works in progress: the crisis

So,  for my myth and legend class we have finished our stories.  Mine is obscenely long and getting more and more detailed.  Though I don't have a lot of time to continue working on it I am making time anyways (mostly because I am obsessed with it, I worked super hard on it, and I am pretty sure I will publish it one day and than sell it to be made into an animated movie!)

Hope some people might chuckle at that last remark, but I am dead serious!  You shall see :)

Anyways, I am at the point where I am illustrating the biggest crisis in the entire story.  Though there are a lot of sub-conflicts this one is the most heart wrenching.  The villain feels betrayed, and in his rage...tries to kill the woman he loves the most, while our hero makes his way to save her, he is too late, and witnesses her last moments of life.  I'm not going to tell you what happens but here is what I got so far.  

The first image of this reference montage is my models posing.  One is my boyfriend, the other is my friend.  I wanted a low vantage point, because the scale of our hero is much smaller than human size, and   I thought it would be more dramatic this way.  I chose rim lighting because I wanted it to be a night scene, the moon acting as a light source.  The second image to the right is a widescreen view of what I roughly in vision the painting to look like.  It is a combination of digital painting, photography, and landscape painting.  I wanted to brightest highlights to fall on the two figures, since their interaction is the focus.  I put our hero in the foreground cast in shadow for the most part because he is an afterthought.  I wanted him to also to be slightly bigger in scale, so the viewer knows he is just as important if not more important as the other figures in this scene.  The background is a painting of the jungle at night...it was difficult to find a quality photo reference for this because there is not a lot of jungle night photography evidently.  And seeing as I am a one man operation, can't exactly fly to the tropics to shoot my own reference.  However, I am not going to directly copy this artist's work, but it best represents the type of atmosphere and colors I wish to paint myself.  The bottom left image is the entire work done by the artist, and to the right of that image I have my initial value and composition study that I did using digital and graphite.  

I'll post the final painting when all is said and done.  wish me luck!

the progression

so, this is the progression from start to finish of how I have been working...I have many thumbnail sketches and squiggly drawings that I do before I take reference, but here is the step by step process after the composition and idea are squared away.

step 1:  The reference.  I am constantly photographing images and information to draw from.  The first image of the sequence is compiled of several photos.  The figures in this piece are me, my brother, and friend...we had to base jump in order to get this shot from a waterfall that was 50 feet high.  The things I do for my art...


step 2:  The drawing.  A drawing has to have a good sense of value to differentiate between the foreground, middle ground, and background.  This gives the image dimension and depth of field.  It is important to establish this early on before you add color


step 3: The under painting. Establishing the key color relationships from the get go.  Just flat color washes of warm and cool colors.

step 4:  The final rendering with color.  I sort of go over areas that I feel I need to punch up with value.  I also try and refine small details in this last phase and make sure that the values are working well with one another.

step 5: The prototype.  Just for fun, I did this in photoshop, so the client could get an idea of what the finished product would like like on a publication.  This assignment just so happens to be for the summer term cover for my university.  We compete against our classmates for the cover!  If we win, our art is published, and we are are paid, just like a real illustration job.  Pretty neat!

the nightmare before christmas

So, for anyone that is not from the northeast and was unaware, halloween was canceled by an out of season "nightmare before christmas" kinda storm which left the majority without power for an entire week. Because of this, not only was the holiday formally "canceled, but so was school.

Missing an entire week of class, although relaxing at the time, is proving to be a very serious set back.  The week we missed was crucial to our development of ideas, and although we have literally no time to gather reference for our illustrations, I have 3 due in 2 weeks.

one is a character design for my mythological creature which I have created for my narrative.
the second is the cover for the summer term catalog cover and if chosen is published and we receive $
the third is for the children's book...my double page spread

In addition to prior obligations, I have taken on more artistic obstacles.  But these in particular I thought were worth my time.

