: : : the process : : :

Good illustration is about communication. To get there an illustration goes through many stages.

Stage 1: The Personality

Every digital collage illustration I do begins with a sketchbook, my computer, and a stack of old books (all of the illustrations I use are over 100 years old and free for use). This is where the concept work happens. For my digital collages I work at finding the smaller pieces that can be placed together in a way that illustrates the concept. In this stage I begin by scanning images and doing a rough layout on the computer and then going to my sketchbook to figure out the elements that I can create that will complete the piece.

Stage 2: The Skeleton

When the best idea is filtered out the illustration moves onto the next stage. In this stage the piece begins to gain structure. There is a wide range of activities I may do during this stage. This can involve creating the hand drawn elementsfor the final college. It also involves moving, adjusting, and figuring out the best relationship between the elements within the collage. This step involves some intuition and a constant mindfullness of the final illustration.

Stage 3: The Flesh

Finally the illustration begins to achieve a finished look. Care and thought go into every stage, but this is where the finishing touches happen. In this stage I play with colors, hues and opacities. I work on adjusting the elements so that each looks like it belongs to the finalized piece.