Digital Illustration: Fortune Assignment and Mythology

One of the assignments for my Digital Illustration class was to illustrate a fortune from a fortune cookie.  It seemed simple enough, but we were supposed to illustrate it in a conceptual way rather than in a narrative way.  I hadn't realized how much I depend on a straightforward narrative! This project gave me some trouble at first which is why I haven't posted it until now-- I was reworking it.  But I am finally satisfied and so I present it to you!

"Laughter is medicine for the soul"

I also got in a mythological artistic craze today after seeing the beautiful work of Svetlin Vassilev (look at his work HERE at his website).  Obviously I have a different style and my skills are much less developed, but I was pretty pleased with how my digital painting turned out.

Selene- Greek Goddess of the Moon 

(with all her chariot-pulling... moon... oxen...)

Digital Illustration: Book of Mormon Assignment

My final project for my Digital Illustration 1 class is to illustrate a scene from a Book of Mormon story.  I really enjoyed the process of choosing a story, working out the design/composition/style, and then seeing it come together in Photoshop!  (have I mentioned how much I like Photoshop before?)

 I've realized since the beginning of this class (when we were only using Illustrator) that I really like the more simplified, graphic style.  So I chose to illustrate this story in that style-- which would be most applicable to children's  book illustration or possibly editorial illustration.

I chose to illustrate a scene from the Jaredite's journey across the ocean.  I've always thought that this sounded like the worst way to travel I've ever heard of.  I mean, being in a little, sealed boat with people and animals and supplies being rocked back and forth and flipped around for almost an entire year!  But even with all of that they never stopped praying and thanking and praising God.  I think that is amazing and shows so much humility, gratitude, and faith.  Way to go Jaredites!  You're awesome!  ...before you destroyed each other of course...

Enjoy!

Some Drawings and Sketches for Fun

This is the institute teacher.

And this is his wife. (drawn in a much cartoonier style obviously)

This one is actually a "nice note" I wrote for my roommate in church after we spent the morning expressing our enthusiastic love for the new Avengers movie. I liked my drawing so much that I took it home, scanned it onto my computer, and then put it in the basket to give to her. I didn't want to give it away. haha

This is the companion piece to my previous The Book Thief drawing. This is Rosa and Hans Hubermann, Liesel's foster parents. And they are awesome. READ THIS BOOK! :)

Digital Illustration: Self Portrait (edited)

This is the edited version of my Self-Portrait assignment! I think I'm finally sort of getting the hang of Illustrator. :) My teacher is really helpful and gave me some really good feedback on my first "draft". I like it a lot more now!

Digital Illustration: Self Portrait

I am taking Digital Illustration 1 during Spring term right now and so far I love it a lot! I thought I would. :) I have taken the basic Photoshop and Illustrator 2-day class through the library but besides that (and a brief introduction to Photoshop by from my friend when I got it) I'm pretty much self-taught. So having an official class is really great and I am excited to be able to improve my digital art skills!

The first assignment is supposed to be done entirely in Illustrator. Illustrator is much more difficult for me so far and I'm struggling a little bit with it. We are supposed to do a self-portrait that not only shows our physical characteristics, but shows something about us as well. I decided to represent that I always have songs in my head-- my mind is pretty much a jukebox. There are definitely pros and cons to that. haha So music is a big part of me-- because of that and just because I love it!

So here is what I have so far. I will turn this in on Tuesday, get feedback from my teacher, and have the final done on Thursday. (Spring term is so quick!) I will post what the final ends up looking like, but I am quite happy about this so far!

Figure Drawing: Final Week

Well, Intermediate Figure Drawing has officially ended. We wrapped up the class by continuing with costume/drapery and then we turned in our portfolio (best pieces from various categories from the semester) and our final project.

The project required us to find a nude (or mostly nude) master work figure painting/drawing/ sculpture. I chose a piece by Bouguereau (he has some lovely figure paintings!). We then had to duplicate it (I chose to do it in charcoal) and then do a vellum overlay of the underlying bone structure, and then an overlay of the muscles. It was quite difficult and it stressed me out! (note to future artists: don't put things like this off until the last minute) But it was a very interesting project and I found it to be a very good incorporation of all the anatomy lessons we've had over the course of the semester. It was pretty helpful to think about what is going on underneath the skin. And it helped me find lots of things that were wrong with my drawing proportionally. haha

Well, it's been a great class and I feel like I have improved quite a bit. :) Three cheers for art!

(I realized you can't see the face very well in the full picture so I added this semi-close up)

Also, while I was supposed to be studying for finals, I colored a sketch I did a while ago of Liesel and Rudy from one of my favorite books of all time: The Book Thief. I highly recommend it! :)

Some Old Photoshop Pictures

Here are two images that I realized I didn't upload on this blog. So I thought, better late than never, right? :)

The first is a picture I did of my family as members of a Blues Band. The idea came to me after finding this rather enjoyable site: http://www.outliermusic.com/jokes_bluesname.htm

The second picture is my interpretation of the Sphinx. We were in the middle of reading Oedipus the King in my Mythology class when I decided to try my hand at this awesome mythical creature.