PROJECT 3
Summary: My goal for this project was to learn more about illustrator and become more comfortable with the program. After a few weeks in class learning the basics of Illustrator I was still very frustrated with the program. I'm more familiar with Photoshop so coming from that over to Illustrator felt like a new world at first.
Goals: I want to showcase my knowledge of the program with my limited experience. My prompt wasn't necessarily the best in the class so that was for sure a big challenge for me. My main goal was to prove to myself that I could do something that looked good on a program that I struggle with.
IDEATION + SKETCHES
FINAL SKETCH:
I started out with the initial outline of the Castle for a base.
What feeling(s) do you want to convey in this work?
I wanted to expand on my chosen prompt. I could have done something simple like a princess walking down a path with a crown. But I wanted my piece to have an interesting story behind it. I want to convey the feeling of seclusion.
What imagery or visual cues will you use to communicate this feeling?
In my story the princess is banished to the run down castle in the middle of the forest. I want to make the castle look rough and ran down. Yes this is a princess but she isn't welcome in the family anymore. I want to convey that lifestyle in the work.
Who is your protagonist(and/or antagonist)? Is the protagonist a human? An animal? An object? Or something else?
The main character in my story is the banished princess. The antagonist is the main branch of the family that is not included in the artwork.
Is it necessary for us to see the protagonist in order to understand the story?
Yes, even though in my work she will be very small in size(on purpose). She is the main character.
What events led the protagonist to this point?
The princess cheated on her husband(The King) and is kicked out of the main branch castle and sent to live in solitude for the rest of her life. Alone in a castle in the forest.
What might happen next?
She will have to find a way to live alone. A completely different lifestyle than what the princess is used too. Once someone who had everything done for her now has to live alone and fend for herself in an abandoned castle.
How can symbolism be used in this work?
Hopefully when you look at the artwork your eyes will wonder across the landscape. Eventually finding the princess on her balcony looking out into the forest over the castle wall. I want to make her very small and insignificant. Her whole world came crashing down and she isn't important anymore like she once was.
What might your composition look like?
A castle wall in the foreground, the castle in the main part of the piece, and a large dense forest in the background. I want to make it look like its abandoned and it is truly her living in solitude.
With the Castle outlined I knew I wanted a strong looking wall. Because what is a castle without a little protection.
Filling in the bricks was for sure the longest task for this entire project.
I decided to make the entrance to the castle grounds a double door. Made out of wood to compliment the stone.
After finishing the brick on the guard wall I moved on to the castle details. Making the multiple terraces a light grey to match the tone of the wall.
Now at first I made the castle with a brick layout similar to the guard wall. But the I got some inspiration from a few Disney movies. The Disney world castle was blue and not stone so I changed the castle color to something that would pop.
I added the roof color, a blue with matching yellow spirals to the top.
After finishing the roof it was time to do the background which didn't take long at all. I used a template to get a feel of what I truly wanted and free handed it from there. My prompt is princess in a rainforest so I wanted to add tropical tree encasing the castle. But I also wanted to show the horizon behind the castle. So I went ahead and added a sky and fields in the background.
This part took me a while to figure out. I was completely done with my artwork. But something was still off about it. This being the doodles and paint brush strokes on the outside of my artboard. I eventually taught myself how to fix this issue. Unlock all layers and use the selection tool to select everything. Click view and the click on 'trim view'. This cleaned up my artboard quite nice and super fast.
This is what my final art work looks like. I honestly surprised myself with this. When I first drew my prompt I was pretty bummed out. Everyone else had such cool stories and I was left with something I just couldn't wrap my head around. But thanks to the professor and fellow students who gave me ideas I was able to come up with this.
