Client: Bath YFC
Commission: To create an original coloured illustrated poster advertising a Mexican themed evening for Dave Joyce who works at Bath YFC. He is going to Mexico to help build a house for a family in poverty with the organisation Urban Saints: www.urbansaints.org/build. He put this event on to raise money for his trip. I wanted to get the message across simply in a light hearted way. Talking to Dave I came up with the idea of the aeroplane, then having him hanging out of it holding a handful of tools. I sketched this idea out quickly and when I showed it to Dave he added just one thing, he needed to be wearing a Mexican sombrero!
Above shows my progress as the illustration developed. Top left shows my original sketch, below that a photo I took of Dave for future reference. I then worked up the graphic design of the poster keeping the illustration in mind so that all the details were in correct proportions. I then fitted the illustration to the space left. I developed the sketch into a final pencil drawing. I wanted to get a fair resemblance of Dave, therefore my illustrative style went a little more towards a realistic feel. I then scanned this in and placed it into the poster, as you can see to the right.
Above left I started the digital illustration, I like to get a strong black outline with a digital brush working over my scanned pencil drawing. Below left you can see I’ve started adding some solid colour while also using photograph references from Pinterest. Above right shows all the solid flat colour in place. Bottom right I’ve added in shadows and highlights and was just about to start working on the detail in Dave’s face.