WIP Wednesday | Tokyo Dope CIty pt. 1

Whats up guys,

Perhaps you all have been eager for an update. If not, oh well, I have a lot to post that I've been holding on to for the past 2 months anyway. So lets get into it!

I was contacted by a friend whom wanted to produce a piece of work to be used as a gift and simultaneously be used as an album cover for his buddy's music(Ghostpops). Intrigued by the prospect, I undertook the commission and got to preview(listen?) the mix. I was immediately impressed by the quality of production and unique implementation of samples throughout the 32min EP. Upon multiple listens, I generated a list to describe the track in a way that could lead to some visual references I could research while creating the Pinterest board below. Some of these words included:

• Lo-Fi Hip-Hop
• Dreamy/Spacey/Ethereal
• Chillwave
• Sample Heavy(Spongebob/Simpsons)
• Boom Bap

After I became familiar with the mood and tone set by Ghostpops production style, generating sketches became relatively straightforward and easy to layout the rest of the vision.

At this point in the process, I would generally elect to present my best ideas to the client, but since this was intended to be given as a gift, I elected to narrow the selection through my judgement alone. So, I figured the profile view maintained the integrity of Bart's iconic silhouette while providing the opportunity to integrate my own interpretation of what his anatomy could be in a cross-sectional "medical" illustration. However, just as important, was the placement and selection of specific types of plants to balance the exposed elements of Bart's anatomical design and framing. 

After I clarified my compositional design discrepancies through a line draft, I was able to move forward with multiple value studies that could demonstrate the most accurate expression of tone. ​

Finding the right balance between the values is arguably the most important step in keeping your audience engaged with the image. I took the time to write all sorts of notes that would incrementally fine-tune these subtle details until the final color stages.

At this point in the process, I began to allow my references to influence my color selections. I felt that this decision would allow the image to fit among its trendy contemporaries while increasing the possibility of its virility on the web. Since the above images were drafted in color pencil, they didn't quite capture the richness of the palettes I intended. However, I believe they captured the mood of the Ghostpops' EP in the most accurate sense. It was at this point, I allowed my client to choose which of the 3 palettes best suited his interest. From there I took the composition to a digital finish using Krita.

Though there are some areas I would definitely improve in yet another iteration of this design, I was satisfied with my results. On the other hand, both my client and design recipient were so pleased by the work, I was later hired again for an even larger project to be continued in part 2 of this blog. What do you guys think? Would you have chosen a different color theme? What is your opinion of using pop-culture to supplement design or composition? As always, leave your thoughts in the comments below and don't forget to share and like this post. 

Until next time,
Peace