Listening to illustration and creative podcasts whilst at my full time job, I am always hearing about style and how creators develop it. I spent all my time in higher education trying to find my style, and even after 6 years, I unfortunately came no closer to finding it. I realise now that in order to make it as a freelance illustrator, this is something that I will need to develop and I think it’s about time that I started putting the pieces together. I thought back to my time at MMU, trying to remember which process of illustration I enjoyed doing the most and decided in the end that it was this 2D graphic style.
I felt like this was the closest I had gotten to my own style, as it combines the technical precision I strive for, with the additional flat colourful graphic style I like the look of. However, in retrospect I see that it is pretty generic and doesn’t stand out as an individual voice. Despite this, I do remember thoroughly enjoying the process and therefore, decided to start here.
I had this idea for an illustration some time ago, as it depicts a brain in some weighing scales. The meaning behind it being ‘heavy thoughts’ and as dark as the meaning is, I thought it would be an ironic that this be portrayed in a bright and clean graphic style. I started with block shapes, along with a colour palette, which helped speed up the process of choosing colours for the design. The image in progress somewhat implementing my Product Design GCSE, as I found myself thinking of how the scales would look and work as if they were real. Once I had the the design down, I went in adding overlay layers, painting in darks and lights with a new brush I found in procreate.
Looking at the finished piece, I couldn’t be more pleased and satisfied with the outcome. I feel like I developed a little further in finding my style, as this was an incredibly enjoyable process. Completed in just over an hour, I believe the illustration looks clean and is up to a professional standard. While additionally feeling more unique and personal in what I want to say.
karmakika 