Friday, October 30, 2009

Editorial Illustrations (2)

First of the finished versions of my editorial illustrations. I cropped the composition in a bit closer and changed the rays of digital information. I like parts of this, but I'm still not sure about the whole. However, all three pieces are due Monday, so at this point it's more important to finish rather than get things exactly perfect.





And another piece I'm working on for Parallel Parchment; this one a scene featuring the Great Tree. I think I finally captured the scale of the room.



More updates to come, as I frantically try to get things done before I rush off to Illuxcon in a few weeks.

Monday, October 19, 2009

The Future is Now!

Work continues apace. The last few days were largely spent working on the latest illustration project, which is an editorial piece on the topic of our choice. I picked "social networking" as a topical piece of our times, but as I worked on sketching, I found that the ideas became much more interesting if I moved from simply commenting on how social networking works now, to how we might use it in the future.

So I came up with these:

 
They're all pretty rough, as you can see, and I got a number of critiques on them so I'll be changing at least a few of the designs. I'm almost disappointed, too, as it seems that in discussing these topics I only came up with more ideas. I find the advent of technology truly fascinating-- the fact that we can look at sci-fi ideas like holograms and cybernetic limbs, and realize that these may only be a few decades away is amazing.

Now if only I had the math skills to get involved in a more mechanical way with computers, that would be great.

Still, it's an interesting sort of avenue, and I think I may try to come up with a few more independent pieces in a similar vein.

I also finished up the last of my commissions, a character piece for an old friend of mine from high school. The concept is a little over-the-top (Star Wars meets Doc Ock), but the lighting effects were fun to paint, and it's always nice to do something a little lighter every now and then.


 
 
Speaking of lighter, here's a sketch from Saturday, which I spent most of playing a tabletop superheroes game. My character was "Mongoose the Magnificent," who was something like what you'd get if you got Quicksilver's speed but the Scarlet Witch's costume and flair. (The game was based off an old DC format, but I really only read Marvel books, so that's where my comparisons lie.) Just for fun, I scribbled off a quick drawing of Mongoose, mostly because the one provided had really terrible 80's hair.



Wednesday, October 14, 2009

"We are all at the bottom of the river..."

I've been working on a few projects lately, but don't have scans of them just yet, so instead, here is a moody, haunting, fascinating video. "Bottom of the River" by the Tom Fun Orchestra:


Tom Fun Orchestra-Bottom of the River from trunk animation on Vimeo.

Sunday, October 4, 2009

IFX October: Witches' Moon

Taking a break from the Parallel Parchment project, I sat down today and started a new piece, based off of Imagine FX's October challenge.

The prompt for this month is "Witches Moon", although I think the title of this is going to end up being "Moon Woman," unless I think of something else clever after I work more on the piece.



I can already tell I'm going to have a lot of fun with the colors on this one.  It's itching at me to do more work on it, but I've got some commissions and school work to tend to first.

Thursday, October 1, 2009

In other news--

In other news, my piece "Matcha" ("Green Tea") is currently showing at the Indianapolis ArtsGarden as part of the ASA (Active Student Artists) Student Show. The show features Herron student and alumni work, and will be showing throughout the month of October. The ArtsGarden is a pretty well-known venue, a large glass greenhouse-esque space in the middle of downtown, very near the Monument Circle.

I didn't get a chance to see all the art in the show, as I dropped my piece off very early this morning, before everything was set up, but what I did see looked pretty nice. If you're in Indianapolis, do go and check it out.

Parallel Parchment Worldbuilding (2)

More sketches and scribbles from my Parallel Parchment project.



 
 



We're even moving into color a little bit! I do think I will do more of the quick watercolor paintings, as they really seem to help add some depth to the scene, even if they do warp the paper a bit.