Astrid

This painting of my was inspired by Dream works movie "How to Train Your Dragon 2"  Which is coming out next year and I can't wait. 

I don't have a whole lot to say about this painting except for it was one of those I just had to push though to complete. 

Enjoy

Prince John

 Once in a while I like to take existing characters and render them in my own style.  Using the same design as Disney's Prince John I creating this drawing.  

I followed the original drawing as best I could.  But there was one important element Disney left out.  HIS EAR!  I noticed something was wrong by it was Disney's design that I was using as a reference, they had to be right.  It wasn't until I got help from a friend of mine that corrected disney's mistake.  Below is my fist draft and Mallory's critique.

Mallory Carlson

Hey Brooke, I have one problem with this image that is not your fault, lol. Actually, you can blame it all on Disney! I believe that Disney made the mistake (it feels blasphemous to say that, but I it's true! haha). Something about this image was bothering me a little so I went and looked up images of King Richard. Disney animators drew him with some inconsistencies. I think that they could get away with it because each drawing of him lasted less than a second onscreen, but in an illustration I think those same inconsistencies become more obvious (because we look at the same image for a much longer time). I found the image that I think you were referencing and I also found another image of his head with no crown. I drew over them so you could see what I mean...The head seems a little cut off to me. Specifically his right ear (our left). For that ear to be exactly hiding behind the crown seems very odd to me. I think the ear would show above or below the crown lip (and in most images of him, his ears are below the crown). I noticed on the image (the one I think you used as reference) that his ears don't show at all, just like your image. So, it really isn't your fault, because it looks a lot like the reference, and the reference does it as well! It's similar to what Will told us in one of the classes about the image of his dog. In the photo she looked like she only had 3 legs, but we know she has four. It works for a photo, but that wouldn't be a good illustration. You would need to change it a little to make it work. Like I said before, each drawing in an animated movie was onscreen for such a short period of time that those little things didn't matter as much (and I looked it up, Robin Hood came out a little bit before VCRs were popular in homes...so they didn't worry about someone pausing one image in the movie. And there was no internet for people to share that image on either, lol. So times have changed a lot). Pretty much, I think you should add an ear. I probably could have just said that and skipped the rest, haha. So, that is my super long winded advice. I have to say, your coloring is really wonderful and I think that as a whole, I really enjoy your work a lot! 

You should definitely take the time to check out Mallory Carlson she is A mazing!

Thanks again Mallory!

My first completed drawing in Corel Painter!

As of now you have only seen images that I have created using the iPad on an app called Procreate.  This picture was used using Corel painter 11.  At the time I got the program it was the newest model, they now have painter 12.   

For me drawing on the computer was frustrated and overwhelmed.  There was so much to it and I have never prided myself on my computer skills.  

I felt the program Procreate were good training wheels for painter I started understanding concepts of drawing non traditionally. Plus it was so easy to pick up and draw everyday!  But I still wasn't getting the look I wanted.  Last week one of my friends posted this link.  For someone that had just dablled in the program I felt it was night and day to the way I approach digital drawing.   I'm excited about this painting I feel it's coming alive.

This excites me, enjoy.

Meet Rusty and Angel

This is the fist draft of the assignment I am illustrating. Enjoy.

Oh no! Angel dumped the wrong soap in the dishwasher - the super concentrated bubble clean! She and rusty had to make a run for it!

Design tips, help from Dexter and Robot

Dexter and Robot are the main characters in the picture and they alone should be able to draw the audience in and keep there interest.  However the Dexter and Robot are lost in all the clutter. Anyone looking at the first picture becomes confused they start looking in every direction, at the flee circus in the background, the picture on the door the books in the foreground. 

HINT: If you squint at the first drawing, you notice that all the values are ruffly the same shade.  Now squint at the second drawing, you can now see value contrast in the darks and the lights.  Your mind starts to realize that not all of the information in the drawing is important, but that Dexter and his robot are. 

Another way to check to make sure your characters are standing out is to make your image very small.  Look to make sure your light are on dark and your dark are on light.  After making the drawing small I realized I had a few more deign issues!

After making the drawing small I realized I had a few more design problems.  First was this glaring tangent.  Where the end of the robot's head meets the end of the dresser.  Creating one continuous line.  Also All my circles in that area where about the same size as well as the head of Robot and the dresser.  

The end results.  Hopefully you have a clear idea as to what I want you to be looking at.

What a few classes can do!

This probably looks a little familiar, It's a drawing I did for an online Storybook illustration class.   The assignment was to illustrate this sentence.

“It was a bright sunny morning as Koki left for school but today he thought he would take a different path...what he didn’t realize...”.

We received the assignment a couple of weeks before the class actually started.  I was so eager to start I did the assignment a month before it was due.  This was the results.

 

As you can see it's a little fuzzy, literally and It give confession as to what your viewer should be looking at.  Also I have dark leaves and dark shadows on the grass so your eyes continually dart up and down.  In fact you miss what I want everyone to be looking at, Koki!

I noticed this problem after viewing one of the lessons.  Will Terry talked about design and what you can do to make your focal point stand out.  He talked about value grouping, taking similar values grouping them together and then putting the dark values on the light and vice versa.   He also mentioned line and how having crisp lines
can help your eye focus on the wanted object.

This is the second draft and will be critiqued on monday.  Ill keep you posted on the results.