Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Colored "leap frogs"




Here are three colored version of my leap frogs. One cut paper, one colored pencil, and one done in Photoshop. I wanted to experiment with different mediums to see what I liked best. Each version taught me a lot, which was most important.

The Photoshop version came out best, mostly because I had the most control over it, though I did enjoy doing the cut paper version (done with available construction paper from my wife's supply!). I will definitely try more illustrations like that, with better quality paper.

Need a lot of practice with the colored pencils as far as shading and blending. Got a bit carried away on the bottom frog, making him a tad muddy! Again, I learned a lot, so on to the next challenge! : )

12 comments:

Alicia Padrón said...

Woohoo Tom!! These are great! You really worked a lot! Experimented with several things, that is wonderful! Not easy to do..

I love them. But I have to say that the cut paper is AWESOME!!! Great, great, great Tom. Really great! You have to keep playing with that.. turned out fabulous! Love the colors of the papers and the look of the frogs is so cute. For example, the eyes since you cut and glue them they are a bit tilted,,, just ever so slightly.. compared to the other illustrations and adds such character! Is just a little something that makes the stand out, you know? Love how the grass adds dimension and pops a bit. Wonderful!

The other two are great to. I think the photoshop is better than the colored pencil. CP takes time.. sometimes you have to render very lightly and add layer after layer. Other times you can just try and work sections at a time instead of the whole picture. The photoshop is very good too. Its up on second place after the super winner cut paper frogs!! :o)

Maybe you should do a thumbnail of the cut paper frogs and make that your profile picture.

Way to go Tom! You should be proud :o)

Elise's Art Garden said...

Alicia's right Tom!
Nice job! I love much of the preciseness of digital work, but it's the little flaws in traditional work that is most appealing to me!
You're braver than I am to try new things! Reinventing yourself takes courage, but practicing and trying is what does it! Keep working! You inspire me!
I loved your piano blog too! I had lessons years ago as a little girl, and never got the hang of it. I can play a few tunes, but may have to try this method!!
Thanks for visiting my "fail"l too!

Tom Barrett said...

Thanks, Alicia!. Yea, I really like the cut paper one. I like the dimensionality of it.

The colored pencil one is my least favorite, too. I began blending too soon I think, which made wax build up, making it harder to add additional layers. haven't given up on it, I'll just have to start slower and lighter next time. I was inspired by this lady!

I like the Photoshop one, but not the dark lines. I changed them to a color that matched the frogs, and it looks better now.

Thanks, again!

Tom Barrett said...

Thanks, Elise. I am more of a traditionalist myself. One good thing about digital though, is not necessarily the ability to undo or erase mistakes, but the ability to infinitely layer colors over one another (without them blending to mud) to get your desired effect, one thing I applied in the Photoshop version.

Thanks for stopping by!

Lori McDonough said...

Tom,
Thanks so much for your kind words about my first attempt at IF. It's such a leap of faith when you upload that first picture...deep breath! :-)
I love your frogs and love seeing the different mediums. What a great idea. I'm going to link your blog to mine, if that's ok. I think we're on a similar journey. The blog world is pretty new to me and I've just recently gotten my first illustration job doing a series of children's books.
I am humbled by the talent on IF. It's incredibly inspiring. Thanks, again, Tom!

Tom Barrett said...

Yes, Lori, it's a big leap to put yourself out like this in public. However, you will find wonderful support and great inspiration in the many illustrators and artists in the blogging community. And it is good motivation to keep at it! :)

Congrats on the illustration job. Be sure and post updates on your progress. I, as well as others, enjoy watching projects go from idea to print!

That'd be great to swap links! Thanks for stopping by to comment!

Anonymous said...

Hi Tom!
I love the paper-cut one best too. Then the Photoshopped one. :) Lots of fun! I have to ask if your comment of "tad muddy" was an intentional play on words??! hehee
Have a great Friday!!!
teri

Tom Barrett said...

Ha! No "tad muddy" wasn't intentional. But I guess I could use the excuse that he leaped in to the mud previously!

Thanks for the visit, Teri!

Jennifer Thermes said...

Oh! I vote for the cut paper, too! Well done. :-)

Tom Barrett said...

OK, well that seems to be my "dtrong point", so I am going to explore that more. I have some ideas to make it a bit unique, so we'll see!

sketched out said...

Not to jump on the bandwagon, but I have to agree, I really like how the cut paper turned out. You, really seem to have a knack.

What can I say, photoshop rules when it comes to control. I love working with it.

I've always found colored pencil fun but challenging. Sometimes what I do is hit a drawing with some water color, doing part of the modeling that way, then go in and hit it with some colored pencil to finish up the shading and add texture. I'm not good at either, but when I mix them I get some pretty cool results.

Good work Tom. These little frogs are cute as the dickens.

Kathleen Rietz said...

I actually like the cut paper one the best!!! I love the water rippling around thegrass and the way you let the grass have dimension. They are all very nice, though.