Visual Rhythm

This week's exercise was interesting because we got to listen to music and then translate that into visual rhythm. Surprisingly, I think bluegrass is my favorite visually.

Style inspiration: Michael Glenwood

Michael Glenwood's piece (in the Society of Illustrators annual) really struck me. I like the texture that the flowers make in this image. The contrast of the colors of pink and blue is striking, and the replication helps us notice the 'hole' where the boat-person has grabbed a bouquet.

Weekly sketch: owls

Here's a sketch from this week. I was exploring some designs for cute owls. The figure in the lower left was used for a personal silkscreen project.

Instruction illustration: Concept

My concept for this step-by-step illustration is for a humorous origami instructional that gets more and more complicated. The photographs below are some reference photographs I have for the six steps. I'm still working on the captions (I have a couple ideas below).

 

How to fold a simple origami crane
1. Fold your paper in half from corner to corner.
2. Fold it in half again from corner to corner.
3. Next, open the flap and turn the sides in to make a boat shape. Turn over and repeat.
4. Then open the inside flaps to the outside corners while flattening the edges backwards. Take time to bandage any paper cuts.
5. Finally, separate the two sides to access the internal pocket along the inside edge. Pull the corners to the nearest edge--this is easier if a friend holds the flap at the opposite edge. [Third hand reaching in]
6. Done: a simple origami crane! [Hands have band-aids and paper is ruffled and torn]


How to fold a simple origami crane
1. Fold your paper in half from corner to corner.
2. Fold it in half again from corner to corner.
3. Next, open the flap and flatten it while bringing the corner to the opposite corner. Turn over and repeat.
4. Then open the inside flaps to the outside corners while flattening the edges backwards. Caution: this step may cause paper cuts.

5. Finally, separate the two sides to access the internal pocket along the inside edge... and then pull the corners to the nearest edge...or is it the opposite edge... beneath the flap?
6. Argh! Crumple your paper into a ball and go to BadOrigami.com for better directions. [The last panel would be a crumpled paper].


Right now I like the first one best. What's funny is that my first finger on the left hand actually is hurt (it's sticking out awkwardly on the fifth panel) because my cat bit me that morning. I was picking her up right as my partner turned on the vacuum cleaner next to her. She flailed and then turned and bite me--I could hear her teeth breaking through my skin in three places with a popping sound. It was gross... but luckily not infected.

Silkscreen travel poster: Concepts

Here are my two best concept sketches, of Mt. Rainier (left) and Mt. Shasta (right). What I pick will depend mostly on the colors I chose.

The assignment calls for three PMS colors (colors that can be mixed by paint). In silkscreen, the colors can be totally opaque or you can add a transparent element, allowing two colors to create a new color when they are layered on top of each other.

For Rainier, I am thinking of the color scheme on the left below, and for Shasta the colors on the right below. I like both of them--the blue, brown, grey is exciting and crisp, but the yellow, pink, and purple is a nice palette for sunset.

GEEB logo: Concept

This is a project I am pursuing on my own: a new logo design for the GEEB (Graduates in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology) group at the University of Illinois.

This is the current logo (artist unknown):

And below is the concept I came up with so far. I also want to adapt it to a version in which the letters are horizontal, a detailed color version for the website, and a simpler silhouetted version (outlined letters with animal/plant silhouettes).

Now, how many of you know your Illinois? Do you recognize the contents of the letters? Answers after the picture.

Each is a representative of the state of Illinois. For example, the Northern Cardinal is the state bird, and there's also the state flower Native Violet, state fish Bluegill, and state insect Monarch Butterfly. Neat, huh?

Building poster exercise

Our exercise this week was to replicate this lovely Champaign building poster in Photoshop and Illustrator and then separate the layers by color to get it ready for silk screen printing. This is the finalized poster we were replicating and the reference photo we were given from which to start our illustrations.

I learned how to do some really useful things, like straigtening the photo and using distort to increase the perspective on the building, to make it look taller (and more impressive?) than it actually is in the photo. We also created vanishing points and reference lines to help use line up our shapes. Here's a preview of what the reference photo looked like when we were done:

Then we put the image in Illustrator and started tracing! I learned some handy tricks I wouldn't have thought of if I was trying it on my own. For instance, instead of tracing each window individually, we made a long, vertical rectangle over each column of windows, then made horizontal rectangles the same color of the building to fill in the negative space. Here's an in-progress shot:

Next (this week, everything else was done last week) we practiced separating the objects and layers appropriately so the image would print correctly in a silkscreen process. For example, in the original Illustrator file, the sky is just a blue rectangle behind the building. But in a silkscreen process, it needs to have the negative of the building taken out, because otherwise it would look weird having the tan on top of the blue (it would probably look weird). However, black can go on top of anything--in fact, you get a "rich" or deeper black color if it is printed on top of other colors, as opposed to the white paper.

