Of course, when I got started with the illustration the actual article didn’t even exist, so there was little chance of getting too literal…

The image had a quick turn-around (only a few days, including a weekend) so I did some brainstorming, drew a few idea roughs as a pitch and send them to the client.

A was an Indiana Jones type of fellow exploring a temple-like car store, using a magazine as a map.
B was another guy using a magazine as a cover from the rain while running towards a car store.
And finally C shows a third guy familiarizing himself with the options after finding himself faced with an acute need for a new car.

Client went for A and after discussing what was wanted I set to work.

Above is my sketch and below what I ended up with – along with a quick spot illustration:

As usual, there was bunch of stuff that needed to be included in the image – which in this case would feature couple of kids playing with a milk cart in an idyllic countryside scenery. While the final image would be bigger the most essential stuff needed to fit within a smaller frame so that you could use a tighter crop the image without losing anything important.

I did a bunch of roughs to figure out how to make everything fit and then drew a more polished sketch to send to the client.

The kids were pretty much ready to be inked by now but the background was left rough because we weren’t sure if a specific landscape needed to be included in the image.

The kids got an okay but it turned out that the client could use the illustration ahead of  schedule for magazine ads. The turn-around was very short so I got asked if I could just finalize the kids for the ads. I figured the kids would probably need some kind background for the image to make any sense, so I finished the kids and did a quick background based on the rough. I ended up sending three different versions with different colored skies because by that time I no longer had any idea which one I preferred and didn’t have time to sleep on the image either. This one got selected.

Time went by as a appropriate reference photo was searched for the background of the final. Eventually, all I got – along with some minor changes to the rough – was a picture of certain type of bridge that had to be featured. I sketched the background, sent it to the client and after a round of changes and some stuff getting left out, I finally got a go-ahead to finish the image.

That I did.

PS. I generally like to work in a way that affords me to go back and easily change things without having it affect the whole image, which means I usually end up with quite a few layers… to put it mildly.

Well, okay – maybe I didn’t. Maybe the image is just my take on Scobot’s character for the CTT.

It sort of falls in line with this older Chainsaw maid image, I suppose.

I know next to nothing about Aquaman, but I don’t imagine him being happy about oil and shit being poured into the seas at current rate. Bombs not petrol!

His dead parents, duh!

Always wonderful Kate Beaton posted some “Adventures of Sexy Batman” which reminded me to post this. So there you have it.

I really saw the latter when walking home from work one day. A guy all dressed in black and wearing a hood, cycling a unicycle. It was freezing cold, so I figured he’d have to be a ninja or something to be doing something like that at such temperatures – a lesser man couldn’t do it.

Just a couple of days afterward there was an article in the local paper about the guy, and turns he’s an exchange student from eastern Siperia. So I guess I wasn’t really that much off with my assessment. At least I got the continent right… except Japan is an island.

Disclaimer: He wasn’t really armed, visibly.

And this was my fatty for the next in line on the activity:

The illustration is a mixture of 3D and whole lot of Photoshop. I didn’t actually model anything so I guess this is what you would call “Poser art”. I textured the icky tentacles though. I like icky things.

Quite frankly this piece would have taken a whole lot less if I had just painted the damn thing. I had fun though, and I like the real-but-not-quite feel that the piece has, as if I had used puppets or miniature models. I don’t think I could achieved the the same look for the tentacles by painting either.

And here’s a detail for a better look at the lover boy and just for the hell of it.

I may have gone a little crazy with the glows but what the hell, it was fun. Here’s my sketch for the next in the activity:

What an awesome series – great writing, great art.

Gabba gabba hey.

Well, with a little research it turned out that the image was actually a montage of two different images and it had probably been done at the ad agency that hired me, so I was free to do whatever I wanted with it. So, off to sketching I was.

First I googled a bunch of reference images of cell phones and sharks and drew a few quick sketches to get a grasp of how they looked and how I could mix them up.

Since the image would be a single character on a basically blank background, the shape and design of the cell phone shark would have to be interesting enough to hold the image and composition together. So I started thinking in shapes.

Above you can see the sketches that I thought were worthy of finalizing marked. They’re far from perfect but I now knew what I wanted and where I would take the final sketches. There were two different ideas: One for the traditional cell phone model (which was much like the image in the brief) and another one for the shell fish model. I finalized sketches for both:

The first one was pretty much a cleaned up and refined version of the thumbnail. The second was a combination of two different sketches. I wanted both of the sketches to have a sort of a fake fish eye perspective. I added the mockup type, and sent the sketches to the client.

They went for the second one. The final had to be all vectors which was a challenge since I usually work with raster images – and the final would have to have a painterly, retro quality to it. So, after some emails back and forth with the client and tweaking things, I finished the piece:

Some extra space added around the edges for cropping and bleed.

So for starters here’s a little something I did for the Character Tag Team activity at Unit 16 again. After CamdenLikesGreen’s hedgehog sketch.

