BYU ILLUSTRATION SHOWCASE

Today I finished hanging 3  of my pieces (this one, this one, and this one) in the Utah County Health and Justice Building (across the street from the Tabernacle) for the  

Illustration Showcase! 

If anyone is interested in coming, the showcase will be up for a month. There is a Gallery Stroll on Friday, February 4th from 6-9PM and the showcase will be part of the route. But come anytime during the month.

IT WILL BLOW YOUR MIND.

Also, all three of my pieces are for sale, and they are each an original print. HOT.

The Táin in stages

I started this a little bit late into the project, but I wanted to post the steps I took in finishing the project. Almost the entire thing was digital, save the line work and a bit of paint (as you can see in the first picture) and I think it turned out looking like I didn't do much digital work on it. Besides the kid in the background. He looks totally digital. But I'll work on it.

I scanned this first one in and made it a separate layer. I then made that layer "Multiply" and started painting underneath it, so it would still have the tooth and grain of the paper to it.

Character Design: Dorothy, Scarecrow, and another guy.

For my Character Design class we are making our own versions of some of the characters from The Wizard of Oz (which I don't think I've ever seen all the way through). Here are mine, and another character that we were assigned to design based on a short description.

I feel like the scarecrow's hand is in an awkward place though...

Captain Bill Wheedles is an ex-sailor with a wooden leg from the knee down. His head is almost bald and what little hair he has is grizzled. His eyes are pale blue with a gentle look to them, and his face is round, rugged, and bronzed. 

I drew him filling up a kiddy pool for his grandkids. While smoking.

Modernized Myth #1: Táin Bó Cúailnge (Unfinished)

For my Illustration 5 class I'm modernizing myths from 5 different countries. The first is an Irish myth called Táin Bó Cúailnge. I based this piece on that myth, but in a modern setting. Cú Chulainn, the Irish hero (AKA the Hound of Ulster) is approached by a supernatural woman, Morrígan, who offers him her love. He rejects her, and she takes her revenge by interfering in his battles. In the myth, she messes him up about 3 times in different ways. At the end, Cú Chulainn ends up fighting and killing his best friend and foster brother.

In my interpretation, Colin was approached by Morgan, who had a crush on him. He explains that he doesn't feel the same way, and she turns out to be manipulative and disturbed. She digs her claws into his best friend, and drives them apart. His best friend ends up cornering him and beating him up under the manipulation of Morgan.

I don't know how incredibly solid my take on it is, but I don't really care. It made for a cool illustration.

What I still need to do:

1. Make the guy in the background have a more dynamic pose...maybe more like a superhero looking pose.
2. Make Morgan's face more...vengeful
3. Add an Irish Wolfhound to the left, barking at Colin's friend and Morgan. I want to add the wolfhound because Cú Chulainn is referred to sometimes as "The Hound of Ulster" which is a wolfhound.

The next myth I'm doing is one of the stories from The Mabinogion. Right now I'm leaning toward the story of Manawydan, specifically within the third branch.
Following this will be a Norse myth. I haven't decided on a specific one. Does anybody have any suggestions?

Magnolias

This is from my sketchbook, but i redid it digitally. I like it. I might submit it to the Society of Illustrator's annual student competition. Along with like 12 other pieces.

Some cool type

 I collected some typography that stood out to me for my Typography class. I especially like the top right one, that says Stuznu.

Hurrs sum morr artz.

Another Album Cover

Here's another Album Cover I might be doing. I'm actually not sure yet...I just did this before I really found out whether or not they wanted me to do it.

But here it is so far. It makes me just want to go and re-do the Cryllics album...

Celtic Illumination

So I've decided on the theme of my BFA project. I don't quite know how I am going to present it, but I know what I want to do.

I watched the movie "The Secret of Kells" last month, and I LOVED it.  For my BFA, I am going to do Irish or Welsh mythology and tales illustrated in the style of The Book of Kells, and other illuminated celtic manuscripts (Mulling, Dimma, Durrow, etc). I started looking at scans of the pages of these books and I was blown away. I've been becoming increasingly obsessed with them the past week, and have started practicing a lot of the designs in my sketchbook.

Look how beautiful these are:

The Chi Rho page in the Book of Kells

BOOK OF DURROW.  Top: Carpet Page, Bottom: Gospel of Mark

Another from the Book of Durrow

Some more from The Book of Kells

Here's a cool article I just found: http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/Sept09/KellsAngels.html

Some stuff from my sketchbook

Here are a few sketches from my sketchbook. I'll put some more up later. Also, I added some more people to "My Artist Crushes." Including Alphonse Mucha. Um...why hasn't anybody told me how amazing he is?! 

 Today I bought some gold leaf, and I'm going to attempt to use it this month.