Adobe Photoshop

1080 by 1920 pixels

For this artwork, I decided to make a hyperrealistic portrait of my character Veri. As a character, she is a mother in her late twenties or thirties and, in this portrait, she is depicted crying in relief in front of a lake in the dawn holding a carnation. To create this sketch, first I sketched this character several times in Photoshop and choose the composition that spoke to me the most and seemed to represent her best. Then I experimented with colors and refined the background and sketch of Veri using different brushes and using reference pictures as inspiration to try make the proportions look as realistic as possible. Next I experimented with 3d models using the Magic Poser app and lighting to make more reference pictures. Then I sketched the portrait in black and white to establish the values using hard and soft brushes in Photoshop. Finally, I added the colors using multiply and color layers and focused on enhancing the values on areas like the dress and background.

Works Cited:

Wombat Studio. Magic Poser - Art Pose Tool. Vers. 1.48.7, Apple App Store, Jan. 2024. Https://apps.apple.com/us/app/magic-poser-art-pose-tool/id1141755970.

Added color layers. Decided to remove the dagger and let the focus be on Veri in the scene.

Started wondering about different color schemes, so I experimented and created this background I called "dragon sunset".

Changed the lake to show a reflection of the sky. To get the final image from here, I adjusted the shading and added shadows and highlights using reference pictures from Magic Poser.

Works Cited:

Wombat Studio. Magic Poser - Art Pose Tool. Vers. 1.48.7, Apple App Store, Jan. 2024. Https://apps.apple.com/us/app/magic-poser-art-pose-tool/id1141755970.

Created this sketch to test composition and color for the rest of the piece.

Worked on the background with different brushes and refined the sketch. The legs were the hardest part as they took a lot of finetuning to make them look like the pose I had in mind.

Took reference photos of some of my dresses to help me draw the dress and understand the way fabric pools on the ground. Did a rough shadow pass.

Created with Adobe Illustrator

2250 by 3300 pixels

In digital design class, we were tasked with creating a magazine cover. For my project, I was inspired by a paper quilling kit and decided to experiment with how I could create a similar effect using only digital software. First, I sketched a bouquet of live flowers I had at my desk. Then, I designed the quilling pattern and magazine cover in my notebook. I uploaded the sketch onto Illustrator on my iPad and used the pen tool to draw lines in the shape of each piece and carefully adjusted their points with the direct selection tool so they resembled the curves of paper quilling. Then, I opened Illustrator on my computer, added a drop shadow and used the 3D tools to extrude all of the lines of the bouquet to create a 3D effect.

Added light green background. 

Went back to ipad and finished using pen tool to create shape of the rest of the pieces and changed the color of the background and words to stand out better. 

I exported the sketch to Illustrator on my computer and extuded it and added drop shadow. I made two version. This one with a light green color and another with a black background which I decided I liked better in the end.

Uploaded sketch into Adobe Illustrator on my Ipad and used type tool to create the words in the Magazine.

Just another view without the sketch.

Tested digital quilling technique by using pen tool to create shapes and then exporting to computer to extrude and add drop shadow.

Took this photo April 14, 2024.

Sketched the artwork in my notebook

Experimented with different methods to create "digital quilling" techniques. This method was the one I deicded to go with and was created in Adobe Illustrator with pen tool, a drop shadow, and extrude tools.

Drew out the individual frames as the petal moves across the screen. I actually drew this before making the animatic.

Refining the first 5 seconds after the animatic, I set the onion skinning to 1 so I could see one frame before the frame I was working on.

Adding color. I had to go through over 50 frames and use the lasso tool on my ipad to add color to each frame. I think in the future I will consider applying the color first so I don't have to go back and do as much work. I actually overloaded Photoshop on my ipad and lost some of my work on this because I was using so many layer masks when applying color. The computer version of Photoshop is stronger so I was able to redo the work I lost on there. I learned to be more sparing with layer masks though.

Drew this sketch based on my Veri - Character Front View Rough Sketch.

Refined the line work and started adding blocking in colors. I also planned out my animation so I made sure to make the petals and hair as separate pieces.

Blocked in the rest of hte colors and added fine details and hair gradient.

Original Photo I took March 30, 2024 at Bass Lake Park in Holly Springs, NC.

Original Photo I took March 30, 2024 at Bass Lake Park in Holly Springs, NC.

Original Photo I took March 30, 2024 at Bass Lake Park in Holly Springs, NC.

Took pictures at Bass Lake Park in Holly Springs and photoshopped in the snail. 

Using the shadow already in the picture as reference, I drew in a shadow for the snail.

I added shadows to the snail's body to try to match him to the light direction.

