Good example of using a simple background to complete the assignment. The story is a guy at an auto show who has chosen a car he wants to buy and will hang out next to it the rest of the day. Unless, of course, he gets thrown out for putting his dirty shoe on a brand new car...

Another good example, but this image lacks a story to go with it. Also, note that the character is not lit correctly - he should have been changed to outdoor lighting. So with those errors, why did I include this one? Because it is a great example of intricate line work. An interesting thing to note is that the actual clothes he had on the day the picture was taken had no stripes.

The above image is a great example of bringing multiple images together to create the overall story. This is an out of work clown. To create the image, the student used three different pictures: the brick wall, the sign, and the can. He also colored his hair and his clothes (they were not that colorful originally) to look clownish.

The student who created the above image hopes to be a medical examiner one day, and thus used the idea of being at the scene of a hit-and-run. Note how he kept it school appropriate by not including blood and by covering the body with a sheet. While this image lacks appropriate shading and highlighting, it does have a lot of creativity.
  

Simple but effective custom background, but the image does lack a good story. Notice how she is both highlighted and shaded. Of course, if the house and snowman had been highlighted and shaded as well she would have gotten a higher grade.

Many, many custom backgrounds involve the use of the grass brushes. This image tells the story of a girl visiting friends who had recently died. While it is obvious that she included the headstones just to make the fact that she didn't pose for the picture not so obvious, she did an excellent job of shading and highlighting - so good in fact that her pants appear to have contour.

This is the story of a guy about to be arrested for not heading the warning sign. While this lacks the soft color and highlighting I would like to see, I really like the bird (which, btw, is saying 'caw').

This was an interesting take on the personal character. He chose to duplicate himself and make five characters. Not the most outstanding job ever, but it does show a high level of creativity. This was supposed to be the story of five brothers attending a civil right meeting, but with that background it looks more like five brothers attending a quilting show. Be careful that your background matches the story you want to tell!

Simple yet imaginative background. Note how it matches the shirt. His grade suffered however due to a lack of story.

This one is very busy, but creatively tells the story of a superhero. The student laid down on a counter for the picture. He completely changed his clothes, and freehand inked the buildings. And don't ask what 'HOTLEINN' spells because I don't know.

More grass brushes. No story, but an imaginative sky.

Still more grass brushes. And some very well done shading. Again, lost points for no story.

This one lacks appropriate shading, but note how the grass is visible in front of her feet. Nice touch. The story on this was supposed to be of a girl lost in the woods...though she doesn't look all that upset at being lost to me.

The streaks are supposed to be rain - not the greatest rain ever, but quasi (dictionary.com) effective. The best part of this one is the inventive clothing - he created the lightening-like streaks from scratch...and his clothes were not that color. However, the image suffers due to lack of story.

Well done trees and grass, but the interesting thing to note with this image is the clouds - a nice change from the usual puffy ovals. And another story of someone lost in the woods. And don't even mention the fact that he has no nose...

The background is not of primary interest here, although the grass is well done. What you should focus on is the intricate line and color work. Her hair is not that color (it is actually all black), and she was not wearing fishnet sleeves the day of the picture. She did have Pac-man ghosts on her shirt, but her shirt was yellow. This is an excellent example of taking a picture and altering it to fit your vision. Another story of someone visiting deceased friends.

Speaking of attention to detail, this image is one of the best I've seen so far. The image is supposed to tell the story of how the student wanted to go swimming but could not due to bad weather (thus the sad look on his face). The shirt in the picture is completely different from the one he actually had on, and the mountains and rock were freehand drawn. Additionally, take a look at the water - you can actually see the grass and his own image reflected in it. The use of highlighting and shading is excellent, as is the subtle use of soft color and texture.

Needless to say, we do not have jumbo candy or a huge mushroom for her to sit on...it was all drawn freehand. Note how the lighting in the sky matches perfectly with the shadows and highlights in the rest of the image.
  

Don't ask what the story is on this one because I could not get a good answer. The sand and sky were custom made. This image is in this section because the donkey was inked from an existing photograph.

The city part of this image was made using a picture of downtown Houston. The story is obviously about a guy about to eat concrete.

Don't look too closely at his face as it was not finished correctly, but the wall was made from a picture of an actual graffitied wall. The story is a guy about to get arrested for vandalism.

Great line work on this one. Note that the lights, guitar, amp, and stage were all different images that were pulled together to create the overall scene. This is an excellent example of taking a simple standing image and making a story out of it that works - one where the bad is about to start playing. He added the smoke just for the heck of it.

This would be better with more detailed use of highlights and shadows, but it is another good example of making a story out of a simple standing image. She is supposed to be on a red carpet at a movie premiere or fashion show.

Good background use here - the Eiffel Tower is a difficult item to draw. The story, about a guy on vacation, is weak.

Ok, don't ask me what she is doing to that chair...or desk...or whatever that thing is because I don't know. The interesting part of this image is the intricate and varied shading, and the detail she put into the artwork in the image. The shirt also shows good use of soft color. Note that she put her ID and lanyard in the image...most students don't.

This is just a mishmash of images, but there are some interesting things about this one. She freehand drew the chair, the one she was actually sitting on in the picture looks completely different. The cat clock (that is what that blob in the upper-right hand corner is) and hairdresser were inked from actual images (ignore the fact that the hairdresser has no lower body), but the alien and the pumpkin were done freehand. Not sure what the story was supposed to be here...probably that she needs to find a new hairdresser.

This one is a little unorthodox (dictionary.com), but shows how a little creativity can go a long way. The astronaut is the student's actual body, but he freehand drew the spacesuit. For the earth, he used an actual picture of the earth and then stylized it a bit - if you look closely you can see Florida, South America, Europe, etc. He added in the meteors just because he thought they were cool. But one of the best parts of the image is the glare reflecting off the visor of the helmet. By the way, the story is of an astronaut about to be wiped out by meteors.

This one is a great example of combining a cartoon version of a background with real elements. The booth, newspaper machines, and sign were inked from one image; the road was taken from another; the bus from another, and the rest of the image was done freehand. The story is of a despondent (dictionary.com) guy who missed his bus.