My Grinning Poop
I am new to the fields of illustration and graphic design. I am new to the concept of Behance. I noticed while going through everybody else's amazing projects, that process appears to be as important as the result. I also noticed that I enjoy seeing the artist at work in the projects, so I am giving it a try. Please, I beg you, give me some advice.
Now that I am disabled, I have begun to explore my more whimsical creative interests and challenges. I no longer have to worry about having a job at an architecture firm or being taken seriously as an artist. As a result, I have resolved to understand how a smiley works.
I have always admired those who can draw cartoons, or anybody who has the ability to express it all in a few lines. The challenges that I have been addressing in the last few years is creating a style that is my own that isn't a jungle of lines that are nicely organized in order of importance to communicate vast amounts of information as a summary of months of collecting, measuring, and thinking, but a style that is just as expressive with minimal complexity to convey much more basic and relevant information. Basic, but not more simple. Just expressed clearly. This is much more challenging and overwhelming from my point of view.
I have always admired those who can draw cartoons, or anybody who has the ability to express it all in a few lines. The challenges that I have been addressing in the last few years is creating a style that is my own that isn't a jungle of lines that are nicely organized in order of importance to communicate vast amounts of information as a summary of months of collecting, measuring, and thinking, but a style that is just as expressive with minimal complexity to convey much more basic and relevant information. Basic, but not more simple. Just expressed clearly. This is much more challenging and overwhelming from my point of view.
http://www.millan.net/minimations/smileys/smilebrain.gif
I love smileys, especially those by Camilla at www.millan.net (www.millan.net/mox/me.htm). I love that she has developed a personal style that anybody could recognize anywhere and know it is hers. Nobody that actually looks at her work can mistake it for any other's work. I also love her incredible humor about the absurdity in life and a sensitivity to all aspects of this world from more than her own point of view. I also love that she can come across a good idea, improve on it, and make it her own.
As I have been developing my own style, I have come to the realization that I have to start a smiley as if I were starting an architecture project. It appears to be easier for me to address things from the method I learned in college than to jump off the bridge and draw a circle with two dots and a parenthesis. With every smiley I make I have the same steps of conceptualizing, gathering inspiration and ideas, and gathering strategies and methods. When I start drawing, it is within a perspective grid as a crutch, but used with no accuracy. When I 'finish,' I always have many variations and never know which one to use. I have started focusing on variations on expressions with smiles and surprised expressions and how they can be both positive and negative.
I have three base characters that I have started with: the basic emoticons yellow circle, a Ninjacat that I have been drawing since I was a little kid, and everybody's least favorite, poop. Here is the process I took to make my grinning poop smiley.
Here are the steps I took to turn the poop into a kiss.
Thank you for looking at my whole project. Please share any tips or advice you may have.
