Inspiration: Urban

Thumbnail

For this painting I used the inspiration word from Illustration Friday, "Urban". I decided to do a mock billboard for Visa. When I thought of "Urban" I thought of Hollywood. The billboard reader has 4 seconds to take in the concept of the billboard information. The Hollywood sign was a good concept for Visa/ the billboard as you look at it and can make your own thoughts from it; a trip or living your dreams. This image is my thumbnail for the billboard.

Painting the Sky

I illustrated my Hollywood sign and Visa logo on the illustration board. From there I painted both the text pieces with rubber cement. I did this so I could paint right over the text without actually colouring it. In this picture, I am painting the sky with Gouache paint.

Painting the Grass

Next, I started painting the grass. First I painted a wash of green over the entire bottom of the board. Then I took a rough sponge and created some texture to make it look more like grass.

Finished

After I painted the sky and grass, I removed the rubber cement over the text. Then I used a white gouache paint for the "Hollywood" sing. Then I mixed my paint with the colours of the Visa logo. After, I put some finishing touches on the painting by adding a thin black line on the sides of the text from the "Hollywood" sign. Just to make it pop a bit more. This is a picture of my finished billboard.

"Talent" Magazine Cover

First, I took a cute picture of my Jack Russell, Cricket.

Next, I created a water color painting in Adobe Photoshop CS5.5. To do this, I created three copies of the image. Then I used a series of brushes on each layer. I also set the layer mode on each layer to a different mode, so all the layers would show through. Thus, creating an image that resembles a water color painting.

Third, I placed my water color image into an 8.5in by 12in canvas on Photoshop (magazine size), and sized it accordingly. Then, I placed my vector title, I had created before in Adobe Illustrator CS5.5, and scaled it accordingly.

Next, I created more text in Illustrator and placed it at the top of my magazine, resembling an issue of this magazine. With this step, I also placed a date for the magazine issue and I placed a barcode at the bottom left of the cover, again, to resemble the cover I chose.

Last, I created some cover stories. I created the text in Illustrator. The one cover story "Congratulations Lori Smith Art Contest Winner!" was created to tie in the water color image to the magazine. I really like how the cover turned out and I had a lot of fun creating it!

"Talent" Magazine Cover in Process

I created the title for my magazine cover for my inspiration word "talent". First, I found a magazine I want to base my cover from. Here I have recreated the title of the magazine cover for "City Dog" magazine. I created the text as a vector image on Adobe Illustrator. This way I can scale the text to what ever size I want and it wont get pixelated. I put a black rectangle under the vector text so you can see the word "City" and the slight white outline around the word "Dog". The only thing you can't see from this image is the slight drop shadow behind the word "City".

Inspiration: Talent

For this little project I have decided to create a magazine cover. The inspiration word "talent" came from the site Illustration Friday. I have chosen the magazine "City Dogs". My vision is to photograph my cute Jack Russell Terrier, Cricket, and use Adobe Photoshop to create a painterly look to the photo. Then, I will use Adobe Illustrator to create the title, and then I will bring it back into Photoshop to put all the elements together and create cover stories. I am very excited to do this project as I LOVE photography and creating magazine covers.

Covered Wagon Final

This is my final design for the concept of the wheel. I started this horse and wagon image and Illustrator CS 5.5. Half way, I thought I would like to paint my drawing. I am not completely  happy with the way this turned out, but I wanted to try painting for a change.  I used acrylic paints on Canson paper.

Covered Wagon in Progress: Color

Now, I am adding color to my vector image. I think that it is starting to come together. The horse wont be that color and there is still more details to be added to the horse. On the right side you can see how many layers I have created so far. 

Horse and Covered Wagon in Progress

After I finished drawing my horse and covered wagon, I put my image into Illustrator. As you see in this picture I am beginning to trace the image using the pen tool to create my vector image.

Inspiration: Wheel

This week I got my inspiration for my project from the word "wheel". This was an Illustration Friday word a week ago. I drew this image because when I thought of the word, I thought of my Grandpa who used to drive a horse and covered wagon at a boys camp many years ago. My plan for this image is to create a farm sign or logo.

Ocean Farm Sign

I have finished my farm sign for my inspiration word "Ocean". After creating the horseshoe on Illustrator, I used a stock picture and did some color corrections on Photoshop. Then I placed my horseshoe in a Photoshop document and positions the picture into to centre. Then using the pen tool I created a mask on the picture to fit it into the horseshoe. After, I used the blur tool at the top of the picture to make it blend better. Then I saved it and reopened it in Illustrator to place the text and add some effects. Then, once again, opened it in Photoshop and place a wood background and set the opacity of the wood image to 9% and I put the "farm sign" image opacity to %97 just so we could see the texture of the wood through the sign.

Ocean Inspired Farm Sign In-Progress

This is my vector horseshoe in progress for my farm sign that was inspired by Illustration Friday's word "Ocean". I am building my vector art in Adobe Illustrator. In my background layer I place my picture of my horseshoe drawing. Then with the pen tool, on another layer I traced over my image. After I created two other layers. One for the bottom of the shoe, and the other for the shadow behind the shoe. Then I deleted my background image, as it was not needed anymore.

Inspiration: Ocean

I am a member of Illustration Friday and last weeks word was "Ocean". I chose to create a sign for a horse farm in Turks and Caicos that takes people on horse back riding adventures along the ocean and in the ocean. As I complete this illustration I will use vector art to create a horse shoe and put a horse and rider swimming in the ocean in the shoe.