I also learned some neat short-cuts for dealing with text, such as Ctrl + Shift + > or < for increasing or decreasing text size and Alt + left arrow or right arrow for creating spaces between the letters (as with "Illinois" on the poster) which is called tracking. These are the final layers, ready for printing! We will be printing our original illustrations for a travel poster using this method, too!

Exercise in balance

Another exercise, this time with balance.

Style inspiration: Elizabeth Traynor

Elizabeth Traynor: wow... just WOW. What gorgeous work! I have always loved scratchboard/woodcut feel drawings, and she is a master. This image is the one that first caught my eye in the Society of Illustrators annual book (52):

If you know me, than you know I also love slugs--I studied them as a Biology undergrad. This is a very common, large slug known as Limax maximus (jokingly refered to as "lazimus maximus" in the title) or the Great grey slug or Leopard slug. It mates in mid-air! So, I love this illustration.

But, she has some other fantastic stuff, especially her animals, which look so dignified and natural-history-esque. In everyday life, you may have also seen her stuff for Arby's.

Weekly sketch

Some sketches of origami pieces. I like how their shape lends themselves to simple and elegant line drawings.

Instruction illustration: Inspiration

In looking up instructional illustrations, I found that there are fewer artists out there who do it, or who at least advertise it on their portfolios. Understandably, vector drawings with a very crisp, outlined style is very popular; particularly a bold outline around objects and thinner lines for details. Here are two examples below, by Bryon Thompson (top) and Colin Hayes (bottom).

 

Here are some more by David Preiss, who I think has a little bit more creative coloring schematic in some of his work (or, he has the freedom to do so).

Product illustration: Final

There are several things I had good practice for finishing this project. First was changing the colors of the bag to match the bridge towers by using magic wand to select and use a color mask (the original bag photo was light red and lime green). Second was the vertical cables on the bridge fading into the distance--something I was very puzzled about for a while. I ended up drawing lines with the shape tool and converting them to a mask over a black-to-transparent gradient layer, then copying the layer, offsetting and changing the mask for the second row of cables. Also, something I didn't plan originally was to add the drop shadow to the pieces to give a more paper cut-out feel, giving the illustration more depth.

I'm very proud of this one!

Detail below (click for larger image):

Step-by-step instruction: Brief

Client: BadOrigami.com

Project: Step-by-step instruction illustration

Specifications: Create a series of illustrations for as instruction sheet that show how to perform a simple action. Take photographs of the steps to use for reference material. Three to six steps must be shown in three-inch panels with explanatory copy.

Reproduction: The illustrations will be reproduced on a letter-sized piece of paper in CMYK.

Justification: I have enjoyed folding origami since I was eight years old. Periodically, I seek out challenging and complex instructions for new pieces. As with anyone who has ever tried origami, I sometimes come across instructions that are far too complex or confusing. I decided to do this illustration for BadOrigami.com, a site that has it's own (very good!) instructions for folding, and also recipes for their favorite cocktails and party snacks. Instead of doing a serious piece on origami instructions, I decided to do a satirically bad instructional as an advertisement for them.

Silkscreen travel poster: Inspiration

I found these silkscreen posters via Posters for the People: Art of the WPA Era, by Ennis Carter. The first is a very well-known, gorgeous poster by Alexander Dux around 1936 - 1938. The composition of the piece is fantastic-- the little black silhouettes of the people are emphasized against the blue colors of the columns, and the repeated vertical shapes (even the vertical shape of the poster) creates a really nice sense of unity. Brilliant!

This next piece is by an unknown artist in 1938 for the Grand Canyon National Park. What I like in particular about this piece is the use of color to create depth. The canyon in the foreground used the same colors as the one behind it, but by using black in the shadows, the canyon has more clarity and the impression that it is closer to the viewer. The canyons in the far distance do not use the dark gray/blue color, so it looks faded and far away. It is a very creative use of a limited palette to create a huge sense of space.

Silkscreen travel poster: Brief

Client: Amtrak
 
Project: Silkscreen Travel Poster

Specifications: Create an illustrated travel poster to be hung at various Amtrak stations. The client wants the art to be in the classic travel poster style that was prevalent in the 1930's and 1940's during the WPA era, a style still popularized by artists like Michael Schwab.

Reproduction: The poster will be printed using the silkscreen process at a size of 12 x 15 inches at Weiskamp Screen Printing (Champaign, IL). The poster must have the name of the destination, Amtrak logo, and use a maximum of three PMS colors.

