Illustration
Content
- Ideas
- Moodboard
- Style and final idea
- Sketches
- Process
- Final and conclusion
Ideas
When I first started I wasn't immediately sure what I wanted to do, There's a lot of issues in the world at the moment that I COULD possibly make political art of. Then there's the decision of "do I want it to be that serious? Or will it contain more humor?"
A few of the ideas I had were LGBTQ+, Feminism, catcalling and the issues women have in a day to day life and specifically Johan Derksen and the weird stuff he's said on live television. Eventually, the problems in Gaza and Palenstine came to light.
A few of the ideas I had were LGBTQ+, Feminism, catcalling and the issues women have in a day to day life and specifically Johan Derksen and the weird stuff he's said on live television. Eventually, the problems in Gaza and Palenstine came to light.
Eventually I decided to keep it a little more simple and stuck to LGBTQ+.
Moodboard
I looked up some pictures on Pinterest and google, and looked at which ones spoke to me. The ones I liked most were usually ones with humor. Ones where the message is abundantly clear, but they don't take themselves too seriously.
I realized that if you take things too seriously, nobody actually TAKES you seriously. I then made the decision of wanting to make a piece of art where the message is clear, but the piece of art isn't super political or serious in itself.
I realized that if you take things too seriously, nobody actually TAKES you seriously. I then made the decision of wanting to make a piece of art where the message is clear, but the piece of art isn't super political or serious in itself.
So I made a moodboard for something a little more serious and one that had a little humor in it.
Style and final Idea
I'm having a bit of a pirate phase at the moment, so eventually I came up with the idea that I wanted to do something with pirates. How I got here is a question for another time.
I also came to the conclusion that pirates are often seen as manly and something for BOYS to enjoy.
So I decided to do the opposite. I wanted it to be a skeleton, so they'd be more "vulnerable" and also pirate skeletons are cool.
I figured at some point they look a lot like sticker designs, so I decided.. Why not make them sticker designs? If you look around Strijp-S, on every pole there's like- 5 million stickers. You can put stickers anywhere, so they're very good for spreading a message.
I also came to the conclusion that pirates are often seen as manly and something for BOYS to enjoy.
So I decided to do the opposite. I wanted it to be a skeleton, so they'd be more "vulnerable" and also pirate skeletons are cool.
I figured at some point they look a lot like sticker designs, so I decided.. Why not make them sticker designs? If you look around Strijp-S, on every pole there's like- 5 million stickers. You can put stickers anywhere, so they're very good for spreading a message.
I wanted to keep the style simple because of this, and looked up some inspiration and made a style board based on how I wanted it to look. Eventually I also made some sketches based on both ideas.
Sketches
I made some very simple sketches for both ideas. I sketched out the skeleton and realized I wanted to make a design that fit together in a certain space and the skeleton being in a simple style with a silly pose. I then made some character designs of queer people from back in the day and what queer people dress like now. I also made some thumbnails for this. Eventually I stuck to the gay pirate.
Process
I started with a sketch, obviously. I figured out a pose I really liked that wouldn't get in the way of the words, and vice versa. I then also figured out the word placement, and thought it'd be a funny detail to make it say "arr" instead of "are" because he's a pirate.
Color and line art
Color choices
I had some difficulty choosing, so I asked some classmates for feedback and came to the conclusion that the colors on the second image stand out better!
Final and conclusion
Despite thinking this assignment was going to be the most boring assignment of my life, I had a LOT of fun! I really didn't want to be too serious about it, because I wouldn't have as much fun as I did now. Stickers are easily spread around, and you can put them anywhere to spread a message. And they're simple and fun! This is the first time I actually made a sticker design with words in it, figuring out typography and messing around was a new experience. I'm really glad I was able to print out the stickers as well! they turned out really nice, and look like something I could actually sell.
