Friday, September 14, 2012

How I work when illustrating

This is how I tend to work when producing illustrations.  There are three main stages.

No. 1  Often I will  find something that gives me an idea for the finished drawing. In this case it was this funny hat seen in the Net-a-Porter website.

Net-a-Porter hat

No.2  I draw a rough idea, and at this stage have no pre-conception of how to go forward with the colour or design until I start.

Initial rough design for one of Lee Bender's fashion illustrations


No.3  In this case I decided to use only pens (I usually also work in watercolour) as I thought that an "in your face look" was more appropriate for this illustration.  As you see it came out in red, and I thought that Turquoise sunglasses would make it look better than matching red! Striping the hat instead of copying the photo I thought would make it stand out more!

Finished fashion illustration by Lee Bender