I don't feel like it's an exaggeration to say that this illustration almost killed me. It took forever! Literally, a couple of months. I have included my process in the form of a slide show (see below) so that you can see the creative journey that I took, from the inspiration photo I took last spring to the the completed illustration.
Why create an illustration of my photo?
I loved the composition of my original photo, but it didn't have the drama that I hoped it would have, which was disappointing because there is a be-gowned woman playing a harp in a window at dusk. There were just too many extraneous details, the colors were muted, the random people in my shot weren't dressed up... I could go on.
“But my body was like a harp and her words and gestures were like fingers running upon the wires.”
Bit by by, I recreated the scene in Adobe Illustrator and created the romantic mood I wanted by using texture, choosing dramatic blues and purples for the background to simulate twilight and more whimsical touches like adding stars in the sky and making the leaves in the trees a large amorphous shape.
One of the biggest changes I made was changing the clothing of the people walking by the window. I wanted to dress them up so that I could imagine them having a romantic evening out on the town. They could be coming from a savory dinner at the Pressroom or a play at the Fulton Theatre and stopping for a drink Annie Bailey's because it's just too beautiful of an evening to drive home quite yet...
Wow, for a moment there, I was jealous of the lives my imaginary characters lead.
In any event, let me know what you think! I am planning on making these illustrations of Lancaster a series, so stay tuned for more. If you want to see the first illustration in this series, you can click here.
