Neuronsssssss~

I'm in a class called Brainstorm this semester. It's basically an interdisciplinary class that allows us to create our own independent projects, that focus on the intersection of neuroscience. Additionally the class is kind of based off of this piece that the Everett Dance Company is creating [which is one of the first things that drew me to the class (hopefully I'll be dancing for the final project)].
Anyway for the first project I decided to explore neurons as character designs.

Here's the initial sketch stage where I explored the form of unipolar, bipolar, multipolar, and pyramidal neurons.

 I started with the basic diagrammatic form of the bipolar neuron, and then came up with this guy

And here's the finalized sketches (one line drawing exploring the design, one page showing off the neuron's personality/turn arounds, and a rough color study:

Unipolar

Multipolar

Pyramidal

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!