Illustration - Last Project

Above is my last/final Illustration project. For this sign/label we moved to Adobe Illustrator, so this is a file not a drawing done with pen and paint. Below is the sketch I did for this assignment. I scanned this sketch then placed it on a layer in Illustrator, adding more layers and using the pen tool I traced the butterfly and added color. The text was added using the text tool in Illustrator and you can see I ended up leaving out a lot of text. Also the torn corner of a wing didn't work all that well so I ended up detaching one of the wing segments. The assignment was to create a new label for fragile items, but we couldn't use the traditional wine glass it had to be something different.  I know that some students were using eggs, but we didn't do a class critique so I didn't see anyone elses work. Our other restriction was that it could only be one color with black, so it is a 2 color job for a printer.

I have also finished my Dreamweaver class, and now need to find a Hosting service and get it uploaded. I will let everyone know when it is on-line, but probably not until after Christmas at this point.

One class left, that is if I can dig the car out from our blizzard, not sure how much snow we have out there it is still snowing so I haven't been out to look, but it is cold and windy and I think there is more snow then I would prefer. The good news is that I should be able to dig out by Tuesday for class, I have basically finished my shopping, my flight to Chicago is on Wed and there is no more snow in the forecast between now and then. Also no snow in the Chicago forecast so the flight should go OK. I think I have the Graphic Design Final project finished - well the computer part, I still need to print it and assemble the booklet. Not sure how I am going to do that, I prefer to spray the glue outside, but it is snowing and cold so I have to think of another way to do this, maybe wait until tomorrow.

Hope everyone's holiday preparations are going well at this point. That's it for this post. Comments per usual are welcome - except from spammers, had one of those yesterday and deleted it as soon as I realized it was there. Though why they would pick my blog I have no clue, I am not exactly a highly trafficked site, not even sure how they stumbled across it.

Final 3-D Projects

My 3-D Design classes are done, over, fini.  I have mixed feelings about this, the class was more fun then I expected, but it was also a lot of work with, lets face it, strange materials.

Our last material was essentially plaster, very messy stuff to work with no question. Above are my last two forms for this class. The top one is my rectilinear form that you saw the in process photos for. This photo shows the blocks cleaned up and assembled on a piece of wood using pins and some glue to stabilize the structure. I won't bore you with pictures of a 360 view. I think this one image gives you a fair idea of what it looks like.  I find it interesting that I was the only class member (out of those who have finished assembling their form) that used a gap between elements. Not sure what this says about me or them, so this is just a comment.

The next photo is my curvilinear form. I don't know if this is the best angle to view this form from but I sort of liked the picture so this is what you get. The plaster for this structure was different from the rectilinear from, harder and to be honest I think it was easier to work with as far as clean up went. At least it was easier to sand. On review of the finished piece I am not sure that the masses of the disk and rod shapes are different enough for the assignment. We were supposed to have a dominate mass, then a secondary mass, then a 3rd mass smaller then either of the other two. The small sphere is OK, but I think my disk should have been thicker, though it was made from the volume of clay that I used for the large rectangular block. Well the whole disk was before I took out the triangular section to set the rod into. The rod was made from the clay unit that I used for the upright rectangular form from, but I did take a lot of material off of that shape when I was cleaning it up. So I don't know if the curvilinear form meets the requirements or not, this translates into not knowing what my final grade on that project will be.

Will just have to wait and see. Oh, I am not worried about passing the course, I attended all the classes, turned in all the homework on time, did pretty well on the tests and for the most part I think I got good marks on my projects, so the question is, do I get an A or a B?

As a total aside does anyone want an aluminum imaginary protozoa? I have one that I will willingly give away if anyone wants it. It doesn't really fit the decor in my Apt, and I have no desire to hang onto it.

That's it for this post. I have two final projects that I can post, my Graphic Design final and my Illustration final. The Illustration final drawing is done I just need to print it for the Instructor. Graphic Design I am still working on. Per usual comments are welcome.

Air Brush Balloon

I finished my final air brush project, image above. This assignment was to use a hot air balloon or a blimp as our image. We had to search out reference pictures then do some small sketches. The instructor selected the sketch he liked the best to work up as final drawing that we could transfer down to Illustration board.

My final drawing is below:

Once it was transferred we were given a piece of frisket that we applied to the board and cut the masking shapes. I had done a color overlay using tracing paper so I had it for reference colors when I was doing the painting. A good thing because as you get closer to the finished air brush painting the less you can tell what has been done because of all the over spraying from the other colors on the frisket. When all the painting is done you take the frisket off and do a reveal of what the painting looks like. I should have taken a picture of the painting at that stage for you to see. Lots of little white areas where the masking overlays didn't get put back down correctly. Those are covered up and details are added by using colored pencils. In the above image the ribs for the middle green section are all done with colored pencil, white for the highlights and dark green or blue for the shadows and rib lines. Details were added for the ground in pencil, and the figure in the basket was mostly done with colored pencil. I am rather pleased with the final result.  I don't particularly like the process, it takes way too long to do as I have said before, you have 5 to 10 minutes of prep time and maybe actually use the air brush for painting for less then a minute. But I have to admit that the final results can be impressive and hard to duplicate using other media. 

