Workshop 214

IF: Balloon

2008-12-20T13:13:00.000-08:00

Okay, so, really basica concepts, if you hadn't noticed. This guy doesn't even have a body.

IF: Opinion

2008-12-20T13:08:00.001-08:00

IF: Sugary

2008-12-20T12:02:00.001-08:00

IF: Packed

2008-12-20T11:11:00.001-08:00

He's packing his pipe.

IF: Rambunctious

2008-12-20T10:47:00.000-08:00

Okay, all my IFs are late as hell, and it might be too late to save my grade, but I'm gonna go ahead and try anyway.

IF: Remaining topics

2008-12-19T18:13:00.001-08:00

Sketches of the remaining Illustration Friday topics.
Packed/Strings/Vacant/Wise/Pretend/Opinion/Similar/Rambunctious

Snow Queen Final Characters

2008-12-17T02:39:00.001-08:00

semi-educational poster on cryptozoology

2008-12-16T14:06:00.000-08:00

Baltimore

2008-12-15T23:15:00.001-08:00

This is my belated Baltimroe piece, quick bad photo, but I'm not sure how I feel about it. It's watercolors, and that's not really my forte. I wanted a feeling of the old and new, and a feeling of hope. Maybe the colors too everywhere? But the composition is true to my initial sketch for the most part.

Illustration Friday Feasttacular!

2008-12-15T21:48:00.000-08:00

Here are some fancy IFs for your viewing pleasure.

Yeah good times!

3 NEW YORK TIME BOOK REVIEWS

2008-12-14T18:23:00.000-08:00

FACTORY GIRLS

FROM VILLAGE TO CITY IN A CHANGING CHINA

THE SUPERORGANISM

THE BEAUTY, ELEGANCE, AND STRANGENESS OF INSECT SOCIETIES

HOT, FLAT, AND CROWDED

WHY WE NEED A GREEN REVOLUTION- AND HOW IT CAN RENEW AMERICA

COMIC!

2008-12-12T16:02:00.000-08:00

Final

2008-12-10T02:16:00.001-08:00

Preliminary comps for EA Games "Snow Queen" proposal. Its based off Hans Christian Anderson's fairy tale "The Snow Queen" with a dark twist. I drastically altered the plot to fit my aesthetic and developed three environments/characters that correspond to the script I drafted. The original story line can be read here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Snow_Queen

IF's

2008-12-08T07:41:00.000-08:00

IF: Opinion

IF: Balloon

I know it looks retarded so far, but...

2008-12-07T20:12:00.000-08:00

Rough-rough-rough-ROUGH sketch of a spot for the New York Times Book Review of Stephen King's "Just After Sunset." I'm only posting this, at this level of shitty sketchyness, because I'm kinda stuck on the composition and am wary of going too much further.

My concept is supposed to communicate how "Just After Sunset" is a collection of short stories, rather than a novel, where each story seems like it could go off on its own and become a seperate book. So here, I have King with an axe after just chopping apart his book, and the bits and pieces of the pages are spawning into a bunch of smaller books instead of just laying dead. I feel like the whole cut-something-apart-and-it-only-multiplies-and-makes-things-worse idea is a common gag in horror (or maybe it was just on a Twilight Zone episode and I'm totally wrong) so I thought it'd be a fitting vehicle for King and how the NY Times believes his new book reads.

To clarify the concept on the finished piece, I plan on making his face more of a "Eureka!" instead of a "Haha, fuck you book!" and have rays coming up from the book, so it appears like it was a good idea, and not that King has resorted to self destruction or something.

In the background, will be your typical full moon and hazy clouds, very receeded.

And as for colors, I want to try psychadelic neons and black again, as if its a blacklight poster, without going nuts and screwing it up like last time. If its planned correctly, I think it'll make the image pop alot more and tie in with King's whole camp horror image.

But right now, the composition just doesn't seem to be all that it could. I have another of King's full body standing over the book, but that distances, and therefore, de-emphasizes his face, which is the selling point. Other crazier angles seem too impossible to pull off because nailing a recognizable caricature is difficult enough from a frontal view, let alone from some nutty bird's/worm's eye view. So I'm stuck between making it more dynamic, but without losing the recognizability of Stephen King.

