The mysterious Blue-Plumed Figment

I’ve been itching to experiment with Gouache and I recently got the chance during a brief visit to the park. The subject didn’t move the entire time. I think I’ll try a scene next time…

Lazy Afternoon

Playing around with brushes in PS. I started with the sky and let the story develop as the elements appeared.

Sky->Clouds->Grassy Hill->Path->Tree->Bike-> Bike Rider. The whole thing took about 7-10 minutes.

Portfolio Cover

I put together a little PDF portfolio last night. In a misconceived first attempt, my layout of work samples was on a charcoal background. Pretty boring. A friend kick started my creative process and I began brainstorming and sketching some possible concepts for the piece. I ended up going for a “traveling medicine show” look. I really like ephemera and woodtype.

I created 9 pages completely in Illustrator reusing and repositioning elements. Since I might eventually print this as a promotional, I wanted flexibility so I could alter the dimensions if necessary.

I also was able to experiment with the appearances palette.With the exception of the 2 rivets and the type, the metal nameplate is a single, styled object. With the settings stored as a graphic style I can instantly give a similar appearance to any shape I create.

If you’re an Illustrator fan but haven’t utilized the Appearance panel, give it a shot. It’s invaluable as a timesaver if you need different objects to have a similar appearance, and when applied to text the styles are dynamic, meaning that you can edit your text and retain the style. It also makes keeping track of objects easier. Instead of having a shape for the object, one of the drop shadow, one for the metal highlights, etc, you can have one object that can be changed in the appearance panel.

Above is a sample of one of the interior pages. I changed the parchment orientation, position, and size on each page, and had a different bottle and label as well. Sample work was added in InDesign.

There are a total of I started at around 6pm and finished at 2am. Good Times.

Burlington, Vermont sketchcrawl

Some new friends and I had a good time in merry New England. Fantastic buildings and trees. We discovered that on a cold, damp, slightly-drizzly day by a lake, love will keep you warm.

I used a uni-ball pen, 2B pencil, watercolor, and a water-soluble black pencil of some kind which I discovered was soluble after painting with watercolor on top of it. I was able to intentionally harness the effect for the chapel steeple.

Runaway Sequentials . . .

I started some quick, vertical-panel roughs. It’s interesting constraining narrative panels this way as opposed to landscape rectangles. Since the action takes place in an alley, the narrow panels add to the tension and claustrophobia. When I get the chance I’ll try some digital inking in Illustrator.