Since the themes for Weeks 17 and 18 were dealt with in last month's blog-posts, here is what I did for Weeks 16, 19, 20 and 21. Week 16's theme was Experiment, and I had fun with it and with the ink washes I don't usually apply. Week 19's theme was Music. For Week 20 the theme was Saturday, and most Saturday mornings will find me swinging one of these (thurible filled with incense). The theme for Week 21 was Red, so I went a bit sci-fi with it. If you ever don't feel like waiting for the next blog-post, I've been posting each week's illustration on Twitter as soon as it is done. Find me @VJCavanagh
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The theme for week 18 of the 52 Week Illustration Challenge #illo52weeks was storm clouds. It has been a while since I only used watercolour to produce an image: But it did inspire me to draw this mother bird and baby bird, since it was getting so close to Mother's Day: Those at home thought that I should develop this idea further, - and of course -make the birds bigger: And this was the result, which I called, 'Being with Mum is good'.
went on to use this image for this year's Mother's Day cards for family. The theme for week 17 of the 52 Week Illustration Challenge #illo52weeks was Long Haired Animal. It took a while before I came up with an idea, and I went with something from the imagination based on the prehistoric. I mixed things up a little and did the watercolour first and the ink second. Then I decided to find out what would happen if I tried to make this creature 3D. With the help of Cinema4D software, this is how the skin-only version turned out: And then I added in some hair, some lighting and shadow, and shifted the angle of view: I'd like to turn more of my 2D drawings into 3D, but I often lack the time required to do it to the point where I'd be satisfied with the outcome.
Some of each week's themes are easier than others. Week 13 was Cinema. For this one I used pen ink, and it shows up much better in scans than an ink pen does. I was very pleased with how this one turned out. Week 14 was Surprise, and I obviously had some fun with this one. Week 15 was Thread, and this one took longer for an idea to emerge. I'm currently working on Week 16's theme of Experiment, and it has a lot of laboratory detail in it.
Somehow I missed getting a blog-post up during March. It just means there will be more for April. Week 9's theme was Baking. For this one I thought a multi-function baking robot would be fun. Week 10's theme was Weekend. This was my view of what a parent normally sees when walking past a teenager's room on the weekend - especially before noon. Week 11's theme was Perspective. I had fun with this one, making it work differently from each angle it could be viewed at. Week 12's theme was Happy Place. Since it had been a long time since I drew anything based on Book 2, it was a happy place for me to draw Clyde dealing with a pesky leprechaun, as he tried to find some peace and quiet against a tree. Weeks 13, 14 and 15 are already done, and up on @VJCavanagh via Twitter. They will get blogged soon.
This challenge for illustrators has been going for a few years, but this is the first time I am giving it a go. At the beginning of the year a list is posted online containing a list of weekly themes. http://illo52weeks.blogspot.com.au/search/label/2017%20themes Illustrators can then post their efforts for each weekly theme on social media with the #illo52weeks hashtag. Mine are getting posted to Twitter @VJCavanagh . So far I'm using different paper for this challenge, both in manufacturer and in size (170mm x 235mm), and I've been using nib ink too. Week 1's theme was Whimsy. Here is the ink only version: And the coloured one Week 2's theme was Feathered Animals. And here's the difference colour makes... Week 3's theme was Australiana (in time for Australia Day on 26 January) And let's add some colour... So far the challenge has been fun. It is a pleasant change to have such an open ended brief to work with. Should I remember, I'll go for medium compression rather than full compression from here on in with this size paper because the full compression isn't giving a good online image.
Week 4 is an Ode to a favourite children's book....however I haven't yet decided what my favourite children's book is yet. Here it is.....the final sixth set of artworks for assessment to the London Art College's correspondence course D6 Illustrating Children's Books. Hooray! Of the set, the second part is a bigger project, which this time had to be done as a double page spread on an A3 page with both a bleed 5mm and a slug area 50mm, which ends up with a single page measuring 180mm tall and 150mm wide. The brief went something like this: Illustrate a double page spread from a story book aimed at 3 to 5 year olds called 'Moving House'. This will be the last page where your chosen character (human or animal) at last finds just the right home. The story is about this character's difficulties in finding a good place to move into. The text, 'At last, just the right home, now he no longer has to roam' will run along the bottom of the page. Unsurprisingly, due to a furry creature who recently decided that our home was just the right place, and our efforts to dissuade said creature, the character was a possum. Here are my initial ideas, which had to be scrapped once I re-read the brief and couldn't use a diagonal for the text. I got as far as inking the next idea, before eventually agreeing that it wasn't really working. (The next few images are from photographs.) Yet another idea got scapped. Sorry, this one only got as far as pencil stage, so it is more difficult to see. There are blueprints and a backpack on the left of the tree, and on the other side of that tree is the possum with a pencil behind his ear sizing up the dimensions of the tree and giving it a mental tick. Then we have a contented sleeping possum in that tree hollow. Why did it get scapped? It was working better, but still hadn't nailed it - and it was pointed out that when a double page spead is requested, a diptych is unlikely to satisfy the brief especially when it is for the final double page spread. Back to the drawing board.... Was all this anguish worth it? I think so. Now we have the possum showing the joy and excitement that was missing from previous drafts, and the new home has passed several more tests. Now to start adding the colour, and begin bringing it to life... Finishing the watercolour on the possums came next. And then the tree, the fruit, the backpack and the all important red ticks. When the watercolour work was finished, an A3 scan was required and that wasn't easy during the Christmas/NewYear period where commercial scanners were offline. For such delicate colours, a commercial quality scan was essential. Then some Photoshop clean up was required, a little colour management, and hightlighting the bleed and crop marks, because when you have to further adjust to 1500 pixels wide to submit the project they tend to become close to invisible. Now to add in the given text, and remove the slug, to show what the final art would look like. With this artwork, the course work for the Diploma in Illustrating Children's Books with the London Art College is complete. The coursework was mailed from London on 12 Jan 2016 and arrived a week or so later, so I am very pleased to have completed it within the 12 month window.
What now? That's a very good question. I'm sending out resumes, and illustration portfolios, hoping for paid employment or an illustration agent - or both. I will also be looking into further studies (perhaps something different like barrista training maybe) and want to give the 52 Week Illustration Challenge a go this year. The best way to find out what happens next is to sign up for my email newsletter, it has been going for 4 years and the 33rd issue is due mid January 2017. |
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