Justification: I looked at several routes on the Amtrak website and the name of the "Coast Starlight" appealed to me visually--I imagined a train traveling along the ocean with the stars above. The route extends between Seattle and Los Angeles, stopping at cities like Portland, Sacramento, and Oakland; the illustration will probably feature famous scenery from one of those places. I particularly liked this description: "The dramatic snow-covered peaks of the Cascades Range and Mount Shasta, lush forests, fertile valleys and long stretches of Pacific Ocean shoreline provide a stunning backdrop for your journey."

Silhouette illustration: Final

Final illustration for the Misalliance play flyer. Overall, I think it turned out well. I played around with the colors and stroke weights of the image, but I like this version best. Click on the image for a larger version!

New feature!

Hi all, my lovely blog fans!
I have a new feature on my blog I am excited about: you can now look my my work by project. You may notice that under the website header is a menu bar. "Blog" will show the blog posts by date, but if you're interested in looking at specific projects, press the "Projects" button!

Saul Bass MoMA handout proof

This is the proof for the fake MoMA flyer we designed for class. It was a good exercise--I learned how to use the text box feature and gridlines in Illustrator.

I think it turned out pretty well--how about you?

Exercise in emphasis

Another exercise in Illustrator, this time with emphasis! I thought this one was way more fun than the unity exercise I did earlier. Also, emphasis by placement is way hard to do without isolation or direction.

We tested some ideas and then picked our favorite six to turn in.

Illustration styles: Renata Liwska

Usually when I flip through the Society of Illustrators books for inspirational artists, I try to pick one piece of art or style that appeals to me the most that day. This time I found several that were intriguing, but I picked this piece by Renata Liwska. I like the subtle shading and texture and softness achieved from a lack of harsh outlines. She took her inspiration from an old class photo, keeping the expressions and body language of the figures while replacing them with animals. (She says, "in the original photo there were children's drawings of soldiers liberating Poland in WWII" on the back wall.)

I'm also glad to be showing a piece by a woman--a lot of the famous or recognized artists are men. My background is in science where it was just understood that there was inequality (it's a popular subject--how to increase involvement of under-represented minorities), but for some reason I thought the arts would be different? Perhaps it was going to a college that was 60% female, where there were so many female actors the art directors were inclined to do shows like Three Sisters or do modern adaptations with gender-bending so everyone could get a part.

Gender aside, Renata does a fantastic job at capturing the light-humored, fuzzy characteristics of critters that capture our hearts. As someone who also likes drawing "cute" stuff, I like how someone can find a niche in children's books and be acknowledged for fantastic work. (Illustrators seem to appreciate children's books in ways that a lot of people don't.) She has illustrated several books, including The Loud Book, The Quiet Book, and Little Panda. Speaking of pandas:

Sketch: Website layout

This week's featured sketch isn't horribly exciting--I made some thumbnails of layouts for a website I will be remodeling. The site is for Project Neuron at the University of Illinois, where I am employed half-time. I actually do a lot of writing and lesson development, not just drawing, and I enjoy it a lot. The website right now needs more explanatory text, better navigation, and a crisper design. Hopefully I will be able to accomplish that this semester!

Product illustration: Proof

Previously, I have posted on the inspiration and concept of this design for my product illustration. The above are some thumbnails of images I was playing around with to get the composition down. I liked the first because it is a unique view of the bridge, but it leaves little room for copy and the product isn't featured well. The middle thumbnail (my mom and i wouldn't actually be in the illustration, we were just in the bridge reference photo) was a different view, but I didn't like how the bridge tower placement ended up with the figure. The last one fixes this problem by creating continuity with the figure and towers, and it solves the problem with copy in the first image. So, I took the third and did a mock-up of the illustration.

This shows the overall style I would use in the final version--illustrated except for the product. The final will have more line details and shading/highlights in the illustration; also the left side of the figure will be a continuation of the right. I may also add some bushes just in front of the figure so it doesn't seem like he's floating, and the style of the copy might change.

Silhouette illustration: Proof

Click on the images for larger versions.

This is another step of my silhouette illustration project; I have previously discussed my concepts and style inspirations. To make this proof, I first positioned the plane reference image in Photoshop and drew the smoke cloud, sketching the letters in by hand (using a tablet). Then I took my scanned sketches of Victorian objects and traced them in Photoshop by hand and then auto-traced it in Illustrator. Everything was put into Illustrator as vector images, and I positioned and tweaked all the objects into place and copy was added.

My favorite is the first. The second and third both have outlines around the cloud; the former has the objects in black and the latter has the objects in a larger stroke.