This is the latest version of the poster. It's a ton more detailed than the previous iteration, due to the heavy use of lines in texturing the beard.
Still not sure it's working. Not sure what the problem is though. Does it need more colour, need something else going on, I've toyed with including a nose and mouth? Not sure it's the hair assault that I'm after, perhaps the darker lines need to come off?? Flip knows!!
Keep on keeping on Stannard :)
On my last update, I said that although I was happy with the way the illustration for the poster was going, I wanted to add a little more interest to the drawing, which I thought I could achieve by making it busier.
The picture above is where I got to after a few trial and error sketching sessions. Basically I have used the original drawing as a template, so no changes to the basic composition, but I've upped the number of lines used on each tuft of the beard.
It's a pretty time consuming method. Each line has to be drawn individually and you have to go steady to keep a clean, precise line. But I'm only half way through and already I think the increase in lines seems to be adding a lot more texture to the drawing. When it is finished it will hopefully help with the desired effect of a hair bombardment.
So I thought it would be a god idea to print off the poster at the size that I eventually want to screen print it at (A2). I've got it hanging in my kitchen just to get a feel for the scale of it and how it works at that size.
This version was worked up in Illustrator. I traced over the scan of my sketch with the pen tool, which has resulted in clean finish and has left me wondering whether there needs to be a bit more going on.
To add a little more interest and draw people in I'm thinking that more hair might be a good idea. In my first post about this poster I said that I would like to create something that people might have to look twice at to 'get' what the picture was of. I don't think that is happening yet, but by making it busier with more curls and ruffles going on in the beard I think I could get there.
The next thing that I will have to figure out is how to best tackle drawing the nose and mouth, ie, what technique to use; simple, cartoonish style or a more realistic finish. Hopefully though, once I've got the beard right the answer to this problem should become apparent.
I got round to scanning in the sketch that I posted last week and have now been mucking around with it on the computer.
I've been thinking about two different approaches; the clean, smooth finish of Illustrator and the textured look that I can produce with Photoshop.
The picture above is the Photoshop version. I've been using old scans of roller print marks to create a scuzzy textured finish to the beard area. Not sure about it yet. Definitely need to explore more options before I'm happy with it.
The picture above is the first sketch of an idea for a poster I'd like to print. I thought it could be kind of interesting to chart the process of the project, from the initial rough through to the final screen printed poster (plus doing this will also act as motivation for me not give up half way through!)
My drawing is based on my blog header image, but was influenced by an illustration by Federico Rodriguez Morice for Threadless.
I love the impact the mass of hair has in Federico's image, which is what I hope to replicate; a sort of hirsute assault, an all beard/no face kind of look, so that maybe you'll have to look twice to fully identify what the image is.
I hope to have the completed design screen printed by the autumn, so wish me luck.