Original Photo I took March 30, 2024 at Bass Lake Park in Holly Springs, NC.

I uploaded another original photo I took that day and shrunk it.

I added an adjustment layer to turn the shirt green. I also added in a shadow by taking the shadow of the original falling image filling it up with a dark greyish blue color, painting some parts of the shadow that had been cut off and then using mulitply to overlay it onto the hand. In this wip, I also experimented with creating a breath of air using the patch tool and increasing contrast and brightness with an adjustment layer to get this effect. Ultimately, I decide to go for a more realistic approach.

Made with Adobe Photoshop

3024 by 4032 pixels

Added the fish to the "Floating Chairs" picture. Also added tops to the bookshelves, which I think makes it look even more surreal.

Added tops to the bookshelves and started experimenting with carpets using patterns, gradients, and blending modes in Photoshop.

Started experimenting with gradients for the back wall. Also added a window, printer, bookshelf to the backwall. They are elements from the picture with the desk, but had been masked until now.

Added a ceiling above the bookshelves and also added fish. To get to the final image from here, I removed the gradient on the floor because I felt like it made the fish harder to see.

This in-progress work's optical illusion was popular with some of my family members so I decided to put it here.

I started constructing the room based on the new sketch. I added perspective lines, copied the chairs and created the lights. 

I redid the perspective lines to look more like the sketch. Then I used another picture a family member took and let me use for the bookshelves. Then I used photoshop's perspective and distrort tools to change their angle.

Since the last WIP, I used this picture and other pictures I took at the same time to construct the full version of the right chair and add it in perspective to the image. While I was planning on adding a carpet, ceiling and back wall to make this into a library, when I showed this in progress work to some other people, they liked it as is and thought it would lose something if covered up the original image, so I started to consider just keeping the background and moving on to the fish/sea life I wanted to add.

I took this original picture on March 17, 2024 to serve as my base image.

I decided I wanted to push further than just adding fish to this picture. I decided to construct a long surreal library space as well with bookshelves lining the wall and floating lights.

Made with Adobe Photoshop

3024 by 4032 pixels

For this assignment, I created a fantasy scene not found anywhere in nature. I decided I wanted to make a resort where people visited to climb giant flowers.I had the idea for this "Flower House Resort" because the flowers in front of my house were blooming a lot and there were several in vases around. To start, I took a picture of the blooming flower bush and sketched out things like rope bridges, a gondola ride, and houses. I imagined the giant plants the flowers belonged to were so large and heavy that people could walk along them and they would remain stationary despite the wind. 

After the preliminary sketches, I added the captions, more people and the cliff side. Then I adjusted the colors and replaced the houses with a Pixabay picture (Pxjvdwiel's House, Field, Facade image) so they would look more realistic.

Works Cited:

Cristouclap. Cliff, Sky, Rock image.. February 20, 2017. Pixabay, pixabay.com/photos/cliff-sky-rock-sea-landscape-2085621/. 

Pcjvdwiel. House, Field, Facade image. October 23, 2020. Pixabay, pixabay.com/photos/house-field-facade-storm-clouds-5676260/. 

Pexels. Adventure, Cliffs, Climb image. March 26, 2017. Pixabay, pixabay.com/photos/adventure-cliffs-climb-climber-2178746/. 

Safia_Pictures. Etretat, France, Normandy image.. June 15, 2020. Pixabay, pixabay.com/photos/etretat-france-normandy-sea-beach-5302045/.

An original photo I took March 5, 2024 and cropped a little for this project.

I sketched out gondolas, houses, a firepit with benches, bridges and stick figures representing people enjoying the resort.

I used an adjustment layer to change the colors a little since the last picture. I also added a message and a cliff with clouds in the background. To get the final photo from here, I used photographs from Pixabay for the houses and one for the character sitting at the edge of the leaf near the fire pit. The rest of the characters I drew.

While working on the Abandoned Atelier Project, I was messing around with adjustment layers for fun and created this rough neon version of this project. Someone told saw me working on this and said they really liked it, so I decided to make a neon version of this project after I finished. This is the rough draft version. You can tell because all of the cans are the same color and the hole is unrefined, just a placeholder until I refined it more. This took place shortly after "WIP4--Added in tree"

I used pictures of types of different cactuses online and some cactuses and succulents I have at home as reference.

I uploaded the sketch into illustrator and started using the shape tool to draw on top it.

Here I started drawing, the second succulent/cactus I put in and I included the sketch layer I was using so you can see how it compares.  I mostly made one leaf with a gradient and then copied it and adjusted it for each of the other leaves.

