Experimentation

I carried out some experimentation inspired by Will Prince and Joxen. I loved the messy sketchy illustrated style and wanted to try it myself. I feel the ragged style matches the explicit, rebellious, and aggressive nature of Hip Hop and Vince Staples in particular. It therefore could potentially be a style I use for my cover.

For these 3 pieces I traced loosely over images on a light-box to get the rough outline. I then added some scribbles to mark shadow and made sure there was no facial detail, just like Joxen's work. I then scanned them in and layered different shades of colour in the background. I used solid fills as opposed to smoother gradients that would give a realistic look. I then finished them with a scary feature that adds an animal like edge. For example a bright overlayed eye and mouth feature. Overall I was pleased with how these turned out for first time attempts. I definitely think that with the lessons I learned from these I could make better designs that would be suitable on an album cover for someone with music like Vince's.

 

 

I also wanted to try some free hand sketching as this is one of Will Prince's stand out factors. I chose this image to copy and this was my first outcome. The shape is not perfect but some of the drawing still resembles Vince. It is definitely a skill that takes time to perfect.

I then tried a 100% CAD design. I illustrated straight over the image in illustrator using quick strokes in order to get the messy imperfect style. It definitely doesn't give the same messy effect you get with a hand drawn image as the strokes and weights aren't as natural. 

Next I tried some sketches based on Will Prince's technique before he scans in his image. Below is a rough image he drew of artist Young Thug. He began with a yellow highlighter to sketch the rough shape then added bolder black lines and orange. I tried the same style using a light box but the outcomes looked more like they had been drawn and then the scribbles added after. They didn't look natural and I think I drew too many lines whereas I should have kept it basic.

Using the light box again, I tried different materials such as soft pastels (left) and oil pastels (right). The effect wasn't as successful in my opinion because the strokes aren't as solid or dark as a marker.