Editorial Illustration Sneaky Peeks (RISO BRUSHES!) (Patreon)

Ooooh papa has been cooking up a storm, and by papa, I mean me. And by cooking, I mean illustrating, and by storm...I mean four finished illustrations in a matter of 52 hours. I wanted to share some previews with you, as well as the original sketches!

In case you didn't see my previous secret sketches post, I was contacted by a local publication called TOWN Carolina, because apparently their usual illustrator wasn't able to do the job in the time frame (or something like that) and they found A LOCAL GREENVILLE ILLUSTRATOR (that would be me). I think they must have found me through instagram (I often use hashtags like #greenvilleartist) or word of mouth. Anyways, this project would be a quick one: 3 illustrations, each one about a different summer adventure spot in the Carolinas. The turnaround was a week, start to finish. They offered $1500, I asked for $2000, and they met me in the middle with $1750 (they mentioned their total budget for this project was $3000 total, so I understand). 

A couple days in, I got a call from the art director asking if I would be free to fit in one more, for $2000. (This is why there are only three sketches instead of four--the tubing one was the add-on). He apologized for the low pay (I could tell he understood, which was comforting) and told me he hopes that I will continue to possibly work for this publication on a freelance basis. I was pretty happy to get this offer seeing as he seemed like a cool guy, this is a local publication, and it's a nice break from book work with a quick turnaround--which I actually love.

Quick turnarounds are my favorite. I'm learning that book work is tough on my brain because it's so long-term and I get easily bored, crave instant feedback/gratification, and there tends to be less "fixes" with short-term projects like editorial. The last few days I would describe as me going "Coke Mode" because I have had so much energy and excitement to work on these editorial illustrations. It helps that the subject matter was something I really enjoyed--outdoor adventures are right up my alley, of course.

And can we talk about those risograph brushes?? This was my first time trying them out for this project and I felt like by the last two illustrations I was really starting to get the hang of them! I completed them in this order:

Fly Fishing, Underwater Diving, River Tubing, Mine Spelunking (so...from right to left in the image)

Can you tell my skills with the riso textures/layering got more refined? Maybe it's not obvious at all, but I felt like I got a lot more comfortable with it. I was looking at Lisk Feng's work, who is my personal riso brush HERO and overall favorite illustrator. I have used a risograph printer in the past, but I felt like I never really mastered the technique. These brushes are teaching me so much about color, overlaying and how to utilize texture. It feels akin to falling in love. I wish I was exaggerating. I feel like my excitement to just play around with illustration is back.

Also, now I want to go on an outdoor adventure.

-JG