I recently had the opportunity of creating a portrait for my friend and previous LearningChange colleague, Mike Slocombe. He recently launched a personal marking website showing off his stellar web design and development skills. Mike was really a fun guy to work with during my time at LearningChange. Even though he was thousands of miles away in the Chico office, we still got on well. I highly recommend him for not only his fantastic abilities, but you will also enjoy working with him.
Mike’s style is sleek and clean, so my typical organic pencils and watercolor were not in order for this job. Thus, Adobe Illustrator became my friend an enemy. Vector style illustration is completely different, as it is shaped based, and not my typical line based drawing. It was fun to have a change of pace, however, it fought with me the entire way.
Sketching
As with any project, no matter if it will be entirely digital or straight traditional, we start with sketching. This helps flush out ideas quickly and efficiently.
We finally arrived at this sketch.
Inking And Flats
I then scanned the image into the computer and with Illustrator began digitally inking and laying down flat colors.
And then I laid down the flats.
Final
Once I tweaked a few things and added some manly stubble, I passed the illustration off to Mike, who now uses it in his website.
Big thanks to Mike for letting me be a part of this project. Best wishes to you sir!
Great blog post Nicholas! It was a pleasure to work with you. It’s always interesting to see one’s process.
Thanks Michael. I appreciate the opportunity. Best wishes on your new job prospects.