]]> http://tempesthole.com/2009/09/i-see-you/feed/ 2 http://tempesthole.com/2009/09/frank/ http://tempesthole.com/2009/09/frank/#comments Wed, 02 Sep 2009 17:29:00 +0000 Teemu http://tempesthole.com/?p=696 For the Movie Tag Team activity at Unit 16. The theme was Frank from Once Upon a Time in the West as portrayed by Henry Fonda.

I played a bit with the thought of “What if Harmonica had instead been called… Banjo?”

Another addition to the list of things I never thought I’d draw…

… and you’ve got hell to pay for it.

Another one for the CTT.

So inspired by the myriad of expressions mastered by David Caruso, this is what I came up with for this round of the Character Tag Team after Sticmann’s watercolor.

It was quite an enjoyable challenge, and even more so for my old computer which really couldn’t handle files this big. I had to do the final, full sized image in pieces (which the client put together with better hardware), and still the working file for the biggest of the pieces was 542 MB. Phew.

Check out some details too. These are 25% of the actual pixel size:

This was a fun project – very clear brief and just few minor, good changes in the sketching stage. The client seemed happy with it and I like how it turned too. There’s a slightly bigger version of the image in use on their website.

And my entry for the next in line, a gentler, more confident fella:

So I decided to go for mood instead. Maybe young Grace Kelly getting a brief glimpse at the crystal ball – and her eventual fate.

I opted to go for a more practical, “realistic” design rather than the typical top-heavy spiked heels and microskirt type of designs you often see in superhero comics.

Didn’t even realize that Hulk is a Marvel character until I’d already finished the piece. Oh well, same difference.

I didn’t really like these children’s fantasy movies as a kid, and don’t like ‘em now. So this is what I came up with:

It’s a reference to one of the lines in the movie. I think I could use some educating like that myself…

And a thong.

We just have to let a few (thousand) of you go, and it’ll be just fine.

“Shoot like a Pornstar?”

Well, hell yeah!

In fact I did two versions of the illustration since I couldn’t decide which one I like best.

Second one is referring to a famous quote by Pierre-Joseph Proudhon:

Whoever lays his hand on me to govern me is a usurper and tyrant, and I declare him my enemy.

So, goodbye Bush – don’t let the door hit you in the ass. Hope the next time we hear from will be when you’re put on trial.*

In the mean time, the Guantánamo Bay detention camp is still running with full steam. You can sign a petition to challenge President Obama to close Guantãnamo, put an end to illegal detention, torture and impunity at Amnesty International’s 100 Days Challenge website. It only takes a minute to do it.

For more info about Amnesty’s framework to end illegal U.S. detentions check out tearitdown.org.

*) Not holding my breath, though.

Inspired by this little gem. I guess she wouldn’t be impressed though.

Well here’s something else to wash the bad taste away, whether you disliked the gag or the song. Merry Christmas to everyone, too.

Anyway, have a look around the new site. I like think It’s matured like any fine lady should, becoming slightly more charming and considerably heavier than before. If you find anything that isn’t broken (images, links, etc.) please let me know and I’ll do my best to break them too. Please update your bookmarks as well.

Here’s an illustration to fit the theme:

What actually is under the hood is WordPress with a custom theme specifically developed this purpose.

Here she is modeling the hottest of the hot in fashion for Fall 2008! Perfect for every body type and occasion! Wow!

Download Cancer Face mask (2,9MB) »

Initially this just supposed to be a stylized self-portrait for a forum activity, but then it occurred to me that with minor adjustments it would fit another activity too: Japanese Giant Monsters at U16! Better to look like a silly giant than some lame-ass pop punk promo picture.

Swiped the photo for the quick montage from Satyendra.

Here’s what Wikipedia has to say about the deep ones.

The Deep Ones are a race of frog-like, ocean-dwelling creatures with an affinity for mating with humans.

Despite that they’re basically mind bogglingly horrific, fishy frog-creature-horrors, the mating does happen regularly. Much of how it happens is still a mystery but thanks to recent advances in sciences, the scientists at Miskatonic University have unveiled more facts about the process.

The males have a special mating dance to woo the ladies:

The females on the other hand have a more direct approach:

Stay tuned for more exciting revelations that everyone wants to hear!

So here’s couple of quick drawings. They depict the harshness of country life and some mellow vacancy in the city.

I imagine she likes to sit down with a nice, hot cup of fermented rowan berry juice to keep the cold, bitterly lonely winter away.

For the CTT activity at U16. Another illustration coming up shortly.

Don’t worry, it happens to the best of us. More often to the worst, though.

For Illustration Friday’s theme "Foggy" and slightly inspired by this. (And apparently someone beat me to it slightly with his "vampire zombie" comment. Vampire zombie?).

Alright, I’ll be off for a few days eating sausage and drinking beer. I’ll be back next week. Hyvää juhannusta!

I’ve had some syndication feed trouble since I updated to WordPress 2.5.1. Sorry about that, I hope it works now.