So I did a poster!

 

When first I heard about the Savannah Stopover Festival and that the event was holding a poster contest, I was soooooo excited! I knew I had to gather something together for it. I came across this was a large drawing I started a few months ago, but never finished. Within just 1 1/2 days, I scrammed to finish this 18 x 24 drawing . . . I loved most of the music groups that will be performing at the Savannah Stopover Festival, but I chose to use my image for the band Xray Eyeballs because I think it fits their mood, music, and aesthetics.

I personally would like if my craftsmanship was better, but there's only so much time I could take using a ballpoint pen. I think it came out alright, but if I had a choice I would have started working on it a week ago.

 The 2011 Savannah Stopover Festival is March 9-12! If you're in Savannah, GA and love music you should check out the bands playing and figure out how to score some tickets!!! Do it!

"Run, Pig, Run"

Final book jacket in color

This was my first project doing a complete book jacket. I had the most difficult time choosing exactly what book I would want to do a cover for, but I kept being drawn to William Golding's Lord of the Flies. I have pretty much loved majority of the literature I've read in high school and college, and I still feel Lord of the Flies has been in my list of top 3 literary works. So much symbolism and depth, I could re-read that book every year. There are so many themes to analyze and interpret, and the characters are so richly developed.

I wanted to communicate the fear and chaos of the lost boys; yes, almost like mocking the lost boys of Peter Pan's weird story. Don't judge me, but I always hated Peter Pan, because I think Lord of the Flies is a realistic portrayal of how the Peter Pan tale really would be. Dark, miserable, and abandonment of most inherent moral principles due to fear. I mean, what would Peter Pan's little buddies do if there wasn't any food to eat? By invoking more animalistic and aggressive behavior, the young boys were better able to cope with their fear and sense of longing. Survival was priority, but each boy desperately so wanted to be socially accepted by the others.

I was also listening to Queens of the Stone Age's Run, Pig, Run . . .

Mr. Fox Meets Mr. Red

Mr. Fox Meets Mr. Red 

I always wished I would have learned to skateboard. It's still a possibility to learn, but while I'm in art school I suppose I can just stick to designing the decks . . . . NOTE: Details look so much better up close or zoomed in!

This skateboard deck design was done while I was experimenting and learning with Adobe Illustrator. I used to hate this program with a passion, but now I actually love it! I scanned in the ball point pen drawing of the fox and cardinal, and created the image with layers of texture from old leather, cracked cement, and coffee stains. I actually really enjoyed doing this, and I think I might create a few more for a set!

For a cookbook in the making, perhaps.

Curiouser & Curiouser book cover art
(going to add my own text later to flex my typography skills)

Baby bella mushrooms & garlic (interior vignette illustration)

Eggplant & tomatoes (interior vignette illustration)

These 3 illustrations are the first few pieces of my portfolio development. Because I enjoy cooking so much, I entertained the idea of using my love for both drawing and cooking. I am actually taking the idea of publishing my own cookbook much more seriously. I mean, why not do it? The title of my book would be Curiouser & Curiouser, featuring recipes that I have created along with family recipes that collected and I tweaked to make a little bit more health conscious. 

All of the images were done in ball point pen, but I used watercolor for the cover as well. The vignettes were left in black in white because they probably would be printed as such if (or possibly when!) my cookbook would be published. This is so exciting!

Ball point pen rediscovered . . .

 

These are a few more projects that I've been doing this winter with ball point pen. The first 3 are part of a project illustrating the alphabet. I just chose 3 random letters to depict using the theme of classic tattoos. I ended up tinting them with different hues digitally, but I still think I like them monochromatic. I might change what I have posted later . . . 

The fourth piece above is a piece I did for Save the Tiger! It might be used as a poster to promote an event funding help for the endangered tigers. I did the full size of 13" x 19" in watercolor and ball point pen (took lots of tedious time!). The event is scheduled near Valentine's day, so I kept that in mind with the mood of the drawing. I really enjoyed doing this piece, and I really think is a direction that will continue to pursue in my professional illustrations. What can I say? I love animals and they never get me bored .  . .

More stuff to come soon!

Untitled

This was actually done from a sketch that I did earlier in the fall of 2010 (which can be seen in an earlier blog entry), that I decided to play around with my extra time in November. Blue isn't necessarily my favorite color, but I have been enjoying this beautiful blue ink that I purchased while I was in France over this past spring.

I started with my original pencil sketch, modifying the drawing as I let my thoughts and mood direct my creativity. (The addition of the deer tail tied to the antlers was actually inspired by white deer tail that my dog had found earlier that day.) I inked over the graphite drawing with a dip pen in the ink that I find so inspiring, then digitally colored the background a flat blue tint. Something about the blue feels so spiritual and serene to me. I haven't come up with a title of the piece, so for now it's Untitled.

I have a few other things I worked on over the holidays, but a matter of posting them just takes me time . . .

Some Holiday stuff!

I didn't work during my holiday break, so I had 6 weeks to be incredibly lazy, do some personal work, sketches and doodles, bake for the holidays, watch lots of TV, play with the cats, etc. These 3 watercolors were done as holiday & Christmas cards that I mailed to a few of my friends. They are quite cutesy, but I was thinking of my grandma! I wasn't very pleased with the scan, but it's tough getting good scans of watercolor with a not-so-good scanner . . . Eh, I fun doing them, though.