Illustration for an article in the Food section of The Skinny, October 2020.
Thought I'd share the process of this one. I started by sketching out some characters on paper, scanning them, tracing them in Photoshop and playing around with the composition.
The article is about two queer, community-focussed cafes opening in Edinburgh and Glasgow, so I decided to approach it with the concept of "members of the community come to build a space together". I considered having people walk around with literal building materials, but I'm not so good at drawing ladders and hammers.
The AD asked me to add a few more characters, which I did. Makes sense to have people drinking coffee in an Illustration about a cafe, huh?
I briefly contemplated adding a face mask to the dog but ultimately decided against it - seems a bit controversial, and I really wanted to draw the dog's face.
I knew from the beginning I wanted to keep the background white, but somehow the characters seemed to awkwardly float around so I added some shadows. One of my favourite parts of finishing an Illustration is adding the little details - like the sign writing on the chalkboard, the stripes on the kid's socks and the texture on the lady's jacket.
I knew from the beginning I wanted to keep the background white, but somehow the characters seemed to awkwardly float around so I added some shadows. One of my favourite parts of finishing an Illustration is adding the little details - like the sign writing on the chalkboard, the stripes on the kid's socks and the texture on the lady's jacket.