Also, does that even LOOK like Stephen King? That's the best likeness I've gotten so far, and I'm probably going to model the re-drawn face after this one, but I can keep trying new ones if it doesn't read.

iF: balloon

2008-12-06T21:00:00.000-08:00

1st

2008-12-03T17:19:00.000-08:00

IF: Balloon

2008-11-29T17:14:00.001-08:00

The Illustration topic for this week: Balloon.
If Penguins could fly I hope it's like this.

One scarlet letter concept sketch

2008-11-24T12:25:00.000-08:00

Okay, so I'm doing a series of covers for Penguin American Classics. This is a concept sketch for a cover for the The Scarlet Letter. The type is very rough and misaligned, and the first "T" is an experiment for capitals, but that's the basic gist of the it, style-wise. I was trying to subtly show the secret relationship between Hester Prynne and the young minister, I forget his name. I feel like focusing on the actual scarlet letter "A" is kind of overdone. Instead I would incorporate the scarlet in the color scheme. This is only the first sketch I've done so let me know if the concept itself is lame, or if not, what could be improved with this one. I'll do more though. Also, no color yet, in case you didn't notice.

Baltimore

2008-11-21T11:43:00.000-08:00

My intentions are to do a mural-ish horizontal. narrative like, sunset scene. With a church, old, and new building, and a vacant lot with kids playing in it and a painted mural to represent hope and an old man sitting in a chair, and construction guys working. I am a tad lost, but I will get back to it. I slightly changed directions, and got another idea, more poster-like. But I want to pursue idea 1 [nothing posted for that yet]

-Also, my apologies, for not being in class. I honestly overslept, woke up on my own at like 10:30ish and got to school at 12 and class apparently ended early. But I just wanted to post something up to show where I'm at. And the image was badly scanned and cropped.

IF: pretend

2008-11-19T12:27:00.001-08:00

Black Aggie

2008-11-19T09:01:00.000-08:00

I spent all morning at the bank trying to get my money back, but I have my homework. I chose Black Aggie of Druid Ridge Cemetery in Pikesville (Northwest side of the city). Here's a link to her story:

http://www.prairieghosts.com/druidridge.html

Fraternities would use the spot to haze pledges and so I focused on the rituals surrounding the legend of the statue at the height of its fame, and ultimately, where it was going.

It is not finished, I bit off way more than I could chew in two weeks. Any incite would be awesome.

because of blogger size.

2008-11-19T05:35:00.001-08:00

http://www.flickr.com/photos/codygriffith/3043089390/sizes/l/

It's a bird, it's a plane, it's... a fox?

2008-11-18T22:45:00.000-08:00

Mhm... Mica Fox :)

balimore piece

2008-11-18T22:01:00.000-08:00

drawing and photoshop.

spots to accompany a story.

i took the idea of decaying abandoned property

and poverty and placed into my life, using

it as a metaphor for my

relationship, or now,

lack there of.

hope you like it.

ok.

fin.

ballimore piece

2008-11-18T17:26:00.001-08:00

words to come.

Baltimore

2008-11-18T16:14:00.000-08:00

This was supposed to be for the narrative assignment but it kind of works for the editorial too. Anyway...here's what I've got. Any suggestions?

Baltimore Piece

2008-11-17T21:12:00.000-08:00

"Little Demon in the Church" Pg.3 - swimming in the holy water.
Just one page, but the color pallet will basically be the same.
Trying to make a small book for the project.

IF:

2008-11-17T15:21:00.000-08:00

dis wat i got so far

2008-11-17T12:58:00.000-08:00

gotta paint both images, then lookin to collage the crabhobo into the scene, scan it, and paint it somemore, suggestions at this point would be optimal

IF/FF

2008-11-12T21:19:00.000-08:00

IF Wise.

FF Hell!!

baltimore piece

2008-11-12T15:28:00.000-08:00

this is a fotocollage of my idea for the baltimore piece, for the final i would like to draw this and for now i am working on the layout with fotos, i would like it to look like a pulp fiction cover and realize that it does not seem quite that threatening now...but maybe this also works as a contrast. i am a bit lost right now.

