Computer Arts - UK (2019-06)

01 The initial

sketch is drawn in

Photoshop.

02 Here, Wignall

gradually builds

up vector shapes

over the sketch

in Illustrator.

03 The illustrator

now selects the

artwork layer and

sets it to Multiply.

01

0102

03

COMPUTERARTS.CREATIVEBLOQ.COM

THE BRIEF
Jamie Wignall
Over the past year I’ve had the privilege
of illustrating a series of front covers and
features for Prospect magazine. Prospect
has a distinctive, modern visual identity. The
magazine concentrates on political, cultural and
current affairs, so the briefs often arrive with a
rapid turnaround. This enables the magazine to
be as nimble and relevant as possible.
Working closely and communicating clearly
with the art director is essential to ensure
that there’s clarity about the direction of
commissioned images. In this article I’m going
to break down the process behind one of my
favourite covers.

RAPID SKETCHES
Initially, the art director sends me over a brief
and a couple of scamps of ideas for the direction
he’d like the cover to take. When the final feature
copy was filed to the editorial team we’re left
with two days to go from roughs to final art.
As soon as I have the final brief I jump
straight into making a rough for the art director
and editorial team to approve. The brief calls for
a group of people of various ages and ethnicities
all shouting and spouting opinions, but not
listening to each other. I sketch mainly from
my imagination with some use of image search
for reference. Drawing from my imagination is
liberating and enables me to bend visual rules,
but having references to hand helps me to
find the little details that stop my figures from
becoming overly generic.
I sketch straight into Photoshop on a Wacom
Cintiq using pencil brushes. This setup enables
me to draw quickly, and to rapidly version the
rough using layers to experiment with the layout.
I finish the rough in a couple of hours, which
includes drawing and visual research. I then
send in two versions for approval. Version one is
much looser than version two. Despite being the
same image I feel the rougher version has more
of the character and charm I had envisioned
for the final, while the other gives a clearer
indication of where the elements are going to sit.

The concept is approved with a few

amendments. A writer is added to the back

of the group of figures and there’s some

clarification around the posing of some of

the other characters.

BUILDING VECTOR BONES

Once the sketch is approved I move straight

into the final illustration. I drop my rough into

Illustrator and start to lay out the shapes and

figures. The great thing about the software is

the flexibility it offers. In my mind I want the

figures to compose themselves in an almost

geometric fashion. The rough has given me a

good template, but I know that I’m going to need

to tweak the layout while I’m working to get the

figures to fit together nicely.

Still in Illustrator, I set the sketch to the

bottom layer of the file and lock it. Then I create

a new layer above it and click the circular target

icon in the Layer palette; this will target every

object for this layer. I then set the layer mode

to Multiply. This enables me to work on a single

layer, while still viewing the sketch below. An

advantage of this method is that it means I can

use the Eye Dropper tool on the vector layer

without picking up colour information from the

layer below, while also retaining opacity for the

vector shapes. This is an efficient way to work

from sketches. If an image becomes too complex

then I’ll break it up to separate layers.

PICKING PALETTES

While drawing in Illustrator I also consider the

colour palette, with the aim of using a bright,

fresh but fairly limited palette. I’m keen to

represent the various figures and ethnicities

using different colours, while the clothes the

characters are wearing would be coloured using

a more limited palette to tie the composition

together. Because the illustration will be used in

a spring issue I eventually settle upon a bright,

energetic colour scheme.

With the main blocks of the composition in

place I copy the image to multiple artboards

in Illustrator, trying out different colour

combinations for the composition and zooming

JUNE 2019 JAMIE WIGNALL

ILLUSTRATING A ONE-

WAY CONVERSATION

Jamie Wignall took a mixed-media approach when

creating a cover for Prospect magazine...

WORKSHOP