Scroobious Pips

Two classes worked on the Scroobious Pip project this fall quarter. The project was inspired by two different things; James Gurney's video demo called "How I Paint Dinosaurs", and a silly poem by Edward Lear called "The Scroobious Pip", a nonsense story about an animal that is a little of everything. The students created their version of the Scroobious Pip in polymer clay; it begins with a wire armature, is bulked out with aluminum foil, is covered in Super Sculpey, sculpted, baked and finally painted. The maquette is lit and photographed and is used as a model for a finished illustration that tells a bit of a story about each Pip.
Here are a few photos of a Pip being constructed:

Alexandra Badiu

The Exploration of Mediums class used an illustration technique that involves lots of materials and processes; it starts with a drawing on illustration board, then acrylics are used to paint the lightest local color and value. On top of the acrylic layer, watercolors are painted as the midtones and local color, then are lifted using clean water and a paper towel to reveal the lighter acrylics underneath. After that, a thin, cool color of oils in a transparent wash is painted over the entire piece. It is allowed to dry a bit and is then lifted with erasers to reveal the midtones and light values, and left only in the shadows. Finally, the piece is sprayed with fixative and finished with colored pencils and acrylics in opaque colors to extend the value range and color intensity.

Here are a few examples:

Avery Beason

Whitney Childers

Lydia Hancock

The Media and Techniques class built maquettes using the same materials and processes, but the illustration technique was different. This class did an acrylic "grisaille", or monochromatic underpainting using shades and tints of a single base color. Then glazes of transparent acrylics are added for color. The paint gets more and more opaque with the addition of white and more pure color as lighter, brighter values are needed.

Here are a couple of examples of the Grisaille project:

Alexandra Badiu

Sally Geng