I am making lots of illustrations for my own products. I love the freedom to create art that feels right to me personally. On the other hand I also love to work on commissions as well. It's nice to make people happy with commissioned art and products.
A little while back I was asked to illustrate a fantasy creature called; an Eastern Dragon. It was an original character and that person asked me to design a shoulder bag with that character. She had enough references for this character, so I had enough information to draw her character in my illustration style.
Sketchphase
I started this commission with lots of skechtes and Ideas. I presented her the different lay-outs and Ideas that I had for her character. After some consultation we came to a choice for the lay-out and body posture of her dragon character.
The Final illustration
When one of the sketches was approved, I started with the final illustration. I always make my sketches with pencils and paper. However, the final illustration is a mix of analog materials and digital techniques. I use textures of marbled paper, paint, ink etc. and use them as texture layers in Photoshop. Sometimes one single illustration has more than 100 layers (side-note; always name your layers in Photoshop :P). It was very easy to give this character it's color, because the references also had color codes. I added all the textures I wanted and finished the illustration.
illustrated Shoulder Bag
After the illustration was finished I got it printed on a shoulder bag. I packed it with love and care and I love the reaction I got from the customer;
"It's great! I use it as my every day carry shoulder bag, thank you."
It was a fun commission to work on :).
Do you also want a custom illustration, printed on a product? (Shoulder bag, artprint, canvas print, notebook. wallet, ornament or something else :P), feel free to contact me.
© Susanne Bot-Boer | SB Designs | SB Designs Creations