N is for ...

N is for Never drawing a Northern Goshawk again. The computer drawing alone took me 12 hours, aka all freaking day. Thank goodness it looks how I wanted it to, otherwise I may have been in meltdown mode.

L is for Lynx

Plants included: Ponderosa pine, Hood's Sedge, Foothill Sedge, Heartleaf Arnica, Blue Anemone, and Redwood Sorrel

Half Way There

J is for Jellyfish

This is the Aequorea Victoria Jellyfish from Puget Sound from which a fluorescent protein has been extracted and cloned to use in human technology (BIOMIMICRY!! Which is what my senior thesis was about).

K is for King Snake

I is for Isopod

Isopod's live in the waters of the Puget Sound, while they feed on Phyllospadix.

I can't decided if there should be some sort of water/blue color behind it ... whaddya think?

G is for Gray Wolf

Let's Talk About It

So, I love this project. I'm so excited to be doing it for so many reasons. The main reason is that I've been wanting to spend more time drawing for a while now, and I'm finally doing it (it's basically all I'm doing!) And more than just drawing, my drawings are turning out AWESOME! I don't really even care if I'm being cocky, because, like I said, I love this project, and what makes it even better is that I'm so proud of it.

In addition to just being able to draw, I can see my drawing skills improving, and what I imagine in my head is actually showing up on paper, rather than a jumble of awkward lines that don't quite make up the shape I thought they would. Now, the thing that's not coming to me clearly is the words to express everything else I love about this project, it could get messy.

I love drawing nature, I love finding the shapes that make up each petal and branch, and fluff of fur or feather; I love picking out the colors, there's just an infinite amount of possibilities; I love that each letter is made up of plants, and holds no real defined outline, and I love fitting all the plants in to make up that composition, it's like a puzzle, and I love puzzles; I love drawing in pencil, then going to the computer to fill in all the colors ... I just LOVE THIS.

The only thing I don't love is how much I'm having to rush, I wish I had more time because I want this project to turn out perfect. Getting the letters done are not the problem, those will be finished by the end of the quarter, but I want to create a book, and one that highlights the images and that works together, image and text, flawlessly. I also want to create a second book, with the process of the whole ordeal, research, inspiration, sketches, and i want that to fit in with the 1st book, and look good, not just a binder of sketches, which is what I drag around with me right now.

Yes, I could work on it more next quarter, but I'm also going to be working my butt off once again to work on 6 new portfolio pieces for graduation. Ugh, anyways, enough talking, more drawing! G is on the drawing board!

H is for Hummingbird

To my mom, the bird lover :)




Flowers: Lowbush Penstemon, Wild Blue Fax, Yellow Pea, and Few Flowered Shooting Star

B is for Black Bear

This one still needs a bit of work ... but seeing as it's 5 in the morning, I'm just going to call this done for now and I'll edit it when all my letters are in their final stages. Off to get my 40 winks.

A is for Alpine Grasshopper

This time I'll share a little before and after, the first image is what the illustration looks like once it's traced by hand on the computer, and looks similar to my pencil on paper sketch, only cleaner. The sketching part took me about 10 hours.

The second image is the final, colored in letter, and coloring this one in took me about an hour and a half.

R is for Rainbow Trout

C is for Chinook Salmon

E is for Eight spotted skimmer

Just trying to move right along in the alphabet, my goal is to at least have all my sketches for letters done by next Tuesday for class, and at least half the computer drawings done. Goodbye sleep.

Also, if you're looking at this and you have a comment to make about it, clarity/color/whatever ... feel free to leave it below!

Edit The eight spotted skimmer can be found near weedy lakes and ponds and low elevations. The flowers and leaves within this illustration are the water plantain, the arrowhead, the Indian pond lily and the water buttercup.

Q is for Quail

First Post :o

Hello,

I suppose you're here in search of some information on my senior project this quarter. Well here it goes:

This quarter I'm working on a children's alphabet book; the content of the book is going to be a fun and visual and centered around the different critters that inhabit the Olympic National Park in Washington state. Each letter in the alphabet will represent a different critter, and each critter will be placed within it's letter, which is made up of the habitat the critter lives in.

This blog will mostly show images from my project, and progress, BUT I'm also hoping that this project leads to an actual published circulating popular book ... so we shall see.

Here's what I've got so far.

D is for Deer Mouse






F is for Pacific Chorus Frog