Stranger Danger

I've always found the bean-seller in Jack and the Beanstalk to be a bit of a shady character. So I guess that's why my depiction of this story moment came out like this...



Run away, Jack. Run away.


I only had time to do a rough value study on this one. Now that the class is over, I'm not sure when I'll get back to it, if ever, so I'm posting it as is. I'll add it to the list of things to do... someday.

Holy Cow

I chose to design the cow, Milky White, as one of my assignments for Jack and the Beanstalk. I thought it would be quite simple. After all, how different can a cow be from a horse? And I'm quite familiar with drawing those, from all my training as a ten-year-old girl. Alas. Cows are like horses the same way bunnies are like cats. And much more difficult. Here is my attempt.

PS. I sort of graduated this weekend! I have pictures if not a diploma to prove it. And I was offered an internship for the summer at Disney Interactive/ Avalanche studios here in Salt Lake. I'm pretty excited.

Wanna buy some... magic beans?

You've come to the right spot.





Props are surprisingly fun to design. I would really love to do more of it.

Jack's House

I think it's done? Sometimes I have a hard time letting go.

Jack and the Beanstalk

I've been taking a class this semester from the amazing Jake Parker. In it we've been doing visual development for Jack in the Beanstalk, aiming for a classic Disney style.

Here's my Jack:



And some development sketches for his face:



I painted an entire version of the painting above to completion before stepping back and realizing that I had neglected to think about the personality of the character throughout the process. I had gotten so caught up in thinking about the technical aspects, I forgot to make story my first priority. Upon realizing this, I scrapped the other image and re-painted the above. I am a thousand times happier with this one.

I'm learning more and more how necessary it is to be willing to sacrifice a painting. If it isn't right, it isn't right, no matter how much time I've spent on it. If it doesn't solve the problem that's been given me, it's not a successful piece. I can't be afraid to start over or sacrifice parts of an image I might like in order to make it stronger as a whole. This has been a frustrating lesson to learn. But always more satisfying in the long run.

And while I cursed myself at the time for not correcting my mistake earlier on, I learned a lot in painting the first version. So I guess I can't say it was useless time spent.

It's a learning process, this art thing. There aren't any secret answers or shortcuts... or magic beans. Just a lot of working at it.