Final Thoughts

I really learned a lot about illustration this semester. Coming in, I had no idea how to create a decent watercolor or how the word "gouache" was even pronounced. The technique exercises were definitely helpful before starting on an actual project. It was also helpful to go through the approval process with some of the projects. First, concept comps must get approved, then a pencil comp, then marker comp, and finally the illustration. I also found it helpful to learn about story/character development, especially for the cartoon. Although I made a couple of cartoony illustrations, I mostly tried to depict a certain amount of realism. My least favorite technique was airbrush, but mostly because it didn't seem worth the effort of finding the airbrush pieces, assembling the thing, testing it, cleaning it, and doing the process over every time I needed to use one. It made me appreciate the wonder of Photoshop, which I was also grateful that we learned for coloring in line art. Overall, this class was a learning experience and I'm happy with the majority of work that I produced.

Book Illustration Final

Here's my final book cover illustration! I did the entire thing in gouache and added the title and author in InDesign. I think the stylization turned out pretty well and the colors give it personality. The texture in the background works well to give it the dark/isolated feeling I was trying for.

Book Illustration Marker Comp

My marker comp of the book illustration went over pretty well. Some people wanted more in the background but I didn't want anything distracting. I might make the grey fade but I don't think there's a need for any more objects in the background. I'm not sure what medium I'm going to use for the final illustration of this one. I might try a combination of line and gouache, but either way I want to make it look less cartoony for the final.

Final Sound Illustration

This is my final sound illustration. I don't know if watercolor was the best choice of medium for this assignment because it's kind of hard to control and the cracked picture was supposed to be noticeably unaligned. I do enjoy the effect of watercolor in the pants and shadow of the ice skates.

Final World Record

I realized I didn't blog about my final World Record piece so here it is. I think the illustration turned out pretty well. I tried to add some more contrast within the bunny and make it stand out from the background more. I chose a simple and bold typeface for the headline of the poster, playing off of the idea of ears with "have you heard?" The text below the headline is the information about the longest ears on a rabbit: 30 in!

Book Illustration pencil comps

These are the pencil comps for the book illustration. I chose to do the book 1984 and put the main character in the center surrounded by Telescreens with Big Brother's face on them. The consensus class opinion was #1 or #2 is the best because it has a good composition and lonely feeling. I'm thinking I will go with #2 because him eating dinner surrounded by these Telescreens gives a good impression of the Party being able to see him during his everyday private life. I plan to make him look like he's described in the book-- "small and frail with fair hair and reddish skin" and wearing blue overalls.

Sound Marker Comp #2

Here's the second version of the marker comp for my sound illustration. I added the cracks in the ice with blue and also worked on the colors of the pants, shoelaces, and skates. I also got rid of the misplaced highlight in the jeans.