Texture and Transport

I can't decide whether I like this or not... It was an exercise in using different textures and colours and then combining them in Photoshop, to create an image to illustrate a newspaper article. I keep thinking it looks too 'messy' but then, when I tidy it up, it loses some of the sinister quality that I do like about it. Conundrum

The article's about women feeling unsafe using public transport in London. However, if you read it carefully (although you can't in the image below - the text is jumbled up!) there's no actual increase in levels of crime or danger, just that people feel more at risk (quite a lot of men, as well...) Anyway, I wanted the illustration to reflect that - to feel threatening and scary, but without there being actual murderers and rapists lurking round every corner.

Hand-made Colour

This week I've been learning about using hand-made colour, digitally. Rather than drawing something by hand, scanning it in and colouring it on the 'puter, you can also create the colour and texture by hand. Hopefully, you end up with images that seem less 'flat' and which still feel like they were made by a human.

As I was working on a make-up themed image last week, I played around with smearing various make-up products on to a piece of paper and using the results to colour my line drawing.

I think my favourite bit is the mascara - I love the contrast between the shape of the drawing and the textured pattern from the brush.