Zebracorn

Fun little image I'm doing for a series of little promotional cards. I was originally going to paint it but, for some reason I ended up doing it in Photoshop instead. I think I've been agonising way too much over these pieces and want to get them out of the way quickly.

I showed this to a friend who liked it, but mentioned that the girl's pants blended in a bit much and were hard to make out. So I did a little bit of a colour change and the difference is huge!



Looks a lot better I think!

I uploaded the colour rough before, but just thought I'd show it again.

Boa Lady

I am thinking I'd like to jazz up my website a bit. Maybe with a bit of artwork for the title of each page. This lady is an idea for one such artwork, inspired by the Dr Sketchy's session I went to last week.

Some things!

Been busy lately but here's a few rough thingies I've slowly been working on, some assignments and commissions.

Patchwork Lion + website is online!

Here's a quick pic I did in class today. I had a lot of fun experimenting and playing with fabric and patterned textures! I also decided I have too many tigers, crocodiles and bears, so I figured it'd be nice to do a different animal for a change. In this case, a ferocious circus lion who looks more like a plush doll... teehee.

Also, in other news, my website Bearprints.com.au is online! Hoo-rah!!

Hello!

Just a sketch I did during class today that I really liked and decided to scan! It's a bit different from my usual stuff too! I rather enjoy using gouache like watercolour. It kind of feels like watercolour but I have more control over it.

Bearosel

This is a piece I made just to go on the front page of my website. I've done about 3 or 4 different designs for Bearprints, but in the end I opted for something really simple and easy to navigate, with the art governing the overall look and design. Anyway, I wanted a piece to go on the front page of my site for the launch, I wanted something cute, fun, and featuring a bear. I wanted to throw in a tiger too, so after a bit of scribbling in photoshop I came up with this.



This is about as neat as my sketches get. After this stage I do flat colours and details, and once everything is sorted I move on to adding texture. I was going to upload an example of just the flat coloured stage, but I stupidly saved both of my working files as flattened finals. Oops!

My website Bearprints will probably be online within a week or two. (Yeah, I've heard that before, but this time I really mean it!)

Red and Blue and Yellow

No inspiration Thursday this week, just a few more pieces from me. Yesterday we went to the city and met Matte Clare, an illustrator who is also heavily involved in Illustrators Australia. He had a lot of good stuff for us, and he showed us a bit of his work. He does a lot of illo's for business magazine articles and editorials and stuff, and it was really inspiring to learn about. I think it might be an avenue I will look into.

I have one more drawing to redo, then I have to pack it all up and deliver all my work in tomorrow for assessment. I've been pretty stressed in the past week but I have it pretty much under control now, I think. Before I head in tomorrow morning I'm going to celebrate with a yummy bacon and egg breakfast down at the café near the train station. Yay!



Here are the second and third pieces for the character illustration assignment. Far better than my old attempt. Here we have my character, the red croc, meeting a blue tiger, and then both of them interacting with an object - a vehicle. I'm pretty happy with all 3 and they are all pieces I would be happy to see in the end of year exhibition.

Well, back to work I go!

Red Croc

I've had a really, really frustrating week of artmaking, let me tell you. I've been stressing out all week because the piece I was working on for our latest illustration assignment just was not getting up to par. I couldn't hand that thing in as part of my portfolio, nor would I ever want it shown in the Illustre exhibition. So I am doing it over again digitally.

Also in the works is a resubmission for a previous assignment, where we had to illustrate 3 characters. Despite the high mark I got for those pieces I am not happy with them and I am doing that assignment over again as well.

So here are the three sketches I will end up painting. The character is still a crocodile but he is drawn in my main style and he has a bit more personality to him. He's also red!






My first painting attempt was so bad that I couldn't even look at the thing, so I scribbled over it and threw it out. My second attempt was not much better, but I kept it this time. The problem I had with these ones is the paper, I reckon. It's canvas paper for oils and acrylics and I don't think gouache seems to work well on it at all. I like texture in my paintings too, but this paper was probably too much.



Tired and frustrated after two disasters, I decided to put the brushes away for the day and play some Warcraft. Yesterday's attempt at painting was much better, thankfully! This time I painted on pastel paper much like I did with this piece. Despite a little blooper which ended up being a background, it went well and I was pretty happy afterwards. I had redeemed myself. Now, I just need to go to the shop and buy some more white gouache, because I am all out! Doh!

Belated Inspiration Thursday #2

Oops, this was meant to be posted yesterday. Anyway, this week I am sharing the work of Alice and Martin Provensen, a husband and wife duo who illustrated some really great children's books. They are two of my favourite illustrators. If you like these pieces I highly recommend you zip over here to see the wonderful fully scanned book, The Animal Fair.

Owly!

Just a little more illustrator practice, nothing spectacular... I'll tell you what though, I'm having a hard time enjoying anything that I make lately, so I'm not very happy at the moment. Oh well.