One is a commission for an alum and friend of mine who lost her grandfather fairly recently.  I know that this one man was her "someone" in her family that she loved above all others, and I can only imagine what she is experiencing.  She came to me to ask if I would be willing to do a portrait of him for her and after hearing stories about him of course I couldn't say no.  So I hope I can do him justice for her and honor his life accordingly.

The second is the TOMS "style your sole" event, which will be held this Saturday from 1-4 pm.  The event  sponsors local artists to decorate purchased pairs of TOMS and personalize them for each customer.  We are given half an hour to decorate each shoe.  The proceeds go towards a pair of shoes for a child in need.  One for one.  It's a really great  cause and I hope to gain exposure and I am looking forward to helping out.

tough choices and making moves

Today was career animation day at the Norman Rockwell Museum in Mass. There I listened to four artists from Blue Sky Studios discuss their various approaches and the specific department within pipeline they were apart of.  It was so inspiring...my heart raced each time I raised my hand!

I showed my portfolio to a layout artist, who suggested I do 100 sketched drawings opposed to 10 fully rendered paintings.  He made a valid point and I respected what he had to say but I did not like how quickly he skimmed the pages of my work (like it was an OK magazine or something.)

Another rigging artist I found less intimidating to talk to, and she was very helpful and encouraging.  She was young and beautiful and very humble about everything which I found refreshing.  

Overall, it was worth the commute to get there.  The group of students I brought with me were all sophomores and we are talking about forming an animation club/group at the University. Unfortunately, by the time I get it up and running, I will be graduating.  But at least I would have left of legacy and inspired some kind of advancement in animation here at UHART.

animation career day tomorrow...dun dun DUHHH!

So, after about 10 + hours of revamping my portfolio pieces, printing them out, and updating my resume, I can now thoroughly say I am ready for tomorrow.

boorah!

the methods to my madness

four deadlines in one week = craze, long nights, LOTS of caffine, and music

this particular piece was intended to accompany an article about obesity in america!

here is the outcome of 2 days of work...

I used graphite to draw it out initially. than traced over my sketchy sketch to create a fine line drawing.  Than the drawing was scanned into the computer, where I used digital paint in photo shop to do a color comp or two.  Than from that color comp I began painting.  I been playing with mixed media lately since I am indecisive and never had the freedom.  For this one I used water color, pencil, water color pencil, acylic fw inks, colored pencil, and pastel.  YEAH!  I know right?

the pastel was kinda a happy accident.  I am not very fond of painting backgrounds...and this one I definately made too many streaks...soooo I was going to air brush over it. But the air brush machine was locked up...so plan B...PASTELS!  why not?  I am far more confident in pastels than anything else.  Worked out pretty well I think.  We will find out this week during my crit.

one done...3 to go!

developing "the style"

people often ask artists who they are influenced by.

I think this is a silly question, because I'm pretty sure everything and everyone we as artists have ever encountered has influenced us in some way.

So far the hardest part of my senior year (or just general art career) is choosing what kind of artist I want to be.  I wouldn't say I have a certain consistent style, but I do have tendencies.  I like rendering...I like neutral colors...I like mixing wet and dry media...I like animals and humans...I like humor...I like character...I like problem solving.  But how do I do everything I like in a style that people are gunna buy?

I think the better question is...what artists would I like to hang out with for a day! I gotta say, if I was to have a party and could invite anybody I wanted, I would invite...

Carter Goodrich
Nico Marlet
Peter De Seve'
Chris Ayers

 The reason?  These guys are awesome. I want my work to look that good...some day soon. I have been helplessly enchanted by their work (like a teenage girl is to Justin Bieber's pre-mature sex appeal).  And I am pretty sure if we did hang out, I would absorb some of their juicy talents and techniques. And than maybe I'd have a better shot at the dream :)

Seeing as I am not banking on this meeting of the minds, I guess I will just have to study their work and practice until I'm just as good.