Happy Easter/ Passover/ Spring to all! Boy, am I ready for Spring!
Here is a robin hatching from an EGG.
©Cheryl Kirk Noll
Illustration Friday # 21: SWIM
copyrighted art, not to be reproduced, painted by Cheryl Kirk Noll
Illustration Friday is a weekly creative outlet/participatory art exhibit for illustrators & artists of all skill levels. A new topic is posted each Friday and you have one week to draw, paint or doodle your interpretation.
I haven't done Illustration Friday in a blue moon, (almost a year, actually), but their prompt word for this week was "swim." I have a number of finishes that fit the bill, so I decided to try to get my feet wet again.
I did this illustration a few years ago for a story about a woman who "swam with sharks." I was just starting to play with the textured style I've been adding to my traditional watercolor, which you can see in the coral.
The second piece is an exercise I did for an Adobe Illustrator class last year at RISD-CE with Bryan Rodriguez (great teacher), where I learned about vector vs. pixel, how to "live trace" my art, how to push and pull with that durn pen tool, manipulate with layers, and on and on. I can see why people like Illustrator for it's precision and flexibility.
octopus done in Adobe Illustrator
Octopus, done in Adobe Illustrator, © Cheryl Kirk Noll
Illustration Friday # 19: SWAMP
© Cheryl Kirk Noll, Harriet Tubman escapes slavery
I've been SWAMPed this week with a wonderful weekend conference, a niece getting married, and family visiting from the other coast. So here is an older piece, done for a set of story cards for Graphic Learning, a Divison of Abrams & Co., many years ago, illustrating Harriet Tubman escaping from slavery through a SWAMP in Maryland.
Illustration Friday # 18: SHADES (of spring)
Shades of Spring © Cheryl Kirk Noll
I did a new piece this week, loosely using my niece's husband and son as models. The prompt word is shades, so I'm calling it "Shades of Spring." I did it with my "new style," hand-painted figures done in watercolor, and photographs manipulated in Photoshop.
It's been a glorious week here in New England... maybe even a bit too hot yesterday. Daffodils are up, and the ones in the illustration are from my garden (but not this year.)
Hope everyone is enjoying the early spring. We can cross our fingers and hope we don't get frost next week.
Illustration Friday # 17: YIELD
© Illustration by Cheryl Kirk Noll
Once again, I've been remiss in my attempts to get a new piece out for Illustration Friday, so here is another older piece for the word YIELD.
This was an illustration for a story about a woman homesteader in the 1920's. Among the mountainload of problems that homesteaders faced was the dreaded "plague of locusts" (the swarming phase of grasshoppers), which could strip a farmer's summer yield in minutes. What a heartbreak that must have been.
This piece was one of the first where I employed the use of Photoshop. I hope that you will find it difficult to see how I cloned, copied, and re-sized after painting the first half of this piece. Did I save time?
Hmmmmm. I think so, but the Photoshop process is time-consuming and involves drawing and design skills, too, so I don't want folks to think it was a cinch.
Here's a close-up of part of the piece.
©Illustration by Cheryl Kirk Noll
Hopefully, next week will YIELD a
new
piece for Illustration Friday.
Illustration Friday #16: POPULARITY, and Happy Valentine's Day!
"Puppy Love," illustration © Cheryl Kirk Noll
This week's prompt word for illustration Friday was POPULARITY.
To give myself a little extra inspiration, I found an
Aldous Huxley quote:
To his dog, every man is Napoleon; hence the constant popularity of dogs.
Puppies and children are high on the popular meter, too... so here is my illustration, done traditionally using watercolors.
And a Happy Valentine's Day to everyone, as well!!!
