On The Drawing Board: Parkinson Illustration · 8 August 2007
MAD Caricaturing mastermind Tom Richmond has an excellent section of his blog based purely on the purpose of showing his subscribers what he’s working on at the moment, and how his work develops in different stages of production.
So I thought I’d do the same!
I’m working on a greeting card illustration for Messages of Hold at the moment, the premise of which is Michael Parkinson introducing one of their clients as a guest on his talk show.
They have used this same product several times before and is a unique and innovative way of utilising variable data.
Stage 1: Image Research
I started by researching the images I’d need for the job, looking for images of the Parkinson program, and of Michael Parkinson himself.
Google Images is always helpful for this sort of thing (can’t imagine life before it!), YouTube has become an invaluable resource for gathering visual references also (since Apple have disabled screen-capture on DVDs… maybe I’ll try VCL player one of these days.)
Stage 2: Rough Draft
Anyway, I always start with a rough concept, then move on to the draft. I always work very loosely with the rough draft, as it’s much better to create smooth, flowing lines that are unique – rather than trying to perfectly trace over draft lines. It’s a technique that’s very common (and makes common sense.)
Stage 3: Proofing
I proof the image to the client, usually by email. Sometimes the proofing process might require I meet with the client to discuss the finer points in the development of the image, but over time I have developed a good sense of what the client wants from discussing it at the initial brief. This particular client is notoriously good for being thorough with their briefs too – lucky for me!
Stage 4: Amendments and Inking
If there are any changes, I now make them to the rough draft, and proceed straight to inking. If the changes are quite substantial I may have to re-proof the image, but in this case the client was happy for me to proceed as per the draft (only change was to add the word “Parkinson” along the top.)
I ink the images using either Photoshop, Painter X or Flash, depending on the look I’m going for. Different packages offer different results.
Stage 5: Colour
Again, I use the three aforementioned programs to get different results for colouring. (I just purchased CS3 last month and am thrilled with the features) I fill the sections in solid colour and work from a baseline of colour.
Click here for more information on the colouring process.
Stage 6: Finished Product + Printing
I will send the high quality PDF file of the finished product to the client, and they will have it printed so that they can interchange the text with their clients’ names in the speech bubble.
Voila!
All images © Copyright 2007 Jason Chatfield
