SCAD-Atlanta: Illustrated Map

I am going to have to put this piece down for a bit before finishing, but I wanted to post it because I like the direction it was heading. The last assignment was to do an illustrated map, and I chose my very own Home Sweet School to draw-- very appropriate to do a map of SCAD as my last assignment in my last class in grad school. (Oh, don't worry...still have my thesis to do--not done yet!)

Animals in Space: The Stationary Set

Just finished a set of stationary. I have been wanting to work again with the characters I have created for a nesting doll set a couple months ago. This was a super fun project. I love when I can create an illustration, and pick out different elements to create an overall concept and design a package around it. Below is a layout of all three pages of stationary (down the line I would like to do a fourth, which I already have an idea for).

At this point, I have really gotten pretty comfortable working within Illustrator, which has been a huge victory for me.

Illustration Friday: Adrift

To my Navy man, Pat. Happy Valentine's Day!

Illustration Arts Forum 2010!

This weekend was the Arts Forum here at SCAD-Atlanta--something I look forward to all year! Because of Snowmeggedon, one of the presenters, Jon Foster was unable to make it, but one of my absolute favorite artists, Helen Dardik made it in from Canada just in time for our "beach-like" weather. Helen has worked on a variety of projects from animation to editorial to surface illustration (like some of the recent products she has done for Blue Q). Her style has a hand-done, clean, and quirky look influenced by Scandinavian design. Her work is instantly recognizable as her own not only through her style but by her signature jewel-like palate which makes her work so much fun to look at and moon over.

On Friday she gave an incredible demo on creating patterns in Adobe Illustrator. This is something I had done a couple times before, without much ease or great results, so I was a little incredulous going into the demo. But with Helen's method, it was so simple and fun! This is definitely a skill I will use again soon for pattern making, which I have really enjoyed thus far. She also gave great tips for designing. Then we had a chance to try our hand at creating some patterns ourselves (see above pattern inspired by a recent project I have taken on-- more on that in another post though).

Also, Bill Mayer, Decatur native and recent Society of Illustrator gold medal winner, braved the snow and joined the Forum last minute. He showed us some of his work, including some pieces from his children's book The Monster Who Did My Math Homework, one of my favorites, and his very loose stamp sketches, one of which won him recent honors. These sort of projects are particularly inspiring-- illustration doesn't have to be highly rendered pieces, but can be simple, beautifully designed "doodles" from your sketchbook. He also shared a special and very personal project he was working on, which was a real treat for us.

I was kind of bummed that the Forum got cut short (I had signed up for a portfolio review on Saturday, but because of weather conditions the school as well as local transit had shut down). All in all though it was a really fun weekend! Both Helen and Bill were so generous with divulging their "insider secrets," and were really awesome to talk to. We were extremely lucky to have them visit us at SCAD-Atlanta!

For more about this year's Art Forum (with photos), visit the SCAD-ATL Illustration Department blog.

Illustration Friday: Muddy

I have been working very tight lately, with a lot of more realistic proportions. I wanted to try something really quirky and fun, without all the over analyzing. I doodled this today during Illustration Asylum (the illustration dept's club), and inked over it when I got home.

Illustration Friday: Clumsy

Two Threadless submissions: Vote purty PLEASE!!

I've known about the Threadless T-shirt company for a while now, and never really looked into submitting a design for whatever reason, so I was glad that the opportunity came up in my Vector Art class to work on a design submission. I came up with two ideas I was really connected to and worked on them both, even though I only was required to do one.

The first design I did was based off the nesting doll set I did of Animals in Space. I had this kind of disgruntled octopus character, and thought about setting him in space fixing a satellite and losing track of tools from one of his tentacles.

Clumsy Space Octopus!

Made of Butterflies

This next design was created for the "Threadless Loves" challenge in which the theme is to create a new trend for 2010 (jeez, could they think of anything more difficult to conceptualize for a T-shirt design??). This is a special challenge with a specific theme that I think they do monthly. There is a greater cash prize available for their selection of the best design. The additional caveat of the assignment (for class) was to do a two color design. (EEek! Color limitations!!) Which is actually something to be mindful of, since I read that Threadless tees have an 8 color limit to print.

The sketch for this design started out much different. My initial idea was to have the woman in a disappearing dress that faded into butterflies, but as I started working this one out a little more, i started to like the fact that in the drawing it looked like the woman herself was breaking apart into butterflies, so I went with that instead.

My experience creating entire pieces in Adobe Illustrator has been limited up until this point. I am slowly exploring more of the tools, and learning more about what the program can do. I can see so clearly how piece will turn out when I use Adobe Photoshop--I've adopted my own methods for working within a certain style, and I can visualize when I sketch out an idea how the piece will look finished. I don't feel that comfortable yet in Illustrator--the entire time I am drawing, I feel held back, thinking to myself, "How would I do this?" which leads me to making some different drawing choices, since I feel like I have limitations in the program. Through these different pieces I feel like I have expanded my ideas on what is possible in the program (especially through the second piece--I never knew I could get a weighted line in a single stroke!), and I look forward to making more new discoveries.

Anyways, long story short, please vote for my work (Clumsy Space Octopus and Made of Butterflies) to be printed on a T-shirt! You can create an account at Threadless and vote on other designs too, or submit some of your own designs. You make decent $bank$ if you design is chosen for print. I've really gotten into this site, and hope I can submit something another design soon.