feeling better

The style is coming along more. Kind of. Yes. I'm experimenting more with photoshop, putting illustrator work on hold for now. I read a tutorial on how to isolate pencil sketchings, and have been a lot more successful with it than I expected at first. I love all the smudges that are visible!

hard at work

I've been feeling frustrated over this whole no-coherent-style thing...It's really much more than the style. It's kind of...well, I can make an illustration. And it can be fine, and my friends/family are happy with it and impressed, but there is a clear sense that it's nothing more than just a cute little picture. There's no particular originality or style. It's just whatever I felt like doing that week. It's more than just whether or not all of the stuff I'm creating fits together - it's that none of it is particularly good. Good, yes, maybe, but not particularly so.

I'm not sure if/when this will be resolved but for now I suppose it's a matter of making a billion more illustrations and waiting for magic to happen.

illustration progress

Taking a class makes producing artwork a necessity, rather than an added luxury, every day. I love it. I am totally accomplishing things - and not just stuff for class, but personal projects - on a regular basis. I've been forced to figure out all sorts of tools on Illustrator and Photoshop that I usually try to get around, because "getting around" these issues would normally hinder my progress or take away from the quality of the work. Which is not to say my work's quality is improving dramatically...at the very least, being so productive means getting closer to finalizing my style, and hasn't that been the goal all along?

And today! I have been painting. For fun. Which I haven't done in ages (weeks). Hurray!

getting things done

I had a huge to do list to work through this weekend and surprisingly, I've made a lot of progress. Yesterday I did schoolwork, then in the evening I tried to do some illustrating, and it was a TRAINWRECK. I was miserable. But I woke up with some fresh ideas, and completed three different illustrations that I'm very happy with. And started one other one that may or may not get finished, depending on how much time I want to spend learning about textures on photoshop. But today...Today. I have made some new buddies. One of them I will call Illustrator, one I will call Cut Out McFilter, and one I will call My Printer. I am getting them to help me in new exciting ways and I couldn't be happier about it!

Above: The first illustration assignment for my class, based on an article from the New York Times about parents letting their children run around without clothes on, and other adults finding it inappropriate. Well, something to that effect I believe. 5x10" acrylic/pencil on wood.

Richard and Leonard have the same favorite color

Acrylic on wood, 10x10"

It's so nice to be able to do a teeny bit of painting while school is in full swing and super crazed. It's also soooo nice that my illustration class is happening, and starting Tuesday!!!

My scanner does some excellent scanning of little drawings when I put it in the "Magazine (Color)" mode. I feel like it's revolutionized how I'll be able to get my drawings into my computer, and how I'll be able to edit them or add color in Illustrator. I'm thrilled!

This one came out a little silly because the colors are way more intense in the scan than in real life. I'm ok with that. The plus side is that the figures are also better defined now.

is this an illustration?

It must be, right? It's illustrative. Right?

It's been extremely challenging to find time to paint/create now that the school year has started up again. I've been a bit disappointed by it. I've found a little time over the past week or so though - there's a weekly meeting where my drawing little pictures isn't yet frowned upon, and a few days ago I started trying to create little silly illustrations like the one above, on a hopefully daily basis. I hope to paint a bit over the coming three day weekend. Also, I'm signed up for an Editorial Illustration class in Manhattan that starts in a few weeks - here's hoping it doesn't get cancelled! (Currently I'm the only person registered. Whoops.)