Pickup Process

Well, I intended to do this post a bit sooner, but life sometimes gets in the way. Sorry to anyone that's been waiting.

As I mentioned last time, many of my project go through a variety of iterations, from start to finish. Revisions are a huge part of the illustration and design process, and virtually every assignment I get goes through many stages to get the end result. I sometimes have to revisit an image up to 15 to 20 times! In this particular case, there were probably about twelve, but I'm going to just post a sample, for the sake of clarity. Some of the revisions were so slight, it's tough to even detect the change. So, here are the truck images:

I began with a pretty straightforward shot of a 1956 Ford pickup, above.

My client thought it was a good start, but wanted something a bit more cartoony. I added a warp to the drawing to give it a soft roundness, and made the grill a bit more "friendly" with the upturned look to it. Picture it as an abstract smile.

The client was happy with the warp, but wanted me to show a bit more of the side of the truck. She asked me to turn it just a little. Also, she wanted to carry the split on the hood up to the windshield, and change the grill. So, I got a chance to customize the truck a little, and suddenly my '56 Ford transformed into a '53 Chevy!

Next, I was asked to shorten the height of the windshield a bit. It's subtle, but if you look at the previous version, you can see the change.

Another minor change: I was asked to lengthen the hood, just a bit; stretch it a little. Again, a subtle change.

Finally, the sketch was approved, and I inked the final rendering. Here is the end result!

The illustration was used in an interactive kiosk at a children's museum in Texas. I'm not sure exactly where it is, so if anyone out there has seen this work, please let me know! Sometimes, work gets sent out into the ether, and I never know where it ends up!

Thanks for checking this out. tune in next time, when I go to the dogs!

Best,
Rich

A Little Teaser

I'm going to do something I rarely do. I'm going to post an image which is a preview for my next post. I want to show the process by which I go from a rough sketch to a finished illustration for a project. This particular assignment, which I worked on a couple of years ago, is a very interesting example. I was asked to draw a couple of vehicles for an interactive exhibit, to be used in a kiosk at a children's museum in Texas.

I don't normally show every iteration of my drawing/design process, but that's exactly what I intend to do in my next post. I think most people will be surprised how many changes can be made to a single image during the design and approval stage. From start to finish, there can be many process stages that go into completing a finished illustration. I'll be more specific next time, but for now, I'll leave you with this, one image in a sequence of many:

I can't wait to show how many revisions there were on this project! I hope you'll check back for the follow up on this one! Until then, enjoy!

Best,
Rich