Reworking an Illustration: B is for... and some thoughts on failure

A few years ago I created an illustration that was visual failure. It haunted me. There were so many problems with it. I loved the concept and the idea, but the execution was pathetic. A lot of the mistakes were due to lack of planning and lack of a proper amount of time to really do it justice.

Luckily, it was for a personal project, It hung in a gallery exhibit and was posted as one of my failures on-line. It still haunted me. 

Over the past year or so I have gained a greater appreciation for failing. Although I still fear certain aspects of it, the fear of failure does not plague me like it has in the past. I have started approaching it with a more positive perspective and an understanding that failure is inevitable. I will fail. I will fail often, I have failed and will continue to do so. How I approach each failure is more important that failing. My failures are now strengthening me and helping me to get better. This one thought has freed me in so many ways. It is liberating. I am ok with messing up now.

The last few months, I made time in-between projects to rework it. Slowly, I tweaked the composition, redrew each aspect, and lightened it up. In the end it is much stronger. 

This is from my personal project “A is For Alliteration” and is for the latter B. The title is “B is for a bevy of beatnik blue footed boobies boogieing to the bodacious blues beat of The Baby Blues Brothers, a blue whale bleating on the bassoon, a blue lobster banging on the bongos, a blaring bagpipe, a blue agama on the base, a boar on a banjo, and a blue jay belting the ballad, is the bee's knees.”

Trying something new

On Thursday I had the opportunity to try a different form of print making, cyanotypes. I have a few extra treated sheets so I will be hopefully playing with this a little. more.

The Final 5 Plus 1 of my 100 Blue Logos

Here is the last of my 100 Blue Logos Plus 1. This has been another incredible project. I am learning more and more about the vast number of possibilities. Since I have finished, I have thought of even more options. 

I started to do more abstract marks with two of these and some other variations. The 101st was what ended up being a delightful mashing of the letters together.

My next 100 somethings is 100 different grilled cheese sandwiches. I am posting those on my Instagram page on a regular basis. I do not have a deadline for this. The premise is that it needs to have cheese, bread and be grilled. Everything else is up in the air as to variations. It has been wonderfully delicious. I might post some of them here.

94 and 95 of 100 Blue Logos

These are a continuation of unique juxtapositioning of things with blue.

89-93 of 100 Blue Logos

Here is the last variation of the bowler hat blue logo. I then started looking at options with an elephant icon and finally created odd juxtapositions of ideas like a pineapple with blue.

84-88 of 100 Blue Logos

Playing with the blue sky a bit more and then hats and mountains.

79-83 of 100 Blue Logos

Here are a few more variations. I am realizing that I could go well beyond 100 as ideas come to me faster. AS I am looking at them now, I am seeing even more possibilities.

At 82, I thought of switching from the idea of feeling blue to the positive idea of a bright blue sky. The shift to a warmer blue helped.

74-78 of 100 Blue Logos

Here I tried something different with the diamond. I was not happy with it. I then started playing with spacing between the letters (tracking) and then coming up with the idea of spelling blue backwards.

While working on these 100 something projects, I am constantly amazed at how long it takes me to come up with a simple variation like spelling the word backwards.

69-73 of the 100 Blue Logos

Working of the idea of a bow tie I started exploring blue diamonds and flames.

64-68 of 100 Blue Logos

More playing with the bow tie. At some point it becomes just a bow.

#59-63 of 100 Blue Logos and an announcement.

It took over half of the 100 logos before I submitted to putting a bow tie on the logo. I took inspiration from Number 58 to create a face with the “L.”

Also, over the past few months, I have been working on marketing for my illustration business. My work can now be seen on the Directory of Illustration. Over the next year there will be more to come.

#54-58 of 100 Blue Logos

What happens if I put a box around one letter? What happens if I put a dot after each letter? These are  the results. It is interesting that I started seeing faces in the center one. This will come back in future designs.

#49-53 of 100 Blue Logos

Back to posting the 100 Blue Logos. Here are more explorations with line and shape. With number 53 I finally took off the e. It is funny. After looking at a word for so long it doesn't look like it is spelled right.

#44-48 of 100 Blue Logos

I was playing with the mixing the circle and the blueberries and then realized the blueberries looked like clouds as well. I enjoyed tilting the half circle.

#39-43 of the 100 Blue Logo Project

More variations of the logo “Blue” with clouds.

#34-38 of 100 Blue Logos

Finals are almost complete and I have completed all the 100 somethings for this semester. Time to do more creative work and get caught up on posting. I have learned a lot over the past few months and will be sharing some of the things I learned as I taught.

Here again is more of a thought process. The top left is a variation of a past theme. Here I am still trying to find a hue solution I am happy with. The center and the bottom left are more playing with simple shapes. As the idea comes I put it down.

The two on the left are more conceptual. I play with both of these more latter on. The blue with the cloud is creating a more depressed feel. I pulled the color from Eyore in Winnie the Pooh, to get more of the somber down feeling.

The bottom right is representative of blueberries, one of my favorite fruits. I just couldn't pass up doing that.

#33 of 100 Blue Logos

The final of my blue logos inspired by my visit to the Winnie the Pooh exhibit at the MFA in Boston. This exhibit was by far one of the best I had been to. I felt immersed in the world of Earnest H. Shepard and A. A. Milne. On the floor at one point there was this animation of words being dropped in the river like Pooh Sticks. I took the pattern in the water and incorporated it into the word.

#32 of 100 Blue Logos

This is the second of the Blue Logos being inspired by what I saw at the Winnie the Pooh exhibit at the MFA in Boston. I couldn't resist the idea of the word being lifted by the ballon.

On a side note, I am finally reading the Winnie the Pooh books. The exhibit has been inspirational on many levels.

#31 of 100 Blue Logos 100 Somethings

Part of the 100 something assignment is to take inspiration from our visit to the Boston Museum of Fine Art. We are to create at least 3 of the 100 something based on something seen while at the museum.

We specifically went to see the Winnie the Pooh exhibit. While walking around I was fascinated by the shadow on the wall of the hanging text.

100 Somethings: Blue Logos 26-30

One more variation one a theme. The center square is further exploration of color. The others are continuing to play with ideas. IT is funny the more you look at the spelling of blue the more it looks like it is spelled incorrectly.