Fixing a Face

A final structured assignment before we each "do our own thing" for the rest of the quarter. We were to create a portrait using both traditional and digital media.

Photo by Katie Sivits

I started off with the intention of doing a realistic drawing of a friend back home.

But it looked super stiff and boring.

So I decided to draw a caricature.

And do the linework in brush.

But as I added more texture I went overboard and it looked terrible.

So I toned it down a little bit.

Redrew most of it. Added some tones in MangaStudio...

Spent forever making textures from my brushwork....spent even longer figuring out which looked best...

And came up with this final version. Also, a color one.

It ended up not looking like Isaac at all, but I still came up with something interesting. I'm really enjoying having the chance to experiment!

Texture Troubles

For Advanced Inking this past week, we had to create a large illustration based on a fable we read in class. The illustration had to include brush, nib, an unconventional object, and digital tones.


ORIGINAL COMPS:

TEXTURE TESTS:

FINAL (TRADITIONAL) DRAWING:

Because of the sloppiness of my hatching in the background and my dissatisfaction with the rain drops, I decided to touch it up in MangaStudio. I removed the original background and drops and placed in an automated crosshatching filter. 

While this looks a lot more clean and clear, I was not comfortable using a pre-made tone. This next week I'm going to learn to make my own tones and textures and implement that in my next assignment. Looking forward to learning more about the MangaStudio software!

William's Court Apartments

Let me just preface this by saying this was one of my favorite ways to spend class. We went to the William's Court Apartments on Monday to draw some of the residents there. I was paired up with two very sassy gals, Mosella Prophet and Eloise Crowley. The stories they told me were pretty incredible. Such beautiful women who really love the Lord! Let's just say I walked away with more than a couple drawings.

Patrick Clampitt, a classmate of mine was nice enough to let me show some of his drawings too!

Such a great way to spend the day. People are so full of stories-- I'd do something like this again in a heartbeat.

Round of applause to some of the best models I've ever had!

A Beautiful Mine (Mad Men Watercolor)

This week was the calm before midterms. I'm really happy to have so much watercolor/mixed media practice this quarter! If any of you folks get the chance to take Sketchbook with Professor Gardner, do it. Seriously.

Last Monday, our class went to Colonial Cemetery (Savannah, GA) for some on-site drawing. Divided into groups of five, we each started a drawing for 20 minutes, and then had to pick up someone else's sketchbook and continue where they left off. Here is the product of 20 min intervals by 4 other of my classmates. Nice work, team!

Between then and the next class, we were to do a sketchbook entry that was anything of our choice. I decided to do a mixed media illustration of some dear friends of mine. They also happen to be wicked-talented artists, so you should check out Katie's photography and Chayce's art tumblr.

We also did some figure drawing in class I almost forgot about:

Our weekly out-of-class assignment was to illustrate 6 scenes from either a movie or a tv show. Four of these scenes were directly referenced and two of them were "alternate endings" or "scenes from our imagination." I'm in love with AMC's Mad Men. Below are illustrations from Season 5 (episodes Far Away Places and The Other Woman). They didn't quite come out as I had hoped, but I'm proud of two or three at least.


REFERENCED:

Roger and Jane, Far Away Places

Joan, The Other Woman

Ginsberg and Peggy, Far Away Places

Megan and Don, Far Away Places

ALTERNATES:

Joan slaps Pete Campbell, The Other Woman

Roger decides NOT to take LSD, Far Away Places