This week we turned in our thumbnails/comps for the Wind in the Willows assignment. Going up to this point, I took a lot of inspiration from Terryl Whitlatch and Justin Gerard; as they approach creature designs with a lot of life studies. Perry also gave a list of great artists to refer to as well, viz;

Heinrich Kley
T.S. Sullivant
Boris Artzybasheff
Daniel Merriam
Carlos Nine (might be NSFW)
Omar Rayyan
Charles Santore
Scott Gustafson

I started looking up toads, but actually cut the process short because we had a quick assignment change. But the idea is to draw from life studies of animals and objects; then using that information you have gained to create a new imaginary creature. Justin Gerard shows a lot of attention to detail in his sketches, and they look quite good:

These type of sketches would later turn into something like this

Even though the third sketch is an imaginary creature, it still feels natural, like something that you might actually see in a cave hidden deep in the Himalayas. Using the knowledge that he gains from life studies and implementing that into his own illustrations makes that possible. These sketches are from Justin Gerard's blog

I started with a toad sketch, but also looking up images of moles, rats and badgers. After our new assignment is completed, I will go back and do more study sketches to try to imitate Justin Gerard's and Terryl Whitlatch's method.

This week we turned in our first assignment, which was to illustrate a book cover from a chosen set of books. Perry went through and asked us to critique different pieces. He made sure to note when there were different elements of design that needed to be addressed, and gave advice for for improving each work.

For me he advised that I use some white chalk to show the highlights that I could not achieve with the graphite powder I used for mine. I've already started to try (with nu pastel) and it works great. I just need to sit down and complete the piece as he suggested.

 

Graphite powder and a 2B pencil on Bristol paper (with an assortment of erasers)

I chose 'A Brave New World' thinking it was about Chris Columbus sailing the ocean blue.

I learned that it is not about Columbus. Though it does have a bit to do with a man finding himself in foreign territory, and trying to adapt to the extreme differences. It's not a very happy book at all, I chose to depict John the Savage towards the end. 

I watched Perry do a fantastic demonstration with Graphite Powder, so I wanted to try it out. Basically you lay the powder onto your paper with a soft brush, then after you have it to the value that you want it, you pick up where you want to with an eraser.

I didn't get a picture of his demonstration, but here is some of his work. UPDATE: HERE'S THE DEMO!

Note how he has toned the page, then lifts the highlights and darkens as he sees fit. Fantastic work. Basically that it what I was trying to emulate

We received our next assignment, which is a Children's Book Illustration on 'The Wind in the Willows' The next class we were lectured on Anthropomorphism and Metamorphism, and effective ways to do it. Perry showed examples from artists such as Justin Gerard. I will do more research, and am currently reading the book.