Wild

Welcome back to my illustration blog. This weeks illustration word is Wild and whats more wild than the king of the jungle himself, a lion.

Step 1: Thumbnails

I began my illustration by drawing 3 different styles of lions.




Step 2: Digital Rendering.

Below are some of the stages of the digital rendering of the lion. I began by tracing the 2nd sketch but as I went on through creating the rest of the lion I took elements from all of the sketches and brought them together to create my final. The elements of the lions mane were repositioned many times all the way through to the end, it was hard to get them perfect since I kept changing the lions positioning.






Step 3: Final

To finish off this illustration I gave the lion a tail and added a some extra shadowing behind him. I made a simple background to add some interest.

Eyeglasses

The word for this weeks illustration is Eyeglasses.  I was excited to start working on this piece, I felt that I could get very creative with my ideas. I began my drawing out two sketches to begin working from.

Step 1: Sketches

I had two very different ideas on where to go with this weeks word. One a human character and the other an animal. So I went forth and sketched both.

  

Step 2: Digital Rendering.

Choosing to go forth with the penguin drawing, I began by tracing the basic shapes of the body and wings.



Next I added a beak, some eyes, flippers and the white under belly of the penguin.



The next step I took in the process of digital rendering was to add the eyeglasses.



Once all of the basic shapes of the objects were created I went back and added some shadowing behind it's body and wings. I added more detail to the beak and flippers, finishing it off by making the glasses appear to be 3D.




Step 3: Background

I began creating the background by making 2 coloured boxes to represent the ice he is standing on and the sun behind him.



Next i started to make ice burgs behind him.



Step 4: Final

To complete this piece i added some shading to the ice burgs to make the appear 3D as well.

Storm

As a graphic artist I participate in Illustration Friday. This weeks illustration word was Storm. My illustration is from memories of playing outside in the storms as a child.

Step one: Thumbnails

I began my process my sketching out some rough illustrations.

  


Step 2: Digital Rendering.

Deciding to go forward with my little guy with the frog umbrella, I brought it on to the computer and began rendering the basic/main shapes of the drawing.



Next i added the eyes, mouths to both the boots and the umbrella.



The umbrella began to look a little plain to me so I added some more details to it.


Step 3: The background.

I began creating the background by adding a dark blue sky, some green grass and a puddle.




Finishing the piece by adding some rail drops and lightning bolts.

Wings

Stage 1: Rough

This illustration was inspired by the word "Wings". I began by making some rough thumbnails of ideas.



Choosing to go forward with my sketch of a butterfly I drew comps of a new butterfly and a flower for tho it to rest on to render in illustrator.



Stage 2: Digital Rendering

Bringing my sketches into illustrator I traced a single peddle, gave it a linear gradient fill and added some shadows to give it depth. By copying, resizing and rotating the peddle to those in the sketch I created the full flower.


To complete the flower I made an ellipse with a thick stroke and filled it with a radial gradient the same colours as the peddles. For a little extra detail I made a smaller ellipse with same fill and copied it multiple times.



Next i began working on the butterfly, starting by tracing the shape of the wings and giving it a radial gradient fill. Then by copying and modifying the shape I made inner part of the wings. I made the body is made from different sized ellipses filled with radial gradients.


 

For Final details i added different shades of ellipses and lines with gradient stokes. Completing the butterfly off with some shadows.



To create the background I found an image of some foliage, brought it into illustrator, traced and applied some effects to get the finished image below.

Ocean

Stage 1: Rough

This weeks illustration word was "Ocean". Having a personal love for the ocean I had many ideas come to mind. I began by creating a few small thumbnails of ideas to get myself flowing. I will be using the final image for a book cover mock up.




I decided to go further using the jellyfish and created the first comp below. After drawing the jellyfish I had the idea to keep the theme similar but change the jellyfish to a sea horse as you see in the second comp.

Once more keeping with the same theme I drew a octopus.




Stage 2: Digital Rendering

I began the digital stage by creating an ocean backdrop in photoshop.



Adding some detail:



Finishing with an overall blue wash.



Next I brought my sketch of the seahorse into illustrator and began tracing it in shapes and applying a pattern of gradient to each. Finishing with the fins and smaller details.




Stage 3: Composition

I imported the ocean background into illustrator along with the seahorse. I created some simple bubbles from ellipses with gradients and small highlights. By tracing the shape of the coral in my sketch and applying a multiple colour gradient and some flitters.


     


Completing the design by adding some text.