I heard about Free Sticker Friday during a visiting professional talk. Every week Awesome Merch give away 100 stickers to 10 submitted illustrators. I decided it would be a good opportunity to practice my new digital painting skills. Additionally, I feel their contemporary approach to illustration would be relevant to my practice and it could be a good chance to create an interesting piece of work. After observing the previous winners on their instagram, I created initial sketches, pulling inspiration from my love of nature and aspiring for something unusual that would capture their attention. I deliberately chose organic shapes with bright colours to create an eye catching design. Furthermore, I thought a Victoria-style illustration approach would add a level of sarcastic comedy to the drawing. I worked closely from reference in order to achieve this style and create an image that was accurate. This painting took me approximately a day, maybe 6/7 hours. In which case, I would charge about £60-£100 depending on the client. I utilised the skills I had learned in my digital painting course such as considering a light source, blending and involving controlled textures.
I am very happy with the final result and it was definitely a great exercise in painting. The content is clear and comedic but no win from this submission. This may suggest that I did not meet the brief as intended. If I were to improve, I would think about the submission as a sticker, rather than stand alone illustration. The shape of the painting may be awkward and slightly unappealing as a sticker. Therefore, I would add a background colour, perhaps a muted tone that exists in the image already, maybe an orange. Additionally, I may add a boarder to outline the shape of the sticker. If I critique further, perhaps having the legs on one plane would aid too in a more unified shape, looking closely they might be slightly crooked. To adjust the legs I would use the liquify filter, learned on the course. A more cohesive submission may have granted me a win, however for the sake of this exercise I am pleased with the result. It is a great window into how far my painting has come. I think that my personality is beginning to shine through.
This exercise has not only affirmed for me the progression of my painting abilities but has shown me that a level of proactiveness reaps improvement. It has taught me that live briefs are a great expertise in idea generation and being gifted a brief can in fact be a great catalyst for innovation. I will carry this through after university by actively seeking live briefs in the industry to promote myself and as an opportunity to add to my portfolio.
Words: 465
Sketches
Final Submission
