IF - Mysterious

 
I caught this mysterious raven as it began to fly away; I believe it had something (food/garbage) in it's claws, but that didn't show up in the photo, so I didn't add it to the illustration.

I haven't done an Illustration Friday challenge in a long time... I'm trying to kick start my creativity, because I will be starting Printmaking again on Wednesday!  I can't wait, but my ideas are scattered.  I want to do some portraits, trees, flowers, maybe a raven (maybe this raven...?), and some landscapes, but I'm not sure how to sell (as in justify) all of those things as one package.  Maybe if I start sketching the connection will appear naturally...

IF Seed

I have actually been inspired by the last two Illustration Friday topics... but since my Computer Graphics class ended on the firsst, this is the first one I've had time to sketch. For wrinkles I wanted to do a picture of an elephant... I love elephants and there wrinkly, tough skin and their slow (seemingly) gentle ways. I'll post it if I ever get back to it.

For seed this image just popped into my head. It reminds me of the majic beans from Jack and the Beanstalk. I could and may still try interpreting it in Illustrator; even if I don't I am happy with the way the sketch turned out:)

IF "garden"

I am using my old illustrations like modular building blocks... oh what fun:) I have (obviously) been in love with these flowers (they are all over my web-site)... and these green garden illustrations fit the bill for this weeks Illustration Friday theme to the tee; my container "garden." I killed two birds with one stone and worked on this in class this last Saturday. We are making artist trading cards to trade with one another; very fun, I can't wait... maybe I will scan my favorite to share next week!

IF "multiple"

I did this digital illustration in PhotoShop two weeks ago in my Art & Technology class blog. Now I'm glad I didn't already post it here... I'm trying not to be too redundant (not that it matters, but I want two separate records of my progress).

Anyway, the original title was "cheesey pop-art" because I love Andy Warhol (I did a report on his life in high school) but I have never done the whole pop-art thing. I also haven't gotten to really play in PhotoShop in a very long time... This class has been really good for that. Really pushing what I already know and trying to bridge fine art and digital art. The original sketch is from a previous post as well. I love being able to revisit things and I am really playing with version-ing in a tangible way. I don't really have a set process yet, but this is how it seems to be coming together: original sketch, digital rendering, original pastel... then maybe I will start compositing and collaging the two together.

IF SOAR

Here is my Illustration Friday try at "soar." I've had a picture similar to this in my mind since last summer when I saw a bunch of birds flying over Twin Lakes... I believe it was stormy and misty out, but when I went to interpret it I had to let loose with the color. I like the idea of the birds being origami birds. I need to add trees (if it doesn't get horribly busy) and I'd like to add some pattern. I will post the final later when I get to it;)

















Here is my rough, rough sketch... but I know I liked it. Sometimes just putting a concept on paper helps even if it isn't a perfect pencil drawing!

The Mendenhall Glacier

For "Little things" I also thought of our glacier, the Mendenhall glacier in Juneau, Alaska. Glacial ice is pretty amazing, they put a chunk out in front of the vistor's center to show the tourists how the compact ice crystals are like a 3-d puzzle that you can pull apart as it melts. I am designing a t-shirt for a friend using the glacier as the main image... I put the logo style wording in for this post! It looks like I need to rotate it. I like off-kilter, but that might be a bit much.

IF LITTLE THINGS

Now I am up-to-date! Here is my concept for Illustration Friday's "Little Things." I heard a piece on NPR about Daimler's Smart car and they were test driving one. The reporter said that he was able to park it between the end of the curb and a big SUV; of course Hummer came to my mind!

IF EXCESS

Here is my rough sketch for last week's Illustration Friday topic "Excess." We had been experiencing a cold snap and it had been hovering aroung 20 degrees F. We dodn't have the snow (last year it was up to my waist by November 30), but I thought that I should combine the two excesses for this year and last.

IF HATS

I have been doing the Illustration Friday topics... I just haven't had it together enough to post them on time. So, here is "Hats" from two weeks ago. I had a picture of the hat scene from The Prestige where they find all the duplicate hats from Nikola Tesla's contraption (played by David Bowie; a foreshadowing of things to come). This was just a rough sketch of that basic concept (only with cute bunnies!).