Every cartoonist/illustrator has a “look.” Your signature way of creating art. When an art director calls me with an assignment they normally want the Daryll Collins style of rendering.
My methods these days are to render the linework traditionally in pen and ink, scan the linework and bring it into Photoshop to color. There are a few steps involved and maybe one day I’ll do a step-by-step presentation for those that want a more in depth explanation.
But on occasion, it’s good to step out of your comfort zone and try something different.
During my greeting card years, I was often asked to emulate a certain style. Sometimes the shaky Blechman line look or a 1920′s cartooning style. That way there would be more variety in the card line. All the humor cards wouldn’t look the same. At one time I was the only full-time cartoonist on staff and did quite a few cards. It was important to diversify.
This illustration was done entirely in Adobe Illustrator. A sketch was scanned and placed on the bottom layer. Then I built the character linework on top. mostly using the pen tool at varying line weights. The color was applied on a layer directly below all the linework.
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I really like this one!!!
Thanks Judy. This one was done just to try something new. Maybe I’ll post some of my other greeting card stuff that looks nothing like my usual work.
Ahhh..yes indeed the new line width tool in Illustrator is fabulous. It is something that was really needed. The blob brush is another drawing tool that is new and really great. Also, the fact that you can now use the eraser to erase through any vector object is tremendous. It really makes drawing and painting with Illustrator so much more intuitive.
Hi David. Thanks for checking in. I’m kind of shocked at how little I use Illustrator these days. It was my go-to program for years.
I can still tell this one is very YOU in terms of the look. I’d love to see more of the different techniques you were asked to try, especially any 1920s take, obviously.
A post of those different styles are coming up shortly Rachel.