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...