Two new photo illustrations

I haven't yet shown you these two illustrations I made for magazine Factor15.
For both I used my photo-illustration technique. I love this style but I don't have many
opportunities to use it, and it's very time-consuming.
Funny enough both illustrations were about bad divorces.

The first article I had to illustrate focused on the influence this has on the children involved.

Everything is made from paper and cardboard and photographed on a glass table.
Then the 2nd article was about parents (ab)using their children in the divorce battle, and
before starting papercutting, I made this sketch:

(The little boys were supposed to be identical copies in the photo)
I really liked my sketch, but unfortunately it was turned down because the contents of the
article had changed in the meantime (yeah...) and now the article focused more on all the
(official) help that was available for the children.

So this was my new idea, a rooster and chicken fighting, and an egg, protected in a nest.
The egg is real by the way, but the feathers and everything else is made from paper.
I was really happy with how this last illustration turned out!

Both illustrations in print.

Communicatie NU

This was an interesting assignment; I was asked to make some illustrations for a
magazine about communication. There was a catch; The client was apparently
quite stern; They'd already hired TWO other illustrators for the job and turned down
their work! A bit anxious I started sketching but to my surprise they immediately
approved my sketches and were very happy with the finals!

(Text:"Everything's fine! Nothing to worry about! Er... I mean... NO COMMENT!")
I tried a different colouring technique with scanned paper pages and am personally
pleased with the results myself. :-)

(Text: Anne, because I'm worth it! / Refreshing communication, Anne / Oh wow! 
Is that Anne?! Anne THE communication expert?!")
This illustration was about self promotion.
Anne is actually a good friend of mine who works in communication! ;-)

This illustration was about the new way of communication in advertising.
If you're interested in the wonderful world of communication; the 'magazine'
(it's actually so thick that it's more a book) called 'Communicatie NU' is on sale
online. (click here)

Making of

I thought it might be interesting to show the proces of an illustration I made recently,
and that needed a lot of sketches.

It was for an article about handicapped people who apply for a job. They might not
want to put too much attention to their handicap, but on the other hand, there are also
certain benefits for a company who hires disabled people.

My first sketch, a woman with a 'shadow', while the company that hires her is already
'comforted' by nice cuddly benefits.
It was turned down because they didn't understand it.

Next sketch, now from the solicitor's point of view, who is being encouraged to
apply for a job by the 'benefits'.
Turned down because they wanted a confident looking woman without a stick. I
added the stick to make it visually clear that the woman was handicapped, but since
the magazine was all about disabled people, I could remove it.

This sketch was approved, except that they thought it was too stereotypical, I had
to change the genders.

So okay, I then drew the final illustration with a man, but somehow I wasn't happy
with it. All that sketching made my style move towards realism and I thought the
drawing was boring.

So I redid the whole thing and this is the final with added colour.

As you can see I'm not a person who makes very detailed sketches, I usually
start drawing right away and if I make a mistake I just draw it all over again.
I think it gets a certain energy in the drawing, and it also keeps things
interesting for me. I don't like to do things twice in the exact same way.

Small.....

My illustration has been published, so now I can share it with you;

*Click here for a bigger version*
The woman says :"But what he can do with that pointy hat... UNBELIEVABLE!"
(it was for an article about men with small... )

Here's the sketch that I showed before on this blog. It changed a lot but the
colour scheme stayed the same, more or less. I never make very detailed
sketches, I just start drawing and if it turns out bad, I draw it again!

I just finished another illustration in a similar style, for a different magazine.
It's really nice to get assignments for another style than my usual one! :-)