DILLON
CORSAIR
CORSAIR
I love learning about wildlife and anatomy. When I apply my knowledge of both with some added drops of shape design, I bring odd animals to life. I’m constantly striving to make bizarre characters and creatures that feel strikingly alive and beautiful.
From Reference
There’s nothing I find more beautiful than the human body. It’s both mechanical genius and an aesthetic masterpiece, with unmatched potential for expression and reflection. I’m enthusiastic in my mission to understand human anatomy and form.
From Reference
Visual research for a project, drawn from reference. I decided to go in a different direction for the project, so these were never used.
From Life
Whether it be at a museum, on a vacation, or in class, I enjoy documenting fleeting moments and passing faces. Having to work fast and on the spot forces me to simplify and problem solve, which I find constantly exciting.
From Life
On a train ride back to WashU from Chicago, I was inspired by the beauty of the November Illinois countryside. In the 3 seconds I had before I lost view, I scribbled in trees and fields that were rich in color.
SERENE ROCKS
The beauty of the Amalfi Coast is impossible to replicate but, through the use of a complementary color scheme and subtle gradients, I tried my hardest. Small brush marks with the slightest hue shifts cover the cliffsides, giving them a rough texture and vibrating color that can only be fully appreciated in-person. This creates a stark contrast with the incredibly soft sky. The water creates an intermediary with its fluidity and reflections of the cliffs.
SELF-PORTRAIT
In this self-portrait, I was eager to explore subtle hue shifts. The skin on the face is infused with yellows towards the forehead, reds along the center, and blues and grays around the jaw. The hair is similarly a sum of yellows and reds layered up on top of each other, resulting in a heavy texture. Edge variation was another focus, with terminating lines feeling soft and round, such as along the cheek, while cast shadows are sharp, such as the shadow of the hair. The edges of the shirt become lost in the background, which holds a blue circle to complement the warmth of the skin, create contrast between the complex shape of the head and the simple shape of the circle, and to insert my favorite color.
CLOUDY SUNSET
Sharp marks for a painting of a cloud during sunset? In this exercise, I was required to make a study using only palette knives to apply paint. I had little experience painting, let alone with a palette knife, prior to the class so this project felt like a leap of faith. I feel proud of how I managed to create hard and soft edges, balanced color saturations, and with how exciting the texture of the palette knife turned out to be– especially given the disparity between tool and subject matter.
DUEL
Two birds, a falcon and a pelican, are locked in battle as they soar through the sky– the size and power of the pelican balancing out the speed and coordination of the falcon. The birds are placed in the lower left-third of the composition to add tension while the trails of their travels, created by dragging away paint from the birds with a dry brush, sweep across the canvas. The pelican’s path is smooth while the falcon’s is sharp to indicate its agility. This duel was inspired by a real video of the two birds fighting in the sky.