More Head Studies

Here is my Life Painting final (from a photograph by Steve McCurry) and a study of Eddie, our Mongolian model.

More Disembodied Heads

It's not much, but, with the logic that I should have something to show for myself while taking Life Painting, I'm posting this portrait of my mom and in-class head study.

Illustration Friday: Missing

This is my brain, by the way. I hope to find it some day, along with all of the car keys, contacts, socks, and quarters I've ever lost. The experiment this week was painting on stretched paper. . .it was kind of fun.

Illustration Friday: Moon

Media experiment in charcoal, acyrlic, and prismacolor on cardboard.

Some blogger I am. My excuse is I went on an awesome trip to New York City. Here are my impressions of Central Park and subway rats, respectively.

Yet another historic moment

Hey, I just got my website up and running, so check it out! www.beccascholes.com. It may not the ultimate in web design, but I did it almost by myself (thank you Scott Franson and Joe). Kindly disregard any traces of the blood, sweat, and tears that went into it, and as always, enjoy the artwork!

Illustration Friday: Fortune

Today's forecast is rainy, with an 80% chance of severe blessings. So don't look so gloomy!
My process was drawing by hand and then coloring in Photoshop.
Many thanks to the ubiquitous monster for modelling.

Illustration Friday: Green

I'm still trying to make friends with guoache (even though I can't even spell it). Otherwise, this was fun. It almost turned out as a portrait of my own parents (who are not strawberries). They raised their share of teenagers, and from what I understand, it wasn't always peaches and cream.

Legend of Sleepy Hollow illustration

The assignment was to illustrate a scene from the story, "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow." I chose to set the scene for later events by showing Ichabod's superstitions and love of ghost tales, and also showing the dreamy, bewitching atmosphere of the landscape that the author describes so well. We got to choose to do it entirely digitally, or partially with traditional methods. I've missed painting this last while, so I was happy to dig up my acrylics and go to town, then finish up on the computer. Hopefully the process was successful. Painting on the computer was definitely helpful in restoring the darks that were lost in the thin acrylic painting, and in cleaning up my clumsy edges. I really tried to focus on keeping my colors alive (something I don't usually do very well). Perhaps they are a little out of control, but at least they're not dead!

This painting has magnified for me a feeling I've had lately of really reaching and stretching for something in painting. . . I always have the feeling the images could be so much cooler, if only I had the vision, the technical skills. . .and didn't make so many mistakes. But I'm learning. (And yes, I had fun with this one).

Process Ichabod

Here we have a not-so-fabulous photograph of the acrylic painting at the point I decided to go digital. It's pretty rough, still. I also did a quick color study on the computer before starting to paint, but I won't offend your aesthetic sensibilities by including that here.

This is the drawing transferred onto illustration board with graphite paper. Now I get to bust out the acrylics, laying down a light wash to start things off.

This is the final drawing, where I tried to work out all the design problems.

And here is one of the rough idea sketches-how the whole thing got started.

head drawing

Wacom drawing of Casey.

Illustration Friday: Wired

Oh, the marvels of modern orthodontistry. As for the rest of young Stanley's face, he'll be undergoing extensive experimental surgery in June. Contributions are welcome at www.savetheface/fakewebsite.org.

I'm kind of bummed Blogger wouldn't upload my image on Wednesday because I wanted to post for Illustration Friday. Oh well.

Master Copy

The assignment was to take a non-digital piece and copy it digitally. This is a copy of a piece by Mary Grandpre. I was attracted by the fun concept, and I admire her style and execution. Though I have not done it justice by any means, it was a good experience. My tummy now informs me that I have earned approximately half a gallon of ice cream (though I'm inclined to think its calculations are a little less than scientific).

Illustration Friday: Hide

Those rambunctious, ungrateful dryer socks.
The technique was using a packaging tape texture with layer masks, and scratching through to layers underneath.

Packaging Tape

This was a quick in-class exploration of this technique. The roughness is kind of a novel thing for me.

Illustration Friday: Communication

This technique is CMYK channel painting. It was a little tricky and takes some patience, but it was also fun. The colors went blah when I saved for the web, however.

Advice from Becca: let your heart play on your sleeve sometimes, but only if you have a muzzle handy. (Now that would be an interesting illustration. . .)

Illustration Friday: Gravity

Inspiration can be painful sometimes, as Sir Newton is about to find out the hard way. Who first came up with the falling piano gag, anyway? Pure genius. But maybe I should have gone for historical accuracy and made it a harpsicord, what do you think?

Anyway, I enjoy this technique. I forgot to put the apples in at first and had to go back and try to patch it up, and I'm not terribly pleased with the solution, but oh well.

Lino-cut experiment

Illustration Friday: Crash

Sorry to post so late. This was fun, yet definitely needs work.

More texture

So this is an attempt at Dan Burr's top-secret 'oil' technique. I think I need a few more years to get the hang of it. Meanwhile. . you'll just have to live with it.

Texture Practice

Just a doodle, but this was fun. Hurray for textures!

Illustration Friday: Sprout

I got a little carried away with the drawing and kind of skimped on the painting time, which is disappointing. But I'm finally getting excited about painting in Photoshop.

Not much to look at, but I had to post something for our sketch-coloring practice. I kind of like the drawing, though.

Illustration Friday: Red

In high school we had to take those color-coded personality tests. (Turns out I was a pale bluish-green). Anyway, on the whole thing there was only question that I answered 'red' (representing assertive characteristics). Ever after, on the rare occasions when he managed to get me riled about something, my brother would tease me about my 'one little red' making an appearance. This one's for you, Paul.

This definitely has a few bugs, but I really love this technique.

Afro experiment

As usual, the colors are totally wacked (as in different than they were on the screen when I was working on it). Oh well. This is a really fun technique, starting in Illustrator and moving to Photoshop. I'd like to get more creative with it next time. Thanks for the help, Mr. Franson: I couldn't have done it without you. Literally.

Super Sloth

Like most things, this was a lot funnier in my head. Still, wouldn't a sloth make a great super hero? He could hang out in front of banks and other potential crime scenes and fight crime without leaving home. And they're so charismatic. Just look at their little grins. Anyway, I wanted to add another element like a cop car coming around the corner or at least a fire hydrant, but I ran out of time.

Planets

This is an experiment with vector art in Illustrator. Yikes! Still, the possibilities are exciting. . .

Illustration Friday 80s

These colors are hideous, but that's what I remember about the 80s.

More Sketches

Just doodling. It has occurred to me that I'm a fan of 'untraditional beauty' i.e. angels with large noses and overbites.

Cubes

This may not be the most brilliant composition ever, but I'm happy that I know how to do this kind of thing in Illustrator now. (We did this in digital illustration class today).

Historic Moment

This is my first blog--ever! Sadly, I am severely technologically-challenged (but determined to fight it). This is a drawing I did of myself late last night. I was feeling inspired to draw after looking at a book of my roommate's called Flight, a collection of short stories in the graphic novel style. It's pretty much awesome.