Burn

I've shared most of my thesis illustrations on this blog, but here is the last! This was created as a production painting for an original zombie apocalypse story called Sidge McDougal's Zombie Crisis. I've shared some other work on this project so if you'd like to see more Sidge, check out this post where I share Sidge's character design process. There's also this other production painting for the story you can check out. I'll definitely continue working on these designs and story in the future with the story's creators. Originally thought as a series of films, the concept has evolved to be a possible animated series. I'd love to hammer out more character designs and maybe even do some animated storyboards in the future.

a series of thumbnails exploring scenes and environments

value study along with color thumbnails

Typically, I like having lineart throughout my illustrations, but I decided to keep the lineart focused on the characters and keep the rest of the illustration loose and a bit painterly

the final production painting (I had previously went on a fun adventure to a vista point here in Oakland where you can see the whole bay... definitely was a vital reference. San Francisco is burning!!!)

our heroes look on, knowing this is only the beginning....

Adventure Awaits

As you may have noticed by now, I'm a big fan of fantasy and its use of the quest and adventure. Last year I was told to read The Kingkiller Chronicle, a fantasy trilogy by Patrick Rothfuss. I was not disappointed. Seriously, if you're a fantasy fan and haven't yet made your way to reading these books start NOW. Yes, they're that good. I had just finished The Wise Man's Fear, the second book in the trilogy, and was super inspired by its narrative. Thus, I present to you, another illustration I created for my thesis for the aforementioned novel.

First, of course, I did some thumbnails. The main character is very much a bard but in this book you're told the story of how he became a warrior as well, so I thought it was important to show this.

I fused #2 and #3, then did a color rough.

I then shot a model in the pose, gathered reference, and started drawing. I decided to omit the lute because it didn't make sense to me how it was hanging, and any other way just made his warrior stance confusing. In its fictional reality, Kvothe would never, ever have his precious lute out with his sword. So I decided to focus instead fully on his traveling warrior aspect.

many hours in Photoshop later.... the final illustration!

Kvothe is so damn cool....

Conscious Perception

"Indeed, we must never forget that for us outer reality exists only in so far as we perceive it consciously, and that we cannot prove that it exists 'in and by itself.'"

 - Carl Jung, Man and His Symbols

I wrote a blog post back in March--wow, it doesn't feel that long ago--about an illustration I was working on inspired by the above quote and Carl Jung's concept of the Self and Cosmic Man. I've been interested in psychology for many years now, and that fascination expanded into consciousness studies and theories as well as quantum mechanics. I'm intrigued by the concept of reality: what is, what isn't, and how do we know exactly? Perception, and more specifically conscious perception, is key to our reality. Observation and subjective experience make up our own individual understanding of reality, but I've also been interested in theories of collective unconsciousness; Jung's Cosmic Man being one symbol of "the total oneness of all human existence."

So, I wanted to create an illustration expressing this "oneness", this collective unconsciousness, while keeping in mind perceptions of reality. I did a fair amount of research; I had already read Man and His Symbols (which is how I became inspired), but I re-read certain chapters and analyzed the various interpretations. 

I made notes and started thumbnailing.

I decided to go the nature and shrine/cave-inspired route. I wanted to show a connection to nature and a oneness achieved by exploring the world. Many of the various interpretations of the Cosmic Man related back to nature--P'an Ku (Chinese symbol) and Gayomart (ancient Persian symbol) were covered by leaves as a plant. Gayomart was a huge figure omitting light. I didn't want to directly depict them specifically, but rather reference these details.

value drawing

final version, watercolor, inkwash, and digital

I decided to edit the size to format it more to be a book cover for my thesis, as well as omit the figure since I found it distracting. Without the figure, it feels more like the viewer becomes the figure, standing in the space.

since I was thinking of this as a book cover, I decided to layout some type to give an example of how it could look

I really enjoyed painting this and will be doing more psychology/consciousness theory inspired illustrations in the future. There are really fun explorations of many different unknowns and that is super inspiring to me.

Depths of Space: Finish

Now that I've finished my thesis, I want to share the remaining illustrations I haven't posted. For today, I'm starting with S P A C E . . 

This illustration is a cover for a comic idea I've been working on with my partner (mostly still formative, discussion) but there was a really cool scene he told me of the woman scientist going into space to meditate, for moments of thought and self-reflection. I really wanted to capture the feeling of drifting in space while still being connected (ie, not the scary drifting kind that is seen in the upcoming Alfonso Cuaron film Gravity--though I do want to see this movie when it comes out). Even more importantly, I wanted to communicate her melding into space, her consciousness fusing with the ultimate. It took many studies and experimentations, but I'm happy with the final!

