Assignments update - KS + AAV
Gonna put them under separate cuts, since some of them have some big pix.
KS's Mixed Media class
On the day we handed up our Product assignment, on the day itself KS finally turned up.
AND HE WAS IN A JOLLY GOOD MOOD-----
---coz in the past few classes, if he's not machine-gunning us, he's generally MIA.
We guessed the CNY break does him wonders. Like, made him more refreshed, less stressed,
better mood, HAPPIER...y'know, the works.
(I was so half-tempted to start humming, "And He was a Jolly Good Fellow">, but thankfully I refrained XD;)
Before the crit session, KS was telling us 2 main things:
1) Mixed media, esp. the ones we're doing, has to first and foremost LOOK GOOD.
(coz as KS puts it, no one buys crap art, simple as that).
2) The kind of illustration we're doing, is NOT FINE ART.. KS stressed on this, coz he said we're doing, in a way, as a sort of CONCEPT ILLUSTRATION --- whatever we draw, has to have a concept, an idea, behind it, not just buta-copying. FOR now yaaa we copy from reference, but for the next one @ movie compo, and caricatures, it'll be slightly different.
AND even more so for next term @ Concept Illustration class.
And mixed media illustration, with its infinite styles (from Struzan to Kruger),
without a concept to tie the style to the story (like, there's a great subject but the style doesn't match),
the art will be rendered useless, no matter how great the story is, or how great the technique is.
With that, when he started the crit session,
the first few ones, while he commented it looked nice,
the style doesn't match the subject (someone did a neat style for a bunch of cosmetic pills but with shocking colours) and KS actually remarked, "These colours made the product looked...cheap."
Blank stares met him. Coz as far as we can see, aside from the shocking purple+blue+yellow, the product's those kinda golden pellets that when squished will release the liquid sealed within (it's a girl's comestic product thingy).
KS tried again, "...okay, maybe that's not the word. The colours made it looked very........y'know, Jinjang?"
Blank stares, and a few muffled sniggers from the front (the row of chinese boys).
KS attempted to save the situation. He smiled a brief, sheepish smile.
"How to say ah....the colours, like, you know Indonesians? The ones that come to work in Malaysia?
Those that stayed in Indonesia, they rich lah, Different wan.
But those the ones that come to work in Malaysia, some of them they look cheap, coz of how they appear and what they wear. They wear until look very jinjang lor. That sort of jinjang lor, I want to say."
Some knowing nods, ohhssss, and this time the class laughed, amiably.
"But overall, that's how the colours spoiled (the product)
You know your product is the expensive kind, but you use this type of colours and rendering (she randomly splash the paint here and there at the bottom), it makes the product looked cheap, which is not what your client will want. So, this type of artwork, outside, no one can accept."
Which meant that, as far as KS is concerned,
the moment we paint the subject in the wrong light @ expensive becomes cheap, retro becomes dreamy, rugged+manly becomes soft+girly = artwork fails to deliver the message.
Coz KS pointed out a few works, that he said if it weren't for the wrong style, would have been good.
(Kami-sama's, he painted another liquor bottle, but renders it in pink/blue tones with watersplash everywhere, so it sorta ruined the manly quality of the liquor...)
And for mine:
This, is what KS said,
"Y'know, this reminded me of those works I saw inside American Showcase.
Should be about 80s or 90s, somewhere around that time lah.
The artist drew the Alfa Romeo, and it showed the American style (of using colour pencils).
I can see what you're trying to do, and I think you're aiming for that kind of style...but is just almost there. Not there yet, almost there.
Overall, a bit too stiff."
And with that, he moved to the next few pieces which he either said, "Wrong style", "no contrast", or else he'd add a few snarky/sarcastic remarks of his own e.g.
For another liquor work (by one of the failed seniors):
"This one, the colours, is the one that tells people that you shouldn't drink this, coz it taste THAT BAD (like your artwork."
I figured, like last term's - when he said too stiff for mine:
1) it's the outlines (again) and/or
2) the pencil strokes. I notice the ones on the car more stable/solid/closely knit, whereas the ones on the background @ skies were more free-style.
Some details:
I like how the smoke/dust coming from the running tyres came out (solely airbrush, using white acrylic ink)
And the wheel details too.
NOW, for some comparison with said Alfa Romeo found inside a 1992 American Showcase (yes, I went to the library after class to dig the book out)
It IS an Alfa Romeo, right? But for some strange reason the colours were......weird..?
(I'm guessing now that, KS is remarking about the colour changes?)
BUT when I saw the 2nd one @ the one with the trees, I saw that I had unknowingly did almost the same effect for my trees in the background
And upon closer inspection, did saw some similarities in the rendering:
>>details on subject, more free on the background
>>close strokes on the subject, straight lines on the background
>>solid shadows (for the car), play with colour changes on the right side of the car (where the car doors reflect the surroundings)
So I guess, this means I'm on the right track?....
