Painting for Illustration Mid Term - BAM PAM!

Pam Grier Water Color #1 - D.L. Maffett

Here is my midterm for Painting for Illustration. I chose Pam Grier! WHY? If you have to ask... then you need to have the taste slapped outta ya mouf! This was a fun piece too. Hell they all are fun pieces. I am happy because I am learning to paint. Imagine that? ME a painter. AND WATERCOLOR? I used to hate watercolor, thinking of the old art kits that were dollar store christmas presents. 

I Most people know me for my stylized illustrations. My professor (David Moyers) is AWESOME. I respect him as an art instructor because he hold no punches and tells the student when improvement is needed. I went into this piece thinking it was all that.... Prof. Moyers brought me back down to earth, and I love him for it! He showed me the areas where i need to improve and areas where I have grown. I EARNED a B on this. I am thankful, but not satisfied. I say that because I want to get better. My final will be posted in a few days, I still have to finish up.

line art

color studies

original photo

Digital Illustration Final Exam

Here is my digital illustration final. This was a fun project, because I love Stormtroopers and always wanted to be able to draw the helmet. As a kid, I sketched and drew them from photos and from my action figures but could never get it right. I also was a BIG FAN of wireframe graphics. I tried to draw wireframe graphics by hand using grid paper but it never came out right. But with the magic of Adobe Illustrator,  I was not only able to draw a kool looking wireframe but also making a darn good stormtrooper helmet. I chose the color scheme because it looked dated for 1970s / 1980s star wars graphics. I used Marvel's IronMan's HUD as a reference also. I got inspiration from Jason R. Murray's art piece

(http://www.jasonrmurray.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Storm-Trooper-Blaster_Aged.jpg).

What was most irritating about this project is that it was the final, and I didn't realize that it was due. I spent most of my time working on a kick @$$ Soul of a Hero poster. (see the SOAH blog for it). When the course instructor advised me that I was missing a project I was like "oh SNAP!" So I tried to figure out something that would be fun, quick but able to show my skillset. The info graphic is HIGHLY vector graphic intensive, while very simplistic looking. 

I may make these into mini prints to give away at cons with a stormstrooper illustration.