Product Illustration

The product I chose is Suze, which I believe is basically just a really old brand of European tonic water. So old, in fact, it was depicted in one of Picasso's famous collage pieces called "Glass and Bottle of Suze." The photo I found is of what looks like an antique Suze bottle with old charm. It was sort of a dumb choice, which I didn't find out until I started trying to paint the glass part of the bottle. Painting glass is damn near impossible for gouache beginners like me. Next time, I'll choose something with a bit less glass. Jeesh.

Gouache Pick Out

DADT Poster

My attempt at large scale poster photography and advertisement for a touchy issue. It was near impossible to think of ways to make this kind of poster somewhat neutral without either stirring up anger in those opposed to the message I was trying to send or getting in trouble with ROTC or the US Army. They typically have an issue with people advertising for topics they do not support or have not approved of. Lucky for me, this is a school project and will never leave the Truman campus for reproduction. I also figured not too many people can touch me if I'm simply supporting First Amendment rights.

Midterm: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly Part 2

Because I have been having constant battles with my watercolor brushes and paints, I've turned to technology. I recently had the "aha" moment when illustrating in Photoshop, which I'm really grateful for because I wouldn't have anything to show you if I hadn't figured it out. It just makes sense to me. An all-in-one tracing and coloring program with layering capabilities? Umm, one word: Forgiving. Everything just looks better to me if I illustrate it in Photoshop, not to mention it's mess free and ready to put onto the blog sans scanning when it's finished. On top of all of that, I also got a brand new Bamboo pen tablet to draw with so it's going to be even more difficult to motivate myself to figure out watercolor and gouache. But in my recent projects I have been relying a bit too much on Photoshop illustration. So I'm hoping I can pick up on gouache much faster than watercolor because I would like to be familiar and proficient with this particular media, mostly because it's fast and if done properly, looks good. And because I like drawing so much in Photoshop, I would like to try combining the two a bit more often. Anyway, here's what I feel is my strongest illustration. I feel like it's almost cheating because I actually had an extra hour to work on it. I can only imagine what I'll be able to get done with more time!

Midterm: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly Part 1

Choosing my worst work so far this semester is kind of a bummer. Hmm. My worst work. Sadly, there are quite a few to choose from. It's made me realize how much work I have to do to get all the techniques down so I can actually utilize this media in a pinch if needed. So far, watercolors have been the hardest to get down. Though time has been an issue, I still haven't had the "aha" moment in which all of the techniques click on in my brain and I can crank out 10 good watercolors in only 2 hours (which is sadly the most time I've had to work on most of the homework assignments). Yes, this example lacks decent composition, color saturation and though not too visible on the merciful computer screen, scattered and runny pigments. I am glad to say that I have improved from this point and am able to have minimal pigment scattering, more color saturation and much better composition. Let's just say that practice is still in the process of making perfect.

Red Barn Pamphlet Illustrations

So, I'm pretty sick of Red Barn projects up to this point so my goal was to try and switch up the imagery a bit. I included some festival events and some crafts, but did them in a way that wouldn't remind me of the topic that's been beaten into my portfolio for three years now. I gave Photoshop illustrating another try, only this time, I had some fun with the brushes. Instead of using the plain straight edged brush selection, I tried some new gloppy looking ones to give my illustrations the feel of color being added before the line art. For the dancers, I also tried with color and without to show the definition of the tutu's which was the focal point for that work.

Mural: "Wall of Fame"

My idea for the Ryle Hall mural is a "Wall of Fame" and it includes all famous people either born in Missouri or that have lived and worked in Missouri in the past. Since the new cafeteria resembles Panera, I wanted the mural to look like the warm line drawings that are commonly found on the walls there. I believe my topic is visually and intellectually interesting, while still maintaining the cheesy ideas of community and the world. If mine gets chosen, I will touch it up to perfection, make the background better, and include all the names of the individuals and where they lived or worked in MO next to their image. Also, if mine gets chosen, I will research a large format printing company that could print the mural out and have it pasted onto the wall easily instead of having people paint it on by hand.

Oh Yeah! Watercolors Yeah!

So here's all the 8.5x11's that I owe in class. I actually had some time this past weekend to catch up in class watercolor assignments. The last one is the 13x19 that I also owe. The only reason I'm blogging these is because they're a bit late due to soccer trips. Otherwise, I am still very bitter about the nasty pigment scattering that my current paints create and am waiting patiently for my new $100 Holbein Designer's gouache to come in the mail. Oh joy.

VCIV Visual Identity Illustrations

I'm such a great liberal arts student mixing class media! I did these Photoshop illustrations for my viscom class. Man. These took a long time too. I could use some extra points in illustration..ehem.

13x19 Watercolor

This is my first try at a large scale watercolor with line. I'm still not convinced that I can learn all the watercolor techniques and actually put them together to make something look good. I sure will try though.

Promotional Poster

Here's my line-art poster illustration. It was not approved because the soccer ball isn't perfectly round. Interesting since nothing else in the illustration is perfect either, which is the style I was intending.