Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas, Everybody! I love this time of year!  Minus the snow. We're definitely going to have a White Christmas. (Which is a great movie too!) It's hardly stopped snowing since I've arrived.

My parents have a dog who likes to eat trees and anything he can get his paws on, so we have minimal decorations out this year. That inspired me to illustrate a warm cozy decorated home for Christmas! 

 This is a holiday card from my illustration class. Angels We Have Heard on High is my all time favorite Christmas hymn! (Relient K also has one of the best Christmas albums out.) I took this opportunity to make an angel Christmas card:

Both pieces are ink and watercolor! Have a great Christmas!

Set Design!

We were given an open assignment for my illustration class. The project should reflect what you want to do in the future. Now, I plan on being a Production Designer for films. I have some experience working on actual films in the art department, but I find that I have some difficulty with illustrating my ideas for the director to see. 

I decided to use this project as an excuse to illustrate a set design. I want to be able to quickly throw down a bunch of set design ideas that are understandable. This project is just the start!

I decided to design a set for The Princess and the Pea story set in Morocco. I used watercolor and ink.

Movie Posters!

For the end of my video class we had to create a movie poster advertising one of our movies. We also had to create a poster that showed stills from all of our projects. 

The movie poster:

 The portfolio poster:

I took screen shots from my different movies, but I don't think the quality of the stills is very high. I had fun designing the page utilizing the rectangular stills. I also tried to take a page from Alfred Hitchcock's book by stating "Alexis Schuknecht's Slices of Life." With emphasis on my name. ;)

Cardboard..cardboard..cardboard..cardboard...

In my industrial design course, I had to create something out of cardboard so I made a potential set design. I have do not particularly like working in cardboard, but I see it's value for quick mockups and such. 

Medicine Man

For this video project, we had to make a music video. I chose "Medicine Man" by the Hush Sound. I was really excited to do the makeup and costumes for this. After spending hours getting ready and filming, all the video footage was lost! I still have some still shots I took on my camera I can show you. 

Here are some shots of me getting the actresses ready:

Here is a shot of the set before it was cleared:

The actresses:

I was pretty upset I lost all that footage, wasting everyone's time. I am glad I still have some stills from the shoot.

I'm not entirely pleased with the makeup I did. I have elements from each look that I think are strong and working, but the look as a whole isn't work, too much needs to be fixed. Part of this issue was a time constraint. I didn't realize how long it takes to do makeup like this, by myself, for three people. This was definitely a HUGE learning experience.

The Taming of the Shrew!

I have illustrated a new book cover for The Taming of the Shrew, one of my favorite Shakespearean plays! I found that most of the covers for Shakespeare's plays are rather boring and don't entice the reader to want to pick the book up! My copy of it looks like ugly wallpaper!

It needs a cover that really gets the spirit of the play across. Here is what I came up with:

I had some trouble with the gentleman in the back ground. I repainted him on a separate sheet of paper and scanned them in and placed them together to get the final. I'm not satisfied with it. It still needs some work. I think I went south when I started to rush to the final without figuring out the background properly. Now, instead of being ahead like I intended, am behind because I have to keep fixing it. 

I should've just done it right the first time. This is how you learn though! :D

Johnny Appleseed

My latest and greatest illustration assignment was to illustrate a book cover for a tall tale. I chose Johnny Appleseed. The great giver of apple trees in the Midwest!

Here are some of my initial thumbnails and sketches:
   

My final is done in pen and ink and watercolor. Jack Unruh was a big inspiration. I'm really excited to hone this style!

Awkward Dancing and Other Things with Alexis, a Memoir

This week in my video class we had to do self-portrait projects. I found this extremely difficult to do in a video format. I ended up filming myself doing tasks that I normally do.

It turns out I mostly dance awkwardly in my apartment with my cat, Melon.

Check out the video and tell me what you think!

Here is a link in case the embedded version won't play for you.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yowyv3knrWE&feature=youtu.be


I hope you enjoyed it!

Be afraid...Be very afraid!

