Line vs. Wash

I was already pretty sure I preferred line drawings to water color, and I was right. More control. However, it is much more difficult to have good value scale everywhere. There are some extreme darks, but only in very tiny areas, and extreme lights are everywhere. It's just a little too tedious to make nice medium values with good line work, I think.

This is my old cat Harry, who is blind in his left eye, so that's where the pupil went. I was happy with how I was able to imply form with loose marks for hair. The edges are defined without being tight. I did not do a great job making the chair believable, though, I got in a hurry.

This was a fun painting, because I got to address an old torn up wall with fun colors on a bigger brush. I think this loosened me up enough to be riskier with my strokes on the figure. I also like the implied lines on the camera (by way of spacing the black shapes out) I think all of the different subject matter has been addressed in a pretty consistent style, which I sometimes have trouble with.

Landscape w/ architecture

This was a challenge, because I am just not a fan of depicting geometric forms with lots of orderly detail... however, it was watercolor, so I loosened up a bit about detail and tried to focus on light and shadow, non-linear painting and the like, just like Terry would do.

Fun fact: this outhouse is located in Millard, behind a bit abandoned house. Anyway, I'm not a big fan of how loose the vegetation is in the forefront of the picture, but I am pretty happy with how the shadows worked on the outhouse. I also think the tree in the top left turned out well, along with the background foliage. I think this is the first piece of "architecture" I tried with the Terry Madden non-linear method... except for the outline-looking thing on the right.. oops.

I was a little more linear with this one, but I also tried to make shadows and highlights the main difference between planes on the barn. I am most pleased with how the lighting turned out in the trees, but I think I should have been a little more consistent with my vegetation; it gets too blurry in a few places. I think I need to be more patient, wait for things to dry and come back in later.

the beginnings of watercolor

With the first set of 10, I found it most challenging to let loose and let the paint do its thing. All of my paintings are relatively tight, and when I actually did let the paint go, it seemed to be out of place. I chose this painting to post because I enjoyed experimenting with the detailed glass and the citrus fruit textures... I think it turned out pretty well. I wish I would have had more fun with non-local colors, I'm not happy with the table, but I am pleased with how I didn't have to get too tight to get a convincing texture, I just had to deal with lights and darks properly.

Dealing with a model in watercolor without any undersketch was particularly challenging, due to the fact that figure drawings don't allow for a lot of mistakes in proportion. There are a couple of wonky areas, including the model's right arm, but the challenge was good for improving time (as the model was somewhat impatient) and figuring out how to address shadows and wrinkles. I also experimented with simplifying the background with a more detailed subject. Next time I paint a figure with watercolor, I will try to simplify the subjec

t and focus more on areas of light and dark as opposed to outlines.

Landscapes were good for me, because they made me loosen up a little. I hate landscapes, but it really wasn't too painful. I started out taking 30 or 40 minutes for each painting, and eventually forced myself to get down to 10. I much prefer the ones that took 10 minutes. The compositions are better, the strokes are more confident, and I was more willing to let the paint have fun and leave it alone. I liked this painting because I was able to convey detail without going in with a tiny brush and making it myself. Also, the background is nice and soft, but the tree has jagged lines and angular edges. I think this painting also had a wider range of values than most of my others.

This was the quickest and easiest painting I have done so far, and it turned out very well. The background is very simplified, but it reads better than many of my more detailed backgrounds. The reflections in the water were fun to create, and I was able to get multiple hues going in my trees without creating a big muddy green/brown mess. I also didn't stress about making the horizon completely clear, which turned out to be a good decision. I only wish I didn't have the blur in the reflection toward the middle of the composition.

Portfolio website sketches

Alright, here are some sketches for the portfolio website. I want it to have a very hand-crafted feel. The line twisting through the page will hopefully look as if it has been (or ideally is being drawn) and as it moves, the images will pop up. Each image will be an example of the different areas of my design, and they will function as buttons to get to the sub pages for each area. My challenge will be not to make this look hokey. The idea is that my hands go into my work, and I try not to depend on software, but on concept. So the website shows the beginning of the process, sketching and brain storming. When you hover over an image, notes will pop up to the side. 

I am also now considering making this an interactive DVD, using AfterEffects.

Home page sketch #1

Home page sketch #2

Home page sketch #3

Sub page sketch #1

Sub page sketch #2

Portfolio site

For my portfolio website, I want to be designing for an audience most likely in the midwest, probably in Missouri. I'd like to work for a small-medium company, not necessarily a design business, probably designing a little bit of everything... with the exception of packaging. This is the kind of thing I would  I expect to be doing soon after graduation. Eventually, ideally, I would want to work for an organization like International Justice Mission, working in the field of raising awareness about human needs, gaining empathy for them, showing people how to help. I'll be researching places like this in or near Missouri.

Sketches and storyboard for 10 sec ad

This is a result of my brainstorming session.

The first page of my storyboard...

Above is an example of a banner add on the site I would use to display my banner ad. The measurements are 728X90 px. Below is the homepage of the website, biblegateway.com, with the banner ad at the top.