October 31, 2024
Adobe Illustrator
Of the 36 New Flyer DE40 Low Floors MTD operates, only #1175 has a yellow and green color scheme. I chose 110N Ruby to show in the display since it’s the most obscure route (just as 1175 is the most obscure bus). If I were to remake this project, I would increase the height of the windshield in proportion to the cowl. Also, the right side is slightly wider than the left.
October 29, 2024
Adobe Illustrator
I wanted to practice drawing humans, so why not start with myself? I achieved a sense of depth by including numerous layers of low-opacity gradients. I only included half of my face not only to avoid repetition, but to demonstrate my timidness in real life. From now on, I will draw a self-portrait on Illustrator once a month.
October 27, 2024
Adobe Photoshop/Illustrator
The thought of a “Tully Monster” wrap came to me after considering the state symbols of Illinois. Both the northern cardinal (state bird) and white-tailed deer (state animal) were represented by MTD liveries. I already knew of the “Tully Monster” (state fossil) from a geology course I took in high school. The question of ” What would a diesel fleet at MTD look like today?” was an afterthought. I had to modify the opacity of fossil components to be dark enough to match the lighting, but opaque enough as to not look thin.
October 26, 2024
Adobe Photoshop/Illustrator
The goal was to give an MTD bus a clichéd costume for Halloween. I used a photo of #2309 that I captured earlier in the day since it has a fall-themed livery. The challenge was determining how the broom’s shadow might appear under the given lighting conditions. I drew four separate layers of shadow with varying levels of opacity, blending them together using the smudge tool. I had a complete product after roughly five hours of editing.
October 23, 2024
Adobe Photoshop
The Peel P50 was a car manufactured in the Isle of Man from 1962-65. Only 50 units were ever made. In illustrating such a vehicle under the ownership of Mass Transit District, I mean to comment on the agency’s distinctiveness. I was inspired by the Village of Winnetka, Illinois’ purchase of a Mercedes Benz Unimog (only 200 in the U.S.) for their public works department.
In early September, I found an image of a P50 online. I chose Lot E14 as a backdrop due to its shelters, arrival kiosk and isolation. I took numerous photos at different angles, keeping the perspective of the P50 in mind. I completed the editing portion in one afternoon.
October 22, 2024
Adobe Illustrator
In the past, I relied on tracing over images I found online to get accurate proportions. With this project, I wanted to test/improve my eyeballing capabilities by mocking up MTD #2044. To maintain the illusion of shiny metal material when the bike rack curves, I rasterized a color graded rectangle, then applied an arc-warp at a 50% bend. I chose 2U Red because I found the end destination of “Urbana Meijer” to sound oddly sapient.