Illustrations – Time of Year (Series)

BirchTrees

This work is influenced by Charley Harper designs. This design mainly uses very simple shapes to create the scenery of white birch trees. Some of the barks shape and all of the leaves are constructed by use of the shape builder tool in Illustrator. This piece emphasizes the trees by creating a stark contrast against the dark background which is in a twilight phase. The leaves are a dark orange color to show the seasonal changes of autumn time. I wanted to give the feeling of a season, especially the changing colors of the autumn, because that’s what really drew me into works of Harper’s like Octoberama which show is a beautiful array of colors.


 

Dandelion

This work is influenced by the works of Charley Harper and his use of flat colors and 2d artwork that is often very simple, but still so beautiful and intriguing. For this piece I wanted it to feel very light and smooth because of the delicacy of the dandelion and how easily it is swayed by the wind. I chose the blue to give a very light feeling, but I also wanted it to give the feeling of a warm summer’s day. For the wind I wanted to visually show it and add that extra eye-catching element and I think swirling effect can do that very well and I am often drawn to swirls in my work. I originally planned to do the swirling wind in white, but I had the idea to do two different colors instead, which added an extra element of interest and beauty. The dandelion stems, parts of the seeds, and the wind gave me a chance to experiment with the shape builder tool in Illustrator. This piece also gave me the chance to work with dandelions digitally to compliment my other work in which I painting a dandelion similarly across three panels.

Sketches/Brainstorming:

Sketches