My Process
- Come up with a word or phrase.
- Do a bunch of thumbnail sketching.
- Clean up a chosen thumbnail that will resemble final artwork. Sometimes I’ll ink the thumbnail.
Analog
- Select medium. I typically use Bristol Board.
- Sketch guides/grid and artwork with pencil.
- Brace myself! Inking is typically a slow process!
- Clean up guides and visible pencil marks with eraser.
Digital
- Scan in the sketched artwork.
- Sometimes I’ll vectorize the scanned thumbnail, clean it up, and build off of that.
- Sometimes I’ll digitally redraw the scanned thumbnail — sometimes vector, sometimes pixel based.
Shortcuts and Cheating? You Bet!
- Hand-lettered Fonts. Starting with a font can save a ton of time, though I typically modify each individual letter which can be time consuming.
- Asset Packs. I have several ready-to-go textures and frilly bits. This saves time by not having to create these from scratch for every project.
- Plugins/Filters. I almost never create distressed or roughened effects by hand because it’s way too time consuming and doesn’t look authentic.
