It's all about Process, Process, Process!

Here is another example of my process. This particular job had some interesting added bonuses that I had to take into account. One interesting thing was that this piece had to be able to be taken apart and re-arranged to fit multiple hardgoods. Another interesting thing was that characters needed to be seperated as to be used on other items. So with out further ado. Let me explain this process.



I always start out with a sketch. In this case I submitted three sketches, all very similar. This was the winner. There are various colors used in this sketch because when I was drawing it I was working out problems via tracing paper. I had the characters on one piece of tracing paper, the buildings on another and the sign on another. I was moving them around to figure out the right spots for maximum character exposure. So I marked the spots and scanned the different tracing papers in the computer got them in photoshop and proceeded to move them around some more and resize and all the other fun stuff. When the sketch was approved. I moved onto phase two.




Phase two was to draw all the individual parts of the illustration. These are tight line drawings. In this case it was the background only. I later took this sketch into Illustrator and broke down the buildings into individual parts. I put each building in its own layer. A little tedious at first but well worth it later when the client ask to move things around a little.




I drew the characters seperate as well. Making sure that the pose was okay and the character was correct. I scanned him in and inked him in Illustrator. I copied and past into a master document that has the background buildings and the Vegas sign and the other characters.




This is another sample of a tight line drawing before I scan it into the computer and ink up in Illustrator. I do a tight line drawing to take the guess-work out when I am inking in the computer. The less guess-work the faster I can ink.

After I get all the different inked pieces together in the same Illustrator document. I make sure that all the pieces are on there own layers ans situated right. I will make any adjustments neccessary for positions and I apply color and start to render.




This is the final. It was for a towel. The characters and the sign where on other items. This is a little more typical of how my process goes. I always have to think that no matter what this piece is going on it will need to be adapted to anything else. So it is crucial that I seperate the elements. A side note: When I ink, I set the document up that there is a scan layer, dead-line layer, stroked-line layer, and expanded layer. So if the element needs to be changed in some fashion, such as thicker line weight or an arm moved slightly it can be done quicker.

I got your Process right here

I have been asked by several people to show my process of how I work. My process changes a little depending on the type of job that I am working on. So this is the first example of a process that I have used.




I start out with a sketch. It does not matter to me if I am working on an illustration, logo, direct-mail piece that needs a lot of graphic design, or a snowglobe. I always start with a sketch or thumbnail.





In this particular piece a did color comp that was just a corner. I usually color comp the entire piece for clarity of how to approach the color in the final illustration. However in this particulr piece the client asked that I only do a corner to save time. Not going to argue, they are paying the bills. I digress.





If the sketch is approved I move onto to final pencil sketch. At this point I have worked out all the details and composition problems. Now I have a pretty good idea of color pallette I'm going to use.






I have collected a little reference to help out in the sublty of color for some if not all the elements in the illustration. This particular illustration was for a t-shirt, so I had to consider the color of the shirt when I was thinking about the color pallette for the piece. To finish the piece I threw some type in there. I tried to use something that was blocky enough to read from a distance but still had an island feel. Who better to use than the Tiki fonts from House. Illustration done, client happy, moved on to next project.

Fiiiiiiiiiiiirrrrrrrrrreeeeee!!!!!!!

This was a sign for a business. The client was a mechanic that specializes in fire engines. Plus he liked that cartoony "Rat Fink" style. What a coincidence, I like the 'Rat Fink" style as well. So I worked up a concept for the piece and the client loved it. I did a final drawing of the fire engine, scanned it in the computer and inked it in Adobe Illustrator. The type I manipulated to several ways. First to get the curve to go around the truck and Second to put in elements of tools. I render the whole thing in Illustrator as well. Some of the effects you see are a combo of transparent colors on top of gradients. So I could get the desired effect. The client was happy with it. The final size of the sign was six feet high by twelve feet across.

In the beginning there was DCA...

I thought I would start with this piece because it was one of the first pieces that I did at Disney. A whole merchandise program was created around this peice of art. It was the first holiday program for Disney's California Adventure. I like this piece not because it is some kind of masterpiece but because I learned a lot about taking a piece of art (for merchandise) from start to finish. These particular pieces have to be broken down so that one can spread them across lots of different types of merchandise. From mugs to pads of paper to posters to collectible pins and T-shirts. This was also the first time I had done the main piece of art for a program. I guess there is some sentimental value to it. The whole creative process worked its magic(no pun intended), from research to concept drawings, marker comps, final line art, inking and rendering. All done by me. I thought it was a neat accomplishment at the time. It was fun.

Welcome To Hard Kink

This is a test of the Hard Kink Broadcast system. This is only a test. If this were an actual posting you would see and illustration and an explanation of it was all about and the process taken to complete said illustration. Please stand by for future Hard Kink broadcastings. Thank you and good night.