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.

Guinea Pig Kingdom

This is a logo I did for a gal that sells show guinea pigs.  I loved working with her!  She was so imaginative and passionate for what she does.  You can find her shop {Here]

The Fortune Teller

I was able to attend an online animation class last night.  The instructors were Jake parker and Will Terry.  Jake did a demo of a sic fi setting, the interior of a space ship.  He did it using photo shop and and I think everyone was floored by how fast he drew it.  He said one of the best ways to get good at drawing something is to copy and copy a lot.  He mentioned he had a "Copy Sketchbook" where he would copy different things, settings, hands, cars, what ever it was that he felt like her could use for future reference.  He said he then would throw the book away, cause no one is interested in looking at something you copied.  And then when he needs to draw a Sic Fi spaceship he has lots of items to choose from in his "account".   Needless to say, I will be starting my "copy sketchbook" in no time.   Jake it an illustrator of children's book,  graphic novels, and animator.  If you would like to listen to Jake talk about children's book illustrating you can go {Here} and listen to BYU radio on Children's books.

Will talked about facial tones and using cool and warm colors.  He also talked about being aware of plane changes.  He demo was great and I'm so excited about applying what I learned. 

Over all there  is plenty for me to work on,  here is what I drew right before the class, The Fortune Teller.  Enjoy. 

I was playing around with shape and color in this drawing.  Normally I don't combine earthy colors and bright vibrant colors.  I usually keep them separate because I feel 

it unifies a painting.  But liked breaking the rules to create different combinations.  I also started playing around with the shape of the room the girl is in.  Over all I feel like there are things I could work on 

so that she seems like she fits into her environment a little better.  I think she looks a little out of place. 

however one of my favorite color combo is the red of her hair and the turquoise wall.