Who Dat Could Care Less? (Me.)

Since it's Super Bowl Sunday, I figured I'd post this football-themed illustration that I did for an opinion column. Basically, the columnist was arguing against Louisiana tax payers paying for a new Saints football stadium. This blog entry is a great example of the step-by-step process of making an illustration.

Creator's Commentary: First, I sat down and did some really rough sketches, just to get the creative juices flowing. From these sketches, I really liked the sketch of the football player diving for a piggy bank.

Then, I did another sketch based on that idea. I added another football player to represent the Louisiana tax payer (see helmet). I placed the Saints football player in the foreground to create some depth. I also gave the Saints guys dollar-sign eyes.

The next stage is inking. The first thing I do is transfer or re-draw the sketch onto bristol board or illustration board. Once the pencil drawing is finished, I then ink the pencils with a variety of pens. When the ink is dry, I will erase any stray pencil marks. Sometimes during the inking process, I will make final modifications to the artwork. In this case, I gave the Saints player a smiling grin and put black lines under his beady eyes. I decided to drop the dollar sign eyes, because I thought they were redundant. Plus, I added more money in the foreground.

The final stage is coloring. After I scan the art, I clean it up in Photoshop, erasing any stray marks or unwanted inks. The final step is coloring the cleaned up artwork.