DMV comic thumbnails

Sorry about the really poor sketches, this was definitely rushed. I went with the traditional DMV problems, bad license pictures, confusing paperwork, bad service and long lines. I think that the long line sketch had the most creative twist, so I'm developing that one. You can't really read the speech bubbles very well, but it is about a "recent improvement at the DMV", and there are vendors running around with popcorn and soda for sale. The developments are coming soon...

Memory portrait final

For the final, I chose to develop the portrait with the green accents, though I took features from other sketches to make it look more like my dad. It still doesn't. Anyway, I first did a gesso/matte/water layer, then a line drawing, then water color. I tried to do some line work that I'm not too familiar with, especially in portraits, like the scribbles in the shadows. I still tried to be directional with the line work. My original intention was to not outline everything, but I kind of ended up doing that anyway... I like the colors, but I think it could be a little more dramatic, since this is a very stylizing-friendly project. Also, I like what happened with the background in areas I didn't cover with the priming layer.

Memory Portraits and Color Studies

These are 4 out of 5 of my memory portrait of my dad. Though none of them really look like him, the top 2 are closest. I suppose it doesn't really matter. I continued to the color studies with the top left. And here they are:

I don't think I took "color study" to mean the same thing as everyone else... I think I took it as more of a painterly term and less of a comic idea. So... I'm not sure if any of these are going to translate nicely into a comic style. Oh well.

Photo Realism

This was a fun project, I used the gesso/matte medium/water solution with water color on top, so I could do the pick-out technique. This was pretty close to my comfort zone, because I like being a copying machine, or at least trying. I think the water droplets could have turned out better , but I'm pretty happy with the rest of it, after all, I recall you using the term "kick butt" so... Anyway, I learned better how to tighten up water color successfully with this one.

Gouache 8X10

I learned a lot with this one. I really enjoyed the pick-out technique. Adding darker values on top was a little more difficult. Also, getting two hues in one area was something to figure out - not sure if I have figured it out yet, actually. My favorite part is the folds on the shorts and the lighting on the grass in the lower left. I also enjoyed picking out the muscles on the legs and arms, I'm pretty happy with how they turned out (for a first try, at least). I'm also glad that I didn't try too hard to put detail into the background figures. I am not really happy with the trees in the upper left or the grass in the lower right. I also wish I would have put more color in in the face of the foreground figure to the right. I think the shadows within the flesh tones could also use more saturation.

10 Owls

This was my favorite line drawing technique out of the 3 I tried. The other two were messier and not as straight-forward. I liked this one because I didn't get caught up in unnecessary detail, and I didn't feel the need to "finish" every line, there is a lot implied, and I think it works pretty well.

This is water color with a line drawing underneath. I like it for the shapes and color in the background, as well as the varied line weights. I think I could have done better with the different line weights, though... Also, I had more fun with the line drawing this time, there is some experimentation with scribbling and line as value. It's a bit looser than most of the other owl paintings.

This one was gouache with ink over top. I like the dripping in the background. I also tried mor varied line weight and scribbling. Here is where I was finding out that gouache doesn't act a whole lot like water color.

22"X30" water color

For this painting, I did an under drawing for structural soundness. Then I went to town with big strokes and lots of water, trying to work quickly both for reasons of time management and because I wanted a loose, stylistic look. I experimented with dropping water into almost-dry paint and also let some dripping happen to get some nice effects. I'm not entirely happy with the grill of the truck, I feel like I could have addressed it better, more like the rest of the painting, with a looser hand. It also looks as though I missed a couple of spots in a rush, up next to the driver's side window... oops. Otherwise, I'm pleased with the way the style lent itself to the subject.