CIND3510 Professional Project

 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

 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

 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

  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

  Started blocking in the bottom half of the background, keeping shapes and colours simple. The plan is to have an icy surface to indicate the freezing temperatures that the Plesiosaurs lived in. The sand and surface ice will both be visible to indicate the shallow depth of the Eromanga Sea, due to its in-land location. The sand and ice will need to be textured, as well as adding in other elements such as sea-weed, rocks, and opal-pineapple crystals on the seafloor.  Current drawing time: 3 hours

Links for determining canvas size based on common phone-screen resolutions:  https://buildfire.com/screen-size-resolution-importance/ https://www.reddit.com/r/ProCreate/comments/jqf99a/canvas_size_for_phone_wallpaper/ https://www.reddit.com/r/ProCreate/comments/jqf99a/canvas_size_for_phone_wallpaper/ https://uxdesign.cc/perfect-artboard-size-c267939c5843 https://www.selfemployedartist.com/blog/best-canvas-sizes

  I've now finished the opal illustration, above the is the time lapse of the full process, below is the finished piece. I used a collection of reference photos from the internet to make my own rendition. They aided in studying rock texture, the colours in the opal, and the texture surface of the gem. If I get time I think I would like to go back and fix some of the directional highlights and add some more of the rainbow colours, as it looks more pearly than I would have liked. This illustration was helpful in figuring out the layering process, colour palette, and what blending modes to use for when I draw the opal pineapples and potch. I'd also like to add some more blue to balance out the green at a later stage.  Time spent finishing drawing: 2.5 hours Below are the main images I used as a reference point:

The beginning stages of drawing the opals which will go on my infographic. I'm using Procreate to illustrate this artwork as I'm already familiar with the program, and think it will be better to draw all the smaller elements on this app. I'll use Photoshop for some of the larger pieces like the dinosaur and background, as Photoshop does not have limited layering based on canvas size and DPI. Hours for this drawing: 2  

After class I met up with Bernie, my supervisor, to discuss the mock-ups I have created. We decided on this infographic as the 'bones' of the project. It translates well across digital devices such as tablets and phones.  While this infographic is a solo project for this assignment, there is potential for it to be used in the project Bernie is working on. This external project is the development of a Central Darling Geotrail app which would feature the White Cliff area.  Some feedback I received included: Reversing the layout: We discussed flipping the layout so the underground illustrations of the fossils and opals would be at the top of the page. It would then read down the page like a sequential timeline of the present looking back into the past to the Cretaceous period when the Plesiosaurs were alive. We also discussed including a written timeline down the side of the page detailing key points across the millions of years. E.g. (starting at the top) current day --> forma

 I created another two sketches for infographic ideas. The idea for this one is to have a more graphic style and focus more on the opal presence in White Cliffs, with the geological processes of its formation. This was also an experimentation with a different orientation (square format rather than long). I'm not sure if I'm 100% sold on this concept, but it was good to try and push it in a different direction. Will also need to think about the background - would it be a solid colour? a pattern or a subtle indication of an environment? Using the long landscape format to help carry the direction of information from left to right. Having a main illustration in the centre with no text so the text can stand out (both frame each other).  Note: Would be interesting to see the illustration flipped? Have the text in a line like the mock-up above and the illustration coming down from the top of the page. Would need to re-think title placement too. 

 I've collected some images which contain elements I like or would like to include in my own infographic. These are just a few examples. Some of these are illustrations styles, type ideas, or layout inspirations. Plesiosaur: . I'd like to replicate a more realistic style like this image when drawing my Plesiosaur. Texturing and colour will involve some creativity as it is currently impossible to tell what Plesiosaurs would have looked like. Most artworks I've seen give them countershading and dolphin or seal skin like textures. Note: Look into colour reconstruction on dinosaurs, how do we know what colours dinosaurs are? This infographic also has realistic depictions of their dinosaurs. I also quite like the Heading type, and the clean sectioning of text boxes. Could also incorporate the leading lines from text to illustration like this one does. Again, another example of what I'd like to achieve with my Plesiosaur illustration. Don't particularly like the type choi

 I've started with some rough sketches of a couple of thumbnails. I'd like to design a couple more ideas for some variance, and then I'll seek feedback on what idea would work best.  I've kept the same elements in both ideas #1 and #2: A live Plesiosaur in its marine habitat, a graphic map showing the Eromanga Sea and White Cliff location, an opalised fossil (will reference from available images of White Cliff specimen), and the unfossilised opal in its different stages.  I've found text placement tricky around the illustrations as I need to consider how most of us habitually read information from left to right. While the placement of elements may look nice, the hierarchy of information when reading can throw off the whole design. There is a certain narrative I would like to tell with a chronological order of the following events: the existence of the sea, to its recession and consequent opal-solute drainage into the ground to form with the fossils. The goal is to c

  To Do List: After emailing with Bernie, we've decided on an infographic on the opalised Plesiosaur fossil found in The Australian outback (White Cliffs region).  The infographic will detail three main points: How opal is formed and how it can come into formation around a fossil (describing the chemical details) How this opalising process then affected the White Cliffs Plesiosaur Why there are opalised fossils in the outback - a look at the Eromanga Sea which covered a majority of what we now consider the outback, almost a hundred million years ago. This sea was the habitat for these aquatic dinosaurs and is why so many fossils are found around places such as White Cliffs, Lightning Ridge, Coober Pedy, etc.  I've now been instructed to create some mood boards and find inspiration from other infographics on the style I want to create in my own artwork.  Alongside this I'm aiming to conduct personal research to gain a better understanding on the topic. My following questions