-turning a random doodle into a finished illustration

I love to doodle. Sure I scribble the usual mindless spirals and abstract shapes... classic "while on the phone" doodles that meander on the page (or any scrap of paper) and are intermingled with message notes. But I also doodle character's faces of all types, or little silhouetted figures riding fantastic bicycles, etc... whatever randomly oozes from my brain to my pen point. Many times though these doodles end up as visions of odd alien creatures. So many now, in fact, that I added a portfolio section on my web site just to showcase these alien creations. Click here.)

Because I am well versed in drawing, and because I have been making images for about fifty-one years now (I started in earnest at age 4), I've had A LOT of practice to hone my doodling skills! They can be quite sophisticated at times. Some people think, upon seeing my doodles, that they are images which must have required a light pencil sketch underneath to get things started, or at least some photo reference...  But I assure you I pick up an ink pen and just begin drawing without a thought as to what will develop. No preliminary sketch, no photo reference. I merely draw from my imagination... which is the absolute best way for interesting things to happen.

In this post, I show you the original raw doodle, and then all the stages involved in turning it into a more rendered and polished final illustration:

original raw doodle

close-up of raw doodle

(1) above image(top)- 

While I was watching TV one night recently, with a pad of scrap paper in my lap, I first started doodling a couple random partial faces (see left side), then I drew a half-figure of a fairy-nymph creature (see center right, upside down). Then I began drawing the central figure of a woman: I drew her complete face with a short hairstyle, then proceeded to draw her entire figure wearing a kind of peacock-feather gown and high heels. At this point I was intrigued, but hated the face I had given her, plus her head proportion was too small. So, immediately to the side I redrew her face again, much better I felt, and because I had already given her a peacock gown, for this new face I gave her a hat with an exaggerated full feather. At this point I felt this doodle of the woman had potential to become a more completely realized full image, possibly an illustration I would add into one of my portfolios on my web site. So next I consciously drew a side table with a champagne glass and little Henry Moore type sculpture sitting on top. I decided to give this elegant woman a companion dog, and in the upper right corner you see I began drawing the head of a dog, but it looked like a badly envisioned sea-horse! -so I quickly abandoned it and then drew the little bulldog seen in lower right corner.

(2) I then scanned the raw doodle into Photoshop.

isolating main elements

(3) above image-

In Photoshop you can see that I "erased" all the superfluous side doodle images, leaving just the main character (plus her extra head!), the side table, and the little dog. You will notice that when I initially drew the side table as a prop for the woman, I only drew one leg on the table... this is because I knew that once I had scanned the raw doodle into Photoshop, I could then "grab" and repeat the one leg to make two more legs... which would give the two outer legs perfect symmetry! 

moving elements into position

(4) above image-

In this step I have moved the elements, to begin to compose the scene I have formulating in my mind of the woman standing in a room. Plus, you can see that I have erased her original head and inserted the 2nd head I'd created with the large feather hat. (The faint vertical lines you see on the left side are actually lines of type bleeding through from the opposite side of the paper... because I always doodle on used pieces of paper.)

final line art stage

(5) above image-
Here, I have repeated the one leg of the table, to create a second and a third leg, obviously by flipping, manipulating, adding some shadow tones, etc... Plus I have "cleaned up" any little lines from the raw doodle which clutter or do not properly define the form. Compare the shoes in step 4 with the shoes in step 5 and you will see how I "cleaned" the line forms. I added bows to her shoes as well as an additional section of her gown at the bottom, by drawing them with a simple brush tool in Photoshop. Now that the line art stage is essentially done, I can move on to creating the room environment!

added background tone

(6) above image-

In this stage I merely added in a background tone... by scanning a piece of aged paper with a grayish-buff color. This is done by placing it in on a sub-layer under the line-art layer but changing the setting of the line-art layer from "normal" to "multiply" -which allows the line art to then look like it was originally drawn directly on the aged paper.

white skin tone

(7) above image-

I created the effect of a light skin tone simply by erasing out corresponding areas on the aged-paper layer, as well as for the champagne glass and the dog too. A stage like this takes about 20 seconds (note: at this point there is also a third layer in my hierarchy of Photoshop layers while creating this image. There is an all white layer at the very bottom, which is why you see "white" when I erased out portions of the aged-paper layer! Get it?

beginning to add color

(8) above image-
On a new layer (sandwiched above the aged-paper layer but beneath the line-art layer) I begin to add washes of color digitally using a variety of different brush tools. I "painted" her dress, hair, gloves, feathers, stockings, and the side table.

