In the Writing Intensive program I was pushed to my limit to my both loves: illustration and writing. I never thought of a format combining the two.  Sometimes my visual voice and ideas come very easily.  Other times they come extremely difficult especially when I have to consider writing about it as well.  A good example of this is "The Creature Within" project.  This was an easy project.  I was interested and researched on the character in the past so my ideas for the project came very easy for me.  The Project that I had some difficulty is the M-animal CD Cover.   I had a very limited knowledge of the artist, Taylor Swift, and her songs.  It took me a while to have a visual voice of an image of her in two animals with traits and characteristic similar to her.  It was only after I researched on her background and personality as a budding artist, a ferocious honest artist with class to survive in her environment, that I matched her with the cat and the bear.

I also found that the hardest part of this course is the daybook because I have to use both illustration and narrative.  Illustration- I approach my work by drawing in my daybook my imaginations on objects that caught my attention.   I also use TV shows for ideas and imaginations; then I draw everything I have in my mind in my daybook.  The hard part in the daybook is keeping up every day with the typing and writing down my narrative, which is limited by my handicapping condition.   

Out of the six assignments I was presented with, "Hansel and Gretel" is difficult because I felt like I did not do this famous children story justice to create an illustration of heroism in the characters that will have an impact and appeal to the children's imaginations. I illustrated Hansel and Gretel with their back turned to the viewer. 

The projects "Five Household Objects" and "Animated Household Objects" made me completely out of ideas until my Mom's trivets caught my attention with my dog beside me while I was searching for ideas around the house.  I started picking-up objects from room to room in my house on which I can create illustrations that are children friendly.  I choose my dog, my piggy bank, my lampshade, my Mom's salt and pepper shaker and vase.  The hard part of the assignment was to animate these five characters while maintaining their individuality.  I focused on the personality of my dog's hyperactivity, the humongous size of my piggy bank, the fragility 

of the lampshade and the vase and the people's reaction to the hot taste of pepper to animate these household objects in a party setting.

"The Creature Within" (Portrait of a Hero) was an easy project.  After I identified my hero and the animal which will represent her, I researched on them.  After that, ideas and visual voices on my illustration came very easy.  The illustration of the visual ideas just flow smoothly to its completion.  The other reason that made the project easy is that I could relate to my hero.

"Mini-paper 2" (What I am most afraid of).  When I did this Mini write, I immediately thought of the events that shaped me in my life: the ugliness of the devil in the world.  I portrayed the devil in my illustration as an ugly creature with wings, green eyes and long nails.

"Exquisite Corpse Game" Collaborative Game).  The game was fun.  The idea came to me instantly.  When I had the idea of drawing my Mom, I did not waste a moment.  I drew her and colored her purple, her favorite color.  What made this game fun and unique is the eight lines poetry, which I love to do on my spare time.  The only difficulty I had in this project is the anticipation on the effect of the drawing the next person on my design.  I was imagining myself in the real world as a graphic designer collaborating with other designers with different ideas and find a happy medium.

"M-Animal CD Cover" - The difficult part of this project is when I chose to design an artist that I know very little about.  I did not follow her career as much as I did the Miss America.  My limited knowledge about my artist set me back a couple of days from writing a narrative on her.  I researched on her and her career and on the animals that have lot similarities of her traits.  The Polar bear and the cat match her aggressive and soft traits, respectively.  I was excited and happy to have chosen the scratchboard as my medium in my illustration.  It brought a dramatic black and white effect, both on the original and reverse copy of the illustration.

The Course, Illustration Art 68, gave me an opportunity to learn and gain knowledge of traditional illustration techniques.  I like most the frottage, scratchboard and the Exquisite Corpse.  The frottage gives you a 3D effect from 2D by just rubbing pencil over paper.  This technique is partially used in my "Creature Within" project.  The scratchboard is a good medium for white and black solid background, original and reverse copy of the illustration.  The scratched design can be colored. The Exquisite Corpse is a piece of art which emerged from the collaborative ideas of the participating artists.  It is an art work full of design surprises. 

A story or a message can be communicated in a capsule thru illustration.  The color, medium and techniques are the tools of the artist to facilitate the creation of an illustration that will convey the message/story clearly and effectively and evoke the imagination of the viewer.  A message/story can be illustrated.  Illustration can convey message/story.  Illustration can evoke ideas and imaginations.  These are what  I learned in this Course.