration!

FRONT/BACK

INSIDE

Ryle Mural

This is my Ryle Mural comp. that is to be presented to the Mural Committee. I stayed with my idea of communication throughout history with tin-can phones. From left to right the mural represents Truman, education and teaching, Kirksville community, Missouri history - George Washington Carver, US history - Barack Obama, World history - Gandhi.

Mural Concept

So we are all designing a possible mural that will be painted in the Ryle Cafeteria. Yay...cheesy murals! This is extremely difficult because they want the mural to encompass... CAMPUS, COMMUNITY, and GLOBAL DIVERSITY. This SCREAMS CHEESE!!!! So I was thinking to do something with different people talking on tin can telephones. I am going to start out with Truman to faculty to community to famous missouri person to world leaders. I will most likely render this in a cartoon style that will be easy for anyone to paint. I am going to include Geraldine Page (an actress from Kirksville, MO), George Washington Carver (from MO), Obama, and Gandhi.