Hello,
I did this a few weeks ago for INC Magazine.
Every quarter INC does a feature to the theme “horse race” where they compare different companies in a similar field, with an obvious first, second, third, and last place.
This is as straightforward as jobs get, the editors weren’t even interested in my request to make the different riders from different cultures (i.e. a cowboy, a samurai, a knight from the crusade, and a native american, or something to that extent).
Because they gave me the layout to work with ahead of time, I got a chance to focus on making a stronger design.
For spots, quarter-pages and vignettes, I tend to favor a “break out” composition; that is, something that isn’t confined to a square or rectangular shape. I think it helps the rest of the page breathe easier and the nature of type tends to bring solidity to the page anyway.
So what I came up with floats on the page with a lot of white space all around.
Here is a scan of the inked image with pencils, un-edited in any way in photoshop. You’ll notice the rainbow stripe across the center–that’s my scanner who is due for a replacement in the near future, because I’m tired of going in with the clone stamp and repairing my images 馃檪
For the sake of experimentation, I decided to try to paint the last horse in the background with Gouache and color him in digitally like the inked horses. I used to do this a lot more when I had less work and had more time to spend on images. Lately I’m so busy that I usually have to find other kinds of experiments, but I’ve been trying to turn more jobs down so that I can make better work.
In the end, I’m happy with the piece. I’ve really been pushing myself hard the last couple of months to try and get my stuff to the next level.
I’m happy with the addition of the gouache textures, though I haven’t had a chance to use them in anything since I finished this one.
And lastly, I’d like to thank everyone who wrote in their suggestions for future blogs, I can’t wait to get to some of them. I might post one as early as next week.
Thanks for reading!
Frank
10 Comments
Add Yours →Love it, like always. Aside from awesome artwork, it is always a pleasure to read your blog.
Cheers Frankster,
Sel
First, thanks for your posts! I take a look every day waiting news from you.
So you are talking about the time that you use to investigate new painting ways, can you explain how much time you spend to create an illustration?
Limon
Indeed,
What’s posted here is always a super inside look at the artistic process; not just as a means to the final outcomes…Which are beautiful!
man, your art is brilliant. I can smell the jockeys sweat and hear the horses blowing out of their nostrils.
Thanks Selda, puente / bridget, and thorsten!
Daniel, the time I spend on an illustration usually depends on how complex it is and how much time I have to work on it.
If I have to go fast I can do a full page in about 2 days from drawing to colors, but those are probably 12 hour days each…
Lately I’ve been going back and forth with the colors a lot because I’m experimenting more and I could spend a lot more time tweaking things until they feel “right.”
Spots and quarter-page illustrations, on the other hand, usually take a full day or less.
Thanks for taking the time to leave comments!
f.
Thanks to you for your answer and great work.
great blog and amazing artwork!
awesome job frank, when you do your digital coloring in p.s. do you leave the blue pencil work or do you erase it all so you just work with the cleaner ink linework? also, do you always do a “flats” layer like the one you showed us in the hurricane katrina comic you posted a few weeks ago.
beautiful!
Steve – I almost always color with flats. Ever since about a year ago, it just makes things way easier for me.
everyone else, thanks!
f.