Character Sketches - Jasline's Mother

Been in a bit of a funk for a while; guess it's a side effect of being burnt out from school. Anyway, yesterday I managed to do some character sketches of Jasline's mother (she has yet to be named).


I've long envisioned her as a plump tigress, who can be jovial one minute and no-nonsense the next.


Something has displeased her. Also, if you tilt your head to the side, you can see how her hair braid looks from the back.

Book Cover Redesign Project

For my next illustration assignment, I'm required to redo the front cover of a popular book. The idea of doing fan art for Stephen King's "IT" had been bouncing around in my head since late last year, so I took this opportunity to work on that novel.

Part of the project is that we're to work proportionally with the size of the book i.e. if the book is 5"x7", the illustration project itself must be scaled on the same ratio.

So, anyway, I'll show you the cover I'm redesigning as well as a copy of the new edition's cover that I found on the internet. I think the first cover evokes fear more than the 2nd, but that's just my opinion.

Here's the cover of my copy of the book:


Here's the cover for the current edition:


I noticed that both version had King's name in a prominent position at the top of the cover. Considering that Mr. King, and his name, is a well-known brand, I can understand the positioning. I've decided to keep it like that in my redesign.

Here's the first of two sketches for the project. Since 'It' uses Pennywise the Clown as its main manifestation, I decided to focus on him. The book kicks off with Pennywise's appearance after all. Balloons are a reoccurring object/image through the novel, so I included those as well. The extra dark background, and Pennywise's face slowly melding into something sinister the further he turns from the light references the true evil of IT and the fact that IT makes its home in the sewer system of Derry, Maine:


The second sketch is based off an idea that I had to incorporate the sewer system of Derry, as well as Pennywise and the balloons. Instead of showing Pennywise's face, I drew reference to him with his Mickey Mouse gloved hand and a part of the sleeve from his silvery costume. The horror factor is more subtle that in the first sketch. I kept imagining being a potential buyer, seeing this as the cover and wondering "Why is someone poking out of a sewer with balloons? *is curious*". The sidewalk was the last edition; that area of the piece felt empty:


I think both sketches could use some aid somewhere and, since I've been staring at them so long that I feel my objectivity is comatose, I'm opening the floor for critiques and suggestions (especially with the position of the title: up top with King's name, or at the bottom?).

Playing Card Illustrations

A sketch for the back image for my newspaper project. Rather than use the traditional newspaper/flyer route, I went with a playing card layout. In the mean time, this bird-lady needs to be light boxed and inked - and I need to be well-rested for that.



I'll force and do the heart, spade, club and diamond illustrations (plus some other things that I have to work on) later.

*Edit*
Drew the new shapes as promised. Going to ink them in Illustrator after this.

Ward Theatre Poster Project

Wow, I haven't been here for a while! Anyway, let's move on.

For one of my illustration assignments, we were asked to design a poster for a Ward Theatre production. Ward Theatre is, or WAS, Jamaica's version of Broadway. The annual pantomimes were normally held there but, unfortunately, the grand old theatre has fallen into disrepair. The pantomimes are currently held at another theatre that's closer to the theatre-going public, but I decided to use the current pantomime production for the year and redesign its poster for this project. The pantomime is called "Runner Boy".

My first attempt at the project was rushed, safe and bland. I won't even show it here. I was lucky enough to get a chance to redo it and I did a series of sketches for that purpose.



I call this my 'brain fart' sketch. It's the first sketch in the process and it was basically done to get the main ideas down - 'Runner Boy' in his country clothes and bare feet among more traditional track and field atheletes. Long before I finished, I considered this sketch to be rather uninteresting but I continued nonetheless. It's all a part of the process after all.



This second sketch was an attempt at more dynamism. I tried some foreshortening, although it's quite unsucessful here, and I maintained the idea of concealing his face as I had with the prior sketch and with the prior attempt at the project. The hills in the background reference his origins (i.e. a country boy from the town of Yam Hill). Liked it better than the first, but it still felt a little weak - as if he was out for his morning run and not a country boy called to participate in a city sporting event as the play's summary indicated.



A little better with the foreshortening, but not anything to write home about. I included two traditional runners in the background, with the barefoot Runner Boy beating them by a mile. The placement of the figures cost me the hills in the background, and also left me with an empty space to the lower left. Another trip to the sketch paper was in order.




I finally have a sketch that I'm almost satisfied with! I say 'almost satisfied' because I'd like the opinions from the viewing public before I start on the final. I changed the placement of the figures, which allowed me to reintroduce the hills (which will be faint in the background so as not to subtract from the other two runners), and gave Runner Boy himself a more dynamic angle and a more pronounced position in the foreground. I'm considering moving the title a bit lower and more to the left so as to give more balance, and the play information will occupy the space below that.

Any suggestions before I start the main piece?

Process Book Sheep

I sketched some sheep, one to guard the cover of my process book


and the other will be filled in and used as page number holders. :)

My first Illustration assignment

I started Illustration classes at school this year, and our first assignment is to do a self-portrait. This is supposed to be more conceptual than realistic, but I have a couple preliminary sketches on me.




That was the first sketch I did. Didn't like it too much (didn't show me as well as I had hoped) and my lecturer agreed. I can tell that I'm going to learn a lot from him.



This one is more satisfactory. Plus, based on the critiques I recieved, I know where to go with this. I'm going to break it down further and make it more stylised; even those this is just a sketch, it's looking too realistic for my taste right now.

It's my first assignment so I don't expect to nail everything, but I'm still going to try. Wish me luck!

Commission sketches

Sorry for the long absence. I spent most of my last weeks of summer doing summer school assignments as well as colouring a major commission. However, I do have a bit of something to show you today:



It's for an inked chibi commission for Jessica Ratté, featuring her characters Ajax and Dominique. I'm inking the final piece right now so, hopefully, that will be all done by this coming Friday. :)