What else am I working on, well I am sanding my plaster pieces so that Tuesday I can construct my final sculptures. I think they gave me a different type of plaster when I purchased it at the Clay shop because it mixed differently took much longer to set and seems harder then what I used for the first forms. I have about 6 pounds left, anyone need any plaster forms made?  I also created a slide show of images for my web site. I did it in Flash the hard way, but now I know how it is done and wouldn't mind cheating (buying a program that would do it for me) if I ever had to do it for another site. I am also working on my Graphic Design final project. We have finally moved to the computer for our next class. I have everything in a In-Design file and will let it sit for a day or two then go back in and play with arrangements. At least I have all my photo's and quotes which is more then a lot of my fellow classmates have done.

I hope to do some sewing today on my challenge piece and maybe a bag or two. Hope everyone else is doing well. Per usual comments are welcome.

Some Sewing

After weeks and weeks with no sewing at all, I finally manged to do some fabric cutting and sewing over the weekend. My poor sewing machine was feeling neglected I am sure. I have a Janome 6500 machine and it is really a nice machine that I should use more often. However while I am working on one of the Fast Friday challenges I don't have pictures of that just yet, what I did manage to actually finish is a "grocery bag." Instructions can be found here at craftster.org. Course I have to do things differently, esp as I don't have yardages of fabrics so I had to piece my fabrics. I am using batiks on the outside and some standard fabrics on the inside.  What do you think?

I have several more fabrics picked out and at least another 3 pretty much cut out and even started sewing them together. They are supposed to be Christmas gifts but... 

No School pictures to show today. I have finished the air brush work on my most recent Illustration homework, but I need to add color pencil accents and haven't done that yet. In 3-D design I spent yesterday sanding the rectilinear blocks we molded last week. They still need to be mounting on a base, but will do that next Tuesday. Today I am building molds for my curved shapes. One for a sphere I made Monday night by putting paper mache over a Styrofoam ball, I need a small sphere, like 1.5 inches in Dia. To make the paper mache I used Elmer's white school glue, added a bit of water then tore up some of my newsprint paper. Put on several layers and let dry over night on the radiator. I had coated the Styrofoam with wax and then vegetable oil so when I cut it apart on Tuesday the Styrofoam ball just fell out and didn't stick to the mold. YEAH. So after I post this I need to go mix my plaster and pour it into my molds. I need them to start drying so I can start sanding Monday or maybe Sunday if I am lucky. I won't bore you with pictures of molds this week. Graphic Design final project is at the boring (for the viewer) stage, we are picking pictures, and trying to decide on layouts for the pictures and text. Not exciting to watch but no so easy to actually do.

Hope everyone else is managing their Christmas shopping. I have managed just a bit and am not sure how I will get it done this year. Till next time, per usual comments are always welcome. 

CD Case & some Plaster forms

Only one project got finished this past week, my Graphic Design CD case. At left is the cover of my design. I was redesigning the case for a Loreena McKennitt CD called the Mask and Mirror. I love Loreena's music so it seemed like a good choice, and this title with its links to medieval Spain seemed to me to office some scope with images I could use. Course the mask I chose is from Venice not Spain, but I do think it is from about the right time period. The round object is a medieval Celtic mirror. I did change the the inside "reflection" to show pilgrims on their way to Santiago. Again I have taken some liberties, these are English pilgrims and are probably on the way to Canterbury. Still the pilgrimage to Santiago was done by all nationalities so I wasn't stretching it too much.  The music on the CD reflects the medieval period, Spain, pilgrimages etc as indicated by the title.

Next two photos are of the case opened up, sorry the 2nd photo isn't very good, but I have turned in the case so don't know when I will be able to get a better image.

 

It was a pia to put this together and I have to say that I really hate spray glue, such a mess to use, course I probably don't have the best set up at home to use it so that may be part of my problem. The case was made out of tag board and it took me about 3 hours to cut, glue and fold all the sides. All design work for this project was done in Photoshop. I printed the cover images on my home printer and then glued them down onto the tag board. Other than some issues with the actual construction of the case I am fairly pleased with how the design work came out.

Our focus has now moved onto our final project, a booklet design with five two page spreads, two pictures for each spread, one phrase from a supplied list and a quote from our final project paper.

Can I cancel Christmas? I am so not into Christmas shopping right now, and my last class of the term is the 18th a week before Christmas.

Oh yes I have one more image for you, Tuesday in 3-D design I poured my plaster for my rectilinear  design project.  Here is a photo of the plaster in the molds, right now I have the bottom cardboard off so they can dry out,  I will remove the side cardboard later today.  I was pleased that my molds didn't leak at all.

It took just over 5 pounds of plaster to fill these molds, the forms still have to be sanded before I can assemble the final design. My weekend assignment is to create a clay space sketch, drawings and measurements for our final curvilinear project.

That is it for this week. Hope everyone else is making progress with their Holiday shopping tasks. Per usual comments are always welcome.