I have been busy doing illustrations for RUS407. Here is my process for U8_7. The scene is basically Polina and Oleg seated on the stairs in front of their country home, happily blowing bubbles while wearing flower crowns with tulips.

As usual, my process starts with an extremely rough sketch (rough to the point where it almost looks goofy?).

Quickly drew out the house to make things a bit clearer for myself.

After cleaning things up, I started doing line art and color.

Here’s what it initially looked like before a few iterations!

There were some issues with this:

1. I forgot that I was supposed to be drawing tulips in the flower crown.
2. The bubbles are too opaque, they should look more… well… bubbly and kind of iridescent!
3. More issues to come!

I went back in and drew in tulips and make the bubbles actually look like bubbles.

Almost at the finish line! However, there are a few more issues (like I said before: More issues to come!)

The background is looking a bit barren? It’s kinda sad. They’re wearing flower crowns and blowing bubbles on a nice sunny/spring-y(?!) day, but there are no flowers in sight.

I added some plants (courteously stolen from U1_1 from RUS406), and drew in some birch trees behind the house.

Much better!

 

I’m also getting a little ahead of myself, but I went ahead and started doing a quick mockup for U11_5 in Adobe Illustrator. It’s supposed to be a website selling flowers and similar things.

I edited and updated some COLA ID photos today.

 

This was my first time designing characters as an STA for RUS406! I was asked to design Boris and Maria, Polina’s grandparents.

Boris was described as having short gray hair, and he also wears glasses and a brown suede jacket. I wanted him to look friendly and intelligent.

Maria had short hair and was described as a sophisticated woman who has retained her figure. She wears a tailored suit and a scarf around her neck. I had some issues choosing colors but settled on a red-purple blazer and gray scarf with black pants and shoes. The purple contrasts well with her blonde hair, and the gray scarf makes it so that the complementary colors aren’t overwhelming.

Original Buttons:

 

 

My Buttons:

COLA photo IDs I edited and updated online for two staff and two faculty members.

I was given scene U7_4 (Grigory, Boris, and Oleg relaxing in a banya) to illustrate, and it was my first attempt at scene illustration as an STA!

I started by compiling references which were provided by the professor and put them into my art board.

After examining references, I made a rough sketch of the background.

After sketching the background, I roughly sketch in the characters (Grigory, Boris, and Oleg) into the scene. Just rough poses to try and figure out how I want them to be situated and how I want them to interact with the background.

Once I’m happy with poses and placement, I make a new rough sketch and add in props and clean things up a little more.

After some more rough sketching, I finally started lining the illustration. I like to make rough notes while I draw—this helps me think better and helps other people understand what I’m trying to draw (in case it isn’t clear at times!)