Summer Quarter 2012: Drawing and Anatomy: Figure Studies/Shawn

Gestural study:

terracotta conte on newsprint

Gestural study:

terracotta conte on newsprint

Gestural study:

terracotta conte on newsprint

Gestural study:

terracotta conte on newsprint

Gestural study:

Vine charcoal on newsprint

Gestural study:

Vine charcoal on newsprint

Gestural study:

Vine charcoal on newsprint

Gestural study:

Vine charcoal on newsprint

Gestural study:

Vine charcoal on newsprint

Gestural study:

Vine charcoal on newsprint

Shawn propped on pillows:

Vine charcoal and black conte on drawing paper

Shawn seated:

Vine charcoal and black conte on drawing paper

Summer Quarter 2012: Drawing and Anatomy: Figure Studies/Dustin

Gestural study:

Vine charcoal on newsprint

Gestural study:

Vine charcoal on newsprint

 Gestural study:

Vine charcoal on newsprint

Gestural study:

Vine charcoal on newsprint

Gestural study:

Vine charcoal on newsprint

 Gestural study:

Ball-point pen on newsprint

Gestural study:

Ball-point pen on newsprint

Gestural study:

Ball-point pen on newsprint

Gestural study:

Vine charcoal on newsprint

Gestural study:

Vine charcoal on newsprint

Gestural study:

Vine charcoal on newsprint

Gestural study:

Vine charcoal on newsprint

Gestural study:

Vine charcoal on nesprint

Dustin seated 1:

Vine charcoal and black conte on drawing paper

Dustin seated 2:

Vine charcoal and black conte on drawing paper

Dustin seated 3:

Vine charcoal and black conte on drawing paper

Summer Quarter 2012: Drawing and Anatomy: Figure Studies/Rebekka

Gestural studies:

Ball-point pen on newsprint

Gestural studies:

Ball-point pen on newsprint

Gestural studies:

Ball-point pen on newsprint

Rebekka Seated:

Ebony Pencil on drawing paper

Summer Quarter 2012: Drawing & Anatomy: Bone and Muscle Studies

 Detail of Head of Femur:

Ebony pencil on drawing paper

Bones, Muscles and Tendons of the Hand:

Ebony pencil on drawing paper

 Master Reproduction (I believe this was based on Davinci):

Vine Charcoal and Black Conte on drawing paper

 Detail of Femur and Pelvis:

Ebony pencil on drawing paper

Pelvis and Femur study:

Ebony pencil on drawing paper

Rib and Vertebrae study:

Ebony pencil on drawing paper

Skull Study:

Black and White Conte on Gray Mid-tone paper

Upper Arm Muscle and Bone study:

Ebony pencil on drawing paper

Bones of Foot study:

Ebony pencil on drawing paper

Muscles and Tendons of Foot study:

Ebony pencil on drawing paper

Torso study:

Ebony pencil on drawing paper

Back of upper leg study:
Ebony pencil on drawing paper

Shoulder joint and clavicle study:
Ebony pencil on drawing paper

Knee joint study:
Ebony pencil on drawing paper

Lower Leg bone study:
Ebony pencil on drawing paper

Front lower leg muscle study:
Ebony pencil on drawing paper

Back lower leg muscle study:
Ebony pencil on drawing paper

Back muscle study:
Ebony pencil on drawing paper

Scapula study:
Ebony pencil on drawing paper

 Front upper leg study:
Ebony pencil on drawing paper

Spring 2012 Illustrator Final: Book Cover

Final Project:  Book Cover recreation, King & King

For the final in our Illustrator class we had to re-imagine an existing book cover.  I chose the children's book, King & King by Linda De Haan and Stern Nijland.  I printed the final image and wrapped the actual book for the final.  All artwork and text is vectored.  I drew the two Kings after comic artists Darwyn Cooke's Hal Jordan from New Frontier and Ben Caldwell's Steve Trevor sketches, but I omitted the women the guys were kissing.  Throw in the crowns and hearts and I think you have a cover befitting the controversy the book has received.  The book itself is very sweetly written and illustrated in multi-media collage.  The last page has the two Prince's kissing as they become King and King, but their lips are covered by a heart.  It's all innocently enough presented, but it has caused an uproar in some circles and I wanted to put this on the cover, only more explicitly.  I also chose the rumpled paper texture as a nod to the book being a heavy topic for some, it's on the banned books list after all. 

Spring Quarter 2012 Digital Illustration

The quarter finally wrapped up this past week.  The following are my major projects from Digital Illustration.  The course focused on using Adobe Illustrator to create vectored artwork. 

