This is a foray into cut paper from my Decorative Illustration class last semester. Hadn't tried it before, but wanted to give it a go. Definitely an exercise in patience. I think I would like to try this again, but more in the style of the turtles.

textiles

Took a textiles and pattern class last semester, which was more challenging than I was expecting. Printing on paper is so much easier than fabric! I hit quite a few snags with a lot of my projects, but this is one piece I was happy with. Screen-printed ogee pattern.

We also learned how to dye fabric with indigo, which was my favourite part of the class. We went to Maiwa for the dyeing workshop (lots of fun!). We learned how to make an indigo vat, and also got to see some pretty amazing pieces of shibori (Japanese tying technique). 

These are a couple of my shibori experiments.

At Maiwa. The bucket is the indigo vat, and the little bundles next to it is the fabric all tied up and ready to dye. It was an interesting (and slightly smelly) experience, a lot of getting the vat ready was waiting for the indigo and other ingredients to mingle and get the chemical reaction going. Another neat thing was watching the fabric turn from green to blue when you take it out of the vat (the indigo reacts with the oxygen in the air, and turns blue). 

Different shades of blue are determined by how many times you dip the fabric (more dips = darker blue).

concept art

Here are a few projects I worked on for concept art class last semester. 

Environment/scene concept for a group project working on 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.

Model sheet for the main character in Ray Bradbury's short story "The Long Rain". 

Head sculpt for the Lieutenant from "The Long Rain". This was my first time working with super sculpey, it was fun! This is a shot before he goes into the oven to be baked.

dinosaurs!

another design up at Threadless. :D

iguanafish strikes again.

My design is up for scoring at Threadless! Check it out and vote if you like it. :)

and then there were dinosaurs.

Final massive etching project that consumed all my time for the past two weeks. But it was worth it. :)

The project was to build an image, like we normally do. This was all done on the same plate, so this first image no longer exists. :(

etching (aquatint)

Second step was to destroy it. This was the fun part, because if whatever you were trying to do didn't work out, it didn't matter. The goal was to make a mess and obliterate your image. I could have done more obliterating, but I was running out of time. Stupid deadlines.

etching

Third step was to take your destroyed plate and build up another image. I wasn't expecting so much of my original image to show through, so I just added to the image. I really like the layering effect though. Very cool. I also like how the dinosaurs look like they're fading away.

etching

Some process photos:

Working on the first step of building up an image. Slowly covering up more and more of the drawing as I put the plate in the acid bath so I get a variation of greys. In photo-language, the exposed copper gets more "burning" time. Print-language, it gets more etching time. For some reason when I'm in the etching part of the process, I think of it like a photo darkroom. Not sure why.

Inking and wiping the plate. This can be a physical process, depending how big the plate is. I'm sure my plate is tiny compared to "real world" plate sizes, but my arm was getting sore. Or maybe I'm a wimp.

All those dirty cloths you see at the top of the photo are what we use to wipe the ink off of the plate. This is one of the messier parts of the whole process.

Plate ready to print. The ink stays in all the little "grooves" that have been etched into the plate.

how iguanafish came to be.

digital (Illustrator & Photoshop)

This is my final Digital Illustration project. A four panel storyboard of an existing story or one we made up. Mine is the latter, obviously. :)

Again, I wanted to find out more about this creature I drew, so I thought - origin story! Pretty simple little story, but it's my first sequential art since foundation year.

I've been having fun practicing inking in Illustrator. Getting to know the "width" tool a little better.