In the Mountains

Something I've been wanting to do for a while. A watercolor rendition of a beautiful family photo taken in 1918.

bulk sketch update

I finished a small sketchbook recently. Here is most of it in no particular order. 99% life drawings.

...and a bonus piece from a newly started landscape sketchbook. Sailboat in acrylic.

Awake My Soul

Latest illustration assignment was to illustrate song lyrics. I chose the lyric "awake my soul" by Mumford and Sons from a song of the same title. I wanted to do something that I was currently listening to and that I felt very connected with. I'm really happy with my choice and I'm fairly happy with the way this came out. First biggish (12 x 12) full illustration done in watercolor. I'm glad that I got to go with this concept/composition. 

Paintings!

Assorted oil paintings from the semester:

Interior of my kitchen AKA Bree's Domain. Biggest painting I've done since HS. First time working on board. 

3 hour study of a macchioli painting.

First landscape of the semester. On campus. 

Bird Key Park silhouette landscape. Working with a dark ground and painting the negative space.

Bird Key Park silhouette landscape. Working with a dark ground and painting the negative space.

And there yah have it.

Updates coming soon!

A long overdue painting/sketchbook update coming soon! Stay tuned.

Illustrator Portrait: Anna Craig

Portrait of my wonderful and talented friend, Anna Craig, done in Illustrator. Man. This thing fought me right up until the end. But once I stopped worrying about being 100% true to the photo and just making it work as a portrait, I finally achieved a result that I'm happy with. 

Photo reference. 

Postcard Illustration: Orlando, FL.

 Digital.

For Illustration, we had to create a postcard for our hometown. It's times like this that I wish I were from somewhere awesome like Iceland or Australia, but alas I am from Orlando and I had to make due. The assignment was very open and I wanted to do something that I actually wanted to do, not something I was just doing for class. I think I definitely accomplished that. I had a blast doing this. I originally got three different concept thumbnails approved, but I chose this one because it was slightly more complex and I felt like I would learn a lot from it.

So my concept is pretty straightforward. Orlando can't be defined by one type of person or landmark. It's actually a fairly big place that encompasses many different walks of life. I decided to split up my perception of Orlando into four distinct slices, all represented by a person on the bus.

There is the business man, who represents the wealthy built-up suburbs. Windermere, Islesworth, that sort of thing.  Next to him is the obvious: tourist mom and kids with all of their Disney merchandise. There is the artsy hipster youth, which represents the un-florida like areas of Orlando, with hole-in-the-wall places like Austins and Stardust Video & Coffee. And on the end is the homeless person, representing the struggling, poorer side of Orlando like Parramore and the waves of homeless all over downtown.

I really love the way this piece came out. It was a ton of fun and I really tried to experiment with color and colored line (I looked at a lot of Sam Bosma's work for inspiration) and I think that it was pretty successful.  I got a good critique (Anna pointed out that I forgot to fucking put cast shadows on the floor and I want to die) and I got a few compliments that meant a lot. Happy with this one.

Process:

Super messy rough line work.

Finalized line work and value study. The line work was consistent but the value shifted a bit when I started coloring, but not to the point where it became unreadable. I try to turn my color off pretty often, just to see where I'm at value-wise.