MICA: Sophomore Illustration: September 2012

Friday, September 28, 2012

Trip to Edgar Allan Poe's grave

Today I went to Edgar Allen Poe's gravesite since I want to make a character based off this location. I took a lot of photos of graves and the surrounding area.

I did some sketches while I was there. One of the memorial + a sketch of a potential character design.

Next I'm thinking about walking down Charles St. and making sketches of characters based off of the churches in that area.

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Research

Today worked on gathering more specific information on locations I am planning on visiting these locations this weekend. I also split up the day and worked on my homework for my Game/play class as well as my Painting as illustration class:
Researching locations:

Cardinal Gibbson School:
3225 Wilkens Ave. Baltimore, Maryland
Was once St. Mary's Industrial reform School for boys, Babe Ruth attended St. Mary's.
Lights in the Gym are said to turn on by themselves as well as balls bouncing, some people believe that Babe Ruth haunts it.

Robert Long house:
812 South Ann Street, Baltimore,
Robert long moved to the Fells point area and built the house around 1765. The activity related to this house includes a female apparition in the front parlor, workers and visitors report a feeling of being touched. There is also a story from the director of the Preservation Society having answered a knocked late at night and was met by five sailors who looked like they had drowned and beckoned for her to join them.
* Contact the Preservation Society

Fort McHenry:

Apperitions of soldiers as though on Guard duty, some belive that it is the spirit of Lt. Levi Claggett or of William Williams an escaped slave both who died in the Battle of Fort McHenry

Gardens of Faith
5598 trumps mill road baltimore
A woman that wanders the cemetery at night it is said she watches over the cemetery, There is likewise a man who is said to rise from his grave and stays around all day.

Still to look up:
Gridiron Club
Old Hutzlers

Semester Long Project - postcards of Fell's Point

For the semester long project, I will make series of postcards that illustrate both the historic elements in Fell's point (especially the row houses), the harbor, and some specific stores that stand out around there. The purpose is simply to create and share some visualized information especially to those who are not really familiar to the city. Fell's point is one of the unique -historic features of Baltimore that sums up something about the city itself.
Today, I only written down possible materials that I will use: block watercolor paper (approx. 4"x6" each), combination of watercolor,gouache, pencil, with pen for the details on the other side of the postcard.

Talia's Research Day

As is mentioned in the other post, I was having some technical difficulties with the blog, and Valerie was kind enough to let me use her account to upload.

For my project I'm designing a poster series aimed at children for the Baltimore Zoo.

The animals I'm considering:

Giraffes - for a small fee zoo guests are allowed to go and feed the giraffes. It's quite cute, actually, so I'll probably include a depiction of this in my poster

Lions

Rhinos

monkeys

various birds

cheetahs - they have this cheetah event once a day (which unfortunately I missed) where they lead the cheetah into this glass box thing that's really up close to the audience.

Frogs - they had some frogs in a glass case that's a perfect eye level for small children.

After much adventuring and tomfoolery at the zoo, I went home and gathered some reference pictures for the various animals I intend to draw at different angles.

There weren't many people there (then again, on a Tuesday in September that's not surprising). I'll have to stop by again on a Saturday so I can get some reference pictures of parents and children.

Exploring North Avenue at night!

Today I wanted to explore sanitation issues related to pest problems in the Baltimore area. I went down N. Avenue, Charles Street, and around the Inner Harbor looking for pests. I documented areas that would likely house these pests, such as overfilled trash cans, old and abandoned buildings, dumpsters, etc. Even though it was daytime when I began, I saw several rats scurrying about North Avenue. I also made plans to see a friend's rat to take photos and make sketches.

Talia's Caricature and Portrait (Explanation Inside)

Talia was having some technical difficulties with the blog so I agreed to let her upload her work on my account this time.

Benedict Cumberbatch: Autumn Bartels

Lines: Paint Tool Sai; Colour: Photoshop

Paint Tool Sai

Lady Gaga caricature and portrait

Gouche & colored pencil

Ink, gouche, and colored pencil

Visiting Fort McHenry

Today, I made a trip down to Fort McHenry in order to gather more information about the Armistead Monument. This is the landmark in Baltimore which I have decided to write a children's book about. The monument is a large bronze statue of Col. George Armistead, who is famous for defending the fort in the War of 1812. The battle that took place at the fort during that war is the battle that served as the inspiration for America's National Anthem. Today I took a tour of the fort and gathered as much historical information as I could in order to properly Illustrate my book as well as write about everything involving the battle. Below are some of the photos and information I will use for reference.

Celebrity Caricature/Portrait

The caricatures are done with a brush and ink. The portrait is in acrylic.

Jack White Caricature & Portrait

Ink pens & Watercolor

Scanned linework colored in Photoshop

Redesign of Maryland License Plates

For the semester-long project, I’m redesigning the Maryland state background scene plates. The current two can be seen here.

I’m focusing on Baltimore-area scenes and ideas. Over the weekend I went to the Inner Harbor, as well as walked around Mount Vernon to get ideas. This is the (current) list of the plates I would like to design:

1. Edgar Allan Poe- His grave and the Poe Toaster (I still need to get to Poe’s grave to get a reference photo)

2. CRABS!!- specifically blue

3. The Aquarium and/or Tall Ships

4. Brown Building and the Rainbow Bridge (come on don’t we deserve our own special plates?)

5. Baltimore Washington Monument

6. Baltimore Oriole- the bird and I would like to find a way to combine it with the Baltimore Oriole logo as well to show the connection

7. Combine the state flower (Black-eyed Susan) and state insect (Baltimore Checkerspot Butterly)- I want to go to the Walters this week and see if they have a specimen of the butterfly I could use for reference instead of sitting around and hoping to spot one.

Not going to post all of the photos I took, but I'll post a couple.

This is in The Gallery mall, and I thought it would be a good jumping-off point for the crab-based license plate.

Ship from the Inner Harbor.

Visit to the humane society

For my visit to the humane society I met with the coordinator, Wendy. After e-mailing her back and forth, and talking with her on the phone, we discussed what needed to be on the t-shirt, and the ultimate re-branding process of the humane society.

The Problem: To create a T-Shirt design that is up to modernized standards, but also incorporates the already existing logo of the humane society. T-Shirt must be 4 colors, to be printed on white. Back will be black and white.

So, I sent Wendy a various amount of sketches, shown below are two:

From here she decided she liked the idea of the animals being in the heart. From here I decided to go in that direction but also make the animals have their own style to be able to brand the humane society further. In the final design (shown below) the animals incorporate the type of food they are known to eat (fish, carrot, bone.) The design is sent in black and white to then decide on a color palette once approved. Colors incorporated must be royal blue and grass green, the other two colors are of my choosing.