Comps comps and more comps, actually just two comps.

So for today we were showing off our marker comps for our book cover and cheesy airbrush.  For the book jacket I decided to go with The Red Badge of Courage.  Since most of the really good covers were taken i decided to go with something a little more standard, but slightly modified.  While looking at what most of the other covers look like, i saw a lot with the guy holding a flag in a depiction of the final battle.  I thought this image really sold the idea of the book, so i decided i'll try my hand at it.  However, I am going to have the illustration wrap around to the back so it's not quite as, ahem . . . stale as some others might be.  Take a look:

And for my cheesy airbrush I thought of someone/thing with a cigar.  I came up with a cat or a used car salesman.  I will most likely use the cat.  I will have to work out his legs because they look a bit awkward as is, but then again they should because cat's legs don't rest like that.  I thought orange was a good cheesy color, I don't know why It just is.  I'm also trying to get him to not look like garfield.  Remember, this will be in airbrush, so it can only look worse. Look at this:

Everybody needs a montage!

I have been working on this one for a while now hence my lack of posts.  It is my 3-image gouache montage.  The images are apparent due to my excellent gouache-ing skills.  The scan does it no justice, the mouse has lost all value, but my excellent shading on the front of the mouse shows up.  It's a lot darker than it actually is, despite my effort to adjust it in Photoshop.  Oh well, I'll keep working on it.  It was pretty hard to paint, i kept wanting to add an extra layer of depth into my iguana, and spent most of my time on that part.  Since i spent so much time on it, the other parts look less developed.  Perhaps i'll work on it some more one day.  I also ran into the strangest problem: I had painted my hot dog bun but it looked kind of green so i scrubbed it and then reapplied a better brown, but painting along the edge of the new bun was difficult because the paint would not stay on the illustration board.  It was like it had a layer of laminate/or like i was painting on plastic.  Super weird!  I also think my mouse lines look odd, though very close to my image, still looks out of place, perhaps a lower value next time.

Here's what i'm thinking...

Now that we "have the skills" It's time for some real projects!  Today we presented marker comps for the proposed 'album art' project.  i thought for a while about what i would do for mine, and it eventually boiled down to: What would be the most fun to illustrate?  There were some pretty good contenders:  "Big Lizard in my Backyard" by the Dead Milkmen, "You can Tune a Piano, but you can't Tuna Fish" by REO Speedwagon, and "She Wants Revenge" by She Want Revenge, but the decision finally went to "Shark Sandwich" by Spinal Tap.  As you may or may not know, Spinal Tap is a fictional band features in the 1980s mockumentary "This is Spinal Tap."  The name of the album came from one of my favorite parts in the movie where they are discussing their discography:  "The review for "Shark Sandwich" was merely a two word review which simply read 'Shit Sandwich'."  Wether the album be good or bad, i guess i really just wanted to paint a shark. . . . . . and a sandwich. . . . together.   I wanted to paint a shark sandwich.  Anyways, here's my comp.

comp here:

Hold on, I'm on my hamburger phone

Yes, you read right!  For my product illustration i painted a hamburger phone.  They are real and you can buy them!  I thought it would be fun and it was, we had to have them to turn in on Friday so I had to stop sometime.  I would have added more detail to the cord had time allowed, but for the time being, it's not to shabby!  Fine enough to be printed in any magazine still printing illustrated pictures of products and willing to sell a hamburger phone.

How do you like them avocados?

Gouache has been getting considerably better, i just found out out that i have to paint things i actually like!  Not things that may seem easy.  Below are my avocados, my first non train wreck gouache pick out painting.  I am really impressed with it!  I hope you enjoy it as well.  I am currently working on my third gouache product illustration, yes third!  I first attempted a rubber duck ,he got to muddled with color, and then i tried a toy race car, but the sizing was wrong and the colors wouldn't go on right.  As for my product illustration, you'll just have to wait and see what it is for yourself.  until then, enjoy some avocados:

The good, The bad, and the ugly. There are only two but the bad and the ugly one are one in the same, so...

Here it is!  MY favorite and least favorite.  My least favorite was one of the earlier watercolors from the 5" x 7" series.  It was of the side of a building i took.  there were a lot of contenders for the worst, but this one took the cake.  There is not one redeeming quality about this one.

And here is the better one.  I had a lot to pick from here too.  I like my horse, but i don't think it shows much skill, i think it's a good example of me loosening up with my technique, but that's about it.  I thought about my hen i drew earlier too, but nothing tops my triceratops!  It's a good example of some watercolor skill, but I feel it's a great example of me adapting to the media presented.  I will be honest, i'm not to good with watercolors, but when combined with line art, i can really make it work.  Here it is:

Final Red Barn Illustrations

These are my final red barn illustrations.  I watercolored then put a sheet over them and did some sketching, scanned them both together because i tried scanning them separately and it would not go over well.  Well, here they are.  The first one will be on the cover and the lower one will be inside.