Sketchesssssssss

I had a wonderful sketchbook party with Emily Walus where we drew these wonderful folk costumes from around the world. And I have to say Faber Castell pitt/brush pens are so wonderful! They free me up and allow for quickkkkk sketches.














Here are some pages from my watercolor/acrylic sketchbook. I was just experimenting with different ways of working and building up the paint. But I find that the most effective way of working is: a faber castell quick marker drawing + an acrylic glaze or two just to break up the white space and then going straight into acrylic.






Water color study, for the character in one of my comicssssss~

THE Comic Book Storytelling

First Assignment for "The" Comic Book Storytelling
Prompt: Do something fantabulous that'll grant you a favorable professional portfolio review (fully resolved story+ one page + no text).

The Cycle of the Ankh

Gouache + Digital

Heh, so much can be said about this...but I'll edit it later!

What's Your Story: The Phantom Tollbooth

Our second assignment was to create three narrative images based on a novel, mythological tale, poem, etc. And then we had to integrate words/layouts into the narrative images.
I chose The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster. It's one of my childhood favorites, and I think the book gives alot of freedom to go crazy/have fun with the imagery.



With this assignment, I really wanted to gain some experience with watercolor. However, I find that watercolor doesn't naturally fit with the way I work (it's not very forgiving either). But I definitely had better control of it by the second piece. In the end, the piece is Watercolor + Acrylic + hints of gouache + Digital.

Assignments like these also remind me of how much I respect graphic designers. Text is difficult to work with, and I was really confused as to where to take it. Originally I had "place-holder" text. But MJ recommended that I have more exciting text, especially since the entire book is so playful with words, knowledge, and concepts involving education.
I'm still not sure how I feel about the text, but it'll be alright for now :]

Born again + Naija Zombies

I have a bad habit of starting, new blogs...and sketchbooks.
But I'm sure I can hold on to this one for a good amount of time.
It has a good name :]

Anyway, Junior Year at RISD is in full throttle.
I love everything I'm doing, but it's exhausting to say the least.
My diet consists of learning to tell stories through comics/sequential imagery, narrative images,and dance/theater/performance art (New Works/World Traditions at brown university~I love them all so much).
I'm also taking an Anatomy class and History of Illustration. They're great additions to this errr ~diet~

Time is crazy, and fleeting to say the least.
But enough of that. Onto the work!

First Assignment from What's Your Story:
We were prompted to capture an interesting/significant historical moment (and place ourselves in the scene).
I chose to depict Fela Kuti performing on stage, and contrasting the joy and energy of his performance with the "zombie-like" (hoho, Fela song reference) soldiers that would constantly raid/oppress him

My first composition was not working out too well:

So Mary Jane told me to recompose and simplify

Here's a thumbnail!

Linework

Finished piece

This piece was really fun! I learned alot about painting in photoshop (e.g. THERE'S MORE THAN ONE OPTION/CATEGORY TO PICK COLORS haha. Thanks Emily :] )

Not to mention, I NEED to see Fela! on broadway now. The choreography, staging, costuming, and story all looks fantastic. Not to mention the wonderful musical score!

I leave you with this wonderful song, Zombie by Fela Kuti


Until next posting!