AND for this one, I scored a decent B- (YESSS!!!)
The portrait one I got a C+ =w=;;;
AND lastly, for the new movie composition,
I've decided I'm gonna do Alice in Wonderland.
And I've got Ivan to prove the thumbs, but he said there's some stuff still needed fixing:
I did 8, but it's only this 2 he approves.
I'm highly likely to go for Version [B], as I find the composition holds more nicely than [A].
But in [A], while there's more things to draw (there's the Bandersnatch and the Jabberwocky),
and so more "complete" (since it already has most of the important characters inside),
the elements didn't quite gel together (Bandersnatch seemed separate from everybody else, Twiddles ended abruptly on top of flowers making them looked pasted on)
What do you guys think?
------------------
Advanced Ad-Visual
Brief/story given was:
The main character is fighting 3 others in a room.
Despite being outnumbered, the main character is confident of winning.
Draw the scene.
Okay, I went a bit more out on this one, as the final thumb I'd shown in Friday class was this:
LOL WHUT MYSSO TRASHING UP 3 BURLY GUYS IN A FIGHTING ARENA??? XD;;;
Which ZY said it's okay......BUT can be more dynamic in terms of angle.
In which I agreed - coz he'd explained that while the pose is awesome, he cannot feel the power behind the pose, and there's better ways to draw this pose in different angles e.g. low angle, high angle, etc.
SO I spent the next 3 hours coughing up 6 more variations of the angle, and
he selected this:
Which seemed extreme enough, but for some reason, *still* lacked something,
so he said it's better I try to develop a biiit more from here.
I know I gotta shift the focus to one of the lines @ rule of thirds,
and prolly make the guy seemed to be in more pain than now,
but on 2nd/3rd glance, I think the angle seemed uncomfortable to the eyes?
But how to show the dynamic angle without changing too much of the dynamic pose?
(most of my refs didn't have this extreme an angle, and it's hard to find one ref that has the similar scene...anyone got any ideas from which movie? I've tried from Street Fighter to Sherlock Holmes to Ip Man...)
If I have to, Ima busting out my figurines and taking shots of the angles and then picking which looks best...
Oh, and my colour thumbs sucked (coz the skin didn't follow environment colour), so I'm redoing it at a later date.
------------
That's all for the time being, and I'm hitting the bed.
Would love to see what you guys' take on the Alice thumbs + the fighting scene.
Tomorrow, gonna finish MOT2~
-L
KS's Mixed Media class
On the day we handed up our Product assignment, on the day itself KS finally turned up.
AND HE WAS IN A JOLLY GOOD MOOD-----
---coz in the past few classes, if he's not machine-gunning us, he's generally MIA.
We guessed the CNY break does him wonders. Like, made him more refreshed, less stressed,
better mood, HAPPIER...y'know, the works.
(I was so half-tempted to start humming, "And He was a Jolly Good Fellow">, but thankfully I refrained XD;)
Before the crit session, KS was telling us 2 main things:
1) Mixed media, esp. the ones we're doing, has to first and foremost LOOK GOOD.
(coz as KS puts it, no one buys crap art, simple as that).
2) The kind of illustration we're doing, is NOT FINE ART.. KS stressed on this, coz he said we're doing, in a way, as a sort of CONCEPT ILLUSTRATION --- whatever we draw, has to have a concept, an idea, behind it, not just buta-copying. FOR now yaaa we copy from reference, but for the next one @ movie compo, and caricatures, it'll be slightly different.
AND even more so for next term @ Concept Illustration class.
And mixed media illustration, with its infinite styles (from Struzan to Kruger),
without a concept to tie the style to the story (like, there's a great subject but the style doesn't match),
the art will be rendered useless, no matter how great the story is, or how great the technique is.
With that, when he started the crit session,
the first few ones, while he commented it looked nice,
the style doesn't match the subject (someone did a neat style for a bunch of cosmetic pills but with shocking colours) and KS actually remarked, "These colours made the product looked...cheap."
Blank stares met him. Coz as far as we can see, aside from the shocking purple+blue+yellow, the product's those kinda golden pellets that when squished will release the liquid sealed within (it's a girl's comestic product thingy).
KS tried again, "...okay, maybe that's not the word. The colours made it looked very........y'know, Jinjang?"
Blank stares, and a few muffled sniggers from the front (the row of chinese boys).
KS attempted to save the situation. He smiled a brief, sheepish smile.
"How to say ah....the colours, like, you know Indonesians? The ones that come to work in Malaysia?
Those that stayed in Indonesia, they rich lah, Different wan.
But those the ones that come to work in Malaysia, some of them they look cheap, coz of how they appear and what they wear. They wear until look very jinjang lor. That sort of jinjang lor, I want to say."
Some knowing nods, ohhssss, and this time the class laughed, amiably.
