The Book Thief Illustration

I did this illustration months ago but I didn't have time to make some of the final changes that I wanted until now.  I thought I should post it before the movie is released everywhere.  This is a scene from one of my favorite books of all time: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak.  I have posted character drawings from this book before (http://nmb-art.blogspot.com/2012/04/figure-drawing-final-week.html   and   http://nmb-art.blogspot.com/2012/05/some-drawings-and-sketches-for-fun.html ) but never an illustration of a scene.

I chose to illustrate Hans teaching Liesel how to read.  If you have not read this book yet I highly recommend it.

Sketch Dump!

Here are some sketches I've done in the past little while.  I figured it was about time to scan them all in and upload them onto the blog!  Enjoy!

This may be how I take notes on the talks in church

Sometimes you are singing in the choir and have to
sit on the stand and can only draw the backs of the speakers

General Conference doodles

If you've been following my blog for a while you know that in my art classes
I often just draw the other students instead of working on my actual assignment

Girl in my class (almost a year ago... man I need scan more regularly) with awesome features

Illustration 2: Oil Painting (mid-semester update)

Here are the two paintings I have done since the last post!  Unlike Figure Drawing, each painting takes at least three class periods, so I don't have very much to post in my updates.

We have started the figure unit which is exciting! Because I love the figure!  But also kind of scary and worrisome, because I'm afraid that mixing painting into figure drawing is going to make me doubt myself in/lose the one part of art about which I'm truly confident.  Oh well!  As I've said before, it will be a good learning experience and I do want to be able to do figure work in different mediums.

The other painting is for an assignment where we had to create a still life and painting that represents a person/personality.  I haven't quite finished it yet, but any guesses as to who it is? :)

I decided to try being a little more bold and experimental
with color than I usually am-- I liked the result!

Update: Yes, I still do art

Hello friends!  I apologize for the extremely long break between posts here.  This Spring term I wasn't taking any art classes (weird!) and Summer was a little crazy since I was getting married.  Hooray!  Anyway, I just wanted to reassure you all that I do indeed still do art.

This semester I am only taking one Illustration class (I'm almost done with my major which is freaking me out a little) and it is all about oil painting!  Painting is not my strong suit as I have very little experience with it.  So this class has been, and will continue to be, a very good learning experience for me.  The first half of the semester is all still-life paintings (so this will be a little flashback for all you long time readers to my posts a couple years ago-- http://nmb-art.blogspot.com/2011/11/some-serious-backlog.html ).  However, the second half will be figure painting!  You know how I love the figure!

Anyway, here are the paintings I have done so far (from earliest to most recent):

This piece was done with only Ultramarine Blue, Burnt Sienna, and White paint

This piece was focusing on warm vs. cool lights and shadows.
It was also done with only the three colors mentioned above.

This piece was done only using Alizaron Crimson, Yellow Ochre, white, and black paint.
Grapes are hard.

Master-work study of a Diego Velazquez painting.

I painting this piece using only a palette knife-- no brushes.

Using palette knives makes the paint quite thick.

Advanced Figure Drawing: End of the Semester

We started our drapery unit and have been working on that for the past two weeks.  I sometimes dread drapery and I sometimes love it.  It usually takes me a bit to get into it and comfortable and remember that it doesn't have to be as complicated as it seems.  But there were a couple drawings that I think turned out really well. Enjoy!

Advanced Figure Drawing 2: Finishing March

Here are a couple drawings from this last week of March! I started trying out charcoal and I like it quite a bit.  The first sustained pose is done in Vine Charcoal and the second one is done in Compressed Charcoal. They are very different but both are good.  I love how dark the Vine can get! The only problem is that Vine is super super transitory.  If you breathe too close to it your drawing may just blow off the page.  It's very tricky.  I had to spray about a gallon of fixative to get it so I could close my pad of paper without ruining it!

T-shirt Design Commission

A friend of mine is a film major and he is working with a group of high school students this semester on some film projects.  At the end of the semester they are putting on a film festival.  He asked me to design t-shirts for the members of this group.  It was a great experience and I felt honored to be asked to do it!  I learned a lot about collaborating and I realized that I really need a refresher course in Illustrator.  Here is what the finished design looks like:

I realize this is hard to see, but as it is printed on a gray shirt the lines are white (I just put the gray behind part of the text so it could be read).

Here is an alternate design just for fun (as they could only print white and red the gradient and such wouldn't work in the printed design)

Advanced Figure Drawing 2: February and March (continued)

Here are a few drawings from February that I missed while uploading pictures for the previous post.

 

Advanced Figure Drawing 2: February and March

FIGURE DRAWING OVERLOAD!!!  Sorry I haven't been updating regularly this semester.  But I'm making up for lost time by posting some of my favorites from the last 2ish months.  Enjoy!