Color Palette

2008-11-11T21:02:00.000-08:00

Random, and somewhat pointless, but mostly so I don't have to carry my laptop to class tomorrow... Combos: 1,2, & 3

IF: vacant

2008-11-10T13:10:00.000-08:00

IF: WISE

2008-11-08T16:30:00.000-08:00

portrait of friedrich nietzsche

drawing and photoshop

fecal face free fridayz: fighting

2008-11-06T19:05:00.000-08:00

water color

colored pencil

photoshop

Fish Fish and Politics

2008-11-04T18:22:00.000-08:00

Watching the coverage and doing some final touches... here's the product so far. I dig, you dig?

A different version with the letter placement... still not sure about where the subtitle should go...

IF: vacant

2008-11-03T13:12:00.003-08:00

fin_final

2008-11-03T10:56:00.001-08:00

not sure if the subtitle is too large, have been trying to work with photoshop and things go kind of crazy, but in the end i am quite satisfied

Closing

2008-11-02T23:08:00.000-08:00

VOTE ON FECAL FACE

2008-10-31T15:58:00.001-07:00

go here...

http://www.fecalface.com/SF/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1316&Itemid=99999999

and vote for me! #4

thanks guys.

etc. etc.

2008-10-30T13:40:00.001-07:00

just some stuff.

etc.

2008-10-30T13:37:00.001-07:00

sugary.

strings.

so i haven't really been posting...

2008-10-30T13:30:00.000-07:00

but here's some stuff.

this is the IF for "clutter."

this is the IF for "clique."

ENTER YOUR BEASTS TODAY!

2008-10-30T12:55:00.000-07:00

Deadline is tomorrow for the Beasts contest. You all have work, so enter your piece! There aren't too many free opportunities for possible publicity in the world these days, and it is worth a shot!

http://www.jitter-magazin.de/jitter-competition.html

IF: Repair

2008-10-29T09:27:00.001-07:00

word.

repair

2008-10-28T22:23:00.000-07:00

2008-10-28T16:50:00.000-07:00

Finished Editorial Spread. Not sure if you can see the difference, but I actually had to color it all over again because I didn't save the last one in PSD format.

IF & FF

2008-10-25T15:43:00.000-07:00

my mode of transportation

fecal face free fridayz

drawing and photoshop

repair

illustration friday

drawing and photoshop

Since I was absent last week...

2008-10-25T14:44:00.000-07:00

Here the three concepts I forgot to post for The Mansion, a really horribly written article about middle Americans' eyes being bigger than their wallets. I like the first and last one equally. Not the middle one.
In case nobody can tell, the guy on the bottom is trying to step over lava. I'm considering squeezing all the houses a little closer together so I can have the guy bending further backwards, as if he's falling more into the lava than reaching an even-more unreachable mansion.

(The #2 type isn't even anything and the #3 type will look hella better...)

string

2008-10-25T10:31:00.000-07:00

IF: late

2008-10-24T15:53:00.001-07:00

this is a foto, since i have no scanner at home, but gives an impression, will scan next week...

FIN the last days of fish

2008-10-24T15:01:00.000-07:00

more photoshop. fin.

scan. photoshop.

drawing. pencil. charcoal.

Fortune: You Will Exceed All Expectations

2008-10-22T12:20:00.000-07:00

This has been done for a while now... I just never got around to posting it until now. There are things about this that I really like and things about it I don't know if I do. I unfortunately accidentally saved my 'flat' version over my 'layers' version so I have no way of fixing these problems without starting ALL OVER D:

But all in all I like the drawing :P

2.0

2008-10-21T17:31:00.000-07:00

Color studies for 2 page spread. The composition needs work (and about two inches of width) but I wanted to get this step out of the way. In the final piece, I think there should be more room between the figure and hand so the background figures won't be so boxed in. I also plan to do the text in Illustrator.

FIN before text

2008-10-21T17:07:00.001-07:00

2008-10-20T22:37:00.001-07:00

Strings of Fate

2008-10-20T13:45:00.001-07:00

Sweet Like

2008-10-20T11:12:00.001-07:00

SUGAR

process:

If string

2008-10-16T11:01:00.001-07:00

2008-10-15T10:36:00.000-07:00

color plan and spread. The part on the right was thrown together digitally and the type below the title will be more in the style of the title in the final.

IF: String

2008-10-15T09:18:00.001-07:00

Believe it or not, this was my first thought for "string". I don't know how the color is working though. Here's the original uncolored.