First, I painted the jar using water color brushes in photoshop

Then, I exported the jar into illustrator and used a turtorial given to use in class to make this marbles.

Finally, I decided to add some cat's eye marbles and used the paintbrush tool to make some strokes. I copied the cat's eye marbles and flipped, rotated, and color adjusted them to make to make the final design.

This was the original photo that my father had. It is estimated to have been taken around 1941-1945.

I used spot healing tools to rmove signs scratches and other signs of wear. I also added a black and white adjustment layer to remove the yellowing and started adding color to various parts of the photo. I found pictures people wearing Marine Corps uniforms from 1941 and used them to get the correct colors.

The car still looked like a low quality black and white photo image even after the other colors were added, so I used multiple adjustment layers to make it look more modern. Mostly, I looked up modern pictures of old cars of this type and tried to adjust the contrast to match. I also added colors visible through the windows. After this, I just color adjusted a bit more throughout the photo to get the final image.

I blocked out the sunset using large groups of pixels.

Refined the shoreline, tree branch and water plants. Added dark clouds. Removed right branch placeholder dots. Some of the clouds are slightly transparent because I was trying to figure out how to do anti-aliasing.

Used the eyedropper tool on some of the transparent clouds, selected the clouds and used the paintbucket tool to paint them the solid color.  After this, I did the same to the last set of clouds and then duplicated and flipped them.

Traced the reference image using Animator pencil brush on photoshop on my Ipad.

At the time I took this in-progress picture I was at step 8 of the tutorial. I had also started running out of time because I spent a lot of time painting the values of the first few levels and hadn't expected the values to change each time and get rewritten. Because of both of these things, I increased the filter level to level 10 after this picture to save time.

Picture of the values I was working with before I got to step 12 of the tutorial and we put the original picture underneath as a color layer.

A cropped and rotated version of the original photo that I took on September 25, 2021.

A very early version of my butterfly design was a vibrant light green with purple line work and  pink designs. I eventually decided it was too bright and tried dark purple instead.

My inprogress version of the purple butterfly. Some notable changes from this draft include changing the stripes on the butterfly's body to orange, adding black outlines to the shapes in the wings, and changing the color of the flower to more neon pink.

I took this photo at White Deer Park on February 8, 2023.

Made using Adobe Illustrator

600 by 800 pixels

Kristen R. Holcombe

The assignment for this piece was to create a comic using vectors in illustrator. I knew I wanted to do this prompt, because I really enjoy comics like webtoons and manga. 

The characters in this comic page are ones I came up with during my html class last semester to go in an basic video game which is actually still available on itch.io (It’s called Forest’s Heir and here is the link: https://kristensgames.itch.io/forest-heir.) After drawing a few comic pages with the different characters, I settled on this composition featuring the characters Alix and Ash.

In this comic, Ash, an unstabled wanderer who uses fire magic, has ventured into the icy lands of Alix’s home. Alix is determined to defend it from the destruction Ash leaves behind her, but when Ash refuses to leave despite several warnings, Alix feels forced to drive her off, even though it’s a fight she doesn’t want and isn’t sure she can win.

One notable change from the game version of Alix is that, in this comic, she wears long sleeves to hide the ribbon on her right arm.

As one of my biggest inspirations for this comic is manga art, rhis comic is read right-to-left in homage. In this project, I enjoyed trying to make an interesting composition while working on my character drawing and trying to tell a clear story from interesting angles. I hope to keep learning more about comic and manga art and do more with these characters in particular.

Basic sketch of comic using paper and pencil.

Refined sketch of comic using paper and pencil

Here I have brought the image into illustrator and have started tracing it with the pen tool

Made using Adobe Illustrator

600 by 800 pixels

Kristen R. Holcombe

An experimental piece based on the prompt of creating a traced portrait based on a photograph. I made this portrait by bringing a photo into illustrator and using the pen tool to trace the important lines. I enjoyed tracing all of the tiny variations of colors in photographs as a kid, so for this assignment, I challenged myself to only trace parts of the photo that aided the composition so some of the traces I made of shadows and highlights that distracted from the overall feel of the piece, had to be left out. I wouldn’t say it is the most flattering drawing I have ever made, but I think it is an interesting one. I think I learned a lot about using the pen tool from this drawing and it helped me grow as an artist. I liked how the eyebrows and the eyes turned out, and I can see some “trace” of myself in the reflection which I think it important. I was inspired by the critique of this piece to focus on improving my lineart in my later works.

Original photo, slightly faded using Photoshop to aid in tracing.

Here I started tracing by focusing on the main lines.

A later work-in-progress version, some details such as the traced lines for the teeth and flowers on the dress, I changed or took out later.