Graphic Design Character

Based off of the “perfect girl” from my Flash Fiction, this illustration is composed of three animals whose traits fit that of my character. I combined pigeon, cow, and cat to form my new animal because each animal represents a different side to the personality of my Flash Fiction character.

BenP_Narr_CharD

 

Artist Statement

       My piece is based off of a flash fiction I wrote which follows two people that discover a book of post its that can create anything they want, which they use to compete over a girl. The main character initially finds the book on the side of the road in an unassuming box. After sketching randomly and discovering what they can do, he uses the post its to make himself appear better to this girl who, because of her looks, is the focus of most guys at the school. He soon however discovers that another person in his class also likes her. Unfortunately for the main character, the other person has a book of post its of their own. The two soon begin to use their post its to fight over her, but after running out, they both discover she has moved away, never having noticed them.
       I used Illustrator to create this piece, and I started by cutting up different images of animals and putting them together into a rough collage. I then traced what I could, and sketched the parts that were missing. After that I traced over the sketches I had to make the project cohesive, and began to use the paintbrush tool to fill in details. Later, I began to use the pen tool to create the background making sure to use linear perspective to create the room, filling in details with the paintbrush tool. Finally, I colored in the image using Pantone color schemes, creating gradients to give depth, and making light sources. The animals I combined are representative of the pretty girl in my story. I chose pigeon, cow, and cat as my animals because they’re ornery and considered as dumb animals, much like a stereotypical representation of a “dumb blonde.” I included a cat because cats are graceful creatures but also are aloof. The creature is posed the way it is because I decided to take inspiration from pin up girl models, who fit the stereotypical “dumb girl” view. I placed the creature in a jazz bar because that also fits the time period of pin up girls. I am happy with how my work turned out, and although I ran into some problems when trying to find animals to trace, the end product is something I am happy I produced.