Illustration 2: Narrative Paintings

I absolutely love my Illustration 2 class that I am taking right now! I have to admit that I was terrified going into the class knowing that it was a class taught entirely in watercolor. I had never done a complete painting in watercolor alone- only made up mixed-media techniques with a little bit of watercolor here and there. I was even more intimidated when I found out that my professor for the course, Camille, is an outstanding watercolorist who has won national awards from the California Watercolor Association, among her other impressive achievements as a professional illustrator. I was afraid that I was going to be horribly inept with the new medium and be completely embarrassed as this watercolor master critiqued my sloppy work in front of the whole class.

I was relieved on the first day of class when the teacher was not at all intimidating, but exceptionally kind, generous, and (most importantly) patient! She teaches watercolor painting in a way that makes it simple and understandable, and my learning curve was much less treacherous than I had anticipated. I am actually beginning to fall in love with watercolor painting and plan on taking a more advanced level watercolor illustration class with Camille next fall!

For our first assignment, we had to complete two narrative illustrations that take place in the same setting at two different times of day. The objective was to not only create a nice composition and tell a story, but also to show proper watercolor painting techniques and variations in light temperature and color at different times of day. It worked out perfectly that we went to visit Greg's family in Ephrata right after this project was assigned, so I got some great reference photos on the farm.

For my first painting, I illustrated a young man working in the barn. Just a typical day of work in the hot summer sun.

For my second painting, I illustrated the same man in the same barn at night, going to check on things and wondering why the lights won't turn on. Little does he know that the barn is haunted...

I am really pleased with the way my first assignment turned out, and I got an excellent critique from my teacher. I just have to make a few adjustments to the hands and the shoes and then I will be ready to add it to my portfolio!

Lesson learned: Don't be scared of a new medium until you've tried your best to learn it from someone who knows how to teach it! You just might end up loving it!