All Hail the Mighty Tome

I was super into working in my various sketchbooks this semester. Here are some pearls that have happened over the semester from my personal illuminated manuscripts.

 

Painting Final

My final project in my Oil Painting class was to create a master copy, and a response to that copy. As an illustrator, I feel that my illustrations rely on my painting, and as an illustrator of largely mythological themes, I feel largely influenced by the Pre-Raphaelites.

I chose to create a master copy of Gather Ye Rosebuds while Ye May by John William Waterhouse. It's not my favorite Waterhouse painting, but I felt that it was simple enough to provide for a good study, and I am really in love with the composition and color. Here is a study I did before beginning the oil painting:



Here are a few images of the final painting:

 

Gather Ye Rosebuds While Ye May

oil on canvas 2010

I decided to create a response in the manor of Waterhouse. This is because I have been really influenced by his style of painting: Strong women, mythological subject matter, all painted in a naturalistic yet almost impressionistic fashion.

I also wanted to address the subject matter of this specific painting. While Waterhouse is known for the strong women and mythological femme-fatales in his paintings, Gather Ye Rosebuds While Ye May was inspired by this poem :

TO THE VIRGINS, TO MAKE MUCH OF TIME.
by Robert Herrick

GATHER ye rosebuds while ye may,
    Old time is still a-flying :
And this same flower that smiles to-day
    To-morrow will be dying.

The glorious lamp of heaven, the sun,
    The higher he's a-getting,
The sooner will his race be run,
    And nearer he's to setting.

That age is best which is the first,
    When youth and blood are warmer ;
But being spent, the worse, and worst
    Times still succeed the former.

Then be not coy, but use your time,
    And while ye may go marry :
For having lost but once your prime
    You may for ever tarry.

As a feminist, naturally this makes me cringe. I wanted my response to be similar in composition but way more empowering. I chose my dear friend Lissy to model for me. She is a modern Priestess of Isis. Here was a study I painted for this piece:



I decided to add a more esoteric element to the piece (to imply that the subject knows something you don't) I added hieroglyphs to the background. Here are a few images of the final piece:

The Priestess

oil on canvas 

2010

Henry Molaison

One of my assignments for Illustration Studio was to create a half-page, magazine illustration for an article about Henry Molaison. I did some research on Henry Molaison, and the images that stuck with me were the descriptions of him in his courtyard, watching trains with his bunny and his dog. Here was my first ideation comp:



I then painted the final draft, scanned it, and switched the orientation in Photoshop so it would read better. Here is the result:

The Transformation of an Illustration

For my Illustration Studio final, I was assigned to create an anti-smoking PSA. This was an interesting and weird assignment for me, a smoker.

I decided to build the PSA around the amount of money the government receives annually from cigarette sales. With US government symbolism and my own style in mind, I initially planned for the PSA to be rife with Masonic symbolism and to look very sinister. Here are a few of my ideations from that point:

I thought that cigarettey pillars with cancerous mouths would make a nice touch to the imagery

I brought these ideas to my Professor, and he said that they were too esoteric. I reworked my ideas into something more broad (I HATE doing that) and came up with this basic composition:



I wanted a insignia to be the main image. I reworked this composition (it felt too boxy), scanned the ink drawing I made of the Eagle seal, added some texture, designed the text, then put it all together and colored it in Photoshop. He is the final result:

Still Life Oil Painting

Oil on canvas
Fall 2010

Typeface

Here is a typeface I designed for my Illustration Studio class

Update Time!

 Hello All! Happy Yule :)

Finally getting around to updating here. It's been a pretty full semester, and I'm excited to show you what I've come up with.

I finally moved into a place of my own where I can actually be stationary for the next few years! This is a huge relief, and should also be conducive for keeping current with this blog (I now have a scanner at my disposal.) Alright, I shall commence with the updates. I'll start with a better scan of my Scelerophobia illustration. Enjoy :)

Scelerophobia

My first big illustration assignment was to illustrate a phobia. I chose Scelerophobia.  We started the project out with ideations. I knew that I was going to create something of an image montage, so I churned out a bunch of compositions for the elements of my main piece out in my sketchbook:

I then created the sketch for the actual composition:

Then the final piece, composed with goauche and color pencils. I tried to figure out how to work the contrast in this image to make the female the obvious focal point. I decided to make the images that represent the phobia as a transparent, make-believe membrane that was encroaching on her reality. This worked out pretty nicely as far as balancing out the contrast. And I'm happy to report that I finally found a place for Albert Fish in my artwork. Even the Zodiac!

Scelerophobia

gouache and color pencils

Valerie Herron 2010