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Pineapples pt 3

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  I've started adding in some more vibrant colour onto the pineapple illustration, working on the yellows and starting some of the blue and purple in the top left. I've put the rock drawing tutorial I found into practice and have found it really helpful in creating believable geometry. I've been working on my report and presentation in the mean-time so the illustration hasn't progressed as much as I would like. I have had to revisit some editing skills when creating my presentation in iMovie, as I have not created videos in a while. I will continue to work on this infographic project outside of this course and am really excited to finish it. It has pushed me towards the unfamiliar in my skill set and I've acquired so much interesting knowledge about our Palaeontological history of Australia.  Time for creating report, presentation, and further drawing: 20 hours

Opal Pineapples pt2 + Report writing

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 Just a little update on the illustration process: Added in the other base colours of the pineapple and have started adding depth and variety in some of the yellow stones. I have also drawn in some textures with a white coloured brush so it can be used as a layer mask at a later stage and have different effects applied to it. Not really liking how it is turning out so far, but I need to remind myself it is only in the beginning stages and will come together as more detail will be added.  Note: I was a little uncertain on how to approach drawing this type of crystal structure so most of it has been experimenting on to go. I came across this post (   https://www.instagram.com/p/CQ6US0ahXpY/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link  )  on my instagram feed by chance on how to draw rocks, which went back to basics on breaking down shape and value. Looking at this guide gave a little 'a-ha' moment, so I'm excited to give it a go and put these value methods into practice. Drawing time: 5.5 ho

Finished Plesiosaur + Opal Pineapples

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I've finished the Plesiosaur, and worked on incorporating it into the water in the background. Full time-lapse of illustration below: Light and shadow play a keep part in how believable the Plesiosaurs integration is into the habitat. It took a little bit of experimenting with different brush presets in Procreate to create those thin bands of light. In the end I resorted to the standard airbrush I had been using for everything prior. I think it needs some refining around the neck and those two bright spots on the underside of the belly. The neck needs some softer reflective light, as the contract between the ray highlights and shadow is very stark - (the light doesn't follow the contour lines of the neck). The sharp light under the belly also doesn't make sense, will need to soften, and smudge out the ends of the rays. From here the next things to do are populating the sea floor with rocks, coral, seaweeds, and opal pineapples. (Could also add some smaller fish/sea creature

Touch-ups

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 I emailed the work in progress to Bernie for some feedback. She was really happy with the outcomes so far and had some feedback including: Blending the background with the Plesiosaur  Showing the hind right flipper just peeking out from behind the body (wasn't sure about the perspective of the flipper so I'm glad she clarified this!) Add some more muscular definition around the flipper connections (like a turtle) The main goals for today were fulfilling these points of feedback as well as finishing off the details around the teeth from yesterday. I drew in the gums around the teeth, loosely modelling it off crocodiles mouths, where the gum line is quite bumpy and prominent encasing the teeth. I also added some textures, which is a little difficult to see zoomed out, but if users decide to zoom in on the app it will be noticeable. I then went back to fix some of the shading and patterning on the bottom jaw, removing some of the whiter colouring. Using colour theory, I also adde

Detailing

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 The next stage in the Plesiosaur Illustration is focussing on the face: specifically adding in the eyes, teeth, nostrils, and some wrinkles. I used a reference of shark and seal eyes as inspiration for these eyes. Most aquatic creatures have large, dark eyes to help allow the maximum amount of life to pass through, giving them an advantage as a predator in low-light or pitch-black environments. With the coverage of ice on the surface of the water, I thought this might be a possible option for their eye design as light would be limited. I then added in some wrinkles around the eye and nose, pulling colours I'd already used in the skin. Adding some more depth around the wrinkles and bottom of the jaw. I also started adding in some texture around the top of the nose to make the head a point of interest. I'll also need to fix up some of the spots and their colouring on the bottom of the jaw to give them dimension. At the moment they look very flat and don't wrap around the sha

Plesiosaur Illustration

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 One of the main features on the infographic will be the reconstructive illustration of the Plesiosaur, so it is really important to me that I achieve a good quality representation.  Last week I attempted this illustration, however it was not going the way I wanted it to. I think every artist can relate to the feeling of drawing something where nothing seems to be working cohesively, no matter how much tweaking, fixing, and solution brainstorming you do. In those instances it is best to walk away and let it rest and come back. I took a break from this drawing to work on the opal drawing which I think helped spark back some creativity.  There are a number of reasons why I don't think this illustration worked: The colour palette is very dull and doesn't have a lot of contrasting colour to help make it 'pop' The texture is overpowering and too soft, need some crisper edges to give it dimension Tried to make the body swim in a dynamic pose, however it still seems stiff (thi

Background pt 2

  Continuing on from the background I was drawing last night. (Time lapse is split into two videos as I had to create a new canvas to continue working on the drawing. Pro-create has a limited number of layers which makes it difficult, as I don't like to compress the layers as I go in case I want to make changes. Creating a new canvas with the same drawing allows me to keep working on it and preserve all the previous layers.) I'm not really happy with how the background is going, I feel as though the perspective of the ice layer is off, which I will need to try fixing tomorrow (The top may need a thick band of ice for it to make sense?? like a cut-away perspective. Need to experiment). I think once I add some more texture it will also help pull it all together. I've based the colour palette around some underwater reference images of arctic waters. They all have the same green/blue colours to the ice and a deep green water which fades off into black. I'll need to keep thi