...more color

detail of completed color on woman

(9) above image (top)-

More color: varying the tones and density... you can see subtle coloring in her face and on the dog, and highlights forming in the dress. Plus I drew a leash from her hand to the dog using a brush tool. Because of the woman's pose, which I had not pre-planned during the initial doodle stage... I am now wondering what she is doing. It seems she is looking in the distance, but at what?

adding in background architecture elements

(10) above image-

In the background I have made suggestions of window frames, merely by creating the shapes while in the aged-paper layer and darkening the value. Then I selected the interior pane shapes and mildly erased out the aged-paper tone revealing the white layer underneath... so it begins to give the effect of window glass. Easy!

adding in shadowy tones and and a floor carpet texture

(11) above image:

With this next stage I have brought in a texture that I had painted with gouache on a rough paper... it was positioned on a new layer beneath the line-art layer and the color-layer. I then just erased most of it away, leaving some vague shadowy effects at the top and to the left side, but also creating a hard edge cut of the texture along the bottom too, to make the carpet allusion. Now this young woman is concretely standing in a room!

adding in drawing of a building outsdie the window

(12) above image-

I borrowed a portion of a line drawing I had previously created for another illustration... of a stately country estate, and simply faded the bottom edge of it a bit as well as reducing the entire value of it, so that the saturation of the line was much lighter than the line work defining the woman, giving it the impression of being off in the distance. 

adding color to the country estate in the background

(13) above image-

A new color layer... adding only limited palette, light color to the country estate in the background. Perhaps the woman is waiting for someone, and she is giving a sideways glance out the window?

adding mirror and deepening tones of floor

(14) above image-

I created a mirror on the back wall (ellipse tool) and deepened the floor tone. Done! So, my initial doodle becomes a rather handsome period-piece illustration... something out of Downton Abbey!
I added it to my portfolio on my illustration web site... and who knows, maybe I will get a book cover assignment to illustrate some classic literature because an art director sees this post. 

To see a larger view of this completed illustration, click here. (If it does not link properly, you can visit my web site and then select the showcase section at the bottom of the homepage, and click on "Miss Ralston Went Unaccompanied." -which is the title I gave this drawing.

Visit stevensalerno.com to see all my portfolios -for advertising, editorial, picture books... and be sure to see the NEW STUFF section.

...Socks Are SO Sexy! (aka: the GoldToe ad project)

To see all my illustration portfolio samples, visit my web site. 

A while ago I created a series of prints ads for the international sock company, GoldToe. The new campaign, was conceived and motivated by their VP and Creative Director, Charles Moretz... as a push to direct a younger consumer toward their quality line of footwear products. (...kind of a "it's not your dad's Oldsmobile anymore" campaign) A renewal process which all large established companies must go through at some point or another to capture a younger generation who may not be as fully aware of the brand as could be. Charles defined the simple tactic: to use illustration for the new ad campaign "For All Walks of Life," to stand out from the competition and in contrast to the sea of photography omnipresent with everything fashion. 

