St. Basil's Cathedral... and a Tip for Traveling Artists

For the final project for my Decorative Illustration class, I created a paper box. It is a little gift box that someone might get in a souvenir shop.

My design was inspired by a trip I took to Russia last year- I used photos I took at Red Square in Moscow for reference. For the bottom of the box, I made a collage from scanned images of tickets that I had saved from places I visited in Moscow and around the Kremlin and Red Square.

Here is the box design template:

And here is the printed box prototype:

 

Lesson Learned: When taking photos of your travels, don't leave out the details! I took a couple of standard tourist shots of the outside of St. Basil's Cathedral in Moscow, but I also took dozens of pictures of the details in the paintings and patterns inside. The tourist shots are great for my photo album, but those photos of the little details that caught my attention have served as a great source of inspiration for me when it comes to color and pattern design in my illustrations.

Mt. Rushmore Gets a Makeover... and Tips for Brainstorming

My last decorative illustration assignment was to create a set of holiday-themed paper product coordinates : a paper placemat and coordinating paper napkin design.

I chose to do a design for the Fourth of July:

Lesson Learned: When brainstorming for a design idea, make a list! 

For this project, I started by writing down things that I associate with the 4th of July: fireworks, flags, stars, summertime, barbecues, America... then expanded on a few things from that list- summertime: hot, sunny, sunglasses; America: freedom, democracy, presidents, national landmarks... and I eventually ended up with the idea of illustrating the presidents on Mt. Rushmore wearing sunglasses like they were taking part in the sunny backyard BBQ. I never would gotten to this idea if I hadn't written everything out to help guide my thought process.

Coffee on the Beach... and a Lesson on Saving Your Work

Last week, we learned how to create simple animations using Adobe Illustrator.

I had almost finished a really cool animation of a girl doing yoga on the beach holding a coffee mug, but then I saved it to my flash drive from a school computer, and when I got home the file was gone! So, around 8pm on Wednesday night, I had to start my animation over again (it was due the next morning). I ended up simplifying it a lot so that I could get it re-done in time, and this was the result:



(CLICK HERE to see a full-screen version of the animation.)

Not nearly as cool as the yoga girl would have been, but it works...

Lesson Learned: When you save a file that you have worked on for hours, check and double-check to be sure that you saved it in the right location! My yoga girl animation probably ended up being saved onto the school computer and got deleted that night when the lab techs came around to clear the files from the computers. So sad.

Fruit Ladies... and an Easy Tip for Perfect Symmetry

For my midterm assignment for Illustration 3, we were assigned to create 5 "icons" that fit together under a specific theme. These illustrations are called "icons" because they are meant to go together in a set, and each illustration is meant to fit inside of a 3x3 inch square.

For my theme, I decided to illustrate a set of fashionable ladies wearing cute clothes- and the clothes are all inspired by different types of fruit.

Here are my little fruit ladies (pear, strawberry, pineapple, watermelon, and banana):

Lesson Learned: If you want to make a symmetrical object in Adobe Illustrator, just draw ONE side of it really well, then copy, paste, and reflect it and voila! you have perfectly symmetrical object!

Monkeys with Maracas... and a Tip for Procrastinators

For my latest Decorative Illustration assignment, I had to create a general occasion greeting card. I decided to do a birthday card for kids.

Here are the designs for my little dancing birthday monkeys:

Lesson Learned: Digital illustrations are way faster than traditional for simple illustration styles like this. When I did my initial sketches and color comps for this assignment, I had not decided yet which medium I wanted to use for the final illustration. When it came time to do the final, I was running low on time, so I decided to do it using Adobe Illustrator. This made it so much faster because I could alter the colors and shapes quickly and easily as I went along, and it could be printed quickly without having wait for anything to dry or having to scan the artwork. 

My advice to all: For short deadlines, GO DIGITAL!

Satin Ribbons... and a Lesson on Printing

For my decorative illustration class, we were assigned to create an 8.5x11" stationery sheet with a matching envelope.

Here is the fun, girly design that I came up (inspired by my BFF Kelly's upcoming wedding):

Lesson Learned: Color laser printers do NOT do justice to projects like this (no matter how nice the paper you use is or many hours you spend trying to print it in different file formats from different programs). The quality of printer you use WILL determine the quality of your artwork with a project like this- if you want the colors to look rich and bright, you have to use the expensive inkjet printer or you will be disappointed with the result. 

Illustration 3: Monster Portrait

In my Illustration 3 class this semester, we are working with Adobe Illustrator. For our first assignment, we had to create a portrait from photo reference of a Hollywood monster of our choice. Of course, I found the cutest monster out there to use for my project- Grandpa Munster!

Here is the photo reference I found online:

And my final portrait done using the pen tool in Adobe Illustrator:

It took a lot of time, but I am really happy with the final result. I never thought that I would have the patience to do an illustration this detailed using Adobe Illustrator.

Lesson Learned: When working digitally, give yourself time to take breaks! 

I worked on this portrait for 8 hours straight one day, and that was a bad idea. The prolonged sitting took a serious toll on my back and shoulders, the constant mouse-clicking gave me cramps in my hand, and the intense focus on the computer screen resulted in infrequent blinking, which dried out my eyes. One of my contacts actually fell out of my eye without me even touching it because it got so dry! Even then, I was too focused to get up and just stuck the contact back in my eye without a mirror. Bad idea.

When working with traditional mediums, I have to take breaks to wash paintbrushes, sharpen pencils, get more supplies, or whatever else I need for the project I'm working on. But for digital work, there is no reason to leave the computer, so I just got sucked into this mode of serious concentration and I didn't get up from the computer at all the whole time. Now I know that I need to stop and get up and stretch every hour or so to give my body a break! 

Decorative Illustration: T-Shirt Design

My first assignment for my Decorative Illustration class was to do a t-shirt design. I decided to design a shirt for the Academy of Art University.

                 

For the final portfolio at the end of the semester, I will actually print the design onto a real shirt.

Lesson Learned: For designs that will be screen-printed, stick to a few colors in a graphic style that will be easy to reproduce without ruining the quality of the artwork.