Behind The Scenes: Summer Illustration (Patreon)

When your hands start to stick to your desk and you get auto-replies to half of your emails, you know it's Summer! You could also look out the window, but who does that?

As you maybe already know from my previous stories, I like to do seasonal stuff. It's an opportunity to be part of the moment without leaving the work. Of course, it doesnt' replace the vacation, but sometimes makes creative process more enjoyable.

This time, I was looking for something digestible and light, something a client might want to use on their website hero image.

Visit the full Pinboard here

As I was browsing images and Pinterest for summer inspiration, I saw these old fashioned 2D compositions, with multiple cut-out images mashed together as a representation of a common theme. It always has some abstract element to it, so I used this inspiration to think about this diorama in a new way.

I used abstract geometry elements in some of my works before and it was the time to bring them back. Stairs, half-arches and oval shaped walls were my choices, so why not reuse them?

I searched for some more material and came across the mini car with a surf board mounted on top and it was a perfect match for this kind of up-lifting bright summer illustration.

I always sketch my layouts before jumping in 3D because I really don't like staring at empty 3D scene. This time, staring at blank sheet in the sketchbook wasn't that much different, but at least it's less time consuming.

With abstract scenes, it's a bit harder, because there isn't and pre-scripted way on how and where to put things. And what things? I circled back to the mood board and listed out few things I thought necessary to include. I picked dominant parts, that I wanted to have the lead roles and drafted the first sketch. I focused mostly on large pool, abstractly large lemonade glass and the car.

If you look closely, I clumped the pool and the glass together and left the car aside a bit, so that there are not so many separate points of interest. After that, it was only about sticking some stuff around so I finished the pool section with some of those geometry shapes and trees and finished the bottom of the composition with a beach and umbrella.

The beach has mostly realistic objects with realistic proportions, so that makes it a perfect companion for the car at the bottom of the layout. And as you travel up on the screen, you can see the rest gets more and more abstract, ending up with primitive representation of summer, yellow circle and blue waves.

You can watch the process video on Youtube