TASK 1
Stray Cats, Hooded Crows & Babushkas
My inspiration comes from watching the symbiotic interaction between hooded crows, stray cats, and babushkas at my favourite park in Riga. The hooded crows like swift drones noisily swarm around the cats stealing the treats that babushkas offer. Whereas the cats indulge babushkas by lazily accepting their generous offerings. I want to re-create the scene for my scarf - swarming crows and apathetic cats. I'll leave out babushkas - they would complicate the design.
As I create the shape drawings of the cats and crows, I discover that it will take much longer than I planned to outline all the animals. So I decided to develop one cat face. I juxtapose the flowing movement of the crows' wings against the cat's static and almost symmetrical face. I mainly used pencil and blob brush tools to develop the shape outline for Task 1.
TASK 2
Once the outlines of the shapes are completed, the tonal mapping goes a bit faster. First, I select and fill the shapes based on how they are organized in highlights, mid-tones and shadows. In this way, the design features groups of light grey shapes, medium grey shapes and very dark shapes. Next, I add some variations of grey to the shapes within each group. I pay attention to the layer stack as I rearrange the objects to achieve the desired appearance of the subject. I lock and unlock sublayers to avoid accidentally moving the shapes. The designs could easily turn into paint by numbers pictures.
After filling the shapes with tonal values, I don't like how some line work disappeared. It appears as if the subjects' texture, rhythm, and movement are lost.
I experiment with colour and pattern fills to add texture to the subjects. I also use the Shape Builder tool to merge the shapes. Some smaller shapes tend to get lost or buried under the larger shapes, so I constantly use Outline mode under View>Outline to spot and select those shapes. I notice that the busy fills make the crows appear patchy. I will have to simplify the designs as I move to the next stage. I will further edit the colours once I come up with ideas for the scarf.
TASK 3
Before finalizing the scarf design, I experiment with applying Photoshop effects to the image that I might to fill the scarf's background. First, I chose my own photo of the treetop filled with a swarm of birds. Since the subjects are so colourful, I chose an image with minimal colour. Next, I move the designs on top of the background to evaluate the effect in combination with the animals. The background image overpowers the subjects, so I reduce layer opacity.
I paint a few abstract flowing washes using watercolour, ink and gouache. After the paintings dry, I discover that some of the intricate trickles of flowing paint dissolve into a fuzzy mush. So I paint some more swatches and take pics while the paint is still flowing. In Illustrator, I try Photoshop effects to alter the painting. Still, I am not satisfied with how the design turns out. Since the crows are flying in the air, I found a few cloud images I took a while ago. I create a background for the scarf with clipping masks using a dramatic looking evening cloud formation.
It takes some time to finalize the arrangement of the birds and cats. As a result, my workspace gets a bit cluttered. In addition, a few times, I forget to back up my shape drawings as I create more colour variations. I use Object>Repeat>Radial to arrange the crows.
Since the scarf's design is busy, the frame should be simple. To unify the scarf's colour scheme (warm orange + greyed blue), I create the vibrating boundaries effect in the frame using orange and blue. I take time to adjust the lightness and darkness of the complementary colours - they have to be precisely at the same value for the boundary between the colours to vibrate.
Next, I notice that the red stroke does not work well against the orange clouds and with the combination of the blue+orange frame. So I change the stroke to orange and the purple fill to blue in the cat and crow designs.
Next, I notice that the red stroke does not work well against the orange clouds and with the combination of the blue+orange frame. So I change the stroke to orange and the purple fill to blue in the cat and crow designs.
Finally, I use the Pencil Tool to add an initial to the scarf. I position it between the cat's ear and the frame in one corner. I don't want the initial to be too noticeable. I double check how the background with the trees would look. I decide to use the cloud image in the final design.
I was torn between the scarf's background designs. I wanted to create a dishevelled urban feel for my scarf, but the cat and crow designs turned out too playful. If I revisit the design, I'll experiment with more sombre colour schemes and urban landscapes, such as construction sites and areal views of overlapping clustered highways.
The luscious warm clouds as a background for the colourful animals provide a comforting yet slightly mysterious feel. Since my design celebrates stray cats and urban crows, I dedicate the design to all Babushkas who feed them diligently every day, rain or shine.
The luscious warm clouds as a background for the colourful animals provide a comforting yet slightly mysterious feel. Since my design celebrates stray cats and urban crows, I dedicate the design to all Babushkas who feed them diligently every day, rain or shine.
