2018-2019 School Year

September 2018: Every day this month, I am planning to focus on anatomical structures via the use of photographic references. I would also like to stretch out of my comfort zone of poses for my characters, as I am working to complete my understanding of the relationship between joint structure and movement. Smaller, more detailed goals are going to be set by me for these different topics. I am lastly going to direct energy towards cel shading and methods to achieve a realism-based lighting style.

October 2018: This month, in addition to using references to improve my feline anatomy, I will begin to use photographs to start on canine anatomy. Since I have been predominantly drawing cats for the past year in the Innovation Lab, I feel as if it would be good to start expanding my artistic horizons. With breaking out of my comfort zones, I plan to complete pieces containing backgrounds at different times of day, possibly adding in other objects. Lastly, I will continue practicing what I learned from the previous month.

November 2018: Each day this month, I am not only going to continue to practice feline and canine artworks, but also begin real-life light studies using stuffed animals and a desk lamp. My experience with shading in general, along with its sub-types, will hopefully be boosted by these efforts, creating more accurate realism on my pieces. In addition to this, I am planning on contacting the teacher for the digital arts course at Loveland Middle School, giving a presentation about Autodesk Sketchbook to the students, similar to what I did in January of 2018 (to see photos of this presentation, check out the "Innovation Lab Experiences" page).

December 2018 and January 2019: Throughout these months, I am planning to continue both my artworks and sketch studies with canines, along with begin to apply the understanding of shadow from my real-life light study conducted in November 2018. In addition to this, similar to my work for December 2017, I am hoping to branch out to others in the district, most likely club members or colleagues, who are in need of designs, which will be done either by commission or free request. Lastly, I am hoping to keep working on illustrating more eye-catching and realistic background elements, perhaps with snowy pine trees and ice to get in the mood for the winter season.

February 2019: Each day this month, I am not only planning on having a commission and request section of this website set up and open to those in the Loveland community, but also directing my focus towards practicing a newly-discovered cel shading method. This technique, using subtraction of shadows rather than addition, allows for a realistic fur effect to be achieved on characters, rather than looking like a bunch of linear markings. Based on my experiments thus far, I have to say this method has given me the strongest results. Moreover, since I was not able to complete as many canine drawings as I had hoped for in the last two months, I am intensely focused on mastering snout definition at multiple angles. The reference images I have used in the past have allowed me to see what these various perspectives look like, and I am excited to begin drawing accurately from my imagination!

March 2019: Throughout this month, in addition to managing the debut of my commission and request Google Form and digital portfolio page, I am planning on continuing the completion of referenced figure sketching for both cats and dogs. Still using the cel shading technique of subtraction of shadow, I am hoping that I am able to improve on my knowledge of this method as well, creating an overall increase in the realism of my compositions. In addition to this, by following tutorials created by other artists, I am hopeful to learn how to draw varying character expressions (sad, angry, happy, etc.), along with discover how to create a balanced shading color spectrum within background elements such as rocks. Since I have learned a lot in the past month, I expect to see a lot of improvement in March!

April 2019: For each piece in April, I plan to continue directing my energy towards improving the use of color palettes, along with using photograph references for both feline and canine illustrations. In order to dive deeper into understanding different forms of anatomies, markings, and perspectives, I plan to broaden my horizons in drawing the possible breeds of a character, such as a beagle dog or a Siamese cat. Moreover, I am also hopeful to make significant progress on adding realistic accessories to my characters, especially collars, medallions, and flowers. Using the cel shading techniques I have picked up over the past two months, these targets should be much more achievable!

May 2019: Throughout the last month of my Innovation Lab time, I am hopeful to keep pushing forward on my goals set for realism, especially on the depth of background elements such as soil, trees, snow, and other types of foliage. Since I have already established a solid technique of subtraction-based cel shading, I am now planning on doing an increased amount of figure sketching, looking at the way a cat or dog's joints move. Lastly, in order to wrap up the two years of digital arts work for my passion project, another special tab will be added under the "Passion Project LHS" page. I will also do a third presentation to the Loveland Middle School digital arts program, focusing on the features and benefits of Adobe Photoshop CC.