As a project in Editorial Illustration, I was told to research and choose a Plansponsor article I would like to illustrate, and then design cover art around it. I learned a lot doing this cover, and want to share a bit of my process, part of which was inspired by a trip to illustrator Bill Mayer's studio!
After doing a bunch of thumbnails on different ideas, I chose to focus on an article about risk management, and illustrating that idea using whackamole.
Then I started sketching moles... Then I discovered that real life moles are really weird looking.
So I tried to draw them a few different ways...
But then decided to just jump into illustrator and start figuring out the layout. Here's what I came out of Illustrator with. The moles ended up being much cuter! (And less anatomically correct)
Here's a version with a wooden mallet, but everyone I asked said they liked the orange mallet better. But it's good to have options!
I brought it into photoshop and added texture and fixed some colors. Luckily, however, I had the opportunity to visit famous illustrator Bill Mayer's studio on a school fieldtrip, and I decided to utilize his technique of painting characters in gouache and scanning them in to work further digitally.
So I painted a mole! (I cleaned it up in photoshop, of course.)
After adding in details and highlights in photoshop, I think the painted moles look a lot better than the purely digital ones!
In the end, experimenting with technique ended up really helping improve the final product. I'm so thankful to Bill Mayer for the inspiration!
Final product! :)
