CGTalk - Bead Obsession

Elaeria

09-22-2005, 05:02 PM

Hey gang!

Here's my latest WIP. I recently was asked to do some illustration for a woman in Calgary that produces a monthly ezine for professional and recreational beading enthusiasts. Basically the idea is that I will contribute illustrations based on the content of the articles subject matter. ie) jewellery that particular designers make, jewellery themed or bead themed illustration, seasonal illustration etc etc etc.

At any rate, the woman that publishes this ezine seemed to really like the girly characters that I created a while back in my "Fire Story" and "Wind Story" WIPs. She wants me to use that girly character in various states of buying beads or making jewellery with beads.

This one is the first that I'm designing for her (she's of course letting me keep all the rights to my work) so I thought maybe you more experienced artists could give me some critiques.

Here's my dilemma: The jars on the shelves and the containers on the table in front of her are all going to contain beads (it's a typical setup for shops where you would buy beads for all your bead projects). I want to use a lot of colour and make it splashy, but not gaudy. In most bead shops, they arrange the beads into colour sections and gradiate to the next colour row by row. Will this be possible to do without overwhelming the picture? I'm a little concerned that too much variation in colour will take over the whole picture.

Thanks everyone! Hope you are all well!
Meredith
p.s. This was done in photoshop last night in about 3 hours... It's still not finished, but it's getting there... :D
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v630/meligh/Obsession-for-Beaders3.jpg

jmBoekestein

09-22-2005, 08:07 PM

try playing with inensity values, like dimming them towards the edges of the picture, that way you can go all over the place on hue without overdoing the effects of that, maybe a simple layer with a radial gradient set to some lighting mode would do it. ( might be worth it too to try some colouring on that layer as well) Good luck. :thumbsup:

Elaeria

09-23-2005, 12:20 PM

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v630/meligh/Obsession-for-Beaders-6.jpg

Gah, thought this posted last night, but I guess the server was backing itself up at that point and didn't post it.

Anyways...
Jan Mark: Thanks for the advice darlin'. Much appreciated! I'll give that a shot tonight! I tried out varying the colours a bit last night but my main objective was to fix a bunch of things that were bugging me about the girls appearance.

At any rate, I'll keep plugging on. After this, I'll have to start work on a few halloween illustrations.
And as for tonight? Well....*rubs hands together* CORPSE BRIDE HERE I COME!! Can't wait to get tot the theatre tonight to see it...then tomorrow I'll work more.. *grin*

Cheers everyone!
~Meredith~

Ilikesoup

09-23-2005, 04:38 PM

Well, I like your style and the colors are nice but this composition isn't doing much for me. The beads are reduced to mounds of spot color. Also the girl commands all the attention in the center and she's got a fairly passive expression. Two suggestions:

Use your "Fire" character's pose and put her knee deep in a pile of beads. Her arms are thrust upward and beads are streaming through her fingers. That way you give the girl and the beads equal attention and show her REALLY enjoying shopping for beads. Maybe even put a bunch of strung necklaces on her arms and around her neck.

OR

You could show the jars of beads in front of the girl so we get to see a few varieties close up. Above a row we'd see the woman's smiling face and a hand reaching for the jar.

BTW, you might want to check with your client about how she'll be printing these. Printing in 4-color, digital or black & white will make a big difference in how the finished project looks.

WHoops! I just reread your original post and saw "ezine". Nevermind that last part.

Elaeria

09-23-2005, 05:01 PM

*POUNCE* Caught ya! Heh heh...just left my last response only to find another one from you in here. Thanks for all your help! :bounce:

I agree about the composition...I haven't really enjoyed having her dead center and I really have been unsure about the beads in front of her.
She will have more jewellery on her too, I just hadn't gotten to that part yet. *grin* The jewellery she is going to be wearing will be replicas of the designs that the woman who runs the ezine has created. She hasn't asked for that, but I thought it would be cool.

I also toyed with the idea of having (since autumn is rapidly approaching here in Ontario) the girl falling backwards into a pile of beads in the same style that one would thrust themselves into a pile of leaves after raking them up. That used to be one of my favourite things to do when I was younger. *sigh*
So perhaps I would have a few props like a rake leaning on the wall or something (erg...cheesy! :P) and have a giant pile of beads awaiting the girls fall...at any rate, I'll play with the composition a bit and see what I can come up with.

Thanks again Soupy! YOU ROCK! :buttrock:
~Meredith~

Elaeria

12-15-2005, 04:53 PM

But here are the Illustrations that I've done for this month's issue of the ezine I'm illustrating for. Not sure if I've mentioned the bead theme or not, but yeah...that's what the magazine is all about.

Crits and comments welcome.
This will be the cover, so I've had to leave a lot of room for the title and article names etc.

Snowlady:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v630/meligh/SnowLady.jpg

And my Bead Shopper (no longer Bead Obsession, though I've started a new one for that title, which is inspired by some comments above.

Bead Shopper:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v630/meligh/Beads10-full-size.jpg

Thanks for looking and happy holidays everyone!
~Ela~

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