Notes, notes, notes. Studies, studies, studies. I did a lot of sketching to explore the motion of the body, as well as research into future possibilities of space suits since I knew I didn't want the current suit--and it's set in the future.

More notes and another study. Then two different takes. The first take was a bit rushed and although I liked where the stylization was going, the pose was way too active. In the second version, the pose was getting better but she looked too stiff and there were a bit too many chords going on. With helpful feedback from fellow grad students, I started again.

This time I liked it. I took more time with the drawing and inking, really controlling my line weight. Then took it into Photoshop and worked.

I'm really happy with how the final turned out. Hopefully there'll be more developments on this project in the future.

Vacation, Animation, and Graduation, oh my!

Happy Friday, Internets!

I got back from my two week vacation visiting my home, Chicago, earlier this week.

Skyline as seen from the Southside on I-55 in traffic, which I do not miss, and we were in quite a bit of it throughout the two weeks traveling from north to south.

It was a great time and I really feel that I re-charged my batteries: socially, mentally, and creatively. I'm ready to get back to drawing and work!

In that vein, I had my final review for my Masters in Illustration from Academy of Art University yesterday......

AND I PASSED!!

Oh, glorious day! I genuinely enjoyed the grad school experience, and it definitely strengthened my drawing and illustration skills by leaps and bounds. But I'm also ready to be done with academics and tackle the working world head on.

Now transitioning from there... I was an intern at Rooftop Comedy for the first three months of this year. I worked on some fun, short animations for an original web series and the program has officially gone live! You can check out all the videos here.

I wish there was a way to embed them, but I can't seem to find out how. So here's the list of the episodes I animated (with direct links to the episodes):

"Kids Say Some Weird Stuff"

"Have Kid, Will Travel"

"Nuclear Families are the Bomb"

"Dads are the Best People"

"Prickly Parenting Decisions"

"Parent-Kid Communication Fail"

"Those Special Mom Moments"

I had a blast working there and am going to be working on some of my own animations and interactive illustrations in the near future. First, to learn Flash and brush up on my After Effects!

Since I've finished my thesis completely, there's more work to share in the coming weeks. So keep checking back to my regularly scheduled posts each Wednesday and Friday for more illustrations!

Zombie Killer Extraordinaire

Sidge McDougal's Zombie Crisis is an original concept created by my boyfriend and his close friend.  When I started Visual Elements of Story at AAU and had the option to develop an original story I knew it would be this one. I'd previously done some character designs for the story but wanted to revise those and push the designs further. It's a fun story and who doesn't love zombies and the apocalypse?

Although, I must say, I need to do a lot more drawing of zombies in the future. I mostly focused on designing the living human characters in the story this time around. So, behold, Sidge McDougal! Our main character, anti-hero protagonist.

thumbnails exploring different designs; head explorations; and the final version on the right

turn-arounds! I had fun drawing all the spikes and accessories on Sidge initially, but man was it interesting to move them. I kept going over my checklist of spikes to ensure none were missed. Below the turn-around are several expressions. It's getting somewhere, but I think he still needs to be pushed to look even more manic and crazed.

we had to create boards at the end of class and here is my character board. I still want to revise some of the characters and finish the 3D character painting (bottom right) so once those are done I'll be sharing them in the near future.

I've had a lot of fun designing this story from characters to props to environments. I will probably continue working on it in the future. A part of me has been itching to do some animation involving this story, even if it's just some animated storyboards. We shall see what time allows....

Burn 'em All

For today's post, I bring you a production painting for Sidge McDougal's Zombie Crisis!

Over the past year, my interest and love for concept art has grown--especially in an animated style. I've posted some Sidge McDougal artwork and development in the past. Here's the blog post of Sidge's initial character design. He has since been further developed, along with some other characters. I have a lot of fun developing this world and will hopefully continue working on the project (there's SO much to do).

The entire process. L to R, initial thumbnail sketches of various scenes. Then value studies of different lighting scenarios. Of course, the dramatic lighting was the most interesting to me. Below that are the color studies. Upper left on the right is the finished drawing and below that the finished production painting.

The drawing by itself. I had a lot of fun drawing that zombie hand in the foreground. Definitely had the ol' anatomy book out for that one.

And the final production painting, colored digitally. The basic thought was he's probably luring the zombies to him and burning them inside the crypt. Because Sidge McDougal just effing loves killing zombies.

Next week I'll post some new character designs for the project. Have a great weekend!

Academy of Art's 2013 Spring Show

The Academy of Art University's Spring Show opened last Wednesday at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco! The Palace of Fine Arts is gorgeous! I haven't been there yet and couldn't help but take a few pictures of the outside...