The Illustration Student Collective, on campus, in partnership with 39 Below, is having a gallery show titled Fear: Monsters and Madness.

I created this little number for it. It's a judges show so I'll have to see if mine makes the cut!

The inspiration of this piece comes from the advice everyone always tells me, "spiders are more afraid of me than I am of them."

I don't know though... I'm pretty terrified of them.  ;)

Slices of Life!

This is the first video project from my Video 1 class.  The task was to film moving still lifes.

Thank to Maddie Miller and Lauren Purkhiser for being my lovely models! Check out their blogs and see what they're making too!

Here is a link to my video on Youtube in case the embedded video doesn't work for you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T67ShhcdBNY&feature=youtu.be

Top Movies

Hey Everybody!

In my video class, we have to list our top 5 favorite films. That seems like an impossible feat because I can't pick just 5!  I decided to put together a master list of my favorite movies. This list is just the beginning! I hope to keep adding more as I can remember them, these movies are just the ones I can think of off the top of my head.

Some of these movies I like because of the story, cinematography, or production design! Really, I like these movies for numerous reasons. Maybe someday I can have them categorized by genre or time period, but for now this will do.

What are your favorite movies?

My Favorite Movies:

O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0190590/?ref_=sr_1

Rear Window (1954)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047396/?ref_=sr_1

Star Wars: Episode V- The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080684/?ref_=sr_5

Pretty Woman (1990)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0100405/?ref_=sr_1

Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium (2007)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0457419/?ref_=sr_1

Some Like it Hot (1959)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053291/?ref_=sr_1

A Night at the Opera (1935)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0026778/?ref_=sr_1

Top Hat (1935)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0027125/?ref_=sr_1

The Great Gatsby (2013)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1343092/?ref_=nm_knf_t2

Big Fish (2003)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0319061/?ref_=sr_1

Sherlock Jr. (1924)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0015324/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_111

Red Dawn (1984)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087985/?ref_=sr_2

True Grit (1969)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0065126/?ref_=nm_knf_i4

Ten Things I Hate About You (1999)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0147800/?ref_=sr_1

Eat Pray Love (2010)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0879870/?ref_=sr_1

Rain Man (1988)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095953/?ref_=sr_1

Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0054698/?ref_=sr_1

Ruby Sparks  (2012)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1839492/?ref_=sr_1

Secondhand Lions (2003)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0327137/?ref_=sr_2

Django Unchained (2012)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1853728/?ref_=sr_1

Lars and the Real Girl (2007)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0805564/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_11

Maverick (1994)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110478/?ref_=sr_1

Back to the Future (1985)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088763/?ref_=sr_1

A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0044081/?ref_=sr_1

Gone With the Wind (1939)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0031381/?ref_=sr_1

A Trip to the Moon (1902)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0000417/?ref_=sr_1

Girl, Interrupted (1999)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0172493/?ref_=sr_1

Scent of a Woman (1992)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0105323/?ref_=nv_sr_1

A League of Their Own (1992)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104694/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

Long Way Round (2004)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0403778/?ref_=nv_sr_2

Chicago (2002)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0299658/?ref_=nv_sr_2

Agora (2009)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1186830/?ref_=nv_sr_1

Caricatures!

This past week in my illustration class we did caricatures! We were supposed to take a risk and experiment with the mediums. That's a lot easier said than done. The first caricature I did of Adam Levine was more reserved.  Once, I opened up the process became very fun and invigorating! In other versions, I used leaves and sticks to paint it.

 I'm happy with it because it's not something I'd normally do. I let myself be free! Afterall, I'm a student I shouldn't be afraid to take risks with my art!

Infamous Eggs

As a junior in Illustration at CCAD, we take an illustration class called Illustration Styles and Concepts with our professor, C.F. Payne. For those of you who may not know, C.F. Payne is a very talented artist from Cincinnati, OH. He is known for his caricatures and maybe even his caricatures of baseball players. He has done pieces for Time Magazine, Sports Illustrated, Reader's Digest, and MAD Magazine, to name a few.  

