So....I'm sick....I've known that for a long while. But this morning was a totally new experience. I got out of bed and nearly fainted. Felt miserable...I can't tell if it's in my head or my chest yet, but I thankfully don't feel as bad. I couldn't make my classes. "Trying" to get ready was a joke and eventually I told my school-junkie self to send out emails and take care of myself for once. I hate that I overwork myself all the time and expect too much of myself and it definitely doesn't help when I get sick. I also hate the feeling of letting my professors or fellow club members down when I know they are depending on me to get stuff done. I just feel so guilty and rotten.
I was able to get some more sleep, then finally eat something and then pushed myself to go to my proficiency meeting. I knew it would be hard to make up and since I knew it would be over quickly that it may be doable. I made it in time but I totally was brain dead as soon as the professors started asking questions. I must have looked so sloppy or high or sleepy... But I have a feeling it went well. I remember what happened and passed, which I wasn't worried about. I thought the feedback was good and am proud that there was such a positive response to my work. Now the only problem will be taking the work down....
As for illustration, I am SO HAPPY I left my painting and print out on the wall last night. I was unable to make it to class so I hope, Rusty, that you were able to pick them up or at least see them. I am now super super worried that if you haven't collected them that they will get lost or stollen though. *Scared*
I'm feeling well enough now to sit and do some vis comm hw but I hope hope hope it gets better from here on. Being sick has got to be the worst thing in the world. Makes you really appreciate that you basically have nothing and can do nothing in life without your health.
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Note to self...
....take photos of / scan my lineart before painting. The lineart always looks prettier...
9.28 Second 20x30
Whooohoo! Posting before the due date today. I'll be too lazy to blog later.
Anyway, another 20 x 30 - free subject matter, which I immensely enjoy and appreciate. I just feel that if I had another hour or two I could have kicked this watercolor's ass a bit more....it's tough to be constrained by print monitors' schedules...
I used a -freetoreproduceaslongasitisntcommercial- photo by Hakan Photography, an image I had saved to my DevArt favorites. Wonderful and colorful fashion photo! Fun to paint as well...just wish I had more time with the face...
{http://hakanphotography.deviantart.com/art/Village-Roadshow-2-163281879}
Anyway, another 20 x 30 - free subject matter, which I immensely enjoy and appreciate. I just feel that if I had another hour or two I could have kicked this watercolor's ass a bit more....it's tough to be constrained by print monitors' schedules...
I used a -freetoreproduceaslongasitisntcommercial- photo by Hakan Photography, an image I had saved to my DevArt favorites. Wonderful and colorful fashion photo! Fun to paint as well...just wish I had more time with the face...
{http://hakanphotography.deviantart.com/art/Village-Roadshow-2-163281879}
9.26 Digital Color & Product Illustrations
Okay....5 color digital illustrations. Very excited about these. Spent hours and hours on the first three....the jumping guy & lamp....like....5 minutes each. Hahaha. Oh well, I think the first three are strong enough to not need the other two.
Also, product illustrations! I like how mine came out. I did my bottle of Herbal Essences that I had in my bathroom. didn't want a flat line to show how much was left, so I tilted the bottle a bit to get the curve before I shot my photo. Had to print and mount it as well....ugh. I did like how much better it looked when it was printed though...
Also, product illustrations! I like how mine came out. I did my bottle of Herbal Essences that I had in my bathroom. didn't want a flat line to show how much was left, so I tilted the bottle a bit to get the curve before I shot my photo. Had to print and mount it as well....ugh. I did like how much better it looked when it was printed though...
Friday, September 23, 2011
9.23 'profile pics' and digital illustrations!
Okay, 5 square self portrait watercolors, have to actually use one as a profile pic. These went okay, but I'm not really super excited about them. :S
And heeeerrrreeee are the line art drawings we did with our tablets! Thankfully, I already own the same tablet we've been using in class so I can do my illustrations in the comfort of wherever-I-want! :) It was late though, so I was too tired to do anything too detailed after I drew my puppies. The next set will be great though!
And heeeerrrreeee are the line art drawings we did with our tablets! Thankfully, I already own the same tablet we've been using in class so I can do my illustrations in the comfort of wherever-I-want! :) It was late though, so I was too tired to do anything too detailed after I drew my puppies. The next set will be great though!
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
9.21 Landscape 20x30 in.
I'm so excited! I got to use some really wonderful watercolor paper for this project and my Prang set of colors. I spent close to 5 hours on this last night, which is about how long Rusty said it should take.
