The Marvelous Mr. Mud is the story of dirt, water and children. I love a good mud-day and so does Mr, Mud. He plays along with the kids in this UnBook by Scott E Franson that will never be published and will never be available at a bookstore near you.
This image is a preliminary experiment for the A-line series I did for a faculty art show last fall. I have always liked it and felt that it was a good match for this weeks Illustration Friday.
In photoshop, I use a layer for each color. I am using the multiply mode on each layer so that the colors look like they have been overprinted. I added a slightly different texture to each layer so that the color would build up in a more natural way. I started each layer with a solid block of color and then used the eraser tool with a hard edge brush to remove the area that I didn’t want to print. It makes it feel like a woodblock print.
Layer 1 is a white background layer.
Layer 2 | Light green
Layer 3 | A light green with a different texture
Layer 4 | a light green to darken some of the areas
Layer 5 | a light blue for softness
Layer 6 | main line layer in blue
Layer 7 | a gradation from blue to green
Layer 8 | A light blue that adds a halo
Layer 9 | the flowers and a bit of shadow inside the bell of the instrument
Warning from the Center of Disease Control. Forget about the Swine Flue, several swine in Iowa have contracted People Pox. The disease is highly contagious and can be fatal. Symptoms include breaking out in red spots and giving off body oder that smells like frying bacon on a Saturday morning at your Grandma’s house.
Todays experiment is an old fashioned rag doll. I have been working on the felt texture so that it feels like it is made up of a variety of close colors instead of exactly the same color. The yarn hair looks interesting, but it doesn’t look like yarn. The buttons remind me of Coraline. Maybe I should make some dolls to spy for me.
School productions are always fun. Here is a kindergarten production of Duck Pond: The Ballet. That’s my girl! The one in the middle! The one missing her bottom two teeth!
I have been working on creating digital felt textures and embroidery. The image started as a parade of bird hats for illustrationfriday.com but I didn’t finish in time.
Tutorial: Digital Cut Paper from Scott E Franson on Vimeo.
This is a basic tutorial to create a cut paper effect using Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator.
It doesn’t quite look like oil lift out, but I think it is interesting.
This is the beginning of a new Digital Illustration class. I hope to see great work and progress this semester. Please feel free to make comments on the students work over the semester. They want to be better illustrators at the conclusion of the class.
I am experimenting with creating some video tutorials. Please let me know what you think.