"But overall, that's how the colours spoiled (the product)
You know your product is the expensive kind, but you use this type of colours and rendering (she randomly splash the paint here and there at the bottom), it makes the product looked cheap, which is not what your client will want. So, this type of artwork, outside, no one can accept."
Which meant that, as far as KS is concerned,
the moment we paint the subject in the wrong light @ expensive becomes cheap, retro becomes dreamy, rugged+manly becomes soft+girly = artwork fails to deliver the message.
Coz KS pointed out a few works, that he said if it weren't for the wrong style, would have been good.
(Kami-sama's, he painted another liquor bottle, but renders it in pink/blue tones with watersplash everywhere, so it sorta ruined the manly quality of the liquor...)
And for mine:
This, is what KS said,
"Y'know, this reminded me of those works I saw inside American Showcase.
Should be about 80s or 90s, somewhere around that time lah.
The artist drew the Alfa Romeo, and it showed the American style (of using colour pencils).
I can see what you're trying to do, and I think you're aiming for that kind of style...but is just almost there. Not there yet, almost there.
Overall, a bit too stiff."
And with that, he moved to the next few pieces which he either said, "Wrong style", "no contrast", or else he'd add a few snarky/sarcastic remarks of his own e.g.
For another liquor work (by one of the failed seniors):
"This one, the colours, is the one that tells people that you shouldn't drink this, coz it taste THAT BAD (like your artwork."
I figured, like last term's - when he said too stiff for mine:
1) it's the outlines (again) and/or
2) the pencil strokes. I notice the ones on the car more stable/solid/closely knit, whereas the ones on the background @ skies were more free-style.
Some details:
I like how the smoke/dust coming from the running tyres came out (solely airbrush, using white acrylic ink)
And the wheel details too.
NOW, for some comparison with said Alfa Romeo found inside a 1992 American Showcase (yes, I went to the library after class to dig the book out)
It IS an Alfa Romeo, right? But for some strange reason the colours were......weird..?
(I'm guessing now that, KS is remarking about the colour changes?)
BUT when I saw the 2nd one @ the one with the trees, I saw that I had unknowingly did almost the same effect for my trees in the background
And upon closer inspection, did saw some similarities in the rendering:
>>details on subject, more free on the background
>>close strokes on the subject, straight lines on the background
>>solid shadows (for the car), play with colour changes on the right side of the car (where the car doors reflect the surroundings)
So I guess, this means I'm on the right track?....
AND for this one, I scored a decent B- (YESSS!!!)
The portrait one I got a C+ =w=;;;
AND lastly, for the new movie composition,
I've decided I'm gonna do Alice in Wonderland.
And I've got Ivan to prove the thumbs, but he said there's some stuff still needed fixing:
I did 8, but it's only this 2 he approves.
I'm highly likely to go for Version [B], as I find the composition holds more nicely than [A].
But in [A], while there's more things to draw (there's the Bandersnatch and the Jabberwocky),
and so more "complete" (since it already has most of the important characters inside),
the elements didn't quite gel together (Bandersnatch seemed separate from everybody else, Twiddles ended abruptly on top of flowers making them looked pasted on)
What do you guys think?
------------------
Advanced Ad-Visual
Brief/story given was:
The main character is fighting 3 others in a room.
Despite being outnumbered, the main character is confident of winning.
Draw the scene.
Okay, I went a bit more out on this one, as the final thumb I'd shown in Friday class was this:
LOL WHUT MYSSO TRASHING UP 3 BURLY GUYS IN A FIGHTING ARENA??? XD;;;
Which ZY said it's okay......BUT can be more dynamic in terms of angle.
In which I agreed - coz he'd explained that while the pose is awesome, he cannot feel the power behind the pose, and there's better ways to draw this pose in different angles e.g. low angle, high angle, etc.
SO I spent the next 3 hours coughing up 6 more variations of the angle, and
he selected this:
Which seemed extreme enough, but for some reason, *still* lacked something,
so he said it's better I try to develop a biiit more from here.
I know I gotta shift the focus to one of the lines @ rule of thirds,
and prolly make the guy seemed to be in more pain than now,
but on 2nd/3rd glance, I think the angle seemed uncomfortable to the eyes?
But how to show the dynamic angle without changing too much of the dynamic pose?
(most of my refs didn't have this extreme an angle, and it's hard to find one ref that has the similar scene...anyone got any ideas from which movie? I've tried from Street Fighter to Sherlock Holmes to Ip Man...)
If I have to, Ima busting out my figurines and taking shots of the angles and then picking which looks best...
Oh, and my colour thumbs sucked (coz the skin didn't follow environment colour), so I'm redoing it at a later date.
------------
That's all for the time being, and I'm hitting the bed.
Would love to see what you guys' take on the Alice thumbs + the fighting scene.
Tomorrow, gonna finish MOT2~
-L