 

 Project 1:  Graphic T-Shirt design

For this project we had to design a t-shirt.  It could be any theme or subject matter.  I like and own quite a few t-shirts of cartoons and such from the 80's and Mother Brain is one of my favorite characters so it made sense for me bot incorporate her into the design.  I copied this after promotional artwork released back in the day for Mother Brain for the Captain N cartoon. The image was hand drawn and scanned, then vectored in Illustrator.  I left the sketchy elements after a critique but was originally going for a more symmetrical framework with her tentacles.

 

Mid-Term Project:  Propaganda Poster

We were tasked with making a World War II inspired propaganda poster.  I went fairly literal to the task, as we didn't have to remain specific to WWII and could have chosen any subject matter.  Wonder Woman is hand drawn after a pin-up originally by Darwyn Cooke.  The illustration was scanned and vectored in Illustrator and text and effects added to finish it out.

Spring 2012 Quarter

Art History II

In this class we had a project due at the end of the week where we had to produce art as part of the historical study.  You had to take inspiration from an artist or art style that was presented that week in the reading.  I took this class online so it was presented in a condensed format of 5.5 weeks.  So there were only four artworks produced.

 

Project 1:  Work inspired by Monet

Monet’s work really captured my attention this week, so I rendered a painting mindful of the Impressionists use of sketchy brush strokes and lighting effects.  These same aspects of Impressionism guided my choice of artwork, as it’s a way of making art in which I have the least experience.  I was amazed at the lengths Monet gave the study of local color.  I painted this outside just before sunset.  The medium is acrylic paint on canvas.  The process really emphasized the time constraints Impressionists worked in as lighting changes fairly quickly and then your reference material looks completely different.  In trying to capture the moment, I did get a better understanding of the sketchy nature of the style.

 Project 2:  Work inspired by Symbolism

Symbolism, specifically the work of Gustave Moreau inspired my studio assignment this week.  Symbolism appeals to me largely due to the theme of presenting mythological and fantasy type settings.  The style is part idealized form, legendary story and dreamscape all smashed up into one work.

  

For this work I chose the myth of Apollo and Hyacinthus.  The story is of Apollo and prince Hyacinthus falling in love and living happily in each other’s company.  The god of the west wind, Zephyrus, had also fallen for Hyacinthus and was scorned when the prince chose Apollo.  While Apollo and Hyacinthus played at discus throwing one day, Hyacinthus decide to run and catch the discus to impress his lover, but the bitter Zephyrus blew Apollo’s discus off course and it struck and killed Hyacinthus.  Apollo tried to stop the bleeding but he could not save his life.  Apollo in his grief refused to let Hades take the prince and instead created a flower from his blood after his namesake.  

 

 

 The medium of choice for this is vine charcoal on drawing paper.  I also used a small amount of compressed for the shadows under the figures.  I chose to use charcoal as I feel it has that hazy dream-like quality.  I took inspiration from various paintings for the posing and did a 2-up reproduction of sorts to merge the inspiration into on composition.  Hyacinthus was copied from the pose in The death of Abel (1791) by Francois-Xavier Fabre.  I used the Parthenon as reference for the temple in the background and opted for the broken depiction of the temple to echo the lack of power Apollo had as a divine entity to bring Hyacinthus back to life.  I made the sky darker to denote Apollo’s sadness since he’s associated with the sun.

 Work 3:  Inspired by Futurism

Futurism, specifically the work of Giacomo Balla inspired my studio assignment this week.  Futurism was the most appealing topic to me as it was extremely motion driven art before the advent of motion pictures and traditional animation.  Balla’s paintings, from Dynamism of a Dog on a Leash (1912, Oil on canvas) to his presentation of the Futurists ideal concept of beauty in movement of the automobile, he captured motion and light in ways that are more true to art than the marvels of modern movies.  To me his work is animation at its finer form.
 For this work I chose to experiment in photography.  I took photos of my hand in front of a door while waiving.  I like the play of shadows and after image and count the repetition of the fingers as a modern attempt at Futurism.  I had originally thought a more blurred open aperture would have been more appropriate but ultimately decided the repeating imagery was more in line with the art style.

Work 4:  Inspired by Abstraction (Photography and Georgia O'Keeffe)

The inspiration for my studio work this week comes from a combination of  the paintings of Georgia O’Keeffe and the photography of Edward Weston.  The abstract close-up both artists used really resonated with me in the use of a simplified portion of something to make a larger artistic statement.  I started with a close up photo of an action figure on the shelf in my art room/office at home, then cropped it in a little closer and applied a dry brush filter to give it a painted look.  The angled lines create a nice sense of motion and the close-up is at a degree that I think you don’t really notice what the subject matter is and instead can appreciate the artistry of the abstract design it creates with the form and the shadow on the wall behind it.