12 Days Of Chrimbo…

‘Tis the time of the year for Christmas themed commissions, and so in the spirit of the season BRENB has kindly agreed to gift us a ‘step by step’ of his illustration for the Irish Times Christmas competition. Take it away BRENB…

The Brief.

The Irish Times are holding a competition in the run up to Christmas. Tequila (the agency) ring me and see if i’m available to submit some sketches for their pitch, their idea is to base it on the song/poem ‘The 12 Days of Christmas’.

I say yes and with a few days prep time I set about researching and gathering photo references. As I tend not to draw straight from my head this part is essential and probably where I spend most time at the beginning of a project.

So after hours of trawling through Stock websites, etc I have a huge folder full of references and I’m ready to begin sketching.

My initial sketches tend to double up as a warm up and a final draft due to time constraints. If anything needs to be altered I’ll do it after the client has agreed on the basic concept. Which in this case is to select and illustrate parts of the song and have them all around a Christmas tree, with lots of energy and character.

With the rough sent off, I get some sleep, work on other projects and wait to hear the response. Eventually after a few days of worrying that my email isn’t working I get word from the agency that the client thinks “its a bit mad” and it “isn’t what we were expecting” but…they really like “the energy and the quirkiness”! SUCCESS!!! Of course all the hard work is still to come but you have to allow yourself to enjoy these little victories. So with 2 days to complete the illustration (those 2 days being SAT & SUN of course!) I knuckle down for some all nighters!

With such a tight deadline I try to follow a system. I aim to complete the whole illustration digitally in photoshop. A risky choice as I’ve never done this before but for some reason it seems to make sense. Anyway i haven’t time to argue, at the very least working digitally will cut down on scanning time and my scanner is acting weird at the moment.

I map out the background first, adding textures to give it a christmas feel without actually using snow etc.

I anticipate getting bogged down in the larger elements of the illustration so by focusing on the smaller elements first I won’t be forced to rush them or leave them out when I’m really under pressure later on. Paranoid? You betcha! I just can’t believe I’m actually thinking ahead like this. Maybe I’ve got a fever?

It seems to be going smoothly enough, although I keep finding myself singing the parts of the song I’m drawing. It’s 4AM on the Saturday night…thoughts of fever are disappearing, I might be going insane! I shut down my computer and try to get some rest.

At 8AM on Sunday I’m back at my desk and continue from the night before, focusing now on the main figures, ’9 ladies dancing…10 Lords a leaping…12 drummers drumming’. Something’s not right though. I’ve made the background so decorative and stylised that the figure drawing contrasts too much. This is a disaster, so much for tyring to work to a system…who’s idea was that anyway? Hmmm…. I try messing around with the drawing, to make the whole more cohesive.

I exaggerate the arms of the drummer and draw his face flat and stylised. Okay deep breaths this might be working…Im finding drawing digitally much quicker and it’s allowing me to try shapes and colours much easier.

I’m still doodling in my notepad as well though, thumbnails and ideas, words etc but then acting them out in photoshop rather than having to redraw everytime and scan.

Something clicks and I’m finished.

I email the agency a hi-res JPEG and await their response. I go lie in a dark room and put some ice on my wrist. The phone rings and it’s a big thumbs up from the agency and the client. PHEW!! No revisions. Maybe there is something to having a system afterall?

I wonder will the cheque come as quick? Of course it will, positive thinking!!!!

Thanks BRENB! Check out BRENB.net for more info!

This entry was posted on Monday, November 26th, 2007 at 9:50 pm and is filed under Advertising, Illustration, Step-by-steps. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.