Bird nut that I am, the birds were top-of-mind when I thought of Illustration Friday's current theme of superstition for a moment. Pick up a copy of Graeme Gibson's The Bedside Book of Birds and you'll be spending hours discovering the historic worldwide fixation mankind has with the ties between birds, omens and superstition. And one of the most curious, untraceable and far-reaching omens out there is of "the bird in the house".
At first, I was set to take this concept in a Gary Larson-esque twist, with one bird warning another of the perils it faces in entering the birdhouse; a more straight-up cartoon. It was the designer in me that abandoned that path for what you see here.
This is a good example of not giving up on a doodle. This illustration began in pencil on the back of some scrap paper, as I fleshed out the idea in particular, the perspective over lunch at work one day. When I opened my sketchbook to create a crisper, more finite version, I found myself unable to duplicate the doodle's vision. So I inked the scrap paper pencil job and erased surrounding notes and scribbles in Photoshop. From there a palette was selected and colouring and texturing were completed on the computer.
You can click here for a better look at the detail.
18 comments:
It's gorgeous! I love the colors and the distressed/ink-block look of the piece.
Very nice outstanding work!
Wow - this is great. Doodling is such a good exercise, especially when it leads to something like this.
Oh that texture! The distressed screened effect is incredible. Well done Jeopo.
This is gorgeous, I love!
Beautiful illo. I must agree, the color palette and distressed/ruff texture work very nicelly together.
awesome piece! I love the distressing! Would you mind sharing your tips on how to do that?...you can email me privately.
I'm a Photoshop girl and I'm always looking for ways to do different textures!
nina@n7designs.com
Wow! I like your style a lot, Jeope :)
cabanadigital.com
Who came up with the idea that birds and dogs need cute little people houses anyway?
i put that book on my xmas list
I just tagged you for "5 things about yourself". If you are interested see the rules on my blog. Have fun!
Absolutely awesome! The woodblock-like feel, the colors, the concept, it's all excellent.
this is so simple yet a stunning effect! wonderful work!
great illustration...love the composition and the style...great work!
ooh I just love this piece!!!
Thanks everyone. This one was fun to see through.
Right on, this is really well put together. From concept to colors, well done. :)
My company has a bird illustration project we'd love you to work on. How do we email you?
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