Just seeing if I remember how to use this thing

Lemme try by writing a post...

So not more than a week ago, I was at a children's bookstore browsing with my fiancee's family. His aunt and I got into a discussion about children's illustrators we like. The girl working in the store overheard us and started talking about illustrators she like as well. She showed us the Caldecott section of the store to which I see one of Chris Raschka's books (specifically "Hello, Goodbye Window"). I told the both of them that I actually got to talk to this illustrator in person and eat assorted cheeses and vegitables with him because of the visiting artists event we had recentely. The associate, who seemed to know quite a bit about illustration as she said she majored in that herself, didn't seem to believe me though.

...And I saw this really cute dino book there called "Dinosaur Vs. Bedtime" by Bob Shea. I also became even more plesantly suprised when I found out that Shea would be visiting the children's book fair this weekend up here at UConn.

And here's how my finished Dino project kind of looks like (minus my obvious loud 'watermark'). The funny thing about it is that the colors look weird when I view the full image in firefox but when I download it from firefox or even view it in safari or look at the downloaded version in photoshop, the colors are ok. Great Scott for the life of me...we'll see what happens

Mask & Costume pt. 1

For the first part of the project, where we had to come up with a design for a costume and mask that, in the end, will have to be used to communicate something about ourselves, left me kind of stumped for awhile. The ideas I came up with, at first, did the opposite of that. For example, one of the ideas I came up with was a 'sales associate' costume because I've been one in the past. I wanted to give that costume a fake smiling mask because that's how it is when you're working in retail, you have to be fake nice and polite to everyone. Eventually though, I decided not to go with that though because, just like the fake persona I put on when I work in customer service, it didn't feel like it conveyed the 'me' I wanted it to. I also thought of making a feminine costume with a pretty venetian type of mask but in the end the idea just felt too generic to work with.














Because I felt I wasn't coming up with good enough ideas, I brained stormed a list of words that, I thought, personified me. The word I ended up working with was 'childish'. After all, isn't that something that describes me well? I took some of the elements that I sketched out a costume resembling a dress that a 5-7 year old girl would be forced to wear (I was, as a child, anyway). I even added girly socks and Mary Janes, shoes that I remember wearing as a kid. The mask could be made of rubber with hair on top and would be made to completely cover the head (like those witch masks they sell during Halloween). It's also made to look like the head of a little girl with rosy cheeks and pigtails. I've added a sketch of the mask only to my post only because I don't want to give the complete package 'away' before class on Thursday. Here it is!
















It totally looks like a creepy disembodied head!

Oh, and after doing this made me remember again how much work colored pencils are. I will not be beat this time though!

The final projects - BIRDS

So for this last project, I took the anti-ornithology stance. After watching the movie, I could not help but feel creeped out by these people who were obsessed with birds. Thus, the work for this project reflects my opinion on that.

For the large 8 1/2 by 11 image, I scanned a black and white drawing and colored it in photoshop. I then printed it out, put real composition tape on it and then scanned it back in again. After debating whether or not to use a stock image for the background, I decided to just make it from scratch in photoshop using the brush tools and blending the layers. You can see how all the separate layers come together to create a realistic looking (and creepy) wall
texture:

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For the spot image part of the project, I worked quite a bit conceptually trying to find things that would make sense for this project and the idea that I was trying to convey. I used a lot of collage that I made after gathering images from magazines and drawings as well. After that, I scanned them in and worked on them digitally:

Here are my horizontal cards:








And here are my vertical ones:











Lastly, for my final spread, I tried to incorporate what I have learned as a Design student. This, to me, means a layout that it's eye-catching yet harmonious. So, I tried using a grid system to make the content balance out. I then added little graphics here and there to make it look more natural (you know, so it definitely looked like it was from a magazine).

This is my final layout:








Enjoy!

Final Fork Project

Here is the grand finale of the fork project which I did a couple months ago. I love Nupastels, they're so saturated in color. I love this analogous color scheme too because it's easier to differentiate between the darks and the lights (and still be really vibrant at the same time too!). A king in his castle goes the fork as it waits to tear apart the meat dish in the background

The Birdpeople

After watching the movie on Thursday, I couldn't help but feel a little bit sick inside. The birdwatchers were no different than those of the paparazzi. It's too voyeuristic of a hobby for my taste. I mean, I can understand how that hobby would interest people. Collecting stationary is a hobby I enjoy immensely and the thrill I get when I buy something unique must be the same as their's when they see an Ivory-billed Woodpecker (which, I understand, is extinct). But I couldn't help but wonder if these people, the 'watchers', were taking their hobby too far. It seemed to be more of a selfish kind of gratification that these people got from their hobby when they captured their birds and 'studied' them. I don't feel that I could really appreciate what these people do. Birds are great; they're pretty and majestic. But just leave them be. Stop objectifying the birds so much.

Calendar Project - January

For this illustration project, I was give the task to create an image for January. After researching, I decided to go with the idea that it's the hottest time of the year for the southern hemisphere and the coldest time for the north. I used colored pencils which, as I said in class, I thought wouldn't be to difficult a medium. Unfortunately, I was wrong. Oh well, live and let live I suppose. Anyways, here's the final piece!

brrr

Check out my store 'n my Flickr account

Here is the link to my CafePress site. I believe I only have one product up there but I hope that during the course of this semester, that'll change :)

Also, here is the link to my flickr account. I'd have more stuff up if most of the stuff I had wasn't fanart :/

Forking around with Comps

These are 3 ideas I've pushed for the comp design. After doing research, I wanted to make illustrations that had depictions of Europe in them since it was pretty much where the fork's popularity of use exploded. In the last comp, I played with the idea that forks seemed to be popularized by aristocratic use. The medium I'm planning to utilize is chalky pastels with outlines on a vellum fore-layer.

Not too late to illustrate a bookplate

'Ello world! I'm posting my first piece of work from illustration class this semester. Our project was to do a bookplate that communicated something a little bit about us. Being a fan of fairy tales, I decided go with a swan (ala 'The Ugly Duckling') swimming in a book. What I loved about the whole thing was the process. Everything just seemed to flow together, from the cats tails, to the letters in my name, to the shape of the swan. Converting the whole thing into a vector also gave it a more earthy and natural wood feel that I felt was more appropriate for it.

Enjoy!