escrandall

This is an old painting that I had not finished until today. I suppose at a baseball game home runs should be the most exciting part, but for me, with my nose in a book (or sketchbook) foul balls are by far the most exciting thing. Especially when you sit pretty close. 

Here are more color designs for my Design Fundamentals II class. Obviously, its the same design in four different color schemes to experiement with how color affects design. Four of the five color schemes were assigned, not the specific colors, but warm, cool, neutral, saturated and the fifth was a personal palette. (which is the last image). 

Here is a little design I did in black and white for the front of a card. I have started getting really use to using just black and white (or black and tea paper) and I really like the simple and bold designs you get. 

I've graduated from my black and white Design Fundamentals I to Color Design Fundamentals II! We're learning more about color than you probably thought there was to learn, but right now we seem to be focusing on how color changes and reacts to the colors around it, and how color can affect a design. (Design is all about communication and color can change the communication of a design.) Anyway, now I get to do color designs! Still cut and paste (I'm on my third bottle of rubber cement!) In this assignment we had to do the exact same design twice (using four colors) but change one and only one color in the second example.

Just another ella logo. 

The last project in my Design Fundamentals I class was to create a "logo" for your self. I put logo in quotes because to me, a logo is super simple, but the project is somewhere between a logo and an advertisement for yourself. (The logos created would not work well put on the corner of a note book, or the edge of a garment, they would cover the whole thing, which to me make them an ad.) Anyway, heres one of my designs. 

This is a preview of the logo I'm designing for Bradford County GIS. This logo will be used primarily in the corner of maps and such to signify Bradford County GIS data. I'm thinking of changing the words around so that GIS is in the center of the compass and only Bradford County is around the edge. I like theTrompe L'Oeil effect (Trick the eye) where the compass looks like its sitting on the paper. (Thats what I was going for anyway.) The finished logo would just be one compass, but I wanted to try sizing it differently to see how the text responded.  And maybe I'll add the N, S, E, and W.

I know its been a little while since I posted any art, I have been sketching and painting, but most of my efforts are going towards homework. While I was buying supplies for class I found some reasonable priced watercolor paper in a roll, in a roll as in a huge sheet of it! Which of course I decided was very necessary to my well-being and purchased it and have since started one of my largest watercolor paintings ever. Its not finished, but here is a sneak peek. The second picture is to give you an idea of the size. 

I had my second Children's book illustration class and we started off with character sketches critique. My character sketches for Kat's stories were well received, the only real suggestion was to give the heartless Queen more outlandish and Queenish outfits. 

Daniel :

Adelade:

Heartless queen:

The old cell mate:

I've started my classes at the Ringling college of Art and Design and I thought I'd show some examples of my homework. Ok, in all honestly, my sketchbook has turned into a note pad for the classes; but that means I'm learning a lot. In the Design Fundamentals class I don't think I'm going to make any really amazing art work, its all going to be a little abstracted, just a practice in learning some basic elements. Our first assignment was to cut up a 4" x 4" square of black paper and glue it onto a white board in such a way that you would never think that it was a square. And you have to use all the pieces.  The second half of the project was to cut up a 4" x 4" square of black paper and glue it on a white board in such a way that it still looks like a square. These might sound a little silly, but learning any design-strengthening concept can only be good.

The square that is not a square:

 The square that is a square :

Here are a few of my homework assignments for my Design Fundamentals I class. In this class all work is done in black and white, and generally is black paper cut outs glued on to white board. In this homework assignent we have to create a design where the viewer can not tell if it is black on white or white on black. This is called Figure Ground, I think essentially, it means you can't tell the figure from the background. The classic example of this is an optical illusion where you can see two faces or a chalice. My design for this is based on the sketch of Lyra that I just did. I cut out the black paper so carefully that I was able to make two projects, one an inverse of the other. 

Here just a funky view of our kitten Lyra. This was inspired by a couple of pictures I took that were over exposed and super white and I thought they could make for a cool design. 

I've been painting so many birds lately that they made it into my average doodles. I thought this one was pretty fun with all the birds and water-patter background. 

It was only a matter of time before our new kitten started making it into my sketchbooks. 

Heres a bit of a mix between my technical illustration of Florida birds and fun design patterns. Its a close up of a Night Heron face with a background of the birds wing feathers. I liked how the feathers are dark blue, but outlines in a light tan and decided to use the feathers as a design to give two view of the bird in one picture. 