I really didn't want to paint anything that was too simple or too complicated, so I choose this photo to trace and reference from my DA favs. I liked the clouds and simple shapes on the horizon line. I also liked that there was a splash of color in the foreground. It was much easier to paint and trace this on such large paper. I tried doing a warm up on a small sheet and couldn't access much detail. I probably spent 30-40 minutes tracing this on Lucy and then another 4.5 on watercoloring. I really wanted to take my time and build it up layer by layer with drying time in between.
I'm satisfied with the outcome, but wish that I could have gotten some even darker values into the clouds. I had to blot some of the pigment up at the end so that it would dry faster. I didn't want to risk transporting wet media. I also agreed with the critique in class today that I should have spent more time defining the boats, but I felt like I needed to finish faster again. I took Rusty's advice as well when it came to taking the tape of the edges - to pull sideways - which I think worked well. To be safe, I also stuck the tape to the table first and then lifted it off to get rid of some of the initial stick. Some of the paper still lifted off, but relatively less than before.
I think that so far, this is the best one I did in class and even more so because of the scale. Definitely frame-worthy, I think!
I really didn't want to paint anything that was too simple or too complicated, so I choose this photo to trace and reference from my DA favs. I liked the clouds and simple shapes on the horizon line. I also liked that there was a splash of color in the foreground. It was much easier to paint and trace this on such large paper. I tried doing a warm up on a small sheet and couldn't access much detail. I probably spent 30-40 minutes tracing this on Lucy and then another 4.5 on watercoloring. I really wanted to take my time and build it up layer by layer with drying time in between.
I'm satisfied with the outcome, but wish that I could have gotten some even darker values into the clouds. I had to blot some of the pigment up at the end so that it would dry faster. I didn't want to risk transporting wet media. I also agreed with the critique in class today that I should have spent more time defining the boats, but I felt like I needed to finish faster again. I took Rusty's advice as well when it came to taking the tape of the edges - to pull sideways - which I think worked well. To be safe, I also stuck the tape to the table first and then lifted it off to get rid of some of the initial stick. Some of the paper still lifted off, but relatively less than before.
I think that so far, this is the best one I did in class and even more so because of the scale. Definitely frame-worthy, I think!
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
9.19 Memory Portrait + more
Hooray, hooray, hoorayyyyy!
I am so excited to have remembered that I have a small basic set of Prang watercolors that I brought with me to school. If I remember correctly, they used to be my grandfathers and thus are quite old. The ancient-looking 89-cent sticker is still mostly attached.
The colors work wonderfully though. They are so pigmented, flow nicely, and don't feel chalky at all when they dry. They also do that thing where washes are outlined by a thin strip of more opaque paint. These paintings were all done using the new colors. I may mix them with my old colors for now to get more color variation, but I'm trying to use the Prang set as exclusively as I can.
So here is my memory portrait and 2 in-class paintings I did to experiment with the colors!
Also, boo epson for destroying a little bit of color intensity. I'm too lazy to photoshop though...working on my big landscape.
I am so excited to have remembered that I have a small basic set of Prang watercolors that I brought with me to school. If I remember correctly, they used to be my grandfathers and thus are quite old. The ancient-looking 89-cent sticker is still mostly attached.
The colors work wonderfully though. They are so pigmented, flow nicely, and don't feel chalky at all when they dry. They also do that thing where washes are outlined by a thin strip of more opaque paint. These paintings were all done using the new colors. I may mix them with my old colors for now to get more color variation, but I'm trying to use the Prang set as exclusively as I can.
So here is my memory portrait and 2 in-class paintings I did to experiment with the colors!
Also, boo epson for destroying a little bit of color intensity. I'm too lazy to photoshop though...working on my big landscape.
Sunday, September 18, 2011
9.16 Hooray! Improvement! :D
On Friday of last week, we had two 9 x 12 watercolors and one 12x18 watercolor and 3 blown up ink drawings (about 11 x 8) of illustrations that we had already done.
I feel amazing about the watercolors I did, especially the fish and the face. I know that I overworked the face, unfortunately. It looked so so so much better before I tried to make the eyes a little darker with some more brown. They lost a lot of that vibrant orange color. Still, I've realized that when doing things from reference, I am a whole lot more patient if I know where I'm going to be painting. Sketching under the painting is my new secret weapon.
For now, I am using old 90 lb drawing paper from last year as watercolor paper. It works well enough and much better than anything else I currently have at the moment. However, I have recently acquired a few bucks now thanks to my awesome parents and hopefully may be able to find some watercolor paper at the bookstore or some art store in town. I've heard that watercolor paper is scarce all around though since people have been needing to buy so much. I'll keep my fingers crossed, though.
