A Bit of Catch Up

The semester is over, but that doesn't mean my thesis work is over. I had a lot of fun with the Panchatantra and figuring out how to make things work for me, and there are still a ton of stories I could illustrate. So for now I'll just catch you up on the last three pieces I did this semester and hope that more will come.

First up is the story "How a Sparrow Came To Grief" where I decided to try my hand at a bit more interesting perspective and also managed to refine some of the patterning a little bit.

Next is "Frogs That Rode A Snake" where Fred suggested to just leave the background blank and work with the graphic image I had already come up with in my sketch. It's interesting how the woodgrain suggests depth despite being a flat pattern on the wood.

And then we have the final piece I did for class, "Tale of the Bird With Two Heads". I really like how this piece came out. I combined the idea of using a graphic shape and letting the background be simple with a little more refinement of my use of patterning, branching out into using different patterns that better describe each image.

Website

I have a temporary website up while I figure out how to code the one I want to make. This one was just done with the weebly builder a few other people mentioned, and like they said before it's not a great thing, but it came free with my web hosting and I wanted to have something up. Hopefully it won't be long before I can change it. My website is OpheliaHathaway.com

Not really a thesis update, but I submitted a design to Threadless for their Threadless Loves Kids contest. Some of you might recognize it from way back in Illustration 3. It's still pending approval but once it's accepted your votes would be greatly appreciated!

On a Thesis related note, I have one more finish and a few sketches that I will try to post later today.

Gallery!

Today has been a long day, but my gallery display is all set up and looking gorgeous! Still a few things to get done before the opening on Wednesday but I'm feeling pretty accomplished for now. Here's a little sneak peek of my set up.

The Monkey and The Crocodile

My latest piece is for the story The Monkey and The Crocodile which can be read here. I'm very happy with how this piece turned out, and I especially had fun with the patterning in the tree. And hey look! I've got fancy scans now instead of sad little photos. Hopefully I'll find time to scan the rest of my images sometime soon.

The Crafty Crane Finish

This was my first try at combining stain with the gouache I was using earlier, and I'm really pleased with how it came out. I think I'll be using this method for the rest of my work.

If you look back a few posts you can see how the background in my sketch differs greatly from what ended up in the image. That's because I let the pattern of the wood grain dictate some of how the background fits in. In this piece I used the shapes of two lighter areas of wood to become the shape of the ground.

Just for Fun

A happy little whale to put on my business cards.

The Sound and The Fury

I've decided to experiment a little bit with wood stains again at the prompting of some of my fellow thesis mates and Fred, and the first piece I finished is an assignment from Seminar to illustrate a sound I hate.

This piece is done entirely with wood stain for the tone and ink for the outlines, and I really like some of the subtlety of it. I want to tweak it a little where the mosquito overlaps the girl, but for now I'm really happy with how it came out. I'm already incorporating stain into the next thesis piece I am working on, so hopefully I'll be able to bring in some of the successes of this piece into my thesis work.

A Failed Attempt

It was a few weeks ago that Fred brought to my attention the fact that I should find something to seal my paintings with. My first thought was some kind of spray varnish to avoid possibly smearing things with a brush, but I don't want a glossy finish on my paintings so I decided to try out a matte spray. The store I went to didn't have much of a selection and no brands that I was familiar with, but I finally picked out a can of something called Matte Spray Clear. Unfortunately this product is about as far from clear as possible.

Luckily I decided to test it out before putting it on my actual paintings. I blocked out the bottom half of my test piece because I wanted to see if there would be any color changes. Instead I came back to find a milky white film over the half of the painting I sprayed. It is possible that I put on a bit too thick of a layer but too much thinner and I don't think it would be fully protected. So for now it's back to the drawing board I guess. I have some acrylic gel medium in matte that I might try out next, but any other ideas or suggestions are quite welcome.

Elephants, Hares, and Crafty Cranes

I feel like I've been lagging a bit this past week or so, but I do have an almost-finish for the story Elephants and Hares. The story can be read here. There's just a little bit of detail work left on this piece, there's going to be some plants and such in the foreground.

I also have a sketch for my next piece, The Crafty Crane and the Craftier Crab (text here). The background in the sketch looks a little sparse but thats because I usually figure out exact placements of things once I'm actually working on the wood and can use the grain pattern as a guide. I think I'll try a post documenting my process with this next piece.

Clever Fish and The Blue Jackal

The Fish That Were Too Clever is now fully finished besides finding a way to seal it. I'm thinking of using a matte spray varnish to finish it, but I'm going to do a couple tests to see if it will affect the color too much. Any other ideas for sealing a gouache painting on wood?

I also have a finish for The Story of The Blue Jackal which can be found here. Like clever fish it has yet to be sealed. I might add a little bit more vegetation to the ground, it's still looking a little too plain down there.

Clever Fish In Progress

The first piece I'm working on is for the story "The Fish That Were Too Clever" which can be found here. It's number 7 on the list.

I'm a little over half way done with this piece. There are still some details that need to be added in on the tails and lily pads and maybe you can see the little sketched in flowers I still have to paint. Right now I'm debating whether to leave the entire background natural wood or to bring in just a few subtle washes of blue around mostly the outer edges. I think I'm leaning toward adding some blue, but any input would be appreciated.

Inspiration, Part 1

There have been literally thousands of versions of the Panchatantra in print, providing many opportunities for illustrations of the stories in the past. I want to draw on the traditional roots of the stories and incorporate some aspects of past images in to my own illustrations. Here are a few historical examples that I'll be using for inspiration as I create my own series of illustrations for the stories.

This first image come from an Arabic manuscript dating to about 1210 and shows the Crow King conferring with his court during the third arc of the Panchatantra, Kākolūkīyam: Of Crows and Owls.

These two images come from Syrian versions of the Panchatantra from the 1300's. The first is another illustration from the Of Crows and Owls section where the crows set fire to all of the entrances of the Owl's cave, eventually killing them. The second image is an illustration for the story Elephants and Hares.

This last image comes from a Persian version dating to 1429. It depicts a manipulative jackal trying to lead his Lion King into war.