Past Work: Character Sketches for Children's Story

Past Work: CHECKMATE Illustration For Pizzazz Magazine

Last year I finally got to publish a story I had written years ago. It featured as a backup story in the maiden issue of the PIZZAZZ magazine. Posted here is part of the cover art illustrating the story. The full cover may be seen here. 

Recent Event: Studio Update

Wow! The past months have been a roller coaster of adventures, challenges and demanding work. I have been so busy, and at same time distracted, I have left this blog unattended. I suffered a spell of poor health, had to relocate my studio apartment, handle a demanding and protracted book illustration, design and layout (of which I am not allowed to blog about). And just as I am about to breathe, I got news of a dear old friend's passing. We've been close pals since my days on campus at University of Lagos. This week I'll be travelling to visit his family.

I am determined to get back to my usual studio updates as soon as I settle down after my trip. I have a lot of projects lined up for the remaining of the year. Please tag along.

The following pencil drawings were made for a children story book in 2011. It's about the Tortoise and the Hare (not the tale about the race).

 

Have a great week!

Past Works: Pencil Sketches From My Archives

During a recent new year purging and rearranging of my studio, I stumbled on some pencil illustrations from earlier years. The above was for a storybook while the sketch below was part of a conceptual art for a website. 

All images are copyrighted please.

Recent Work: Character Designs For Fairy Tale

I created some designs for a prospective commission featuring the ever troublesome Tortoise and his friend Rabbit in an adaptation of a well-told Yoruba folk tale. The designs were made in CorelDRAW X4.

 All the designs are copyright protected.

Past Work: Animals In Vector Illustration

I made several illustrations for a pre-primary text book several years ago. It was a chance to work in vector and I really enjoyed creating so many spot illustrations. Below are some of the animals in the book.

Recent Work: The Big Bad Wolf

The tale of The Three Little Pigs is a very popular one, especially because of the villain of the story- the big bad wolf. I find it fun to retell the story in a different genre. This poser design features an adaptation of the tale in a gangland, film-noir-influenced concept. The pig brothers (Hayes, Woody and Rocky) are real estate moguls who are in conflict with an unnamed enemy. Enter the Big Bad Wolf aka The Huff and Puff Bounty Hunter with his Mega Blower gun. The hit is on.

Character design: The faces of the pig brothers feature in my design concept. Hayes is the pig that built his house with hay. He dons a straw hat and wears a holiday pattern shirt. He has a carefree attitude to life. Woody is conservative in his bowler hat and multicoloured bow tie. He built his house with wood. Rocky is more practical in his working man’s garb. His own house is made of stone.

 

The wolf is drawn in his mafia-hit-man-inspired hat and trench coat, his cold eyes peep from under his leather hat.

Vector ‘painting’ technique: I created each element of the final design separately and composed the poster in a new file. To make it easier to handle the complicated arrangement of vector shapes, I use layers. At first, I draw out the lines over my scanned pencil sketch and then draw shapes for the basic light and shades. Once I have enough to clearly define the object, I fill in the appropriate colours and add more shading using transparent graphics.

 Poster design graphics: When I finished painting the wolf and pigs, I create a template for the poster and import the finished illustrations into place. The border designs and graphic texts are placed and I am done. Of course, I had to try several colours until I was satisfied. The final poster design is slightly different from my initial idea, but I am happy with the result.