Fortune

2008-10-15T03:40:00.001-07:00

"Keep your eyes open. You never know what you might see." was the fortune.
I'm having trouble with the background. First I tried adding a texture, disaster. So I got rid of the texture but I think I need to make it more flat so that the characters don't seem so out of place.

Beauty And The Brain

2008-10-14T17:51:00.000-07:00

The Seed Magazine article discusses how human brains interpret, process, and break down beauty. What I understood was that "beauty" (regardless of its subjective nature) stimulates the brain causing emotional reactions that affect and shape our perceptions. The three concepts I've developed are pretty straight-forward. I felt the article was somewhat heavy and needed a light illustration to get people interested.

The first is a sexy scientist analyzing brain matter, the second is a axial brain scan with a beautiful woman's face super-imposed on top, and the third is a male model with a huge cranium. I think the second drawing is the best because it gels with my opinion of the article: cleverly boring. I'm not sure how to push it farther, perhaps a photo collage? I'd prefer to draw it though...

Have a great break everyone!

Fecal Face: free fridayz

2008-10-13T17:56:00.000-07:00

drawing

tracing paper color

photoshop

photoshop with flat setting

i really need a crit. i hate this.

the subject is nasty pigeons

IF: STRING

2008-10-12T11:17:00.002-07:00

string

drawing and photoshop

editorial

2008-10-12T11:17:00.001-07:00

another sketch

Concept Sketches-editorial

2008-10-08T18:25:00.001-07:00

fisherman puzzled at lack of fish

fish all in the belly of the beast

fishing boat eating all the fish

the fishing boats reaching out to an empty sea

FORTUNE

2008-10-07T16:43:00.000-07:00

A golden egg of opportunity will fall into your lap this month.

detail

1. drawing in sketchbook with pencil and pen

2. ink washes on paper

3. charcoal on paper

4. scan and merge

5. experiment with opacity and placement

6. add tone

7. compose and crop

8. fin.

Free Fridayz Fecal Face

2008-10-07T10:11:00.000-07:00

If anybody likes to get a little dirty or grotesque,

Fecal Face is quite the outlet.

It is the same premise as illustration friday, but you win prizes.

This weeks topic was:

THE SOUTH

www.fecalface.com

Movie beast

2008-10-05T12:47:00.000-07:00

-Edward scissorhands

Lucky You sketch

2008-10-05T12:38:00.001-07:00

"Perhaps You've been focusing too much on that one thing."

-it will be colored w gouache

IF: SUGARY

2008-10-04T12:23:00.000-07:00

http://www.flickr.com/photos/codygriffith/2911498172/

blogger is not letting me upload the image

so follow the link

drawing and photoshop

Fortune 2.0

2008-10-02T21:41:00.001-07:00

"Keep your face to the sunshine and you will never see the shadows"

Post-Jaime version. It hints at where our priorities are; what we choose to perceive as important and whether or not the reality of life around us is acknowledged.

You will find something

2008-09-30T21:03:00.000-07:00

another concept for "You will find something. It may be important." ink and colored in photoshop.

2008-09-30T20:41:00.000-07:00

one of the concepts for the fortune, "You will find something. It may be important."

colored in photoshop.

Fortune Concepts

2008-09-30T14:50:00.000-07:00

Clockwise from left:

1) Girl reaching for cupcake on tower of cupcakes. Possibly changing the head to something weirder than a girl head.

2) Devil eating victims, little girl style.

3) Boy choosing the right drawer.

My fortune was "When the moment comes, take the top one."

if: packed

2008-09-30T10:44:00.000-07:00

Clique

2008-09-30T08:47:00.001-07:00

I liked this IF and wanted to post my solution to it. Watercolour and pen.

CONCEPT FOR FORTUNE

2008-09-29T17:32:00.000-07:00

piano!

man with many fingers!

16 i thinks.

A GOLDEN EGG OF OPPORTUNITY WILL

FALL WILL FALL INTO YOUR

LAP THIS MONTH.

opportunity is the ability to be the greatest pianist in the world!

egg is the piano.

month is july.

IF: PACKED

2008-09-29T14:00:00.000-07:00

drawing and photoshop.

packed.

