Digital Illustration 2: Master Copy Assignment

So the assignment we just finished for my Digital Illustration class was more of an exercise rather than anything creative.  We were supposed to find a digital piece of art online that we really liked and then do our best to recreate it exactly.  Let me tell you-- if I wasn't already super impressed by all the amazing art out there I certainly am now!  This was hard.  And of course I picked a piece that had lots of figures (I just can't stay away from that) and a crazy color scheme.  The lighting and coloring is beautiful but made for some super wacky skin tones.  It was a really helpful lesson in color for me so I'm really glad we did it.  Overall I'm pretty pleased with the result!

My Copy

Original by the fabulous Shelly Wan (see more of her work here: http://www.eidolonfinearts.com/shelly_wan )

Advanced Figure Drawing: Week Four

I feel like I learned a lot this week.  Brother Barrett came over and spent a good 20 minutes just helping me with one of my drawings and I think after that something clicked for me.  I don't know how long it will take for me to be able to really and consistently transfer this idea onto paper, but I think it's only going to get better from here! :)

I was having a gesture-angst week, so I only have a couple of the sustained pieces to show you.  Enjoy!

This is the Brother Barrett-helped piece (the model asked if she could take a picture of it afterwards! Even though it wasn't just me who did it, still-- what a compliment!)

Digital Illustration 2: Head Studies final

These are all three steps of our head study assignment for my Digital Illustration class.  The first is the edited black and white study (I needed more defined shadows and a narrower range of values for the other two steps to work well).  The second is a saturation study.  This was a bit difficult but very interesting.  We talked about how just by altering the saturation of one hue you can make it appear as though you are using both warm and cool colors.  We did four saturation studies (from left to right): warm light/cool shadows on a warm background; cool light/warm shadows on a cool background; warm light/cool shadows on a cool background; and cool light/warm shadows on a warm background.  Phew!  :)  And then the final part of the assignment was building upon one of the saturation studies (I chose the first one) and doing a full hue rendering.  Hooray for being happy with my coloring!

Advanced Figure Drawing: Week Three

This week was pretty good.  I didn't feel as great about my drawings as I did last week but hey, c'est la vie, right?  I did get some pretty good feedback and advice from my professor though!  Here are a few gestures and some pretty long sustained poses.  Enjoy!

This pose is so difficult.

Especially the face at this angle.

I started feeling angsty about my nupastel not cooperating so I switched back to good ol' conte for a bit.

After about two hours of this pose I decided I couldn't look at my drawing anymore, so I started over with a new drawing for the last 15-20 minutes.  Naturally this is the one I felt better about.  Rats.

...and this is a boy in my class.  I think I may have a problem staying focused...

Advanced Figure Drawing: Weeks One and Two

It's back to doing figure drawing! I took an art class during Spring term but that was Digital Illustration, so it's been since Winter semester that I've really done some hard-core, traditional drawing from life.  It's amazing how out-of-practice you can feel after only four months, but all things considered, I think I'm off to a fairly good start!  Also, Brother Barrett is great.

Have I mentioned before that I like drawing legs? Because I do.

This is what one of my more "structural", less-finished gestures look like.

Beards are hard.

Seriously though-- LEGS.

Digital Illustration 2: Head Study (black and white)

Hello world! It is the beginning of a new semester full of art! Hooray!!! I am taking Advanced Figure Drawing from Bob Barrett (who is awesome-- I feel honored to be in his presence every class period) and Digital Illustration 2.  So expect a bunch of posts to be coming your way this semester.

 Digital Illustration is going to be really helpful because my teacher is having us create digital art that has a "painterly" feel.  So basically I have to let go of my cartoony, flat color shapes, colored line-work style and try making my art look super legit and like a painting.  Hello highly rendered drawings!  This first assignment is about getting practice with using brushes, shading, and color.  We are supposed to be creating three head studies: one in black and white, one in a monochromatic palette, and one in full-color.  This is the first part of the assignment.  I was nervous about it, but I really liked the way it turned out!  I hope you do too. :)