Illustration VS Design VS the DC Sniper

Somewhere out in Montana, there's a little sporting event called "Dirt-bag Day." It's an all day skiing/snowboarding event in which all the contestants come dressed as dirty as they possibly can. There's competitions and prizes for the biggest Dirt-bag as well as prizes for best in either skiing or snowboarding event.

I was so excited to do a poster for this event. I had a few ideas that i sketched out before i came up with what would be my final draft.


I finally got out the coffee and tea stains and started messing around in my sketch book until i got what i wanted. A dirt bag.



















So after brushing n drying and waving my book in the air like an idiot and blowing on certain places so it would dry faster i finally got my dirt bag. You see; as a fine artist or illustrator first, borders and 'the grid' and negative space sort of don't come to mind. Composition whatever the artist's eye may see as fit. In complete contrast to a designer, yes, but this why this is an art, and art is liberal.

Now after my dirtbag is done, i need a frame to set him in.

And that's what i did. I got out the tempura black paint, because i needed something done quick so i could scan it. And it's not like i never use this frame ever again, i stock pile these textures in my computer and bring them out over and over again. This adds so much to a piece; because not only are you arranging it compositionally but it's got your 'hands-on' feel to it, which is what every artist strives to do.


So for this piece i combined coffee, tea and a cheesy 'rubber stamp' font that i downloaded off the web to make this piece. The background was really tricky tho and unfortunately i don't have any pics of the original image that i used for the background. But what i did was i took a cookie tray and put a couple sheets of watercolor paper on them and i poured coffee in the tray (saving enough for a cup of my own) and i put the tray in the oven and baked it. For about 5mins and then i pulled the tray out. This makes the paper start to ripple a little bit, but just enough so when i pull the tray out and spill off the rest of the remaining coffee and put it back in to bake; this leaves room for more gracious imperfections to bake into the paper.