my first official blog as an illustrator!

Seeing as my graduation is quickly approaching, it was suggested to me that I build a "web presence" as an illustrator. I'm used to blogging about silly things which only hold relevance to myself - like what I did for the day, how big the booger I just picked was or how much I partied the previous weekend. Although I can't exactly promise a certain level of professionalism, I can promise to try and keep this strictly focused on my artwork and the artwork of others that interests me. Wow, I am really starting to sound like a pretentious douche writing about myself like this, lets just move on to the specs for the piece I want to post...

So for my Illustration Concepts class, my instructor Charlie Beyl has based this semester's projects on a fictitious (maybe not so fictitious? I haven't checked... nor do I feel like it so we're just going to go with it being a fake bookstore until proven otherwise) bookstore called Crossroads. This "bookstore" specializes in books, music, coffee, movies and more (or so their logo states). Our second project required us to create an illustration featuring two iconic/well known figures sitting at a table, enjoying coffee with each other and engaging in conversation. This was meant to give customers the idea of how diverse the store is. We got to choose from a list consisting of pairs such as: Brad Pitt and Edgar Allen Poe, Steven Spielberg and William Shakespeare, Kurt Cobain and Truman Capote. The idea was that these people had similar names in which alliteration could be played with in the ad. Naturally, I chose Lady Gaga who was paired with a man named Allen Ginsberg (my ad? "Where Gaga meets Ginsberg"). Having no idea who Allen Ginsberg is (or was - he died in 1997, bummer :[ ), I had to do my research. Wikipedia is looked down upon in schools because it's not reliable - people can add anything they want whether it be a true fact or not - but honestly, I've learned a lot from that website and it kind of bums me out how some people abuse it by uploading fake information (see Encyclopedia Dramatica). Anyway, I checked out his entry in wikipedia and he seemed extremely interesting so I wanted to capture his likeness as well as I could. Google image search is pretty much my best friend (Google in general, actually) and it helped me a lot in figuring out Allen Ginsberg and Lady Gaga's notable characteristics. After flipping through a few pages I found two images that I thought were both fitting and recognizable. The two images that inspired my sketch:



This project came with a rough sketch of what the "client" wanted - two figures sitting at a table in a coffee shop. I don't have a picture of the example but here is what I made from the client's instructions:


Ahh good old mac books and their built in isight... There were a few problems with my sketch - the client wanted the two more engaged; Lady Gaga wasn't looking at Allen at all. One suggestion was to tilt their heads towards each other and maybe find a way for the two to make eye contact (pretty hard with her huge old person sunglasses). There also needed to be some sort of coffee shop/book store background even though text was going to be placed at the top and bottom of the illustration. The solution? BOOKSHELVES! Two weeks later we come to the end result:


I created it in Corel painter using a Wacom tablet and am fairly happy with the finished product. The final isn't due until next week and there are STILL a few more adjustments that need to be made (welcome to the real world of illustration, Nicole!). I was told by one of my classmates that they would like to see more of her eyes. Charlie also suggested that there be some shadows/highlights to create depth. Next class we will be critiquing our pieces as a group and hopefully placing the bookstore's text and logo at the top and bottom of the page. I'll post the FINAL final finished product whenever I get it back.

I really don't know how to close these, I just wanted to show the process of my latest piece. I'll try to keep this updated as often as I can. I have a lot of work stuffed under my belt over the next few weeks so I can't guarantee they will be this long and (overly) detailed. Until then...