work, work, work

So I put my two-weeks' notice in... two weeks ago. I loved working as a graphic artist for BYU Independent Study. It was the best job I've ever had. It's my last semester at BYU, though, and my BFA show goes up in only a few short weeks. I need as much time as I can get to finish(/start) my show. I used to work on Wednesdays, which would normally mean I'd need to be in bed right about now. Since I can stay up a little later now, I thought I'd pay a small tribute to my old job.

select images from Project 1: Earth 55 splash package






images from other splashes, in no particular order:
Business Marketing 41: A coworker had started this splash, but for whatever reason it was handed down to me. I used the sketches she had made for the characters. I chose to color and render it much differently than she had started to (I saw the only image she had colored AFTER I had finished the course). Amazing how things like color and rendering can make images feel so completely different, even if the drawing underneath is the same.
English 115 (This one was extra fun, since I got to work on it with Simini. I drew and she colored. It was quite the interesting challenge... I created more than 30 images that featured pieces of paper. I made them run, jump, fight, take pictures, read, bend, cower, intimidate and give psychological counseling, among other things. I have a new faith in my ability to give inanimate objects-- without faces, even-- personality and character.Earth 41: I chose to do a "painterly" style for this course. This was the first image I did, and trying to keep the images after as simple and painterly as this one was challenging. It was a nice break from the style I had been doing previously (Earth 55, I think), and it was a nice break when I finished with this style. Writing 43: The style for this course was inspired by a combination of an image in last year's Communication Arts Illustration Annual and one of my friends from work, Kelly Stanley (formerly, Kelly Weed). She very much likes simple images, especially with flat shapes of color and thin, delicate lines.

Psychology 330: This one was sort of based off of The Office... the characters above are my version of Dwight and Jim. I had never really watched that show... and now that I have I really wish I hadn't. Grossly overrated once you get past season 1.

Physics 220: For this splash, the images I made were for a print-on-demand book. So I've sort of been published... cool! I also made the standard images we made for print and web. It was one of my first attempts at painting realistically on the computer.

Organization B 221: I drew a LOT of mazes for this splash package. Oh, and the main course image is a legit maze. Try it if you can get it to open big enough to see.)


English 251: This course was, obviously, really graphic. It was ok at first... pretty fast and easy once I found good reference. It got boring pretty fast, though, and it's one of my least favorites.
Health 444: Driver's Ed. Good times, good times. This was a pretty fun splash, and kind of a combination of styles and ideas from other splashes. I was pleased with how clean-feeling the whole thing turned out.AP Psychology 59: This, like Earth 55, was a high school course. I had just finished listening to the Harry Potter series on CD when I was assigned this splash package. The new book I was listening to was Ender's Game. I guess because the book primarily takes place in outer space, and the audiobook featured a lot of 80's outer-spacey sounds, I was thinking about aliens...

in-class studies

Last year I took two digital painting classes from Dave McClellan. I learned more in those two classes than I did in all my previous classes combined... it was amazing. Anyway. My favorite assignment was an in-class one the second semester. We picked a buddy and were each given thirty minutes to do a head study of each other. For me, this was the first head painting I had ever done. I'm glad it was from life. I'm surprised at how much I learned in such a short amount of time. Here was the result: a painting of my then-acquaintance, now-roommate Simini.
Ever since those head studies I've wanted to use the computer to paint from life again. I got the chance last week in my Senior Studio 2 class. In class we paint from models. Usually we paint in oils, but I got brave and asked Professor Barrett if I could paint on my computer. He had had only one other student try painting on the computer in-class and he thought it sounded like an ok idea. This was the result:
For me, painting on the computer is much faster and easier than painting traditionally. It's so much easier to correct drawing errors, experiment and pick colors. I feel like when I'm painting traditionally I spend 60% of my time looking at my palette, trying to match the color I need and another 39% just applying it. In class, painting digitally meant I have more time to look at the model and see what's going on. I know learning to paint traditionally is wise and has a lot of value, but I feel like there are things to learn from painting digitally, too. Today was our last session with this model, and I didn't feel like working on the above piece anymore, so I decided to try my hand at another head study. I talked with Barrett after, and he made some excellent suggestions that I will employ once I find some more time and motivation... haha. It was fun though! And I hope he'll let me paint digitally for the next model, too.

circus, sin, president

I haven't posted in a while, so I thought I'd put up pieces from the semester so far. Unfortunately I haven't scanned the acrylic pieces from my class with Richard Hull yet... so it will be a little while before that actually happens. My first out of class assignment for Bob Barrett's class was digital, as I believe all my pieces for his class will be, so I figured I could at least put that up.
As is typical of me, I procrastinated, and therefore didn't put as much time into it as I would have liked. The texture layers (the hay and the wood of the barrel) will eventually be painted instead, and a couple of drawing errors will be fixed to improve readability. The printout I took to the critique was extremely saturated and kind of blown out in areas (that's what happens when you go cheap on the printing... hah). It actually looked pretty cool, though, and people only had good things to say about the color in the critique.