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.