I should just start calling this Kelly's Clothed Figure Blog

We had vampire day in Lisa's class. Fun times. Very ehhh...Resident Evil-esque? Hahaha. Some longer drawings (clockwise from top left: 20, 30, 20, 40) we were encouraged to work more with tonal shapes and designing frames and shapes to enhance storytelling. My vampires are a little too broody but I think some of the girls in the class didn't mind 'em :P



Oh also! We're starting our final composite project for digital. Gotta be something related to greek/roman mythology for the most part and we are supposed to use the reference we took at the Palace of Fine Arts yesterday when we went there on a field trip. Maybe it's a touristy place but it sure is pretty :) Here's a pic I took, can't wait to work on this project:

These posts used to have names!

Just another illustration/cf2 update. Sorry art comrades for my lack of commenting; life is very very busy right now...and...FARRK the spring show is coming! Bahhh!

Mucha Day in Lisa's CF2 class:



Editorial about canadian seal hunting:

More recent stuff yadda yadda

Here's my illustration 1 Myth/Story project. I took a scene from the Great Train Robbery. Hopefully I get a B or better on it so I never have to paint in gouache again. ...Sorry, Chantal - gouache and I are not gonna be BFFs.



Some more Clothed Fig 2 stuff. Love love this class. Mostly Conte, mostly 20's and 40's.



Pic of some comic boards for the Bold Riley story I'm illustrating for my friend Leia Weathington. I need to get my ass going on those pages.

Clothed Figure = Love

HOW MUCH do I love clothed figure 2? Thiiiiiiiiiiis much! I feel like Clothed Fig 1 did a great job preparing me, and now I'm moving on to more fine-tuning of my drawing techniques.
So, today we had this model I haven't drawn before, Robert or Bobby or something, he was great, and we played with a mobster kind of theme, and I had a lot of fun drawing him. I probably mentioned this before...but I think today was similar to the pirate day where it's easier for me to have fun (and therefore, draw better) when I really get into the character and storytelling. Also? LOOK AT THOSE HALF-LOCKS. YEAH BITCHES.



Okay, I really shouldn't be that excited about a fold. But do you ever just get that ridiculous rush when you finally "get" something, or when a particular technique "clicks"? Yeah. I dunno.

Also, we got our first largish Clothed Fig 2 assignment handed back today, which was to take clothed figure reference and turn it into some kind of character or creature. I took pictures of my buddy Mark (who must be tired of me soliciting him for help with my art school homework) and drew him up like a leperchaun type guy. Who makes shoes. Leperchauns make shoes. I read that somewhere.



Also, have managed to hit up a *few* workshops so far this semester. I'm really bummed that I can't make it to Bill Sanchez's clothed figure workshop on Fridays, but well, I work Fridays, and I need to eat. Sorry Bill, you'll miss out on my occasionally awesome halflocks for another semester. Tragic.
But here are some clothed and nude quickstudies pages. They need some work but I think I'm gradually able to add more detail in a shorter amount of time. Gettin' there.



I feel like I blabber a lot more on my blog than on any other ones I've seen. Hrm. Well, for me it's a breakdown of my learning process, not just a place for me to vomit out my latest work. So, deal with it. :P

HAPPY SPRING BREAK EVERYONE! I'm off to Sonoma County, I hope everyone has a restful break.

ETA: Insane spring schedule situation resolved. Talked to the folks about it and they said I could take classes part-time and finish anything else up in the summer after graduation. Huzzah!

Some Ink and Some Weirdness

Quick post - my two returned ink projects from Illustration 1. They turned out okay. Wish I could spend an entire class in pen and ink!



And if you haven't read about it in Petur's Blog, he and Ed and Emerson and me all had a round-table sketch game thing where we each drew for a couple minutes, passed our sketchbooks in one direction, and kept drawing. Sometimes it's nice to step back from the seeerious business illustration student lifestyle for a while and goof off.



Speaking of student business...Can anyone offer any words of wisdom on this? I just learned from my advisor that I might be graduating a year from now, that is, Spring 2010. Not only am I mortified and feel like I should be a lot better for someone who's about to be a senior, (I'm not fishing for encouragement, I just honestly feel terrified) but in order to graduate in spring I'd have to have some insane semesters. My Spring 2010 term would be like Illustration 3 plus Advanced Perspective plus Senior Portfolio plus some other illustration class by advisement. And that's even with me taking classes that summer after I cross the stage. Insanity!

I'd rather take fewer classes next spring and slow it down...
Thing is, my family and I are a bit tight on cash at the moment (who isn't?), and they'd really REALLY really like me to be done ASAP. What the heck do ya do? I know it's important to take your time with learning this stuff so I can maximize my chances of getting a job without burning myself out...but...such is life, right?

And yeah. I know it's kind of early to be worrying about all this...but I just got a total reality check with my appointment with my advisor and I'm freakin'. A lot.

Yarrrrrrh!

Pirate day in Clothed Figure 2! Rock on. I think finally at week 3 I'm shedding a little but of the rust I accumulated over break. Also switched from pitt charcoal sticks to conte crayon - I forget that the pitt charcoal really seems to just exacerbate my heavy-handedness problem and leaves my drawings rather dark and disjointed and clumsy. Seems to take a month for me to remember that every semester!

All twenty minute poses below. Love clothed figure! I learn so much in these classes. Probably because the thematic/illustrative/characterization element makes it a little more enjoyable than the standard figurative charcoal class for me. I like that stuff.



Oh, everyone? I'd like you to meet Engelbert. I created him during an inkwash exercise in Chantal's class. He's really excited about Illustration 1.



Off to Blick to spend my savings on Illustration 1 supplies. It's COLD!

Random Post is Random

Basically, just catching up and posting a few odds and ends before I get engulfed by the new term. First is my printmaking portfolio; it's kind of sad that this little quilt of prints represents SO SO MANY HOURS of toiling in the printmaking labs. Especially etching. Etching is my favorite printing method by far, but also possibly the most pain in the ass process in terms of time and mess and elbow grease. Anyway, I'm glad I took it. :)



I should throw this up too even though it's like quadruple-posted. It's my interior figure for Jason Bowen's class. It hadn't turned out particularly well at first but after a classmate of mine showed interest in it, I spent some more time on it, and I ended up selling it to her! My first painting I've ever sold. Hurrah! I think it has a nice narrative quality. Got to have a little steampunk/fantasy fun. And I got to march around in goggles and a dress for a few hours.



Here are the only character drawings I got done before spring term started :/ I did a pathetic amount of practicing and drawing over break. Ahhh well.
On the left is a drawing of Bold Riley, a character in a story written by my friend Leia Weathington - I'm illustrating a chapter in her anthology. In the middle is a werewolf from a 40 minute werewolf draw-off with Ed and Petur. He's like, mid transformation, or something. And then the last one is this angry monk dude with a scowl and a weird phallic sword. Yeah. Drawings. Word.



And last but not least, this is a comic I did for an exercise today for my first day of Comics 1 with Dan Cooney. I had fun with it, heheheh.



Hopefully the next post will be filled with more polished, finished-type things...