I always enjoy seeing people's rough sketches before the final art is done, so maybe some of you will be interested in seeing this. I'm currently halfway through this color finish, which I'll post by the end of the week, but I thought I'd blog about the process. My initial concept was of a Drive-in Movie theatre with nothing but monsters watching the scary movie, which was "Earth Vs. The Flying Saucers", but then I worried that since this is for a normal-sized postcard, the image was too complex to be appreciated unless it was a larger size and that's too costly for my current budget. So, I did this compartmental layout to showcase images of Halloween. The finish is coming along great so far and I hope it really grabs the people I'm sending it to in this mass mailer and e-blast. Halloween is just a fun holiday and it's probably one of the most effective holidays to take advantage of in my business. Most people think that Christmas is a good time to promote, but I think that right after Thanksgiving art directors, editors, designers, and creative directors are all too distracted as they get ready for their Christmas/Winter break to care about a postcard coming at them and begging for their attention.
Come back by the end of the week and I will have a lush color finish to showcase. It'll be interesting to see them side-by-side and compare how much may have changed.
This is good stuff, Joe. There's romance, flying mammals and gourds. I'm loving your blog. It's fun poking around the cupboards and back rooms.
ReplyDeleteThanks for checking out my blog. I'm trying to be more active lately. I work dozens of hours a week as an art director and I'm trying so hard to get my illustration work to pick back up with aggressive promotion and doing all the right things. I'm starting to see some signs of life again and it's a good feeling. But, overall, illustration is a tough industry in these hard times.
ReplyDelete*Hey, I'll add your blog to my blog sausage links here if that's ok.
Illustration is a tough industry! It has a way of weeding people out that value things like food, insurance and peace of mind. Good thing I am immune to all of that. It's great that you are talented enough to also art direct. Like you, I hope you spend more time in the future making art than directing it.
ReplyDeleteI would be flattered to be added to sausage links! (I have never used those words in that order before)