Across the Khyber Pass

This drawing is for a “busker” street performer festival in Lawrence; the brief was pretty straightforward and the editor already had an idea of what he wanted. I used the opportunity to test out a few new drawing notions that I’ve been thinking about.

Specifically:
- Always work to recover your drawing.
- Long lines are more descriptive than short ones.
- Sculpt (turn) forms.

I know. Pathetic that these are revelations to me.

I kind of worked this one like a painting, which Alison was thrilled about. Based on feedback from the thumb, I knew beforehand that the type would go in the bottom left quadrant, so I worked around that. Using the thumb, I made a sketch which I based an “underpainting” on and then added stains of color over that. Then the true power of Photoshop, terrible to behold, was unleashed and I colored corrected and added some details (such as the tattoos.)

Also, the issue of CMYK that I’m in (#41) is out!

They gave me a whole page to myself! I put Phyllis Moore, my beloved liberal arts chair, as my professor even though I didn’t really have an illustration teacher. She probably couldn’t draw her way out of a box, bless her heart, but damned if she can’t wield the English language like a deadly weapon. There’s a lot of cool illustration in this issue, and I feel lucky that I made it amongst all the really talented (and well-trained) SVA and Ringling folk. Check it out!