An Illustration Major with a Children's Book emphasis from Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design. My email is [email protected]. My website is www.ktgillustration.com
So I am almost finished with the intro to my brand new webcomic! This is something I've been really wanting to do for a long time, and I've finally worked out the details to start it. The picture above is embedded with a link to the comic's profile--while there aren't any comics posted yet, there will be soon! Keep your eyes peeled~
Watercolored a sunset! I've been trying to get used to clouds. They are...a challenge! I always digitally alter these things because I can never seem to get the saturation I want--though this one actually didn't need a lot of attention for once! :D
Starting a new project! I decided to choose something to do for my grad show early. I have all summer to work out characters and choose final pieces...More will come as I'm working things out. What I know now for sure is that it will involve dragons. :) So for now, I'm practicing drawing them and trying to get a feel for the process.
So I have quite a few graze boxes from over a month subscription to their yummy and delicious monthly snacks (a couple got destroyed, by gooey caramel dipping sauce among other things). As soon as I opened the first one I was really pleasantly surprised by the beautiful packaging inside and out.
I recently learned how to put together a single signature book from my teacher, Alicia McKim at rmcad. (I also feel the need to give credit to my friend Mallory, who taught me to make books out of multiple signatures, and had single signature books at her awesome grad show. :) Thanks for getting me hooked!!) I wanted to re-recycle the boxes so as to not waste the gorgeous pictures printed on on the cardboard. I don't know who took these pictures, but if I ever find out, I am certainly giving credit!
Click below to see how I made mine!
Gotta have the boxes and the materials! I have a cutting mat, needles (these are tapestry needles, the only ones they had at the store, but they are sturdy and they work), a box cutter, bone folder, ruler, and waxed thread. I also used printer paper for the inside of my book cause I'm super cheap and it's also nice and thin.
I cut the top flaps and sides off because the photos are on the other sides.
I cut off the section with my address sticker, so the insides of the books would be unblemished. Look how gorgeous these pictures are! I used the fig one for my cover because it is my favorite.
Because the cardboard is thick, there is a chance that it might fold funky if I tried just folding it without a crease. So I measured the exact middle of the cover...
And used my bone folder to make a crease so it would fold cleanly.
I cut out some paper with slightly smaller dimensions than my cover. I went in about a centimeter and a half on both sides.
For the next part, I made one of these. It's the same height of the book, with three marks on the inside. With the pages nested & centered in the cover, I placed this in the middle, and used my needles to poke holes exactly where I made my marks. This is so I can sew them together correctly without going crazy :)
I made sure to take it out before I started sewing!
Using the needle, I pulled the thread through the center puncture first. Because I wanted my knot on the inside, I made sure to pull the thread toward the outside.
Then, I pulled it back through to the inside, using the bottom puncture.
Next, I pushed the needle to the outside again, this time going through the top puncture.
For the last part of sewing the book, I pulled the thread through the middle puncture once more to the inside, and made sure everything was pulled as tightly as I could.
Then I did two square knots, nice and pretty :) before cutting off the excess thread.
All finished!!! I love that cover!!
Make sure to find a friend with a graze.com invitation code so that you can try their snacks. They're $5 a box and totally worth it. My boyfriend and I split it up between the sweet snacks (his!) and the savory ones (mine!). I would post my code but it's already been used!
Maybe now you can make a nice book of your own with recycled materials. Have fun!
As nervous as I was to do a project completely in Photoshop, I think I actually did okay on this one. I was totally inspired by my friend Danielle, whose project I saw before I started. Her art reminded me to keep it simple--so I did just that and came out with something more satisfying than anything I've ever done in this program! Now I'm much more confident in my abilities and so far feel like I am learning the limitations and techniques much better than I would have on my own (thanks Kit!!)
Here's the last installment of my Children's Book II projects! This is the little seal I designed to go on the dedication page. I recently had a portfolio review and it was highly encouraging. It made me feel that, for the first time at RMCAD, I might be able to actually go somewhere with my art--not just as a hobby but a career. It's a really ambitious goal, but I've come this far, and I don't want to turn back now!
Finished my alternate book cover for The Hunger Games! This was so much fun. I loved doing the header in Illustrator--I am really getting the hang of handwritten type :)
Second Children's Book Page! This one features an allosaurus. Or at least, a highly cartoonified one ;) Done in Children's Book II! I also painted this type myself. You can see how much is done on the computer...hopefully in the future I can learn to use watercolor and computer together more harmoniously! It's so much fun so far.
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