Product Illustration

With this project, I can't say that I didn't enjoy doing it. I found this project, overall, to be pretty enjoyable. I rather liked the idea of it; it seemed very practical. And with that, I feel like I'm getting better at this whole gouache situation. Slowly but surely, it's starting to go.

Gouche Pickout

I still don't know if I'm spelling gouche right... anyways.
This technique is a little tricky, and with the first one, I just gave up--there was too much going on , and not nearly enough of it working.

Though, with the pumpkin, while it still looks overworked, the addition of the bits of red adn yellow,as well as green into the piece really contributed to the finished product. I think there is a definite improvement here.

The Good, The Bad, and [by being bad] The Ugly

This assignment proved to be much more difficult than I expected. As I already knew, I had a lot of bad paintings to from. If it's not already obvious, watercolor is a little rough for me. Going through, I ran into oh so many choices to blog, and I couldn't choose just one to exemplify my evolution as an illustrator. Even though I can't say I've had that "ah-ha" moment I've been waiting for and anticipating, I've had slightly less dramatic "Oh, okay," type moments.

So, here it begins: 

Believe it or not, that's a cloudscape. I was experimenting with the idea of using white paint, which I now realize doesn't really do it. The tint of my white is yellow-ish, and against blue looks really awkward. At this point, I also had this huge fear of over saturation, because I don't like when everything runs together and gets crazy and muddy, whereas I'm coming to realize that the interactions between colors is the beauty of watercolor. Obviously, this isn't translating at all, and I am going so far to say as this is because of fear.

Here's another one where I used not nearly enough water, and I was a little tight. I think that tended to happen when I got a little thick with the line art, because I felt like I had to stay inside the lines, which in the end doesn't look that great, especially with my skills as an illustrator being where they are. And, again, I had this thing about the white paint... thank goodness I have the ability to whip out a gouche pick-out now.

Final "bad" one: where to begin? Aside from the if-y composition,  my cloud looks like a cotton ball. I was still figuring out that clouds really don't have dark outlines... and with that, I continued to ignore the fact that interactions are actually a good thing-- all of my colors are so starkly separate and contrasting... dislike. And, again, I'm not using close to enough water. It's such a control thing, I know, but all the same, it looks ridiculous. I was so afraid of interactions on the bottom, I didn't even allow the gray of the pavement to touch the brown of the much of the lines of the building. All of this is just bad news bears.

So now that that's out of the way, I'll shift into the good ones. These were even more challenging to choose from, but for the opposite reason of the bad ones. I had some that I think turned out pretty good, but they all have parts that aren't quite perfect, so, again, I went with three, so I could emphasize some of the good that has come out of all this watercolor practice.

I'm actually a pretty big fan of this rooster. I really like some of the interactions one the red face: this is when I discovered the way to layer watercolor in a way to create more value. I'm also really liking some of the interactions on the tail: this is the first time I used differing colors to get an affect (as seem in the blue I threw in there) and it really went well, I think. It added a really cool dimension.

I'm contemplating whether or not to mention what I dislike, since I know these are supposed to be the good part, but I will... it's not like it won't be recognized anyways.

To improve this, I would mainly change the background. I really like what the green is doing, but I wish I would've allowed it to interact with the rooster a little more. I also think the hay looks a little overworked.

I also really am liking how the fish turned out. I think some of the interactions between the orange and the black are really neat, and the sheen of the fish is really cool. I also allowed a little more interaction between the fish and the background, and that is very beneficial.

However, the brown is bland, and the background may be a tad overworked. In the end, though, I still can't deny that I really am liking this piece.

Finally, the sushi. I was surprised when this turned out, to be honest. I was trying to use a lot more water than I usually do, because I know a lot of my paintings come out far too tight. I love the interactions between the different saturations of color on the plate, it adds a really interesting aspect, while at the same time, I like the dripping in the shadow and the other cool water coloring actions. I only desire that I showed depth a little better with this one.

But I do love that I'm starting to understand what you are doing when you let the water color do its own thing, because it really can create some fun and painterly things that look really cool and artist like in illustrations. 

