Howdy!! Happy holidays everyone!
I hope you're not looking for a super huge update!! Since my last post, since I planned so much beforehand, I've only cleaned up each of the pieces by adding clean sections of color and lines. I decided to do a mix of lineless and line...ful? Anyways, I think this mix has ultimately contributed to the style of my piece :D
So far, I'm doing great in terms of progress! I'm just about where I feel like I should be. Now I just need to add shading and add a backdrop to each of the pieces (my favorite part uwu). I altered the colors for the elephants, so now they're right! I think I'm going to make them a little bigger to fill up more space and take away a tad bit of negative space because I don't really like it. But otherwise, I feel like my message is coming across well! I'm really glad I chose a simple topic, and a positive one at that, because I need at least a few months of not being super depressed in high school!!
Update pictures of my animal families!
These are my pieces at the moment! (the foxes + bear isn't finished, but that's okay) I'm really satisfied with my progression of these! I was concerned that I wouldn't be able to manage to make clean and smooth lineless works by hand without a stabilizer, but hey I'm awesome I guess and managed to do it :D ! I also was able to make all of the animals readable, and the water overlay on the river animal group is way more successful now that it's cleaner. I still need to figure out exactly HOW I want to implement my shading, but I have enough time that I'm confident I can experiment and see what I like best. All that's left besides the final touches would be to potentially adjust colors, but other than that, I'm content with what I've made so far! (I might adjust the penguins' head... THEY JUST LOOK WEIRD THOUGH, ALRIGHT)
I've also decided to name the series KINSHIP. I've had the folder with them all in it named that for a while, but I figured I should share it !
During the critique, I got plenty of positive feedback!! (Mostly about how I should sell this stuff LOL... I might though... watch out for a webstore-)
While my piece is coming along swimmingly, as I finish I come closer to my biggest issue at the moment: presentation. Now, I initially was planning on having a wall composition where I presented them flat and next to each other, refer to my First Blog Post for my composition sketches. I'm still going to keep them at 10 x 10, because I like my pieces big to draw attention; however, I've gotten quite a few different suggestions for how I should present it.
My biggest issue with the original plan is that I was ALSO going to add multicolor frames to each of them (the secondary color + background pattern color would've been the color for each piece), but uh They're Expensive-
and also I wouldn't be able to do that for the senior art show anyways.
Another dilemma I'm having with this is that I, quite frankly, want to stand out. I have such a simple concept that simply having it up on the wall wouldn't feel like I'm making enough of an effect to be able to stand out among you guys!
So, I've gotten a few different ideas, none of which I'm really sold on entirely, but I don't hate either. A few of my alternative options so far are:
-Picture book
-Picture book, but mounted to the wall
- Blanket/quilt
My favorite idea is having a large picture book mounted on the wall so that people can turn the pages and view each of the illustrations. I think this would make it fun to interact with, and evoke a childlike enjoyment of turning pages in a big book. Some criticism I've received for this is that it wouldn't be strong enough since it wouldn't be telling a story, and while I understand that... I don't think it bothers me that much honestly? I was also thinking of adding velcro to the pages or maybe magnets to keep them upright so they won't fold over ''owo
Anyways! Aside from that, I am very happy with the progress I've made so far!! I'm so excited to see my piece finalized and hanging up in the gallery :D Even if I don't win anything for it, I think that it's still a cute and heartwarming series, and I can probably profit off of it, so like, who cares-
Just kidding! (mostly!) But, now it's time to share an artist!!
!Artist Highlight!
Toni Infante
A freelance illustrator who does STUNNING fantasy and fan art. I absolutely adore their use of color, dynamic poses, interesting lighting, and energetic compositions in their work!
There's obvious anime and videogame inspiration in their pieces, even the non-fan art ones. But they utilize these elements in an interesting manner, mainly through their character design and ridiculous + dramatic compositions and character designs. I LOVE the blend of hard and soft elements in their art that gives it an animated feeling, yet can add more seriousness to their pieces (especially the tiger one).
If you're looking for some ridiculous fan art from anime, comics, and video games, or just enjoy fantasy illustrations, you should definitely check them out!
I really like how your piece is coming along! the pieces look very clean and once you add shading it will finally come together. Even though it is very simplistic, I can tell you planned everything out very carefully and really took the time to position the animals, and which animals should go with each family etc. I cant wait for the final product!!
I really love what you have so far!! Good job on managing your time since it'll allow you to experiment with shading and different ways to install your illustrations. I like the simple way you shaded the cub in the illustration with the foxes and I think you should try to do a similar style onto the other animals.
Your pieces are coming along great! They’re so dang cute that I can’t get over it. The colors that you’ve chosen are stunning because of the compatibility they have with each other! I agree with fixing the penguin heads because they still seem a bit odd in perspective and anatomy, but overall I think every panel you’ve done is working out really well. The issue of displaying your pieces is difficult indeed; I think they would best be displayed as separate panels rather than a book, personally, so that they are seen not only as separate pieces of artwork, but also as an overarching concept (if that makes sense?).
I really enjoy seeing the progress on these compositions, especially as the whole spread. Your pacing is working really well as none of the pieces individually stand out as under-detailed. As for the display of your pieces, both the quilt and the mounted book ideas intrigue me. It would definitely help to experiment with both methods beforehand so you can make a more educated decision on the installation.
What you have done so far is great! I honestly can't wait to see this finished. For presentation, I would suggest the picture book mounted on the wall. It allows the viewers to interact more with the artwork, and it will for sure make you stand out. The simple color scheme and overall style is very clean, and with the amount of works you are doing, it is very organized.