Designing and Illustrating a T-Shirt (using vector art)

I got a job recently designing a t-shirt for a school. And though I work digitally most of the time, I normally don’t use vector art in my illustrations. So creating the layers the t-shirt company will use for their screens always makes me feel just a little like a fish out of water.

Nevertheless, I soldiered on. The t-shirts came out pretty good and the client is pretty happy with them. I broke down my process in this video.

And in case you missed it when I posted it earlier, here’s a fun little video of my inking a Scooby Doo villain, The Phantom Shadow.

Quick as a Flash! A speedy marker sketch process.

Hey everybody! I haven’t posted in a bit because I’ve been getting the Kickstarter for my graphic novel ready (it launches Tuesday, May 24th). But I was just fiddling around with some grey Copic markers and thought I’d snap a few pictures and run through the process just for the heck of it. (The Flash ©DC Comics, Silver Age Flash design by Carmine Infantino)

I wanted to draw The Flash. I love the original, winged-helmet, Jay Garrick-Flash. And I’m a big fan of the re-design they did on the CW TV show. But my first Flash was Infantino’s Silver Age re-design, and my version sticks fairly close to that. So I sketched out a rough, then used a lightbox to clean up the lines a little. That’s smooth Bristol paper. It’s a little dim….not as bright white as some others, but still pretty bright. Most of the yellowing in these photos is from my terrible phone camera. : )

I used the Pentel Pocket Brush Pen to ink most of this. It has those long, flexible bristles that allow for a nice variation in line weight. But it’s got some play to it, so you have to have a steady hand. Mine’s not as steady as I’d like, so I chickened out and used a Pitt pen for the fine features in the face.

Another thing about the Pocket Brush is that ink takes a while to dry. Especially if there are large black areas (like under his left arm). So I finished the inking and let it dry before laying down the markers.

I’m just a newbie with the Copic markers, but I love the smooth flow of the tones. I just wanted a greyscale image, so I used an array of Copic greys and a clear blender. The blender is nice to have in a pinch, but I find that if you lay your colors down quickly enough, they start the blending on their own.

You can see in the is last detail, even with the smooth Bristol, you still get a good deal of texture from the paper. There were a few spots where, even after hours of drying time, the Copics re-hydrated the ink lines and I had to use the blender to work in the smudges. Overall, I enjoy working pen-to-paper every so often. It keeps you sharp, and this was good practice. -v