Portrait: George Orwell

I chose George Orwell because he wrote one of my favorite books of all time, 1984. I will probably draw a lot of influence from that book for my portrait. I started out by looking at reference photos of Orwell.

He's pretty awesome to say the least. Finding a color palette was relatively easy considering all the book covers his writings have produced. I decided to go with antique versions of orange, brown, red, blacks, and whites. 

I believe I will be drawing my palette from the images above. My next task was to create a word list to help get my brain flowing. 

Wanting to take it in the directions of the propaganda posters. Maybe something like the Big Brother is watching you posters. I like the colors I am getting from the book covers, and I don't want to go straight up black and white. I do like the idea of using a quote from him, but I think that may be too much. The rising sun background looks good with the color and style I might use. I kind of want to make his portrait very minimalist. I have played around with posterizing in photoshop, and I like the way it looks.  Below are some of my early sketches or Orwell. Still deciding on the background...

After thinking back on the novel 1984, I remember some quote about how the future was like someone stomping on the human face. I looked up the quote online, and it reads as follows. "Always Winston, at every moment, there will be the thrill of victory, the sensation of trampling on an enemy who is helpless. If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face - forever." Which is basically saying, government sees perpetuation of power as its own reward. From all of this, I decided to make my portrait a poster of a boot stamping on Orwell's face. 

2-14-2014
Update time! Progress!

I've mainly been working with the paint brush and the blob brush. Adding the boot and some fill next.

I decided not to fill in the lines because it could distract from my portrait of Orwell.

Now I just need to work on my layout! Wahoo!

After my critique, I changed a lot of things….

Kaleidoscope

We went out and took photographs of things that caught our eyes to use for our kaleidoscope. I wasn't feel too well, and it was pretty cold, so I grabbed this photograph of some leaves on a stem.

I decided to use the pencil tool because I hardly ever use it. I placed the image in a 4x4 document and lowered its opacity. I then began to trace over the image.

Each time I made a new version, I added a line border and changed the color variation. I also added a new color each time.

Finally, I added the 4 images into an 8x8 document and rotated them until they looked the best. I decided I liked all the stems to meet in the middle.

Self Icon

I first made a list of all the words that could describe myself. I wrote down several things, but the words that pulled the most at me were bangs, headset, and gamer. I spend most of my free time playing video games, and I have always had bangs!

I then began my sketches. Earlier this week, I did a project with the WWF panda. I really enjoyed the use of negative space and wanted to incorporate those elements into my sketches. I am using my hair style as well as my gaming headset for this icon.

I plan to do some research on the internet for hair icons and also study the appearance of my headset. I am considering taking a self portrait wearing my headphones with my camera at home. That would give me a good visual example to sketch off of. 

I am currently deciding if I'd like to close off the neck and perhaps add a rounded circle border, or make myself a shoulder line with my long hair falling behind it. I like the simplicity I have now. I used the line, curve, and pen tool to create what you see above.

 

After the class critique, I decided to change the frame to resemble my laptop screen better, as well as add some detail to the headphones and add a shoulder line. 

I still plan to add black to the shirt and play with the line thickness. It's really coming along though! Well, an hour later and I am ready to post, what I believe to be, my final. 

Thank you!

Edit** (Adjusted the chin line as much as I could.)

Vector Art Play

WWF PANDA

Our first assignment was to take a logo from Brands of the World's website and create an Illustrator document with variations. I chose the WWF panda. I chose it because I loves pandas, and I have always been a fan of their logo. I used the empty arrow tool to erase the lettering and copyright symbol first. I then opened a document and placed my first image. I created several duplicates of my original, so that I could resize them and change them as needed. I decided to use a light blue fill on some, while leaving others black. I found I like the black panda the best because it just pops. I think the mouth looks a bit weird with the light blue fill, but I am sure I am thinking way too much about it. I also changed the outlines of each panda bear. I resized them, holding down shift to retain their original form. With the largest scale pandas, I decided to reduce their opacity by 50% and then send them to the back, so they would not over lap the smaller logos. I also allowed the images to fall off the page, so I could use as much space as possible.

About Me

Hey,

I am a huge nerd that spends most of her time playing video games and watch shows like Star Trek. I have a side business with photography, my greatest passion. I work for my father at Miracle Studios. I mostly work in Photoshop there to color ads and comics.  I am around the Junior/Senior level in my Graphic Design degree. I am advanced with Photoshop, but I barely know anything about Illustrator or Indesign. I am from Claremore, but I have moved around. I plan to move to Tulsa soon and commute to class. My dream for the future is to drop my Graphic Design degree and become an astronaut or perhaps a part time Dwarf warrior in the fight for Middle Earth.

#2423 Graphic Design 2
Tori Tidwell