What Zoo Animals do for Fun!

     So our next project in my Illustration class is the theme "happines/joy". After 5-6 pages of thumb-nailing out ideas I chose to illustrate the concept of what certain zoo animals do to keep happy and have fun. These are still rough and will most likely look very different when i'm done. I've recieved alot of critiques since I sketched these out so i'll update them soon. I just wanted to let you guys see what i'm working on. I haven't committed to anything yet so if any of you have any ideas to help inprove the concept, or composition please let me know!

This first concept is a fat lazy lion eating his steak. In the wild Lions have to hunt for their food. At the zoo they get free food and can lounge around all day! I will probably add more lions and lionesses catering to the king.

The second concept is Polar Bears that pass the time swimming and splashing onlookers. I wanted to have one of them in mid-air about to do a cannonball. I'm going to adjust the angle of his aproach and make him a lot more plump. I will probably fix the railings some.

I like the concept of this third one but the composition needs alot of work. The idea is that Baboons or Mandrils like to pass the time scaring little children. I'm going to re-do this one completely though.

Lastly, I have flamingos that pass the time seeing who can stand on one leg the longest. This one also needs some work. I am going to add more flamingos balancing on one leg; some in different stages of falling etc.

Comments PLEASE!

Walk the Plank (Complete Set)

     I've made a lot of progress in the last couple of days. Here are all 4 of the illustrations that go in the "Walk the Plank" series. I still have till Wednesday to make any last minute revisions so I thought that I'd post them to see if anyone had any critiques that would help to improve these before they're due. This has definitely been a love/hate situation due to my lack of experience painting underwater stuff. But, I've had a lot of fun. Comments please!

Walk the Plank #2 (Battling with Bubbles)

     Here is the second in the "Walk the Plank" series. I was completely happy with it until I got to the part where I had to paint the bubbles. I decided that bubbles aren't something that one can just pick up and paint. At least I can't. Painting bubbles underwater does not come naturally to me AT ALL! Even with underwater reference at my side they just don't feel right. I can't put my finger on what it is though. I've been battling with bubbles for the last hour or so and decided it's time to take a break from this piece. Monday I will have a critique from my class and I'm hoping they will have some words of wisdom. I thought I'd go ahead and post it to see if any of you might have some tips?

Walk the Plank #1

     I am just about done with the first illustration for the "Walk the Plank" series I'm doing. I still have three left to do though. It's going to be a long weekend! Comments Welcome!

I Married a Pirate (Revised)

     I re-visited the pirate painting I did last week. I received a really helpful critique from one of the art teachers on campus here and I think it's definitely helped this to be a stronger illustration. Comments welcome!

Walk the Plank (continued)

         I have made some revisions to the first sketch based off of our in-class critiques. I've also included the second illustration in the series.  These are still in the color comp stage. The refined versions will come soon.

Midnight Snack

     I've refined the sketch that I posted a few days ago. I still have a few weeks to receive critiques on it before it's due so, it will probably continue to evolve. Comments welcome!

Fear Assignment

     In my Advanced Illustration class we were given the assignment "fear". I have chosen two concepts to illustrate. My first concept is an obvious one; it's the classic cat/mouse illustration. My second concept is going to be a sequential illustration involving a maiden that is forced to walk the plank. These are just initial color comps. The final illustrations are due May 12th so I'll have them up by then if not sooner. More stuff to come!

I Married a Pirate!

     I think somewhere there is an unwritten rule that every illustrator has to paint a pirate, at least once. Well, I think it's about time that I obey that rule and post a pirate painting. My wife was so kind to be my lovely model. This was an old sketch that I had laying around and I thought it would be fun to finish it. Comments welcome!

Nicole the Fairy

     I would have had this up sooner but I have been busy the past week. If you remember the drawing I posted a while back; well, this is the "almost" finished version. You'll notice that I made a few minor changes to the composition. But for the most part I stuck to my original drawing. I still want to play around with it some more. The butterflies were a last minute thing and I'm not sure how I feel about them yet. I will let it sit a few days and come back to it. Comments welcome!

MY2K Blog Featurette

     I recently had the honor to appear as a guest artist on the MY2K website http://www.my2k.com/2010/04/sitton-art.html. Susan, the author of the website took interest in one of my recent paintings, "The Conjurer". Her website is dedicated to Mayan culture and more specifically to the Mayan calendar's prediction of the world's end in 2012. There are some very interesting pieces of history, lore, and imagery on her site. Take a look! Susan specifically requested that I post the photo that I used for reference for this painting. Enjoy!

Fairy Drawing

    I'm currently working on a few children's books and I can't post any of those illustrations until the entire books are done. So in an effort to post more often, I decided to submit a work "in progress" of a piece I'm doing just for fun. I thought it would be neat to see how it goes from the drawing stage to the finished painting. I always try to approach a piece with a solid drawing before I ever go and try to put color/value on it. Those that have only seen the top two entries in my blog might think that I only draw children but it just so happens that these two are next to each other. I just found a really cool reference picture of my wife's cousin and thought I'd make her into a fairy. Comments welcome!

Sunday Sketch Updated

     I decided to go back to the previous sketch and revise it a little bit. This time I actually had a few reference photos of the little girl Adelyn to look at to get a more accurate likeness of her face. Comments always welcome!

Blog of Note!

     Today I found out that I was nominated "Blog of Note". As of September of 2009 I started keeping a blog mainly for the purpose of having somewhere to post for a Digital Illustration class here at the university of BYU-Idaho. That blog evolved into my personal art blog and I've updated it every so often since then. I'm still new to blogging so, it shouldn't be a surprise to anyone that I had NO idea about "Blog of Note". I feel honored that someone out there felt that my blog was adequate enough to be submitted. I don't know who to thank but it was definitely a pleasant surprise. As an artist I feel that I have barely scratched the surface of becoming what I need to be in order to be competitive in today's world. I have a long way to go. But, I am constantly learning and improving. I wish that there were more here for people to see. I feel like my blog is in it's infant stages. Well, I want to thank all those that took the time to look at my blog. And, I appreciate all the wonderful comments. I will dedicate myself to posting more often so that there is more to see for those that continue to visit. Thanks again!

http://blogsofnote.blogspot.com

Passages Logo

     This is a Logo that I designed for the website http://www.gobofongo.com/passages/
The premise of the website is a store that sells interesting and unique items found in India and parts of the Orient. I don't usually do logo work but this was fun. (Done in Adobe Illustrator CS4)