Thesis Segment~ Aesop's Fables

FINAL LINE-UP OF AESOP'S FABLES

February 1, 2016

It is already February and I can say I have a good 80% of my Thesis pieces done. I finally was able to add my cast shadow into my Lion and the Mouse piece, so I can say that Aesop's is done! It is nice to say that seeing how this thesis of mine is stressing me out! Nice to see the progress of many hours of work!

The Lion and the Mouse

January 18, 2016

Up to this point my fables are 99% finished. They have been for a month now, I just haven't updated them until now. After they were all done I lined them up and added some color here and there, highlights here and there, etc. These small adjustments really made a difference. Reason why I say they are 99% done is because I will be showing my director these pieces when I am back to school in a couple weeks, therefore, he may suggest a few adjustments. I am pretty confident though there is not much to add, especially referring back to his comments when I first showed the sketches to him. 

 Fox and the Boar

 The Lion and the Mouse

 The Heron

 The Stag and His Reflection

The Tortoise and the Hare

One thing though I will say is that I will be adding a could cast shadows on "The Lion and the Mouse" the give some separation between the lion's face and the ropes. To test out the shapes of the shadows, I did a simple layer in photoshop to see how they would fall and their value. It really helps to give separation and depth in the piece. But I will have to wait until I get back to the west coast since I left them back there.

Lion and Mouse shadow test

October 29, 2015

Just realized I have been posting my finalized work everywhere else but here! It has been a journey so far and I am hoping to keep on schedule and finish all the fables before I head back to Massachusetts for the winter. I am pretty proud of what I have, but I will say they need small tweeks here and there. I wanted to look at them all at once so that I can better connect them in terms of style (on top of a few adjustments). But here they are so far!

The Lion and the Mouse

Fox and the Boar

The Heron

September 4, 2015

As I stated in my post for my Black Beauty segment, I have been busy since my last post! For those of you seeing this one before my Black Beauty segment, I have worked on 10 of my 15 pieces for my thesis. Final sketches have been established, and hopefully they are loved by my director! In terms of Aesop's, here are my final sketches for the pieces. Unlike my Black Beauty pieces (which I did in a 5 day span), I see nothing wrong with my work here. I LOVE my execution of the fables I chose to do.  I was so lucky to have feedback on these before I came back to the west coast. They all loved my compositions! I was very happy about that since one of my biggest problems is working with compositions in terms of pushing things back into space. So good to hear that they are working! I cannot wait to get started!

Just know that these are somewhat messy because they are drawn on tracing paper with pencil.

        

The Boar and the Fox

        

The Stage and his Reflection

       

The Heron

      

The Tortoise and the Hare

     

The Lion and the Mouse

June 2, 2015

Even though this guy will appear differently in one of my chosen Fables, I needed a character to represent the Fables as a whole for my header for the blog. What better symbol than the fox.

Thesis Segment~"A Friend For Meelo" by Me

FINAL PIECES FOR MEELO:

May 5 2016 - I have been too busy!!

I think it is quite interesting how, having my final review just around the corner, I have neglected to add things here! Not that I haven't been on top of everything but still. My directed studies have given me a lot of time to work on my thesis (so direct yourself to those sections). Those classes have really helped me out so much. But, my thesis is all completed. After critiques, re-do's, and adjustments, I have a solid body of work to get myself out into the world.

April 29 2016-


I figure it would be a good idea to place some pictures about my process when it comes to my painting. As I work on my last one, I felt this would be a great way to wrap it all up now that I have established a really solid way I go about my work:

 

After everything is critiqued and adjusted, I would transfer the drawing onto the final surface through a light table

Stretched and ready!

Any huge area that needs to be painted in I misket off all edges around it to protect the surrounding areas but also control the watercolor.

After that area is painted in, I then take that misket off (masking fluid for those who do not know), and go to the next area.

Masking off characters so I can freely work on the surrounding areas.

Getting there...

I can finally see that creature so I am going to move on.

Next.....

Creature by creature.

Almost there, and then I start to bring things all together, adding final details.

FINISHED!

January 15, 2016- It's been awhile

I love seeing that I haven't updated this section of my thesis since I last 'worked on it' back in May. But I will say I have been working on developing Meelo in my previous Character Design for Animators class (please see that section to see Meelo's progression). Taking that class allowed me to really think about what it takes to develop a character/story. It was a lot of work, A LOT of drawing, but I see how important it is to draw over and over again to get. After the class was over, and after some well deserved time dedicated to sleep, family, sleep, and eating a lot, I finally dropped right back into work for my thesis.

I finally was able to take another look at Meelo's story, including the 32 pg spread. I will say, I need to re-develop that. After going through a few more thumbnails based on the ideas I already established in that spread, I was able to create the solid ideas for my 5 works dedicated to Meelo. I am so happy to say that I can look at these drawings and really say to myself," Yes, they are where I want them to be." I am sure that every artist on this planet creates works that they feel are not there yet. I felt that way after I created to spread. After some good amount of time for developing, re-doing, and drawing, drawing, drawing, I am able to bring myself to a point where I look at my work and see professional quality design and composition. And not just professional, but personal too. I am able to say I have a style now, and I like that feeling.

All sketches are done on tracing paper and are 14x22"

I am so proud of myself.

May 25, 2015- Progressing...

I had some individuals contact me asking to put up some progression stages when I do my pen work and to see how I develop my pieces. Someday I will try to do a progression on a full narrative one of these days, but I will start here with Meelo. This little character sketch was fun to do.

May 23, 2015- This is Meelo

Above is my main character, Meelo, in A Friend for Meelo, an original story I wrote. I am still developing him as a character, so I will leave you with just his character portrait. Below is my 32 page book layout for my story. I am not going to be doing every single double page panel, but I am required to have this layout established otherwise. I am going to be taking the cover and 4 double page illustrations to turn into final pieces.
This also is still in development, as I await for next Fall when I am able to sit down with my Director to get his feedback on this and everything else I can establish when that time comes. The characters here are still in the developmental stage, but they are on the right track.