Survival

The Illustration Friday prompt was “survival” this week and I had a lot of down time at work so… It’s still missing a big “something” but I can’t figure out what. Boy do I miss having teachers o critique my work…

Frog Prince

I joined a little illustration group on Facebook full of friends of mine who want to amp up their illustration skills. We have a theme every month-ish and try to make an illustration based on it. This time the theme was "Frog Prince- With a Twist!" and here's my final image.

I wanted to do something silly and my friend Alexandria (http://www.ajcondon3d.com/) helped me brainstorm this one during a power-brainstorm session.

My favorite part is this:

That frog is a metaphor for my bills right now.

Mowgli's Brothers

Here are three illustrations I produced last term based on the story "Mowgli's Brothers" from "The Jungle Book" by Rudyard Kipling. I chose three key moments in the story to illustrate and, with heavy guidance from my instructor David Hohn and friend Nick Silva, came up with an entirely new style to illustrate them in.

"How little! How naked, and--how bold!" said Mother Wolf softly. The baby was pushing his way between the cubs to get close to the warm hide. "Ahai! He is taking his meal with the others. And so this is a man's cub. Now, was there ever a wolf that could boast of a man's cub among her children?

"But why--but why should any wish to kill me?" said Mowgli

"Look at me," said Bagheera. And Mowgli looked at him steadily between the eyes. The big panther turned his head away in half a minute. "That is why," he said, shifting his paw on the leaves. "The others they hate thee because their eyes cannot meet thine; because thou art wise; because thou hast pulled out thorns from their feet--because thou art a man."

Mowgli stood upright--the fire pot in his hands.  Then he stretched out his arms, and yawned in the face of the Council; but he was furious with rage and sorrow, for, wolflike, the wolves had never told him how they hated him. 

 "Listen you!" he cried. "There is no need for this dog's jabber. Ye have told me so often tonight that I am a man (and indeed I would have been a wolf with you to my life's end) that I feel your words are true. So I do not call ye my brothers any more, but sag [dogs], as a man should. What ye will do, and what ye will not do, is not yours to say. That matter is with me; and that we may see the matter more plainly, I, the man, have brought here a little of the Red Flower which ye, dogs, fear."

This assignment was so incredibly fun and also very hard! It proved to me that I really need to work more of my metaphorical visual storytelling and push outside my cozy little comfort zone a lot more.

Mowgli's Brothers, Revised Tones

Here are two tonal studies for my illustrations for Mowgli's Brothers, revised from the first batch. I am still working on the middle image; I had to go back to the concepting stage with it. I still have some more changes to make, and I really want to play around with media and textures on this so I am looking forward to taking these and messing with them!

I have some more edits to make (The placement on the wolf's leg, Mowgli's whole body is wacky, etc).

Mowgli's Brothers: Rough Tones Round 1

Hey guys, I'm working on a 3-image storytelling illustration sequence with one of my instructors (as well as an awesome peer) to guide me. The story is "Mowgli's Brothers" from The Jungle Book. I'v chosen three key moments in the story, and am working on building the best representation of those moments in 3 images.

SO far the advice is as follows:

Image 1: LOVE the style, break up the shapes a teensy bit more (paws? fur?)

 Image 2: Back to the drawing board. The concept isn't bad but I was trying to bite off too much. Revisit thumbnailing, try to reinterpret.

Image 3: Dutch the camera the other way, put Mowgli into perspective, give his body a bit of twist/force. Flatted the shapes more- bring it into the same style as Image 1. Make the wall behind Mowgli Black, and invert his shadow.

Back to work!! =)

Ratty Love

We babysat a couple of snuggly rats for a pal the other week and feel promptly in love. Rats are such wonderful pets! They're clean and affectionate, they learn quickly, they are endlessly entertaining, they are easy to care for and I just love 'em!

Anyways, here's a sketch inspired by my rat love. Not modeled on anyone in particular.