Thursday, May 14, 2009

I'm Back

Hello fellow group members....I know I've been missing in action, but now I'm going to focus on being more involved. Truly. I swear. I have been keeping up to date on posts, and have to say that the illustrations are looking great.

I need help. This is an illustration of a little girl who has just taken a big digger on the sidewalk. Her "arms and legs are everywhere". Mom is looking at her, shocked, and I don't know what to do with mom's arms...any suggestions? Would really love any ideas.

Also, sorry this sketch is so messy- I am not very good at cleaning up scans without losing detail. Can anyone give any helpful hints on that?

Thanks a bunch. I promise I won't go MIA again...well at least for awhile;)

8 comments:

Patti said...

I like the idea of what you are doing and the interesting perspective. It seems that the girl and the mother are in different perspectives though. You are looking from above at the girl and the mother seems to be from the side.

kris fulk said...

Welcome back! I know what you mean about going a bit MIA (I just had my finals *and* we're moving to Houston 2 days after my graduation on the 16th- gosh!)

I agree with Patti on this. I like the abstract quality of her many flailing arms and legs. But I am not sure about the perspective on the mother. If we follow the girl's figure, we would actually be seeing the top of the mother's head, tip of her nose too probably. Right now it's harder to read them together, but you might have a reason for putting them on different planes.

About the dirty sketch - I'm the same way! I try to be neat, and I also have the absolute worst problem of doing the final illo on the sketch without switching paper. If you use photoshop you can use the eraser tool after you zoomed in and clean up stray lines that way. Also, you can adjust the levels so the paper stays white instead of grayish, and the darks stays dark. Other than photoshop, I am not sure, but there's probably a levels corrector in your scanner TWAIN software.

Hope this helps!
Kris

nicbrek said...

Hello, I know you asked about the mom's hands. I think if one hand is on her head or over her mouth it may add to the shocked look. Looks like an interesting piece. Can't wait to see it painted.

pete said...

I agree with what's been said so far.

I think this piece could turn out very cool and I can't wait to see the finish. In my opinion, there's enough variation in the hands and feet to make the mother's perspective read abstractly. It's wild! It's great!

You could always leave Mom's arms out of it...I think there should be emotion displayed in her face to get your point across. You might exaggerate her "shock" a bit more.

Pixiewinkle said...

Thank you all! I know that the two are on different planes, and I think that the illustration is strange enough that it can work- but is it better with or without the mom? I really wanted the bird's eye view with the daughter, but I also wanted the mom to be included from above...I guess I wanted my cake and to eat it too. Nicbrek, I really like your idea of putting a hand over her mouth and Pete, I agree- there needs to be more shock factor. I'll pump it up.

Christy/Tiddly Inks Digitals said...

Hi ya,
I like the idea of what you are trying to do. The only suggestion I would add to the ones above is that maybe the girl looks a bit too old...something about the lips. I guess it would depend on how you finish it though. I like the perspective too, but I might leave out the mom if you were debating. I hope the final works out for you and do post it when it is done. :)
Christy

kris fulk said...

Ooo, I had another idea. Have you considered playing with size to emphasize the abstractness? Say, for example, if the mom's face is big so we get a full impact on the shock factor, complete with hand on an open mouth, and behind her is the image of the girl. I whipped this up really quickly, so something like this, but with the hand(s) etc.

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c71/marikris/pixiwinkle.jpg Anyway, something to think about only ^_^ It fills up the paper, resulting in more fragmented parts that adds spice to the abstraction (at least to me hehe).

Kris

Pixiewinkle said...

Kris- i like the size idea- i'll have to play with that now too! i was talking to a student today about how size can make an impact- an in my case it is true as well! Christy- I'll play with the lips.

You all have been such a big help! Thank you.