Selina

And now for something different...

 

I thought it would be a good time to try something different from my usual type of illustrations. For a first attempt at obtaining a water color effect, I think it was alright. However, I can see lots of flaws and I definitely need to practice a lot more. There are some areas where there are some nice highlights but most of it is quite flat. This was done using photoshop but I'd like to give it another go with real watercolors next time. Oh well, back to the drawing board I guess.

The Professor

The first of two cards that I will make to illustrate an article on the MacDiarmid Institute website that talks about the efforts of bringing together the scientific world with the business world in New Zealand. The New Zealand government is promoting the commercialization of science and has set in motion several programmes in order to achieve this.

Asleep

Another sketch made possible thanks to my ever patient and inspiring model, hahaha. The face needs to be tweaked a bit more so you can count on seeing an updated version of this sketch some time soon. Overall though, the colors, the lighting and the shadows turned out to be quite acceptable. Having a great time making these sketches!

Unexpected: Updated

 

After a few changes to the previous version I think I have found a result that keeps me happy, for now. In the previous version, the lower part of the body got lost due to such dark colors. With the change of color to a burgundy tone, the body actually stands out more and you have a lighter feel to the illustration. It doesn't feel so cramped in a sense.

Regarding the background, I'm still not quite sure which option is the best. I can't decide which one to pick. I might need to come back to this in a few days to get a fresher perspective. These are the other ones I had in mind anyway.

Sleep

Lately I've been having the help of a fantastic model who not only is extremely patient but also pushes me to do these sketches more regularly. I've been spending so much time designing with the computer on a specific project that sometimes it's really refreshing to sketch something just for the fun of it. It doesn't really matter how rough the result is, it's just practice and a way to get back to basics.

Syudent Symposium 2011

W.I.P. Here's the illustration I've been working on these past few weeks, it will be used to identify the Student Symposium that the MacDiarmid Institute organizes each year. On this occasion, the theme of the Symposium focuses on the options that Alumni encounter after focusing on their studies.

The characters depicted here are the same that have been used for the previous Symposiums although there has been an evolution. You can notice that the characters seem more mature, the style of drawing although far from being realistic, is less caricature than previous versions. Elements from the previous years have been used and incorporated in order to have a sense of continuity.

There are a lot of details that still have to worked on before I can consider this illustration as completed, however, I'm really stoked with the result so far. It's quite fun to see how everything begins to fall into place, especially when you only have a rough idea of what you want to accomplish.

Previous Student Symposium illustrations:

The Cutting Edge

$cience

Allegro

Slight modification to a previous entry entitled Reflectere. Even though I was really pleased with the results obtained then, the feeling it portrayed was that of emptiness. This second version has a totally different feeling, needless to say, a feeling of warmth, presence and happiness can be perceived. Not only is this shown through the facial expression but can also be seen through the warmer color pallet that has been used. Also, this looks more like the true nature of the one who has inspired me.

Here's the previous image:

Hot chocolate

 

Productive day today! Learned a few tricks in photoshop today and this is the result. This image was created from scratch. Really happy with the results although there are a few things that need some tweaking in order to get it just right.