A new (BE)ginning

In an attempt to capture a wider audience and also as a way to complete my face tuh face illustration project, I took to the site Behance to portray an accumulation of my finished artwork. Behance is a website that allows you to create an online portfolio of creative projects an connect with a network of people. Individuals have been hired and discovered through Behance due to its easy accessibility. Self promotion is the backbone of this platform.

I have published my Face tuh Face project that can be viewed here.

So, we have, unfortunately come to the bitter-sweet end. My goal, in the beginning was to find an illustration style that I could call my own. Though, I do not think I have quite achieved that goal, the process has been a beneficial one nonetheless. I have grown a greater appreciation for the artists that live in the creative sphere. I believe part of my talent lies in mimicking those of others, which lends itself to being more difficult than one may assume. My style will continue to blossom as I journey down the path of a graphic artist, I have no doubt about that. I'm currently under the impression that only when my back is against the wall, and I am really required to produce art that completely reflects myself is when my creativity will kick into high gear. I thrive under pressure and I think that would be a huge motivation for me. As for now, my technical skills have improved significantly, as I have illustrated using techniques that I doubted were capable of my hands.

It is extremely hard to allocate time for personal illustrations in this field and this project allowed for just that. Now it is back to desigining to satisfy clients rather than myself, which can be pretty challenging. I guess the end isn't as sweet as it is bitter.

-S.R

Sharing the Hot Seat

As the final aspect of my collaboration with Roxanne, or Roxara as I like to call her now, I agreed to be interviewed by her, alongside Allison the owner of the blog Artful Trini.  The experience was a slightly bumpy road due to the technical difficulties that presented themselves. We all know that you can't completely rely on technology. As such, the interview was filmed and re-filmed 2 weeks later.

The interview consisted of thirteen questions based on art and my journey as a graphic artist. This included my inspirations as well as my fears. The interview went smoothly due to the fact that my life revolves around being a graphic artist and it is easy to speak on a topic that I live and breathe. It honestly only took one take. Now, I am no professional speaker, so imagine my shock when I realized that both Allison and I were able to deliver our answers, with no script, speaking straight from our heart. It was easy to tell how passionate we both were about our work, and it was very refreshing to meet someone who shared a similar passion to mine.

Here are some images taken from shoot numero uno:

Left: Zamfir, Myself, Roxanne & Allison

The second day of filming went just as smooth as the first and we made sure to put things in place to ensure that there would not be a repeat of the difficulties faced last. A link to the YouTube video will be posted here on my blog very soon so look out for it.

-S.R

Inspiring Creativity at our Library

A couple days ago I met up with Sonia Bernard, from the blog The Misadventures of a Library Assistant. She approached me to offer a short free class, to children in the Young Adult Library. I thought this was an amazing idea that would give me the opportunity to interact with creative young people and pass on my knowledge to them. Prior to this experience I had never stepped into the teaching sphere in regards to art. I had always been the student.

Many people are not aware that the library offers free computer classes to persons, none of which incorporated any aspects of art. It was not something that was strict or rigid because the people who took the class were school children who happened to be visiting the library that day. We pitched the idea of partaking in a free class, taught by myself, using the computer facilities provided by the library and we received a few eager responses. The nature of the class was an individual, one on one lesson, which I personally think is the best teaching method. Therefore only two children were selected.

Due to our surroundings, the many children occupying the library that day and other restrictions we were unable to film the class like we had hoped to. We did however, film a short introduction to the collaboration and a brief interview with one of the participating students.

The class lasted approx. twenty (20) minutes for each student, and was based around the graphic design software, Adobe Illustrator. The public computers available were not equipped with the program so a portable version was used from my personal USB flash drive. The class included familiarizing the two students with the program and teaching them the a few standard tools and basic uses.

A few basic illustrator tools

The tools that I touched on were: the selection, rectangle, paintbrush and fill tool. A combination of these would produce basically anything. I remembered first starting out these were the tools that I felt most comfortable using, until I felt confident enough to use to the pen tool which is a very difficult to master but is the basis of all my artwork today.

Here is a very short explanation of the tools illustrated above.
Selection tool: Used to select, move and transform or manipulate the size objects
Rectangle tool:Used to create various basic shapes: rectangle, rounded rectangle, ellipse, polygon and star
Paintbrush tool: Draws organic paths or strokes (lines)
Fill tool: Fills shapes and strokes with a selected colour

When the students were fairly familiar with the tools, I began to show them how they could be used together to draw a simple self portrait. I was completely shocked as to how quickly the students grasped the concept of the program. They were able to move around and create without much help from me. I really believe that their art showed a lot of great potential and I really hope that they keep pursing art, in any shape or form, not only digital. Here is a short interview on youtube that I did with one of the participants.

