For this piece I used gouge in a blue monochromatic palette. I sketched out my skull on large paper after a series of thumbnails and started to put down a base layer of paint. I used large paper and really focussed on the scale and value. I used the reference to sketch and help me with the values. The final piece came out how I envisioned it and I like the scale and color pallete. 

This piece was an exploration of the monochrome palette. I was excited to use gouge and watercolors and I really enjoyed the blue colors. I wanted to create a piece that was creative and different while still being an accurate representation of the reference photo. 

In preparation for the creation of this piece, I practiced my ability to sketch out my subject in my sketchbook. I had collected the necessary reference photos and organized them on my other digital device for easy access. I created two main layers to start with. These layers being the layer where I sketch the pose of the character and the layer where I more accurately draw and color my subject. During this process, the layer above the sketch deferred from my original sketch in both proportion and pose. With the background decided, I chose to have the lighting and lines of the image to appear softer. For the larger moon that shows up in the background, I decided to use the more simplistic shading style of Steven Universe as a slight form of inspiration. I chose to use the brightness of the moon as a way of creating contrast from the character to add an emphasis towards where I wanted the viewer to look. I used the  gradient sky colors to represent both the sky and space of Alternia. I used the blue of the character’s blueprints to create a flowy aspect to the image. 

Since seeing My Hero Academia, I have been greatly interested in perspective style views that were used for its animation. The level of dimension created by the use of perspective was inspiring to me. With the help of the diversity and emphasis of the dramatic characteristics portrayed into the many Pokemon designs, I was able to learn how I can find and use the important visual characteristics of a subject to create another level of interest in my pieces. In the past, I have seen various people recommend the use of blues or purples as shaders as opposed to the use of the greyscale or simply the darker versions of the colors used. By my own observation, I was able to realize how often colors that are surrounded by other colors tend to reflect those surrounding colors on themselves. While practicing my more compact pixel artwork, I was able to realize how much softer using colored lines can allow the whole image to become... I'm sorry this is so long. . .

Since this piece was digital, I used my computer, iPad pro & Apple Pencil, Procreate and Google Drawings. I used a dropper tool to identify the exact colors from the original picture. I outlined each little detail on their own separate layers, then filling each in. I then downloaded the full image and put it into google drawings. I added text individual boxes in rows to fill the background behind Harry’s figure, purposely missing letters to give it more depth.

I used the song “Golden” because of the background and thematic colors in the image. They are all different shades of yellow and gold. “Golden” is also a very pretty song, and I listened to it while I worked on this image. So now, in my head when I look at the final piece, the song “Golden” starts to play and flow with the colors on the screen.

I drew a rainbow trout, and the medium we were tasked to use was colored pencils which I don’t work with too often. Starting with a graphite sketch which I admittedly went a bit too heavy handed with. I worked with only one reference really, since I couldn’t find one in the pose I was looking for, so it was quite a lot of guessing honestly. But for the colors when I got to that, I did work quite a bit brighter than the actual fish. That, and the rocks are completely unrealistic with blue and purple hues. Since I like to work with a brighter, vibrant palette, and used a white gel pen on top (that kind of died on me) to push the highlights where the pencil couldn’t. I didn’t really go for a full underwater color as I couldn’t find a good reference, and I didn’t want to mess up the perspective as that is an area I’m still working on in my personal work. So I kept the tan paper I was working with on display. Just adding a bit of blue at the top as a sort of hint that the fish is in water, even if it isn’t fully represented. Overall, I think the piece didn’t turn out too bad, and is actually my favorite thing I worked on all year.