process

A few people have recently asked about my process for my latest illustration. So here we go. 

I started off by watching a couple of Doctor Who episodes. It's SO important to do research. :) 

I first had an idea to do a fake cover for a children's magazine. I was inspired by this image:

I also had an idea of making a fake children's book cover. After sketching out my ideas, they just weren't working. Then, the idea of a travel poster sounded a lot more appropriate. So many choices for destinations! And the "airline" would be the TARDIS. I looked up vintage travel posters for inspiration.  I also made a Pinterest board with some of my favorites: http://www.pinterest.com/erenunten/ads-posters/

Below is the thumbnail sketch for my poster idea. 

Here is the bad drawing from my thumbnail. There's too much going on here. The composition was not working. 

I still decided to add color to see if it would help. It did not. I tried to use a limited color palette, but that idea quickly went out the door. This was the point where I hated what I was doing, and wanted to quit. But that's when you have to push further and problem solve. I decided to take a look at all those vintage travel posters I love to figure out what made them so great. 

I needed to simplify things. I wanted the focus to be on the Doctor and Clara, so I made them bigger. There's still too much going on here though. Had to keep simplifying it. There's four main images and that doesn't make it a great composition. Also, the Doctor's sonic screwdriver can't really be seen. My husband will probably also want you to know that he pointed that out to me. He's an amazing artist, and he gives great feedback. :) 

And below we have the final artwork. Simplified and a much better composition than before. Shifted things around a bit for better balance. Although I know all these "rules" for designing things, it can still be a challenge while creating something. 

I'm excited to do more of these Doctor Who travel posters. There are a lot of Doctors, companions, and places to illustrate!

Hope you enjoyed my process post! I'm not the best at explaining things, but I loved making this, and I hope that shows!