For the last couple of weeks I've been working on various versions of this magazine cover illustration (sans the masthead), all of which I hated and wanted to smack the fellow in the ilustration. Finally after much failure, I think I'm coming up with something that is working. Light broke through early in the day.
This style is quite different than what I usually work in. In this case, I did the sketch by hand, scanned it, traced and dropped in flat colors in Illustrator, then photoshopped the rest. What is working for me is the eyes, and the textureyness of the image. I still have some tightening up to do, but hopefully I'm going in the right direction here.
i have a much harder time adapting my natural creative bend away from monsters and super heroes toward real world subjects like business and whatnot.
Anyhoo, i usually have to delve deep into the well of inspiration and find examples of what the final illustration should "feel" like. in this case, I referenced 2 illustrators whose stuff blows my mind: Eric Tan of Pixar and Paul Conrad also of Pixar/Big Idea.
For the most part, Eric's poster work inspired me at the outset, and Conrad's work drove me home in terms of executing and style and coloring.
