Rammy Mckee | MCAD Process Book

Process

Rammy McKee Spring 2023

Hello!

My name is Ramona McKee and I’m an illustrator. I love to focus my work in concept, mood, and storytelling. I primarily work in Adobe Photoshop and animate in Procreate on the iPad.

I find that a lot of my work is influenced by the media I enjoy today. I am facinated by video games and and the effort that is put into them behind the scenes. Prior to MCAD, it all seemed like a pipedream, but the more I learn it is starting to become a reality.

Animated Book Cover

Palm Sketch

The Animated Book Cover* for Digital Illustration with Dana Koehler has so far been my favorite project I’ve done at MCAD. It challenged me to work with a clients vision in mind, illustrating with text in mind, and cre ating mock-ups for my work. It also really helped me create a distinction in my style.

50% Complete & Detail Shot

Focusing on interesting points of reflection from the light source within the dragon’s mouth.

Finished Piece

I chose to base my project on Xiran Jay Zhao’s “Heavenly Tyrant”, the sequel to her first book, “Iron Widow”. I really enjoy her style of writing, as well as the themes of feminine empowerment and overcoming the struggles of misogyny. The main character, Wu Zeitan, is definitely on my top 10 favorite characters

Reception

After finalizing the piece, I posted my work to Twitter and Instagram, where the author of the book saw it and commented on it. I really appreciated Xiran Jay Zhao’s kind words and it definitely made me think about getting into illustration for publication.

*Animated version on iPad

Object with Emotion

Rough Coloring/Depth Finished Piece

For Concepts and Metaphors with Jaime Anderson, we were tasked to create a piece of an object portraying a certain emotion. The twist was that we could put no faces on the object. I chose a “lonely teapot”. This was my first attempt at this painterly style during my time at MCAD.

I can definitely feel the improvments I have made since this piece was made. I think that this was a big stepping stone in my artistic journey and has taught me a lot about my practice as an illustrator.

Detail Progression & Photoshop

I always start with flat colors that have just a little bit of depth. This helps me understand the lighting. I usually paint right on top of a duplicated layer of my sketch.

1 2 3

Finally, I go into adding my hard light and bringing in the rich darks of the piece. I also added some spider webs on this one to add to the lonely and desolate vibe of the piece.

I love small detail and I feel like in my pieces, it provides little bits of character and charm. This porcelain teapot with small azure florals was so fun to include in my piece.

I use a variety of brushes I made in Photoshop. I primarily use one brush for everything, but I appreciate a good texture brush for specific materials.

Kansas City

For my Illustrated Map project, I chose to feature the many special spots in Kansas City! I grew up in Kansas City, Missouri and have a ton of fond memories of experiencing KCMO. I decided to include all of my favorite places, such as the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art and Union Station.

I also included some symbols from both Missouri and Kansas, like the state flowers and state birds.

I tend to be very painterly when doing my illustrations, so I found this project very helpful in evaluating a more design-focused approach

Moodboards

I thought of a lot of places to include in our thumbnails, and it was very hard picking which ones I thought could represent a whole city. I chose to include my favorite spots, but incorporate a “Kansas City Vibe” color palette.

Lots of buildings in the area still have their Art Deco style from when they were originally built, so I knew it would be important to include those elements into this piece.

Exploration in Key Art

MCAD Summer Zine 2022

During the summer, students at MCAD participate in the MCAD Summer Zine. MCAD Summer Zine features multiple diciplines creating art surrounding a central theme. The theme this year was “Summer Symphonies”, which tasked participants to create something based on a song.

I chose the song “Balaenoptera Musculus” composed by Austin Wintory, made for the 2016 video game Abzu. The song is very ethereal and so I wanted to create something that matched the underwater theme.

Photobashing is something I use on occasion. I enjoy it because it allows me to throw ideas onto a canvas fast. However, I sometimes feel limited by the technique and feel as if I need to make my piece 1:1 when its finished. With this one, I used clipart of mantas and pasted many of them to save on time in the ideation process.

I love playing with interesting light sources in my work. I think that the combination of hard light and gradient shadows makes my work really shine against the rest. This thumbnail really showcases that idea. I really can get a sense of the mood of the piece by making these greyscale thumbnails with small amounts of rendering.

Playing with scale is something I would like to work on in future pieces. I enjoy the bigness of the whale and the tiny diver. However, I didn’t think that this was the strongest thumbnail in terms of subject matter.

Materials

I generally only use digital mediums when it comes to my practice. I started with a simple Wacom Bamboo tablet and have slowly worked myself up to the Cintiq I use today. I also employ a ton of software and other supplimental materials listed below.

- Cintiq 21UX

- iPad 2020

- Photoshop

- Maya

- Premier Pro

- Procreate

- inDesign

- Illustrator

My trusty Cintiq 21UX with a disgusting 4:3 ratio