Coloring Practice

So at the end of this past fall semester, I was having an existential coloring crisis, partly because I was told that my colors looked like a fruit by the foot.  I decided to try coloring some linework by other people, just to save a little bit of time really, and I ended up really enjoying what I was doing.  It turns out that I might end up enjoying being a colorist, which is something that I never expected of myself.  I have always had a hard time coloring and making color choices. I will include links to all the original artists where I can.

  http://danielleister.deviantart.com/





 http://spacefriend-krunk.deviantart.com/

 http://cameron-stewart.tumblr.com/

 http://spacefriend-krunk.deviantart.com/

 http://jonathanglapion.deviantart.com/

 http://williamdresden.deviantart.com/
















http://spacefriend-krunk.deviantart.com/
http://geddlee.deviantart.com/

Select Head Paintings

This semester I took painting the human head with Don Seegmiller, and he is a fantastic teacher.  It's been one of the best classes I've ever had, and I got soooo much better.  I didn't really think that I'd like painting with oils, but by the end, I understand why they are so prevalent among traditional artists.  They're smooth, they flow, and they do what you want, as long as you've put in the time to learn how they work. 

Concept Design

It's been a while.. but I have something to post for now, which is a part of why I hadn't been.  I love drawing comics, but one of the problems is that if you don't have everything done, you can't really post it unless you can regularly update, which I can't.  Anyway, I'm in "concept design 1" this semester, and at first it sounded like fun, but then it got really stressful.  I did make some pieces that I'm proud of for it, but it was a somewhat frustrating and often unrefined experience, but we're all learning, including the teacher.

The assignment was to design as if we were on a real production team and we were working within a current franchise, which happened to be Resident Evil.  I had to design a car, which was... difficult, but I put in the time, and I think it turned out.  I also designed a possible co-op character, even though it wasn't assigned. I think that it just took some time for things to get set up in the class

Summer work

 I've been working hard this summer, and, though I don't have too much to show for it, since most of it is currently unfinished and can't be posted.  I do have three finished colored pages, although they have no lettering, and page three isn't included here.

I am a terrible blogger

I am so bad at remembering to update things... I know that this site would probably be like... the most valuable blog that I could have, but it's so much easier to update facebook or tumblr or something than blogspot.  Anyway... I have not spent this summer doing nothing. Right now I am starting to ink page 40 of my personal comic project, as well as having mostly finished a painting for my fiancee's birthday on the tenth of July.  I was quite pleased with how this turned out, but it's very clear how much more finished the face is than everything else.  I need to put in more polish to the clothes and hand in particular. 

I have also been working on my idea for my BFA project, although when I looked at the requirements for the proposal, it totally freaked me out.  I would like to just jump right into it now, but that would be a terrible idea. 
Anyway, the idea is a post-apocalyptic comic that would explore the ideas of... well... exploration.  Whenever I see movies or play games in that genre, I always find it fascinating to think of what happened to the people that lived in the abandoned infrastructure.  I love the look of decaying buildings and things like that.  But I also feel like the genre of post-apocalypse is way too focused on killing people and now "why is everyone gone and what were they like", but instead "how did everyone die?" So, in essence, my original idea was to have this young, somewhat childish character exploring the ruins of someone's apartment with her father.  I have some of the story drafted out, and I plan on working out the thumbnails more, but I need to talk to the people in charge to get a better handle on what I need to be doing with this project.

Summer?

Well, it's been a while... I am currently taking a figure drawing class for the first half of the summer, so it's pretty intensive.  It's been a huge relief to have much less school, and to actually have some time to myself.  I've spent a lot of that time playing Metal Gear Solid 2 and 3, and then quite a bit of time drawing some stuff for myself... Though a lot of it is redrawing, really, because I have been looking back at my old work, and every time I look back, I realize that there are times when I cut corners, and that NEVER pays off.  Especially when I don't have any time constraints... why cut corners?



So, I have some comparisons of the backgrounds that I've redrawn recently, and will be splicing in with other panels and the characters.

Worst Mistake of His Life

My final for imagination and visual literacy...
To me, this looks very 'Will Terry'... mostly because the method I used for coloring it was something that he showed me, rather than what I would have tried.  But it pays off to listen to your teachers, because I think it turned out a lot better for it than if I had colored it how I meant.  The only thing that would have made it better is if I had been able to add the values with markers like I had wanted.  The texture and blending quality would have been excellent... but it all worked out well, I think, so whatevs.

Almost there...

Classes are almost over, with just this weekend between me and my grades, so I have to get crackin'.  But I decided that I should post on here just because I needed some chill time.

So... on the note of art, we had our critiques today on our second editorial article, and mine was about an anti-theft chair based on it's identification of your butt.

The critique, however, was very eventful, as a member of class said, "it [was] too on the boner" which I take to mean that it's too erotic.  The suggestion?  Add underwear.  If there were something that would make this picture into a fetish, adding underwear would be.  And what could it be but a thong?  Should I give her a tramp stamp too?  I personally felt that the fact that it was overboard and possibly too much is what made it work out.  If I "toned" it down in that way, it would just totally ruin it, and it would just become a lingerie picture.  The idea wouldn't read, and the pose, for instance, would become just a normal pinup pose (where as it stands, is kind of awkwardly sitting down).  It should also be noted that the guy who said this was very rude before my picture, eating during the critique to the point that Richard had to shush him, and that he was just simply being disrespectful at a time when everyone was being very serious and when there's a certain kind of courtesy expected of us as adults and students. 

Anyway... I think this is probably my best from this class, perhaps even more than the pencil, so, I'm pleased... but kind of frustrated too.  

Go Online, beat a puzzle, become a British spy

This was another one from my illustration class where we were assigned an article and we were supposed to illustrate something for it, much like a real job for editorial illustration.  Of course, we have the teacher to talk to and walk us through the process and a lot longer to work on it, but it's still a lot closer to a real job than most of the other stuff I've done for my other classes. 

We have the revised version first, then the original I actually made first.

Been a while

I haven't posted in a while, mostly cause I haven't scanned anything lately... so for now, just a failed attempt at a digital finish on a mostly finished traditional painting, with very poor results.

It's experiment time :D

So... in my illustration class my teacher introduced me to like the coolest thing regarding color I've ever seen.  Just to set the stage, I'm not normally into color as much as value.  Using strong shadows, darks, and lights is usually more interesting to me, and when I color, everything tends to be very muted or dull.  I do think this is largely my fault because I don't use much pigment in traditional, and because I have a color aesthetic that was made from my youthful love of watercolor, which almost always tends to be more muted and subtle.

Anyway, today I was introduced to 'gamut masking' which is where you take a color wheel that has neutralized colors in the middle and you mask off most the wheel, and what's left open is what you use for your painting.  On the right is the palette I'm using for the my painting in the illustration class. 

For those interested, here's the picture I'm working on without any color.  Let's just hope that color doesn't ruin it...

This time...

I actually have the rest of the little character designs.
I've found that with these assignments for the imagination and visual literacy class, they tend to start really fun, but by the time I get to the end of the list of drawings to do, I get really frustrated and want to do something else.  It's hard to have no time to work on my own stuff (i.e. comics) and this class is a huge distraction from it.
 

On some of them, I was playing with some colors and using my markers.  I haven't used them since this assignment, which makes me kind of sad... but we do what we can when we have time, I guess.

 The unfinished girl on the right is my rockband character, Sophie, for anyone interested.

 I like the guy with the gun because he was the only one of these that ended up being more serious in style.  I would have liked to have been able to do more like that, but I guess it's okay because the next forty drawings were more serious drawings of expressions.

 I always tend to like the girl characters...