Something I've been working on...

More shopfronts coming up. I've been working on these (although not nearly enough) for my show for Contact in May. Yikes. It's almost here!

New York

More Illustrator fun

See, I told you I would post more. Here's my final project for my Illustrator class.

Visit Lyon!

We had to create either a print ad or just artwork. I was inspired by travel posters from the 30s although the inclusion of the bridge would put its date a little later than that so I'm not trying to fool anybody. The instructor suggested the overlay of old paper and it really pulled everything together for the look I was after.

Moving on to more fun at the Toronto School of Art. I'll have to sign up for classes next week.

Illustrator work

Here's my second project for my Illustrator class this winter. Class wrapped up today although today was the first day I couldn't attend. I think I only missed crits for everyone's final project (which you will see in the coming days as well). I'm a lot more comfortable with this programme now and can leave my CorelDraw days behind.

In this image there wasn't much "freehand" drawing except for the cyclist and car and lamps. All of the buildings were taken from my photos of buildings in Ireland, Switzerland, Spain, Berlin, Paris, San Francisco and right here in Toronto. I had to work on the images in Photoshop first to take out any of the background and then live traced them in Illustrator and then played around with their colours. I also created the brushes used in the "sky" and "sidewalk" by live tracing images of watercolour brushstrokes. I then used other images as starting points for the actual car, cyclist and lamps from my own photos and tracing over them with the pen tool.

It's been a while...

Before I tell you why it's been a while, have a cupcake. Or just look at these (made this past weekend).

I promise to post some of the work I've been working on in the near future. Until then the update is: school (coming to a close for this term), new job (part-time but still and it's at the AGO in the paper lab - my fave!), getting ready for Contact (not enough) and just general day-to-dayness stuff.

Take 3

Next image

Changed in favour to this

Worked on another shopfront that sort of mirrored the other one in colour and composition yet it just wasn't working. So format change, image change etc. and we have something different.

Take two

Backgrounds with added raw umber and burnt umber. They're currently under some experimenting with the photo component. I've layered the photos and exposed the background in the photo as well as treating the original image with filters to give a more painterly effect to match the background and type of support. We'll see how it goes. It may be back to the drawing board. I'm hoping it all works out because these are meant for a show in March that happens to be just around the corner...

First experiment

Shop in Lyon

Background

background #1

Making and scanning my own background for artwork. I think it might change before I'm finished with it, though. I might be adding some browns in an attempt to give it more of an aged look. Watch this space...

Cake!

Guinness cake to be exact and it looks like a pint. Thanks to a Nigella recipe. Should have made it next week for my dad's birthday but I jumped the gun. Will have to do something else instead.

A Winter Saturday

...which basically means I didn't do much. I did get to class and learn a lot but then I came home and tried to work (really, I tried) but sleepiness won out and a nap was called for. This evening I curled up with a photo magazine and then got inspired to do a black-and-white of a photo I took from yesterday's beach outing. I also colorized it to bring out the iciness of the situation (like you couldn't tell it was cold).

Tomorrow I work!

Winter things

The good point of being freelance/under-employed is that it allows you to take an hour out and go take photos. I had to drop off some business cards to a gallery where I will have a photo in a show this month on my way (so not all fun and games, business was done too). I noticed the sky was really interesting over the lake so after the gym and a little bit of shopping for supplies, off I went. You can see what I mean about  the sky. Such and interesting colour. I wanted to try out my new gradual density filter and ND filter. I tried the gradual but it was just so very, very, VERY cold down there I couldn't be doing with switching out filters and setting up a tripod. I also didn't plan this very well so my battery was low. I made sure I kept it warm in my mitten until I got to the beach.

Now those supplies... Guinness was harmed in the making of dinner tonight. It is a key ingredient for both dinner and dessert. I made a stew and a cake.

Changes...

changed work

Not much of a change. Can you spot the difference? I changed the saturation levels of some of the images poking through the main image and increased the contrast of the main one. Just subtle changes...

Class

I have my first assignment due on Tuesday so I'm actually getting some work done on it now. Still playing around with it but here's the way it stands now.

So this is what I've been doing. Also a lot of editing and some sleeping and then some working out. And getting a photo ready to put in a show next month. Busy week.