I was commissioned by Columbia University to create 12 illustrations based on popular characters for an online leadership course. See if you can recognize any of them!
© Columbia Business School
Normally when I do illustrations, I default to using black outlines. Outlines are a very easy and dependable way to show defined forms. However, black outlines can darken the overall look and feel of the image, as well as making it more busy. This is generally OK in most instances. But this time, I wanted to try something different.
Without the outlines, you have to define your forms through value, color and shape. For this aesthetic, I chose simpler and cleaner shapes, with a single direction of light which creates a single direction shadow.
These pieces were meant to be accompanied by copy created by the teacher. They aren’t meant to detract focus from the slide’s text, but work together with them. In that case, I made the backgrounds solid colors.
All drawings start as loose sketches with the brush tool. Then with the same brush tool, I’ll draw the solid shapes, and tweak or redraw any areas with the pen tool.
An interesting aspect of digital design is the combination of analog capture and the magic of programming (the undo feature). Drawing a freehand sketch then going back and adjusting the curves and anchor points of the shape is such an interesting and useful process. When it comes to traditional media, you can go back and adjust things of course, but not with the speed and ease of the digital medium.
A big reason why Columbia wanted illustrations is to circumvent the copyright issues that might arise when using actual pictures of characters. So I have to capture the essence of the character, without saying it outright!