I got involved, and was very pleased to have a drawing done by her centred on the Ape on the Moon theme. She did a great job and put in much more work than I’d hoped. The drawing is below, as well as some samples of the rest of her excellent work. This may be the start of a series of Ape on the Moon illustrations sent in by illustrators, so get in touch if you want to contribute an original Ape on the Moon illustration.

Get yourself an original drawing directly from Sandra, by donating here!

© Sandra Dieckmann, 2010

His work process involves an ink drawing on paper, followed by acrylic and digital colouring. At the moment Julian is working on a series of oil painting illustrations, claiming it is ‘something I’ve always had respect for but not been able to concentrate on before‘.

© Julian De Narvaez, 2010

Today I want to introduce to you the mind-melting graphics of Finnish illustrator Sakke Soini, whose passionate and fizzing work reveal strong influences from the look and feel of the airbrushed 1980s, music, fashion and horror, and taking it all to a whole new place. Have a look and enjoy.

© Sakke Soini, 2010

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Santiago is back to share his step by step work process behind one of his recent posters, featuring the Portland hipster Bigfoot. Enjoy!

Materials: Pencil; Sumi ink and brush; Block printing ink; Roller; Plexiglass; X-acto knife.

1. Ideas

The challenge was to create a poster for a Society6 Portland poster series based on fun facts centering around Portland in Oregon.

One thing that is often associated with the Northwest is the mythical creature Bigfoot. Bigfoot is not necessarily associated with Portland, but I figured this is a place he would call home if he were given the chance.

2. Sketch

I always start with a light pencil or blue pencil sketch and then ink that. I don’t do to many preliminary sketches. There’s usually a very rough sketch just to get the idea and placement across and after that is final.

I sketch & ink the different elements separately and then assemble and color them in Photoshop.

I wasn’t quite happy with the first Bigfoot, so I drew another one on a separate piece of paper and then collaged them together.

3. Color and Texture

I create my textures with mono-prints or with ink. For the river texture I made some wavy textures with mono-prints. I rolled some ink onto the Plexiglas and made some wavy strokes with a brush.

I then transferred the ink to a piece of sketchbook paper.

Colors don’t really matter at this point, I usually change colors in Photoshop.

For the clouds I cut out some cloud shapes, rolled ink on the Plexi, put clouds face down on ink, place another piece of paper on top of cloud, cut out and then scribble on top of that sheet. The scribbles are transferred onto the cloud cut outs.

The bridge and hand lettering were done with Sumi ink and brush..

Once it’s all been scanned and composed in Photoshop, I start playing with color by applying color to individual layers with layer effects.

The multi-colored rain was a bit much so I toned it down and ended up with a more subdued palette.

And there you have it!

ⓒ Santiago Uceda, 2010

Excellent, thank you Santiago!

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Santiago is back to share his step by step work process behind one of his recent posters, featuring the Portland hipster Bigfoot. Enjoy!

Materials: Pencil; Sumi ink and brush; Block printing ink; Roller; Plexiglass; X-acto knife.

1. Ideas

The challenge was to create a poster for a Society6 Portland poster series based on fun facts centering around Portland in Oregon.

One thing that is often associated with the Northwest is the mythical creature Bigfoot. Bigfoot is not necessarily associated with Portland, but I figured this is a place he would call home if he were given the chance.

2. Sketch

I always start with a light pencil or blue pencil sketch and then ink that. I don’t do to many preliminary sketches. There’s usually a very rough sketch just to get the idea and placement across and after that is final.

I sketch & ink the different elements separately and then assemble and color them in Photoshop.

I wasn’t quite happy with the first Bigfoot, so I drew another one on a separate piece of paper and then collaged them together.

3. Color and Texture

I create my textures with mono-prints or with ink. For the river texture I made some wavy textures with mono-prints. I rolled some ink onto the Plexiglas and made some wavy strokes with a brush.

I then transferred the ink to a piece of sketchbook paper.

Colors don’t really matter at this point, I usually change colors in Photoshop.

For the clouds I cut out some cloud shapes, rolled ink on the Plexi, put clouds face down on ink, place another piece of paper on top of cloud, cut out and then scribble on top of that sheet. The scribbles are transferred onto the cloud cut outs.

The bridge and hand lettering were done with Sumi ink and brush..

Once it’s all been scanned and composed in Photoshop, I start playing with color by applying color to individual layers with layer effects.

The multi-colored rain was a bit much so I toned it down and ended up with a more subdued palette.

And there you have it!

ⓒ Santiago Uceda, 2010

Excellent, thank you Santiago!

MoonApe on Twitter.

Using a combination of Staedler Graphite pencils ranging from 6H to 9B, tape and ‘Awful toxic resin‘, Brooks creates images that look like relics of nature and other objects frozen in time.

I also love the gloomy and almost real effect that’s created by having elements between semi-transparent layers. They are also reminiscent of some of the pictures of flattened leaves you’d get in school science books.

‘When working on a piece I ask myself what images I want as the focus or in the foreground then literally draw the images on the layer that coincides with the layer in depth. The layers are semi transparent materials floating between layers of resin.’

ⓒ Brooks Salzweder, 2010

‘Right now I’m working on new pieces with the use of gel mediums. I’m trying to break away from the resin and see what other materials I can explore and how I can add more graphic and painted elements.’

MoonApe on Twitter.

I asked him a couple of questions surrounding these special pictures.

What are your illustration tools and what is your work process?

Everything starts traditionally with a graphite drawing on Denril. I don’t use ink. As an early step I will decide on color before hand, usually in a very quick comp over the rough sketch, to ensure color harmony. I’m pretty methodical and know the goal before I start.

The next step is combining layers and layers of scanned objects with Photoshop techniques. At this point, I feel like I am painting with the computer, just not in the traditional sense of the phrase.

What are you working on at the moment?

Currently I’m developing a series of works for a personal book about people’s mannerisms; an image for a ‘mother earth’ themed show at the Society of Illustrators (keep your eye out for it this summer!), and various editorial projects.

Thanks, JB!

MoonApe on Twitter.

Using a range of traditional and digital mediums, Pietari’s work exhibits a profound understanding of the value of well balanced composition; using colour, varying line thickness, shape and tone to create congruent artwork.

ⓒ Pietari Posti, 2010

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What’s particularly excellent about the work he does, is the method he uses, which is to use old fashioned pencil, brushes, gouache paint and inks instead of what would seem the obvious, digital route.

ⓒ Michael Cho, 2009

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Here I have featured the work he has done for various pieces of literature.

Thirteen Orphans, Tor Books:

Lord of the Flies, The Folio Society:

Fever Crumb, Scholastic:

House of Mystery, DC/Vertigo Comics:

Prospero Lost, Tor Books:

ⓒ Sam Weber, 2009

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