A little different style for me, emulating those traditional ‘travel’ posters with the posterized colors. This is for Delaware Today magazine, and I may be doing another version tomorrow to include an additional idea by the editors. A fun change of pace.
Well, unless something comes in over the next few days, this will be the last illustration before Christmas. I rather liked how this one turned out, and thanks to my wife for the ‘hand modeling’ (I wasn’t crazy about the angle in the rough sketch). This was for Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, a client I’ve been working with since 1989 (and in fact, were one of the very first ‘national magazine clients’ to contact me in that first year of freelancing). I’ve another cover illustration assignment to finish up in the week between Christmas and New Years, but otherwise it looks like 2020 is wrapping up. Happy and Safe Holidays Everyone and here’s hoping 2021 is a big improvement.
Another of the two illustrations I did for a new client this weekend, The Center for Public Integrity. Both concerned the profit motive in the nuclear arms race. Stay tuned, as I have a few more projects to work on this week before the holidays commence.
Did some adjusting to the illustration for the new client yesterday, and since I was playing around with so many variations, I thought I’d share the slight adjustments that this illustration went through on its journey. Above is the finished version, below is the initial sketch.
On my initial pass (above), the illustration seemed a little flat, so I tried taking the solid blacks in the image in the silo and the background to a dark blue (which was one of the colors I was provided which was part of the web site’s color scheme – see below). I provided both versions to the client, who suggested trying to emulate the more mottled accidental splotchy black that I had in the initial sketch. I also felt that the missile popped a little better in the sketch, being a bit brighter than the background, and I also tweaked the color in the money to get a little closer to the green end of the spectrum (but not quite as blatantly green as the original sketch). The final result is the illustration at the top, combining the two background techniques, and touching up the colors here and there.