And the lighting was just so perty....

Some awesome work from the MFA Children's Book section! That nifty illustration with the dragon coughing in the girl's face is by fellow AAU grad student Tracie Timmer (check out her blog here). The illustrations below that, with the boy in the tree and the Indian woman with swans are by another awesome lady at AAU by the name of Kelley McMorris (check out her blog here and her website here).

There's no one I know personally from these sweet illustrations, but check 'em out! There were so many beautiful illustrations and art everywhere you looked!

It was so crowded!! I haven't been to a Spring Show Opening Night before this one and I was not prepared to elbow my way through to see art... but it was still worth it!

Voila! My piece and mah face. I had to practically lay down on the floor to reach it but made it nonetheless!

I'm glad to have been a participant in the Spring Show. The Show will be on exhibit until June 5 at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco. For more info on the show, go here.

I'll be changing the posting days to Wednesday and Friday, since Sunday just proves too difficult to find the time to post sometimes. See ye internet adventurers Friday!

600 and Onward!

The best ten heads out of 100, adding to 600! I'm slowly getting toward 700, and hopefully it won't take as long as these did. In case you're new to these posts, I'm doing a One Thousand Head Drawing Challenge: draw one thousand heads and by the end of it, voila, you've improved! It's a lot of fun and I use Facebook as a penalty of drawing five each time I visit... so it gets along pretty quickly. I also appreciate all my friends posting pictures so I can draw them; it really brings me out of my standard character drawing habits.

Tonight I'll be going to the Academy of Art University's Spring Show Opening Night Reception! I have a piece in the show and am excited to check the event out and see a bunch of great artwork. The show will be on display in San Francisco at the Palace of Fine Arts until June 5, so if you're in the Bay Area try and check it out!

Here is the piece I have in the show. I've posted it here before, but tweaked it slightly since then.

Fae Goddess: 'Cause sexy ladies and roses are extra fun to draw

If you follow my drawings and paintings, it doesn't take very long to figure out: I love drawing me some ladies. So when I was reading The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss and read the steamy and awesome parts involving the Fae goddess Felurian, I knew I had to draw her.

Here's the overall process. On the left there are the thumbnails I came up for the scene. I was torn between depicting a scene between Felurian and the main character of the series, Kvothe, but decided to focus on Felurian and do a character illustration. Below thumbnails is the first lineart with a color rough. I then digitally colored the illustration, but wasn't happy with it. Since this is a piece for my thesis, I wanted to re-work it until it felt better. I decided to re-draw Felurian because she didn't feel sexy or dangerous enough by far.

Here is a comparison of the lineart. I also opened up the top of the illustration so there would be more breathing room, as well as room for type if desired.

Then I drew and painting it mostly traditionally. I felt the digital version I had previously done lacked the textures I can get when painting with watercolor and ink washes, and so decided to start over traditionally. I transferred the rough shapes of the drawing, then refined and drew it in the different color of lines I wanted with Prismacolor Col-Erase Pencils.

I did a monochromatic value series of washes to unify the color and begin laying in the values. Of course, I wanted to go right to the black of her hair and the details of her eyes, but had to restrain myself until the end!

I was pretty into working on this, so this is the only other in-progress photo I took. Here most of the colors are roughed in. I did several more washes--especially on the cloak, and then go to my delicious blacks and details.

The final illustration! I punched it up in Photoshop and Painter (mostly for the stars). I'm much happier with this version and had a great time painting it.

I hope you all enjoy the illustration and a peek into the process of making it. I have a lot more to share in the coming days, and will also be getting back onto my Thousand Heads Drawing Challenge, so the best of 600 should be coming in the next week or so.

Chicks Kick Zombie Butt

A running theme for me the past five months illustrating has definitely been ZOMBIES.

I've been working on some visual development for an original zombie apocalypse story so naturally it's been on my mind and in my hands. I had this rough sketch, concept, and awesome reference photos (seriously, one of the most fun model photo shoots I've had) so I had to make an illustration!

Here are two chicks fighting off some rude zombies trying to bust into their nice home. Really, zombies. Would it kill you to knock? Oh... wait, yeah....

The drawing! I spent a good bit of time on this and had a lot of fun with the girl in the foreground's expression. It was so much fun (albeit a struggle!) and I love the comical edge it adds to it, since this short story concept definitely had some humor in my head when I envisioned it.

Then I inked the drawing, traditionally.

And colored it digitally! I wanted a simple one color process and green gives me that creepy zombie vibe.

I hope you enjoy the illustration and the process! More to come this weekend.