Of sea and sky...

I've completed a couple more pieces since last we parted...  Both are a bit experimental for me in different ways and therefore out of my comfort zone.  But I'll just post them and then explain.

Urchin test (test is the name of the "shell"), Photoshop and Illustrator

So this one was very experimental for me... I've never done a rendering entirely in digital media.  Up till now I've only colored in drawings that I scanned in.  This however, was done in Photoshop almost start to finish, I say "almost" because I did the line work that I used in the initial drawing in Illustrator.  The assignment was to light an object with 3 different light sources; this style emphasizes volume and gives a lot of "drama."    I'm generally happy with the outcome.

Then we had the final colored pencil piece:

Treron calva (African Green Pigeon) on Ficus sansibarica, Colored pencil on Duralene

This was an interesting and difficult endeavor, much more so than I anticipated.  We were tasked with doing a "spot" illustration that was meant to fit a quarter page and that might theoretically sit in the corner of a page of text.  So the bottom right sort of comes to a "corner" of sorts and that's why.  It's a bird I was introduced to when researching articles for an upcoming project and I fell in love with him because of the gorgeous blue-greens covering most of his body.  It was difficult because I decided to go with a very "idealized" kind of positioning of the bird, and no photo is an "ideal" so I had to create it.  I put this guy together from 6 different photos sources, after studying as many images and videos as I could find (it helps too that it's a pigeon and we are fairly familiar with how they look and move).  So I'm glad that ultimately he looks "natural" while still having that sort of "idealized" look about him.

I've made some modifications to the image since having critique today and I'm much happier with it now, though oddly, not as much as I'd anticipated.  Oh well, it works and since I have to move on to the next thing I can't spend too much time dwelling.

This post is kinda odd though... those two images together -- one a completely digital rendering and the other attempting to evoke an 1800's aesthetic approach to a bird portrait (albeit with colored pencil).  It's kinda strange.  

Anyway, back to work.

Fancy that!

Another blog post so soon, you ask?

Well, we've been SUPER busy this first two weeks and I wanted to prove it by showing how many things we've done so far.  Mind you, all this work has left me stupidly tired and in much need of rest tonight, but I'm trying to stay up until dinner so I can eat and then go to sleep.  Since I needed something simple to do in the meantime I decided to get a head start on scanning the artwork and posting it.

I'm going to try to keep up with stuff this term (like now) so you can see it as I finish it, but that might not happen so don't be surprised if it doesn't.  :)

In order of completion:

Green Turbo Shell, colored pencil on white paper

 Green Turbo Shell, colored pencil on toned paper

We did another replica piece, this time in acrylic...

 

This is the original from one of John Dawson's Nature of America stamps 

(he works in acrylic so it was a natural choice for this assignment)

Here's my copy (my original is 3"x3" - took me ~10 hours)

Blue Gum eucalyptus, acrylic (tromp l'oeil style)

And last but not least... (a third colored pencil piece)

Leucadendron in colored pencil on Duralene

(yes it really does look this vibrant and that is due entirely to the Duralene

surface we had to use for this last assignment, I will most definitely be using this stuff again)

So that's what I've been up to these first two weeks of class, kinda crazy right?

Right now I'm working on a final spot illustration in colored pencil (on Duralene of course), a 3-point lighting illustration in Photoshop (it's essentially a small spot illustration but with really dramatic lighting), and a "special-view" illustration of how rock type and structure in Zion National Park creates the Zion "hanging gardens" (you'll see when it's done in a couple weeks - in the planning and sketching phase for that one right now).

Also in the works, an acrylic painting in which I'll be rendering a full scene (as opposed to just a single specimen in a white background).  

Fun stuff.  Please excuse me while I pass out now.

Final, final

I almost forgot, I never shared my final from the Intro to Natural Science Illustration class (our primary techniques class from last term, where we did everything in black and white mediums).

So here is my scratchboard final:

Cactus wren on ocotillo (don't forget to click to enlarge)

 Now I really am caught up from last term.  And... back to work.  :)

Playing catch up while I take a break...

So we've started back up again and are one week into the Winter Term.  Things are already kinda crazy and are definitely a sign of things to come... (my computer graphics teacher said this was the worst of the three terms as far as workload -- thanks for the encouraging words Amadeo).  :)

I'm taking 4 studio classes this term (1 more than last term) and all the names are a little confusing, but I promise I won't test you on this later...  they are Natural Science Illustration in Color, Applied Techniques in Natural Science Illustration, Applied Techniques in Color Science Illustration, and Design of Information Graphics, but whatever their names, they all amount to a whole ton of work.  So don't be surprise if you don't hear from me again until Spring break (in 9 weeks).

Before things got too crazy though, I wanted to catch you up on last term.  I never posted anything from my Field Sketching class and wanted to do so today, so here you go:

Remember when I blogged about our day at the UCSC Farm?  Well these are my sketches from that day

For homework we had to do sketches of whatever we wanted... 

I like to go for walks and runs here, it's only 5 minutes away from where I'm staying in Marina

We spent one day at Wild Things, a reserve that houses all sorts of animals that are trained and used in films

  Another assignment: we had to fit an entire skeleton on one page, this is a pigeon skeleton

Towards the end of the term we did a "replica" of another artists work.

I chose Claudia Nice, precisely because of this cactus - her's is on the left, my copy is on the right

After the "replica" we had to do another painting "in the style of" that artist, the choice was obvious...

Our final assignment was to identify something in nature 

based solely on our drawings of it in the field... This plant grows all along

the highway near my house and I see it on my way to Marina Dunes Reserve,

turns out, it's a plant called St. Catherine's Lace  :)

 That's a good selection of some of my favorites.  But I really ought to get back to work now on this term's upcoming assignments.  Right now, I'm working on two small acrylic paintings (one that is another "replica" like the one above, and one that is a small spot illustration of plant materials).  In the next week I'll be submitting two colored pencil pieces I finished this week, starting (and finishing) a third colored pencil piece and starting a "full scene" painting in acrylic.  I'll do my best to post some of these next weekend to keep up before the end of the term, but I'm not sure how that will pan out.  At the very least I'll keep you updated on new projects in the works.