MO post card color comp

This is me trying to be funny, I think it might have worked this time! Unfortunately I had a misunderstanding about text, and now I won't need to make any extra space on the right for "Welcome to Missouri." I think the cheesy text added, but it'll be okay. I think I will be using gouache for this one. For the painting, the colors will be more vivid, and there will be darker tones. I am happy with the sunset colors, though. I think I will also make the tractor just a tad bigger. 

Airbrush fruit, take 2

This is my mango with water droplets. I am glad I tried the water droplets, but I don't think they are the greatest. They are  not quite matched up with the surface where they should be, and the drop shadows are a bit much, so most of them look like they are floating.

My process: I cut out each color  area separately in my mask, including all of the water droplets. I started with the skin of the fruit, put the mask back on and worked with the droplets on the skin, moved up to the stem, then covered everything and worked on the inside of the fruit. The last thing I did was the droplet on the inside.

I am happiest with the overall tone and texture of the skin of the fruit. I am least satisfied with the droplets and the ink runs between the skin and the inside.

MO Post Card

Dear goodness, look what I've gotten myself into. So, I wanted to be humorous, because let's face it, Missouri is full of hicks (I am from Hicktown, so I'm allowed to make fun of it). I prefer the ones with a trailer and a flamingo, but it looks like I am developing the cars behind a tractor. The other ones were demonstrating the big city/small town contrast so evident in Missouri, but that's not very interesting, and funny always wins. So, for the tractor post card, I am going to reverse the view. Now we will have a front view of the tractor with a bunch of cars behind it. I like the idea of the sunset, because it is a stereotypical cheesy post card thing, and I think it will be a good contrast to the unexpected. I will also be using a cheesy script font for "Welcome to Missouri". I know how much you like those, Rusty. I am scared of this project now, because I am no good at drawing cars. I guess I'll have to learn something, dang it.

Airbrush Plum

Ok, it's not the worst, but it's certainly not great. I am still having problems not getting the bleeding effect on the edges of the mask, I think that is definitely a product of impatience in letting the ink dry. I tried masking areas off and making the fruit look realistic at the same time, and neither one really worked. I should have either masked less or tried to give the fruit a more graphic look. I learned that when I use a mask for a smooth area and then try to blend, it is almost impossible to have a smooth transition, and to not get really dark edges, which is why the entire plum ended up a bit too dark. I do kind of like the shadow though. And I think the color was right on. But I had to use white paint to bring out the highlight after tried to blend the edges of my highlights and getting them too dark. AND, obviously, I cut too hard through the frisket and got into the illustration board, which caused tiny whitish trenches to run though the whole thing. The next fruit will be better.

Cheesey

I think Snow White will be challenging, but it's a pretty appropriate style for airbrush. This is gonna take forever... I tried to use colored pencil the way I would use airbrush, but that proved to be a difficult task in itself. What I'll try to do is mask each separate area of one overall color (skin, apple, blue dress, red dress), and work out details within those areas by being very precise with the airbrush. Yikes, I haven't mastered that yet, but I'm getting better. In my next post, you'll see how I went at airbrushing in a completely different way (too much masking) and kind of flopped. So a new approach it is.

Conversation final

It is about time. This is a water color with ink outlines for the cartoon feel. The final product could be more saturated, at least have a few more areas of intense color, but I think the story definitely comes across, and the characters' faces are pretty successful. Also, the colors became even more muted when I uploaded the file... bummer. With this I learned about working with water color in a less painterly fashion in order to get a unique cartoon effect. I'm obviously still learning. On to the cheese-fest!

Guinness Color Comp

Here she is, all colored up. I like the colors I chose; the dark plum emphasizes the shape of the figure, and the yellow background matches the mayonnaise jar. I do want to intensify the skin color just a bit. The only thing I'm not completely sure about is whether or not I'm going to have text on the mayonnaise jar. I'm leaning toward no, because there will be text in the final product that will explain the image. On to the final... after I do some other stuff...