Island

2008-09-27T18:07:00.000-07:00

Island drawing for Illustration Friday 2 weeks ago. Something about it bothers me (other than the shitty pasting), I think the anatomy's off somewhere.

haha! My brother wants a colored print for his birthday

Beast

2008-09-26T18:09:00.001-07:00

My "Beast Piece", looks a little darker than how it printed.

2008-09-26T11:11:00.000-07:00

deadline for the beast competition was prolonged till the 31st of oct.

illustration friday

2008-09-26T10:59:00.000-07:00

another idea for clique:

beast

2008-09-26T10:58:00.000-07:00

Beast

2008-09-25T18:59:00.000-07:00

Medusa is nourished

This is my final Medusa. I am happy with the realistic/fantasy place it took me to. I wanted her skin to be bloody-red. I added more texture/slight-waves to the water; more gleaming highlights. A mouse on a leg of a chair, a mouse in the edge of the water, about to meet it's fate with a dragon looking serpent, a mousy entering the plane in the foreground, also about to disappear, and Medusa's hair comes in and out of the composition.

But the actual image does not actually look so contrasty, but I like it better this way, i think. I took a photo, didn't scan, so there's some glare- but I kind of like that beam of light from the top. My studies are to the left. And to the right is a previous Medusa piece I've done for Illustration 2 in watercolor.

ENTER NOW!

2008-09-24T13:10:00.000-07:00

Hey all- this is your friendly reminder to tweak your images as needed (even if just any minor ones for the sake of the deadline) and ENTER the "Beasts" contest. The odds say you'll never hear back from them, but isn't that how the entire illustration world works? You never know. You might as well take advantage of the free opportunity to put your piece in front of some illustrator and art director judges!

Here is the link... e-mail me with questions if you are having problems, or post problems in comments so others can help too! The deadline is FAST approaching.

http://www.jitter-magazin.de/jitter-competition.html

Once on the page, scroll down to enter. DO IT. Take any chance to get your work out there. This one has fallen in your lap (by way of an instructor making you follow the contest directions exactly to encourage your participation in the world outside the MICA bubble) and the hard part is done.

Have a good week, and surprise me with FUN and interesting concept solutions for next week! The work turned in today was a generally strong showing of techniques and execution. Keep it up. Have fun with this assignment. Enjoying it will make the pieces the best they can be.

2008-09-24T08:18:00.000-07:00

illustration friday

2008-09-23T19:43:00.001-07:00

Beast

2008-09-23T15:50:00.001-07:00

The Omen

DAMIEN

Uh. Finally finished. Thank God.

Drew characters in sketch book and then photoshopped them.

Printed them out. Sanded them down.

Drew the sketch on some BFK.

Cut out the dark negative space and painted with acrylic.

Matte medium and another sanding.

Scanned whole piece in and photoshopped again.

Fin.

Illustration Friday

2008-09-20T15:23:00.000-07:00

clique

2008-09-20T11:00:00.001-07:00

illustration friday

2008-09-18T06:11:00.000-07:00

CLUTTER

ISLAND

Welcome to Workshop 214!

2008-09-17T16:32:00.000-07:00

Alright, so the name isn't truly creative, but hopefully memorable enough, as we meet in room 214 each week. "Workshop" because this will be an informal place for you to post and exchange ideas easily outside of class. It is good practice to scan your sketches and work as it progresses, and this will be a forum for you to get feedback when you want some direction. I'll check in here too from time to time to see how things are going, and hopefully give some feedback as well when I can.

So- Please give this a go. It is very easy to complete a post and comment once you figure it out. If you have ANY questions, we can meet before or after class (or during a break) to get you set up. Please everyone leave a comment on this post (anything will do, just click on the word "comments" below these paragraphs.) so I know all you smart cookies are signed in and have figured out the system. If you want to be notified via e-mail every time a comment is made on your post, leave a quick comment on your own post and check the box at the bottom of the pop-up box to receive word on all posts directed toward you, When you post a picture, first save it at about 10 inches wide and 72 dpi, so it is small enough to load quickly and large enough to see details if need be. Jpg files work well. I'd love for some of you to make use of it while in progress this week. E-mail me if you need any help this week, or we can discuss it in class next week. Best of luck finishing up your "Beasts" pieces this week.