By the Seaside

Above: I have turned a sketch I did a few years ago into a piece of vector art for the iStock submission (as I discussed in the previous post). You would think that by having a sketch at the ready to trace the vector art wouldn't take that long, but it has taken me most of today. Drawing an entire picture by making bezier curves with a computer mouse is not much fun. It becomes fun when you finish drawing and start filling in the colours. The hardest part was doing the girl's face. It needed to look simple but not overly so, and a bit retro. I quite like the result but I'm not sure whether she should look happier considering she is on holiday.

A Green Babushka Family

Above: I am working on some illustrations to submit to the vector section of iStockphoto, having read about it in the current edition of Desktop. There's alot of rules: the work must be compatible with the Jurassic Illustrator 8, may not include pattern fills or images from an outside source like Photoshop, all lines must be joined and no transparencies are allowed. One must even sit a test in order to gauge whether the rules have been understood before submitting; and even send a jpeg of their driver's licence for good measure. A bit daunting, but I have decided to take the challenge anyway. The above will be part of my initial submission. An environmentally conscious babushka family. I thought it would be a nice way to combine tradition with a sense of the future. Or rather a future I would like to imagine, and believe may be getting written about by someone out there for whatever reason and require an illustration. Never mind if it doesn't, I have included it in my updated illustration portfolio anyway.

Above: the colour palette inspiration for the illustration above. Part of the endpaper of Queen Elizabeth's Coronation Book, printed by The Herald and Sun News Pictorial Melbourne in glorious colourgravure. Purchased by me in Camberwell last Sunday for $3.