Here are two paintings of tri colored herons. The first one I did was a bit too simplified to satisfy my bird illustration goals here, so I painted another. (In between the two paintings I was also able to get a lot closer to one of the tri colored herons and that helped a lot.) 

Just a quick sketch of sunlight and shade patterns I found on some leaves while I was searching for an ideal hammock spot. 

Just a quick sketch and watercolor of some Dunkin Donuts patrons. 

I was able to sneak up really close to this Black Crowned Night Heron. He is one of the many new kinds of herons I've discovered down here in Florida. I'm really happy with how his wing turned out; I like the pattern of his feathers. 

Here are some sketches inspired by a story of Kat's. They are in chronological order of the story. I'm super excited about them (and the story). The last one is my favorite. Its the happiest and it has a river! I messed up her pupils though (they're looking different ways) which is one of the downfalls of pen; there is no fixing it.

Here are a few more of my favorite sketches with background patterns. I'm posting a bunch because I neglected to post any the past day or so. The first one below I really like. I know it might look like they're having a conversation in the middle of a tsunami, but I think its an interesting background which could be developed more (the line flow) to direct the eye and fit better. The second one below I also like, and I think its just a sweet image with a funky background. I like how the background patter flows into the foreground hands. The last one below is one of my favorites I've done in this style. Red, black and white are always strong together and I think they work very well in this sketch. I saw this fellow outside of Starbucks all dressed up and he looked like a "character" to me, and he even had a vice. I think the red circle background is more fun and interesting than sketching the parking lot of Starbucks would be. Its not important to see the parked cars, just focus on the "character".

Here is a more polished example of using patterns in the background (but still a sketch). This is a scene from the Scarlet Pimpernel as I remembered it having read it years ago. 

Often when sketching people the background is empty unless clarifying a setting is really important. I have a lot of floating people in my sketchbook. I thought a way to make more interesting and add a design edge to the sketches is to use patterns in the background and any negative space. Its just an idea I've been playing with. But you'll see a lot more of it in the future!

This Double Breasted Cormorant bird is pretty common here. Its one of the few black birds I see. (In hot Florida white seems to be the logical color.) The thing about this bird is it swims and its feathers are not water proof. Often the birds will be perched with their wings outstretched to dry. I think their feathers look like dragon scales and if I were to name it would have been the dragon bird. Very similar to the Cormorant, in that is swims, is the Anhinga. Only the Anhinga has a longer more curved neck and will swim with only its neck and head above water. I looks exactly like a miniature Loch ness monster, its the weirdest thing I've seen!

 The most helful resource I have found for accurately identifying birds is the Sibley Guide to Birds. This guide has done exactly what I would love to do, illustrate every species of bird with multiple paintings of each bird from juvenile to adulthood. The book is absolutely amazing.

This little sketch is in the same new styles as the others. Pencil sketch, fine pen over everything and then a bold pen outlining figure shapes. This sketch is half from a photo I found, half  from memory and half made up. The photo is from a time when I was re-reading The Hobbit, but such an adventurous book should't be read in the comfort of a couch, so I would only read it in adventurous places. Mainly that just meant outside, but occasionally in a tree, by a river, while sword fighting.... 

Here are some pen and watercolor sketches done from life. Specifically these are all folks I saw hanging out at The Sandbar which is a little hamburger and beer joint just down the road from us. It has a big screened in porch and its a cheap place to grab some food! The screened in porch is an awesome place to be for a big storm, as you can see in the last sketch. These sketches are a bit of a new style for me. I sketch it out in pencil, then go over everything with a fine tipped pen (water proof) and then outline the figures in a thicker pen and then add some watercolor to bring it to life. I've found that the bolder outline really helps it to "pop" out, and pen just looks much more crisp than pencil, though I can't get the subtle detail of pencil with a pen. Yet.

I found this lizard guy while reading on a park bench under the oldest live oak in Pinellas County! (I was the one reading, not the lizard.) I've tried to identify him, but I have not been able to pin him down. Either way, I'm happy with the way his painting turned out and I think he has a fun expression and posture.

Recently I found my first Cuban Brown lizard! Well, I think I've seen a few without their red throat out. That is the easy and obvious way to identify them. I'm pretty happy with how this painting turned out. I like the texture of his skin and the shadow under his body.

Here is another view of the laughing gull. I like the "watercolor look" of the tips of his wings.

These seem to be the most common gulls down here in Palm Harbor, Florida. And being a food-stealing gull they're not so afraid of humans which makes them easier to get closer to.