He also has developed a technique that is very unique to create his illustrations. For the infamous egg project, we were to use his technique. It all starts with the reference photos. I then worked on tracing paper to figure out the thumbnails and sketches. 

Thumbnails:

Sketches:

 The piece I turned in:

I got the piece back the other day and have to make some corrections. Once I have made those I will show you the finished piece below.

Learning from a professional is extremely valuable. I'm really looking forward to the rest of the class.

South 40- A 48 Hour Film Project

South 40

I've very happy to announce that the film I worked on for the the 48 Hour Film Project 2013, won Best Actress and Best Ensemble Cast. Watch the film South 40, directed by John Whitney, here. I worked as the Production Designer for the film with 2 other fellow students, Jamie Yuhasz, and Naomi Rossman. Our Professor, Phil Garrett, asked us to help on the project.

The whole weekend was a whirlwind! For the 48 Film Project we received our genre, prop, line of dialogue, and character name Friday night.  We pulled the genre Fantasy. The prop was an extension cord, line of dialogue, "That's not a real word.", and the character Dennis or Denise Smith who is an assistant.

The writing crew then had to write the entire screenplay that evening. The art department stayed up to find out if we needed any special props for filming the next day. Our call time for the production was 8:00 AM the next morning, out on a cow farm! 

I got an email early in the morning saying we needed a box. A special box. Turns out we didn't have a box like the one we were looking for so Jamie and I ran to the Goodwill in search of a box. I found a nice wooden jewelry box and some matching belts that could be fastened around the box to look like leather straps. 

It was nice and rainy that day so we had some fun 'distressing' the box. The result is below:

Another aspect of the art department was choosing the wardrobe for the actors. Since we were out on a farm, the actors brought all their rustic clothing. We then chose the best outfits for the characters. Since Dennis Smith was more lighthearted and comedic we gave him a lighter colored ensemble, while Bobby was given a darker wardrobe. 

 Here is a still of Bobby opening the box with the set behind him that we dressed. We found some really interesting old tools and signs in the barn that we placed around the scene.

 Here is a still from the kitchen. Jamie and I placed everything you see in the frame!

 We wrapped up production just under 12 hours. It was great fun and a great learning experience working with professionals in the field. I had a blast working on such a great film with a fantastic crew. Really outstanding. I plan on participating in more 48 film projects in the future.

Thanks for everyone's support!

Enter into the Castle...

Hello! Over the past few months, I've been helping my friend and fellow artist, Anna Johnson, build sets for her church. Her church puts on huge play productions during the year and this year was their very first Vacation Bible School.  Anna asked me to help her with the some of the pieces she designed for VBS.

I only managed to get a few pics of one of the entrance pieces. The VBS had a medieval theme for the week. We also constructed and painted a HUGE castle, not pictured.

The pieces were made of cardboard sheets stapled to a wooden frame. We then used house paint to paint the stones and stained glass on. 

Anna is measuring out the bricks here. Below you can see some of the progress!

It was a really great experience building these sets with Anna. From what I heard the VBS went well too and the kids loved them! 

3 Birds Sitting on a Tree

This is a warm up sketch I did yesterday in Photoshop. I scanned in an inked in drawing of mine and colored in Photoshop. This was done in about an hour.

Photoshop!

So! I've been gone for awhile, but I'm back! With that, I need to update you on what I've been doing this summer.

Today, I'm just going to show you some of the things I've made while messing around in Photoshop. I haven't had much practice when it comes to painting in Photoshop and when I go to look on the internet for tutorials, I find a thousand different tutorials for a thousand different ways to paint.

I gave up on the tutorials and started to just mix and match different techniques and talked to fellow artists, like Maddie Miller, to find out more techniques.

As you can see, these are not finished at all, but more like quick studies. For some of them, I would use a dry brush and layer color and value with low opacity. Some, I changed the layer to multiply and played with the opacity. On others, I blended the color with the wet brush. It was fun to play around with.