This commission is from a while back but I just haven't got round to posting about it (slapped wrist).
I was originally asked to work on a group portrait of all the judges for the SC Awards so I got down to that, then halfway through the editor asked me to work on the cover as well. After a struggle I completed the portraits, there weren't many decent photos available so needless to say I won't be posting that illustration. I have to exercise my quality control occasionally.
Next up was the cover. The editor wanted a night time scene of a glitzy awards ceremony being held at a posh London theatre. He suggested I could incorporate lots of bright lights and the impression of reflections on the wet pavements. I felt pretty confident because I could already see the image in my head and I knew exactly how I was going to tackle the brief.
The first image is the final pencil drawing. I wanted to get the detail and perspective bang on so drew a grid, one for the building and another for ground level. I managed to find a high quality photo of a London playhouse and a few others of the same building at night. Both things enabled me to stop worrying about the detail later on in the painting process.
The next step was to work on the values in the image. I pulled out some ultramarine acrylic and worked up all the shadows knowing that the blue would slightly show through the watercolour when finished thus giving the painting a cool glow, perfect for a night scene. Another added bonus is the acrylic effectively fixes your drawing underneath so all the hours spent on the detail won't be lost when wet. I hope to experiment more with different acrylic colour schemes as a under-painting for watercolour soon.
Next time...
I reveal the final illustration and hopefully something else I finish tomorrow.
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