This practice is definetly paying off. I can't wait until this get to the point where I can actually create something that I think is worthy of professional use.

Red Barn

Alright, Red Barn Festival craft festival brochure: after the initial comps, I thought I knew where I was going with this. The front I didn't change much--a change of font with the banner, brighter sky, a few brighter jackets and tables and what not, just to make it look like an event you actually wanted to go to. Looking at it scanned it, I should've made the windows on the building lighter... they're pulling in a lot of attention.

With the inside, I was pretty determined that I was going to do this old man with his furniture--I was totally amused by him at the festival and though it'd be a nice, interesting touch to the inside, but people are hard. His face kept not working right, it looks just blah, so I switched it to the glass pieces, and I think they look pretty cool. Keeping in mind the more vibrant front colors, I think it's working out well. Adding the glass in the opposite corner to even everything out really helped.

Next post: the midterm. Get ready.

MURAL

This is the mural I've been dreading designing for quite a while. I don't know how to express how difficult coming up with a non-clique idea for this. It was near impossible.

With that, I went with a food design. I tried to work in a few elements for diversity (globe food, flag napkin) and then campus (through the clock tower salt and pepper shakers), and people eating is of course community. Bam.

I know it's a stretch, but after thinking about this for so long, I was so thrilled to have any idea, this one was gold for me.

At least it's not multi-colored kids holding hands around a globe, right?

Red Barn

So, a few little sketches turned into a comp.

With the front cover, I need to figure out some of the composition a little bit more, because the more I look at it, the more awkward it gets. I'm thinking a few more tents or trees will fix the space quite well, and I plan on getting the sky to be happier, because this painting makes it look kind of glum.

And for the inside, I couldn't decide between the furniture guy and the glass pieces, so rather than decide I just did both. The furniture guy fits with the front better, especially with the color scheme I have going on, so I think I'm going to cut the glass pieces... you couldn't really tell what they were anyways.

And, now, time to design a cheesy mural. Yay!

And, Still, More Watercolors!

Aside from the annoying mural sketch that seems to continue to haunt me, we,  of course, have more and more watercolors we we continue to do. I can't complain too much, because I don't really mind doing them, per say, they're just time consuming. I do like to see how I actually am improving.

In the future, I plan on taking Rusty's advice and warming up, because my later water color's always seem to be much better then my first. For example, last night's work.

First, I painted the almond jar:

And then, after I was warmed up a little from it I went on to do this sushi:

See the difference? While still not fantastic, it is better. Just imagine what could happen...

More Watercolor?!

So, of course, the watercoloring continues. All over the place. I do think I'm getting it more and more as I go. I've moved from kindergarden skill level up to, maybe, a junior high schooler. I'm going to attribute this is practice, but I also think it has a little to do with switching from my incredibly old and cheap watercolors (literally 4 of the colors were dried out, including white, which made mixing up some colors sort of a challenge... and both of my greens) to some new, decent quality gouche. I'm starting to like gouche a lot more than watercolor, even if they are barely different.

All the same, rocks and water are freakin' hard. Really. I was making up for the fact that I only did 1 watercolor for Monday by doing three for today, including a landscape, which I've really been avoiding. And I happened to choose CLIFFS over the OCEAN. Rocks and water.... hey, I tried.

So then I transitioned back to things. I've been so craving Mexican, but don't want to spend the money on food, so that leaves me to just continue wanting it. Hence, me painting it. Weird. Background overwhelms it. Not a fan

And finally, I went for this fish. It had some neat sheen on it, so I though, hey, why  not work on a little highlighting here and there. I definitely overworked some of the inside a little big, but all the same, it's my favorite one of the set. I do sort of wish I would've thrown a little line art-scale action in there just for kicks, but hey, whatcha gonna do.

More Watercolors

And so we continue water coloring up a storm. The couple of bigger ones will be up as soon as I get them to a scanner, but for now an 8 x 10 to keep this blog more up to date.
I tried out gouche for this one. I can't say it was much different feeling for me, but I do like the overall result better, so I'm thinking I may stick to gouche for a little bit.

More to come