Also, I am including two of the four paintings that I did in class for the day, based on references from photos of course. I'm really liking red / orange watercolors.....wonder why...
I feel amazing about the watercolors I did, especially the fish and the face. I know that I overworked the face, unfortunately. It looked so so so much better before I tried to make the eyes a little darker with some more brown. They lost a lot of that vibrant orange color. Still, I've realized that when doing things from reference, I am a whole lot more patient if I know where I'm going to be painting. Sketching under the painting is my new secret weapon.
For now, I am using old 90 lb drawing paper from last year as watercolor paper. It works well enough and much better than anything else I currently have at the moment. However, I have recently acquired a few bucks now thanks to my awesome parents and hopefully may be able to find some watercolor paper at the bookstore or some art store in town. I've heard that watercolor paper is scarce all around though since people have been needing to buy so much. I'll keep my fingers crossed, though.
Also, I am including two of the four paintings that I did in class for the day, based on references from photos of course. I'm really liking red / orange watercolors.....wonder why...
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
9.14 Washes & Line Art
I absolutely loved doing this set of watercolors. There is something extremely beautiful to me about line art with a messy splash of color underneath. I also feel like my crappy watercoloring looks a lot better with line art on top!
At first, my paintings weren't really washes, but got more and more wattery as I continued. Obviously, my first, the lamp, is the most controlled. My favorites are the ones I did last - the brushes, trash can, and my roommate Gabi, with the pink shirt. I mostly did things from reference from one point in the common area of my suite. The objects and people were either around me or on television. So naturally there are a lot of mundane objects. I also did 11 instead of 10 by accident, but hey, more practice!
At first, my paintings weren't really washes, but got more and more wattery as I continued. Obviously, my first, the lamp, is the most controlled. My favorites are the ones I did last - the brushes, trash can, and my roommate Gabi, with the pink shirt. I mostly did things from reference from one point in the common area of my suite. The objects and people were either around me or on television. So naturally there are a lot of mundane objects. I also did 11 instead of 10 by accident, but hey, more practice!
9.12 Architecture Watercolors
Okay, as you can even tell from my previous architecture drawings, buildings aren't my best subject. So instead of stressing myself out over the details, I focused on simplifying shapes and TRYING to get some interesting color out of my cheapo paints. I worked from photo references in a large, lovely digital photo reference book that I possess. I actually got it from a design firm I visited in St. Louis back in high school. They had a ton of books they were trying to get rid of and offered to our group, even when they seemed so nice. Lugging its heaviness around for the rest of the day was worth it though! Hopefully I will be able to use the book for more references in the future!
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Watercolor "Sketches" for 9.9
Watercolor.......I'm not patient enough for it yet.
Also....I only have 9 sketches...because I'm...out of watercolor paper. I can't buy any more until my last scholarship comes in. Maybe some nice soul in my class may let me borrow some...but the paper's going to get pretty precious considering we have to do watercolors at the same frequency that we did the ink sketches.
Speaking of money, I need better watercolors as well. My cheap ones are good for very transparent things or for just getting by for now. However, it is SO hard to get good pigment out of them. I can see what Rusty was talking about now by investing in better watercolors. Gee, I'm going to be so happy when I can finally buy my remaining supplies from Dick Blick.
Some parts of these please me, and others just feel ugly. For these, I ACTUALLY for once sat outside and did watercolors from observation. Yay me! We also had to throw in a color wheel. I don't understand why all of my dry watercolors feel so chalky now though. Maybe it has to do with the paint quality? IDK...we'll see how this goes....
Also....I only have 9 sketches...because I'm...out of watercolor paper. I can't buy any more until my last scholarship comes in. Maybe some nice soul in my class may let me borrow some...but the paper's going to get pretty precious considering we have to do watercolors at the same frequency that we did the ink sketches.
Speaking of money, I need better watercolors as well. My cheap ones are good for very transparent things or for just getting by for now. However, it is SO hard to get good pigment out of them. I can see what Rusty was talking about now by investing in better watercolors. Gee, I'm going to be so happy when I can finally buy my remaining supplies from Dick Blick.
Some parts of these please me, and others just feel ugly. For these, I ACTUALLY for once sat outside and did watercolors from observation. Yay me! We also had to throw in a color wheel. I don't understand why all of my dry watercolors feel so chalky now though. Maybe it has to do with the paint quality? IDK...we'll see how this goes....
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