Concept Art

In my 3D modeling class, we are going to design hats for the video game Team Fortress 2.  We first had to come up with concept ideas. This is my first time doing concept drawings and I had some fun with it.

Sorting... >.>

Going through my files on my computer, I decided to post some of my favorite drawings. Enjoy!

Water Water Water-Color Everywhere!

So lately, I've been on a water color kick. I love the look of old houses/barns. On the way to my junior college, I would pass this old, rickety barn in an open field. It was so interesting the way it was rotting. I don't know why but I became really fascinated with it.  Over the years, people started to graffiti it. It was a really sad thing to see, but I digress. Watercolor is a really forgiving medium.  I lay down micron pen and then lay in color as I feel fit. I like to layer as well. All in all, I am really enjoying it! =D 

Save the P.B.'s!

I love love love Polar Bears. So it seriously saddens me to see their population diminish so. There aren't to many things we can do, but the WWF has a really awesome program you all should check out! I'll link it here: Adopt a Polar Bear!

Sketchbook pages

Just thought I'd add a couple of these...

Who knew we could learn in school?

Our final project for my Intro to Illustration class was a 16x9 ink drawing.  This is by far the project I learned the most from.  Unlike other projects, a mistake on this piece is a permanent mark that cannot be erased. Thus, PLAN PLAN PLAN! After working out an idea for a final illustration, and working the composition til it was perfect (tho to me, compositions can never be perfect, there is always some kind of tweaking you can do) I finally had a concrete idea of where I wanted to go with my illustration. We had to incorporate some idea of a white glove based off an existing series of illustrations.  My final idea was a great white shark fishing for humans, using a white glove. Kind of far fetched, I know. But I like illustrating underwater things for some reason, so why not? I cannot count how many practice drawings, and inkings I did before the final, but I know I cut it close to the deadline.

One example of a first draft 

 What I learned of this part of the process was getting an outsiders perspective is crucial.  I took my 8x6 drawings to upper class men and anyone who would look at it to see what I should change. Remember, measure twice, cut once!

And then the work began...

almost there...

After tons and tons of drawing, making a couple trips to the 24 hour print shop, and a trip to the emergency room, I finished my Final!

Tada!

 To put so many days and hours into a piece of work, and see the final outcome is really good. I am quite happy with this, though, there are a lot of things I would change. But the process and what I learned alone makes me happy.   

Figure Drawing: Measure Twice!

I grew up with my grandparents. My grandfather loved to make random things out of wood. He'd have a saying, "Measure Twice, cut once." I didn't realize it at the time, but that phrase goes so far beyond woodcutting.

My first figure drawing class was at my junior college. It instantly became my favorite class.  One of the reasons was my boisterous New York bred teacher. We would start out working in charcoal, then move on to pastels on toned paper. The purpose of this technique was to allow the paper "breathe" through.  Here is one of my drawings:

Model: David

Here, at San Jose State, figure drawing is the building block to everything! And much to my dismay, it is taught 120% differently than I originally learned. Yes, I learned about foreshortening and form on the body, but I was never properly taught the laws of proportion! It was always "draw what you see".  Here, it's almost like a mathematical process of the torso equals 2 heads, etc. I am happy that I am learning this but what a learning curve!  I must say tho, my figure drawings are looking alot better. Here is a picture from this semester with the same model from the above picture from my junior college:

My teacher at my other school would KILL me if he saw this drawing. He would point to a line on your drawing and say, "if that is a straight line on the figure, I'll buy you a house/car".  The proportions though are alright on this one. The calves and everything below it are a bit grande, but this is one of my first drawings learning this new style so I won't beat myself up to bad. But you know....measure twice....

And that's when I developed my nervous twitch...again.

I'm thinking I might as well throw something in here. So I shall put up a project that kicked my butt.

This is the dreaded charcoal reversal.  The process was simple.  Find a photograph with texture, cast shadows, and contrast.  Cover an 18x24 board with compressed charcoal and erase away until you have a perfectly rendered piece!  Seems easy enough. The total time that was supposed to be spent on said project is anywhere from 40-60+ hours. This project was a whole lotta all nighters!
 Here is the picture of what I was too render:

Whales!

I love whales, therefore I was very happy I got to do this! I knew the barnacles were going to give me trouble, but I did not know just how much trouble.  The rays in the back were surprisingly easy to do. I tried several techniques from just wiping it with a shammy cloth to using the kneaded eraser. In the end, the latter was the way that worked the best. The two fins seen in the photo is where I got stuck. I believe I spent one night from 1am-4am working on them alone.  It's very easy to get caught up in the finer details of something like that. Especially when they were right in my face the whole time I was working on my piece.  Overall, I was pretty satisfied with how it came out, though I do want to go back and work on it some more. Who knows when I will have time for that though. And here is the semi-finished product: 

Rendered Whales! 

                                                                             Until next time! 

                                                                                    Mandy

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Art in progress... ^.^