Illustrated Experiment - WIRED

Hello and welcome to my new portfolio website!

This site and blog are both a lot, lot easier to update than my previous set up. So, ideally this blog will stay as fresh and interesting as my day to day life. 

I've moved over the last few posts from my old blog, which can still be reached HERE if you fancy it.

NEW WORK:

WIRED magazine asked me to draw up a comic page for their ‘illustrated experiment’ segment for the April Issue.

The second time working with WIRED was as pleasant as the first, and i’m pleased with the results. Plus it’s always nice to be able to walk into the local newsagents and grab a magazine with something you’ve drawn in it. With clients all around the world, it’s not every day that you find your work on your doorstep.

Working Traditionally - For WIRED

A few months ago WIRED magazine got in touch with a very cool commission. I thought I’d run through the process here.

The main challenge with this piece was that for the whole issue, every illustrator was asked to work in traditional media. No computers allowed. (Well, some allowances were made. I don’t think anyone wanted to start sending work via the post.)

First things first:

THE ROUGHS.

The article was a short piece on speaking with confidence in public. So after making some mess in a sketchbook or two, I drew up these roughs:

1 - Based on a line in the article: Public speaking is like a musical instrument, everyone can learn with enough practise.”

3 - A drawing of two realities - the confident, comfortable speaker. And the Nervous, fumble-y speaker.

2 - A direct narrative approach - a confident charismatic speaker.

4 - Playing on the idea of imagining the audience in their underwear. Whilst it wasn’t a technique referenced in the article it’s a common enough concept that most viewers would make the leap with just the image.

Once these Ideas were sent and reviewed, we moved forward with the third idea, but with a female speaker.

THE FINAL ARTWORK:

I knew I was going to approach this image with a focus on the ink work. I could achieve the two coloured drawings by inking each figure in a different colour of ink - that bit was easy to figure out. But, I knew I wanted the image to look a little more ‘finished’ than just a 2 colour line drawing.

If I was approaching this image digitally, I might have used a texture from a library of scans/photos I’ve made and collected over the years. I would have applied a colour to the texture layer and then used a layer mask to erase it away under the main drawing.

So, how to do this traditionally? Make a physical layer mask of course! (I’m aware there are probably better ways to do this. It was interesting to learn how dependent my process is on the computer, and how little I knew what to do!)

Cutting a thick sheet of acetate to create the negative space in the background layer. If you’re following along Blue Peter style, this bit hurts your fingers…

The completed ‘layer mask’ ready for printing. Once this was ready and taped down I mixed up some different types and colours of paint and lightly rolled it over a few different paper stocks until I’d made an appropriate amount of mess and had ….

Here it is in situ in WIRED:

Apologies for the poor process shots, I didn’t think of doing this blog post until afterwards. It was lucky I had these shots really.

Thanks to Mary Lees for the Art Direction on this one!

On Cycling

Something you may, or may not, know about me is my love of cycling.

If you didn’t know, you may have guessed from the number of cycling/bike related pieces in my portfolio.

Getting out on the bike has been an essential part of my routine. It keeps me sane. Anyone who has worked as a freelance illustrator for any period of time can surely attest to the hermit-like lifestyle that comes with the job title. Especially as deadlines loom, things like going outside, leaving your drawing table, sometimes even looking in the mirror, can seem like non-essential processes. As ‘The Work’ consumes all, skin pigment becomes paler and paler and the concept of night and day becomes becomes irrelevant, there’s a real risk of loosing yourself.

Become ink, paint, paper. Cease to exist.

In those moments, only an external interest can pull you out of the india ink black depths.

I exaggerate, of course. But, it is true that illustrators (and most likely other people who do what they do because they love it, and can see no other option) are at risk of overworking, over committing. What we do is a passion, and it seems the obvious choice to throw yourself wholeheartedly into ‘The Work.’

I learned this the hard way, and would now give this advise to anyone aiming to make a living from illustration:

Find another passion.

I don’t mean give up. Quite the contrary. Having another love, obsession, set of goals, separate to “making it” as an illustrator can help you gain perspective and focus. Rather than having to force yourself away from the drawing table, You’ll want to get out and do something else. This will be beneficial for your work, as well as your self.

For me, that other passion is cycling. It gets me, not just away from my desk, but out of my studio and into the real world. It’s space to focus on the route I’m riding, the effort I’m putting in, the gear choices I’m making. The noise of the trees around me, The hum of tyres on tarmac, my breath. No questions on weather this piece is right, how I could have constructed a better composition, how much I have to do before those 3 deadlines looming over next week.

Space.

Coming back after a ride is like a fresh start. A fresh start I can instigate at any time by getting on my kit, getting on my bike and getting out of the door. Plus some sun on your skin is very good for you I hear!

Every so often I get the chance to combine these two passions. The lovely folks at Canadian Cycling Magazine have commissioned me for several lovely articles over the last few years. And it’s always a pleasure. So here’s a few pieces that I haven’t previously shared, along with some pieces for their sister mag Canadian Running Magazine!

Art Direction from Dianne Kapral and Matt Stetson