Thursday, January 11, 2007

Suit yourself


I just finished a series of 7 illustrations for Improper Bostonian.
Above is the full-pager that introduces the article—a man's guide to getting things done (tips on how to get a table at a popular restaurant, how to score good tickets, etc). I've also posted a handful of the spots I did below. Seeing that the article is supposed to be a manual of sorts, I decided to go faux-duotone and limit myself to working in red and blue. I'm really pleased with how this "suit" illustration came out. I usually color in every inch of my canvas, but I decided to let the line live on its own here, to also help the guy in the suit punch the most. On another note, these are completely digital—all drawn entirely in Flash, because I needed to get them completed over three nights, and it's faster than inking by hand. Not to mention I prefer "undo" to white-out.




4 comments:

Onsmith said...

Those are great! But I gotta say, you seem to have enough inking prowess to kick 'em out traditionally as well in three days. Of course, that's not to say these wouldn't be as good the way you did 'em.

Bob Flynn said...

Thanks, Onsmith!
Tomorrow I'll have a chance to redeem myself when I start to ink my illustration for the Book of Dreams.

In a crunch, I find that Flash does have its advantages. I've grown quite accustomed to it working all day in it at FableVision. I'd say it takes me longer to get the drawing to look right on the computer (I get picky about each stroke because I can undo), but coloring goes a lot faster because I can paint fill since its a vector environment. Whereas I typically paint everything by hand (on a layer underneath the line so not to degrade it) in Photoshop. I can make split second changes and adjustments in Flash as well, like the scale of the characters and whatnot. Basically edit friendly.

They definitely would have had a different feel in "pen nib" mode. I don't ink with a brush (haven't dared to yet), but Flash allows me to cheat and make my illustrations look more brushy. So it's a seductive tool in that respect.

Anonymous said...

Hey Bob!
I got your comment this morning and decided I'd copy you and comment on yours. Thanks for the kind words! I definitely know your work and am a fan so that makes me all warm and fuzzy that you like mine.

These look really awesome-- a couple people i know like working directly in Flash-- I just tried fooling around with it on Friday to see how it works, but it seems pretty handy, although might take a little getting used to. Though I feel like I spend enough time in front of the computer, so drawing by hand often provides its own weird pleasure!
-meg

Unknown said...

Just found you through Felix blog-.. amazing stuff, I´ll come back often...