It was a wonderful experience to be in the series of meetings with Charles, to learn about the company, where they are heading, etc... and together direct my imaging, relative to their target audience, to be memorable print ads. There was also talk of possibly using my illustrations for their in-store wall graphics, signs, displays, kiosks, etc... to extend the impact of the ad campaign to the maximum in terms of capturing the attention of the younger audience. (see posted mock-photo of my images used in a store/boutique setting) 

Posted here are three of the ads from the series... the man and woman are kind of visual companions, to give a bit of a romantic story or spin the the ads... Just their legs and feet are seen in the third ad with all the walkers. I also created the hand-lettering for the ad title, “For All Walks of Life.” The ad copy text is positioned in the white space at the bottom. These posted images are too small for you to see, but in the female scene, she has financial data on her hand held device, and in the male scene, there are flowers on his hand held device (the same flowers as in the female scene) to suggest that the two are connected. Also posted at the bottom are a few samples of preliminary "test textures" I created, representing different characteristics of product categories, which may be incorporated into their "in-store" graphics look.

There has been a delay in the release of theses ads nationwide, obviously due to the economy. GoldToe is evaluating when the correct timing to do so will be best, but hopefully it will not be a long delay. So, in the meanwhile, if you are looking for terrific socks, think "gold toe."

Teens need an etiquette guide??

To see all my illustration portfolio samples, visit stevensalerno.com

Good manners have always been in fashion and always will be. Of course, that doesn't mean quite few a children, teens and adults, are not in immediate need of a little guidance on the subject of manners from time to time.

I remember a rather jolting scene one hot summer a few years ago here in NYC when I was in line at a drug store behind a big, hairy man wearing a tank top. He placed a few items down on the counter to purchase, one of which was a deodorant. The young woman behind the counter took his money and then as she began bagging the items the man nonchalantly popped off the cap of the deodorant and applied it under both his furry-mammoth underarms right there at the counter, then strolled out the store! The young clerk and I both looked at each in shock, probably to confirm someone else had also witnessed this gross violation of public manners! It is quite easy to see how children of such a man might not be learning the essential basics of proper social decorum, and would be in dire need of a manners guide.

Which brings me to a book project I completed recently. I had the good fun to illustrate the upcoming Emily Post book "Prom and Party Etiquette" How Teens Can Prep for Their Big Night ...written by Cindy Post Senning and Peggy Post. The project consisted of me creating a color cover image, and about 45 one-color line illustrations for the inside of the book, all on the subject of guiding teens in the proper way to conduct oneself for all sorts of social gatherings, both informal and formal, leading up the pinnacle of teenage social events, the Prom. I am not sure when the publisher, Harper Collins, will be releasing the book... probably this fall.

The initial art director on the book was Matthew Adamec, then the responsibility was passed over to Jeanne Hogle, all under the watchful eye of Martha Rago, the Creative Director on the project. I created all the images in Adobe Illustrator, drawing directly with a pen tool on my Wacom tablet. In fact I did not even do sketches for the project. 45 inside illustrations were required, so I just by-passed the sketch stage and directly drew about 70 final images based on the chapter text, of which the editors then selected their required final 45 images. Of course, some of the 45 images needed re-working... mostly modifications to the character's hairstyles and clothes. The reason why I by-passed the sketch stage was because the inside illustrations were all simple line art, and depicting simple scenarios, and so it was just faster and more efficient for me to draw the final images from my mind directly to the screen.

Posted here is one of the designer's early cover layouts, next is the final cover illustration depicting a row of teen friends as if they were posing for an informal photo. There are two versions of this: a limited color version, and a full color version. (I think the full color version is being used on the final cover design.) Next are a handful of the inside illustrations. In the book these images will be printed in just black & white... but posting them here in the blog, I added a splash of background color.

If you have a teen approaching their prom years, this guide really is a fun, practical gift book that they will use.

Fat Legs? Hairy Back?? -no problem!

To see all my illustration portfolio samples, visit stevensalerno.com

I illustrated the book The Style Guy (Ballantine), written by Glenn O'Brian (columnist for the men's magazine GQ), and I am just now getting around to showing a couple of the images here in my blog...

It is a fun, witty, lifestyle guide for men, giving advice on dress, manners, sex, grooming, dating, etc... and I was asked to contribute about a dozen illustrations, though I did not illustrate the cover. Posted here are just a couple of the images... the first image is about ways to dress to slim down your large legs, and the next concerns what to do about an excessively hairy back!