Conversation Pencil Comp

Here's the pencil comp of my composition illustration. I overheard one person talking to another about how he had a cat that was Batman for Halloween and he himself was Robin! At first I had the characters posed very statically, but this composition is full of movement.

Illustration Midterm Portfolio

20 x 30 Watercolor:
I created this huge 20 x 30 watercolor and finally got the hang of the watercolor medium. I enjoyed working on such a large scale because it forced me to use a large brush and work with the water. Before this point, I was too controlled with the paint and didn't let the water do what it wanted. For the shadow on the lighthouse, I put down pigment on the left and then used water to make the shadow, technique compliments of Terry.

Gouache Wash/Pickout:
This was the first gouache painting I did and I was a little wary of the stuff at first. I laid down the green color all over the frog and it didn't look very good, but then I started the pickout technique and got a feel for the stuff. I learned that the paint kind of stains the board so it's hard to get a pure white by picking out. My frog needed more contrast at one point so I added dark blues to the shadows. I also enjoy the halo effect around the piece that was created by pushing away the paint.

Memory Portrait:
Ah, it kind of looks like my mom. This piece was the first cartoony picture I got to do in Illustration so I enjoyed exaggerating the features and working with line. I put down the line/ink first and then went over it with washes of watercolor. I kept the palette as colorful as possible and tried not to desaturate the colors to get across a happy feeling. I wanted people who look at it to smile because her smile is so infectious.

DMV Cartoon:
This was a fun one because I got to color in Photoshop! I had to research some clowns to develop the cartoon and I really liked the dorky guy on the right. We drew it all in ink and then scanned in the image to work in Photoshop. I learned how to use channels to select just the black line and then proceeded to figure out the best coloring technique. Since I closed all my shapes, I would select an area with the magic wand tool and then on the color layer in Photoshop fill that color. With it still selected, I would then go back in with the brush tool to add highlights and shadows.

3 Image Gouache Montage:

I liked doing this gouache painting because it has such great subject matter. I mostly did the pickout technique for everything. In the background, I tried laying down a gradient with pure gouache but realized that it looks better when it's blended together with water. I did the same technique for the rest of the solid colors: the cupcake, the orange part of the butterfly, and the blue and red parts of Spiderman. For Spiderman, I added the grey webbing on top of him with watered down gouache. For the cupcake, I went back and added in some more different colors, including the white/blue rim.

3 Image Gouache Montage Final

Here's the final version of my 3 image gouache montage! I think it turned out pretty well and I like the effect that the gouache pick-out technique creates. The colors are nice and vibrant.

3 Image Gouache Montage Marker Comp

Here's the final version of my marker comp of the 3 image gouache montage. I'm doing spiderman on a cupcake with a butterfly (kind of random). At first I had the background a light green, but then made it a gradient of yellow, orange. and red. I can't wait to start the real painting!

Final Cartoon

Here's my final cartoon, fully colored in Photoshop. I really enjoyed the coloring part, probably because the clowns are so colorful. I tried to make it not look like just flat color and gave the subjects highlights and shadows.

Cartoon Line Drawing

This is the final version of my line drawing of the clown cartoon. I tightened up the lines and characters. I was inspired by a lot of clown clip-art on Google images and learned that if you just type in the word "clown" you get some creepy stuff.

Cartoon Sketches

Here are some preliminary sketches for the cartoon assignment. I personally enjoyed the burly guy who gets a kitty license plate, but Rusty okay'ed the clowns. There are different levels of humor in the idea: first, the ridiculousness of a clown trying to renew his license which is 5x as big as it should be, second; second, the idea of 50 clowns getting out of one car who will all need to renew their licenses, thereby creating a horrendously long line at the DMV; and third, the simple contrast of happy clowns with this entirely unamused DMV employee character.

Memory Portait Final

This is the final version of my mom's memory portrait. I decided on the blue face and orange hair to keep it really colorful and fun. The only thing I actually kept a local color is her green eyes. I decided to do linework in black and then go over it with watercolor.

Memory Portait color studies

Here are some colors studies for the Memory Portait assignment. The one in the middle I kept realistic and the two on the ends are more fun. I want to make it really colorful and fun because my mom has a really happy expression.

Memory Portrait sketches

Here are some of my initial sketches for the Memory Portrait assignment. I was thinking about color for the first ones and composition. I chose to do my mom because she has a recognizable smile and hairstyle, along with glasses. I used a lot of green because that's her favorite color and I think of her with green. I sketched some of my other family members (dad and brother) but Rusty ended up choosing my mom for the final piece.