Illustration Friday - Seperate

Been very busy lately.  A lot of good things seem to be coming together, so at least it is a good busy.  Anyway, here is my latest entry for Illustration Friday.  This image was done on a limited amount of time, but overall I'm happy.  The process was actually quite smooth, I guess that means all the work lately is starting to pay off.

I've also done another two pics before this one.  If you want to have alook, just go to my Deviant Art.

Vanity

This is a recently completed illustration for Illustration Friday.  The weekly theme for this was "vanity".  I'm pleased with a few things on this image.  The contrast between the more realistically rendered monster and comic style face works nicely.  The image also pops off the screen and the atmosphere is dark and moody.  My main concern is the colour... Although the colours work, they also jar a bit.  Maybe too saturated?

Either way, I'm pleased with the effort.

Illustration pitch

Here is the illustration I discussed in the previous post...

I'm having difficulty with the blogger interface.  It's not letting me control the sizing ratio or even uploading it at the original size.  Very frustrating.  If you want to see how it should actually look please visit my Deviant Art link.

The basic process was a couple of pencil sketches.  I then took it to computer and proceeded with a few digital sketches in illustrator.  Then into Photoshop to work over it with the Photoshop brushes.  I worked in grayscale first and then coloured it.  The blue is deliberate, it ties in with the logo which has been purposefully left off to avoid any lawsuits.

Recent Pitch Activity

Soooo... It's been a crazy three months in my life.  I lost my mom, my girlfriend lost her dad.  Tough times but at least we have each other to get through this.

Needless to say, it has not been the most constructive time with my illustration.  Balancing my "real" graphic design work with building an illustration portfolio was impossible.  But lately the wheels have started turning some more and I'm pretty optimistic.  I just recently completed a cover illustration for a pitch for an international magazine.  Actually, my friend and I both came up with options and sent it off as a pitch for his company.  No pay involved, but it was a great opportunity and hopefully there will be some return down the line.  That will be in the next post.

Otherwise, there are going to be some changes to the blog.  I've started building up a portfolio of vector images to post on microstock sites.  Call it a personal finance experience, just to investigate the sort of returns you can get out of microstock sites.  It's a long term project, but I'll be posting about my experiences on this site.  I'll also be posting vector graphic tutorials.  I have been doing some Illustrator and Photoshop teaching recently and these programs are capable of so much, almost too much.  I have found some users struggle with the options available and the programs can be a hindrance and lead you in circles.  Hopefully these posts will help.

Red Is Going To Be Riding In The Hood

Just a quick process shot post.  This is for a competition I found out about on Deviant Art.  It's being run by Imaginism Studios (I think, I always stand to be corrected).  Basically take a classic fairytale and give it a new spin.  So I did a number of pencil and pen thumbnail sketches, mainly looking for a good composition.  Then, I decided to play with the colours a bit, but on computer.  So I loosely sketched it in photoshop and played with elements and colour and this is what has spawned so far...

Okay, so excuse the very rough nature, but it is a process shot.  At this stage I'm stoked with the colours and composition.  There is probably a fair whack of work to do with the background forest but nothing a little reference can't help with.  But at his stage it shows some promise.

I do like going through a process of sketching thumbnails, tonal studies etc.  But sometimes it helps to be loose in your approach to it.  In this case, it seemed natural to do the colours on computer and while I was doing that I started playing with the composition at the same time.  And if this turns out shit you know it's because I got overconfident too early and fucked up.

WIP Shot

It's almost there... So close, but so far...

Process Shots - Finally!

So, as promised, here are some process shots from my current illustration project.  The illustration is intended to be used in a business in flight magazine.  The product is a sales tracking application that monitors call rates, handles your CRM needs as well as tracking time and scheduling meetings.

The concept that was decided on was a salesperson walking into a strong wind, much like the cover used for the Managing in Turbulent Times book by Peter Drucker.  I wish I could give you the illustrator's name but unfortunately I can't find it.  

The first step in any illustration or design process is normally a number of thumbnail sketches exploring different ideas.  I'm not going to run my mouth off on the benefits but they are really useful and can give you a strong sense early on if a composition will work or not.  It's interesting, looking at these thumbnails, to see the different composition ideas I was considering.

As you can see, I started with a fairly close interpretation, but, after much deliberation, I decided the concept needed some development.  In the end I settled on a figure walking in a desert landscape, struggling in some wind while trying to escape some impending storm clouds.  The clouds were a nice additional element that I felt lent some drama to the illustration.

The next step was a larger line sketch, just to check that the composition would work on a larger scale.  This was then followed up with a loose ink wash to play with tonal ideas and different rendering options.  I've found that while I try to stick to a system of thumbnails, tonal studies, color studies and then the finished drawing, I tend to be loose with my approach to it and enjoy experimenting with different techniques while doing so.  For instance, there are a million ways to do clouds, but you need to make sure what you do works in the context it will be seen.  Playing with different mediums during this stage helps a lot.

Okay, so that pretty much wraps up the process at this point.  Next up is a final drawing of the illustration, then rendering it.  At this stage it looks like it will be a combination of traditional ink line work with some digital coloring.  Maybe.

Process Shots Soon

Okay, I've not been the a frequent poster but I've been pretty busy.  Getting ready to go freelance while still working is tough.  Time wise it is very difficult to balance a job, a future job and your relationships with family, friends and girlfriend.  But I have been doing my best to not sleep lately and it seems to be paying off.  I have two illustrations I've been developing over a drawn out timescale.  One is a magazine ad illustration for my current company and the other is an entry to an online illustration competition.  What is really great is I've started to have a lot of fun on both of them and am enjoying the process of working out all the details before I start the final image.  It makes me feel like illustration really is the path I should follow.

Anyway, process shots for both should be on the way any time soon.

Hello

My name is Gareth Hastings.  I'm an illustrator/graphic designer embarking on a freelance career path.  I don't know enough yet to start up a website, I probably don't know enough about a lot in general.  But this blog is a start and hopefully will lead to many merry things... Or not.

Anyway, this is my blog.  I'll be posting updates on what's going on work wise and socially (just to keep it from getting too serious).  There's going to be lots of sketchbook posts, work in progress shots (assuming I get work), finished pieces posts as well as general discussions on very general things.

I hope people will get something out of this and at least enjoy looking at pictures.