Roxara

This portrait had to have been my second most challenging one to date, with my Gaks inspired portrait taking the number one spot in that respect. Sara's portraits have a very sketchy pencil texture to them which was difficult to mimic without it looking too harsh or forced. It was also, pretty impossible for my version to look identical to Roxanne's portrait. Sara's style required me to completely change her face shape and structure, elongate her neck and decrease her large oval eyes.  I of course, however, retained her hair texture, fulling and adding more length for aesthetic purposes. Her lips and nose remained more or less the same. I produced two versions, with a slight variation, one with pupils and the other without. Roxanne requested that her pupils be kept in the portrait. which in my opinion, gives the portrait a soul. 

-S.R

Roxara

A Good Fit: Sara & Roxanne

Continuing on the Sara Golish train, my focus and illustration this week, will be inspired by Moondust. I do not think that my portrait, however, would do her style justice so I have enlisted the help of  Roxanne Coombs, the owner of the blog Things That Annoy and Things to Enjoy. Roxanne has graciously provided me with an image of herself to pick apart for this portrait. 

Roxanne Combs

As you can see from the image, Roxanne has fairly long dreadlocks which ties perfectly into what Moondust represents; the beauty of natural hair. My hair is also natural but in the image that I have been using as a reference, my hair had been straightened using a heating tool which does not communicate the same message. When Roxanne first approached me to collaborate I thought of doing her portrait inspired by an artist she choose. She did not have an artist off the bat, and could not find one that appealed to her after much research. This was when a light bulb flashed in my mind and I presented her with the idea of using a Moondust piece. She was almost as excited as I was and her only stipulation was that I retain the pupils in her eyes, which I agreed to do without hesitation. For this illustration I wanted to dig a little deeper, and truly put myself in the artist's mind to achieve a well thought out portrait that communicated a message.

-S.R

Her Sun & Moon: Sara Golish

Sara Golish, in my opinion epitomizes an artist with a distinct, and extremely unique style. This style has gained her popularity in the past years and cannot be mistaken for the work of another. According to Sara's online biography posted to her website, she is a Canadian visual artist who specializes in  portrait and figurative drawings. Her style embodies the spirit of women and breathes new life into each portrait. From my research of her, I am led to believe that females are her preferred subject. She currently has two completed drawing collections; Sundust and Moondust. Each woman is drawn with an elongated neck, thin almond eyes (sans the pupils), chiselled cheekbones, naturally textured hair, and is adorned with either jewellery or patterns very reminiscent of war paint (sometimes a mixture of both). Both collections highlight the beauty and exoticness of African women.

Moondust

This series, as stated on Sara's blog is her salute to Afro-futurism and naturally textured hair women Afro-futurism, defined by Womack 2012 is

"...the growing artistic movement and critiques that followed narratives of people of African descent in a sci-fi, futuristic treaties."

She is inspired by music of the 70's and 80's, futuristic and retro influences. None of the portraits are actually persons and the eyes are meant to give an otherworldly feel.


-S.R

All images belong to Sara Golish

Sundust

Journey

My character design for the story, Colours on the Wall, is that of Chanel. Chanel is 21 years of age and a close friend of Arona. Though they are distant friends, Arona holds a special place in Chanel's heart. Chanel decides to board a plane in hopes of arriving at Arona's in time to reveal her surprise.

In my design, I tried to incorporate a very warm and inviting feel for Chanel. Nuri is a sweet young girl, facing her own struggles and I wanted Chanel to portray the role of a kindhearted big sister. She is someone who Nuri can rely on and seek for advice. I personally believe that Chanel's eyes really capture her overall positive spirit. Anietha is amazingly talented at portraying emotions in her character illustrations so I aimed to channel that as well. I put a lot of focus into her eyes because it was difficult to get the look of them right. I did two versions, just as Anietha produces, one in black and white and the other in colour. Below are the illustrations as well as the original short story that introduces Chanel into the plot of Colours in the Walls.

-S.R

Journey

The plane was about to land; Chanel quickly grabbed the side of her seat and braced herself before the wheels hit the ground. She then blew a sigh of relief as the plane finally came to a stop. She thought to herself that no matter how many times she travels, she could never get use to this, but at the same time she had to endure it because there’s no way she would miss this very special day.

To read more of the short story, head over to ABCStorytelling.

Illustration by: Shanice Vitalis

Story by: Anietha Charles