Black Light

Sometimes, the coolest photos make for the most challenging illustrations, for me, anyway.

My talented model, Jana, and I conducted a photo shoot one fine Saturday. Of the 1,100+ shots she allowed me, is a series in which she is sitting on a gray/green couch, against a muted purple wall, on top of ochre hardwood flooring. Sunlight is streaming through my west windows, bathing the scene with wonderful shapes and patterns of light.

There's lots of color in my house.

My philosophy when shooting is to play the law of averages. If I shoot 1,100 shots, odds are I'll come away with at least 1 nice shot, right? Of course, with an emotive and confident model, the odds increase. And, it's my experience, even with a seemingly timid model, there are lots of amazing shots to be had. Beautiful light, unusual points of view, and even the slightest sense of mood can make for some tremendous photographs.

But, Jana is confident and emotive, so her shots exude the same.

This particular photo of her, twisted away from the viewer and looking at something with a sense of immediacy, brought just the right amount of mystery to a scene. The beautiful lines, shapes, and forms created by her pose were just perfect for illustrating.

My challenges:

1. Harmonizing value

In the photo, the shadows and light help create a successful composition. The value structure should remain in the illustration. But, there should be room for color and interest within the shadows, since they are so dominant. The viewer needs a reason to explore them within an illustration.

2. Harmonizing color

I wanted there to be a purpose to the color and resist making the whole illustration a typical glowing sunlight scene filled with pretty colors.

3. Telling a story

I wanted there to be some narrative to the scene and go beyond just a pretty picture.

My solutions:

1. Harmonizing the value

Value is more important than color, so this challenge was solved early on. Value dictates a composition. All 2-D design needs to work in b/w before it can work in color.

I kept the shadows dark, yet light enough to show brush texture and color. With the strong, delineated areas of light and dark, this illustration quickly became a compositional study, first, and a scene, second.

2. Harmonizing color

I tried brilliant, hot color, everywhere.

No good -- too much of all the same intensity.

I tried mostly blues and purples surrounding the figure with the hair, blouse, and arm in brilliant warmth.

No good -- too obviously pretty and uninteresting.

I tried less-saturated local color with brilliant warmth in the hair, blouse, and arm.

Good.

There is a hierarchy of color intensity directing the eye and less-intense areas providing places for the eye to rest. Plus, there is enough subtle, complex color in the shadows and non-figure areas to encourage exploration. And, the color usage helps bring a mood and tell a story.

My palettes are usually quite simple -- predominantly warm with just enough cool to balance, or vice versa. This one is somewhat up for debate, but I'm saying it's predominantly cool (muted, almost gray colors surrounding the figure), with warms in the torso to balance the palette.

3. Telling a story

She should be looking at something over her right shoulder, rather than the blank wall in my photo.

A picture!

That picture frame on the wall gives her a reason to look and adds just enough to pull off a story. And, that blade of light cutting it adds a bit of interest and leads the eye.

What is she looking at and why is she twisting so much to see it? You'll have to email me for the answer.

Still, the scene is very photo-centric and could verge toward becoming too staid at any moment. There needed to be some immediacy and tension.

Cropping!

To accentuate her anxious posture and support an anxious scene, I shifted her leftward, clipping her off the edge of the page.

The incomplete figure brings a bit of tension and some mystery as to what is so important off the left side of the page that we're being forced to shift our focus that direction.

The small dark corner of the couch in the lower right corner is just enough stoppage to keep one's eye from leaving the page.

So, there's my journal entry for today.

My thanks to Jana for her help in creating this illustration.

Allan Burch is an award-winning illustrator and portrait artist, providing solutions for editorial, book, advertising, and institutional projects.
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Voyeurism

Yet another of my San Francisco images. While I was people watching, a couple caught my eye. Particularly this woman. They looked to be not from the U.S., probably in their 40s. They were both dressed smartly and summery. She had a camera and they were both scanning the Union Square, looking at the people. Once and a while, she'd take a shot. They would talk to each other in lower tones periodically, perhaps conferring about the person she was about to photograph. It was a fairly high-end camera, and she looked to have had experience with photography. I wondered what she was looking for.

Her shock of red hair captured my attention, which drew me into her story, and looking at the clues to try and deduce her story. I thought an image of the attractive, seductive woman holding the camera, perhaps herself the voyeur, might be a unique take on the concept. Particularly when composed in such a way to ask who exactly is the voyeur -- the viewer or the woman. Maybe both.

The lines of the plaza become design elements to reflect the angles in the figure. One of my favorite parts is the foot terminating precisely in the lower left corner. The red throughout becomes a strong presence, stemming from the hair and accentuating a mood.

Maybe she has a photograph of me on her blog.

Valerie

Her name may or may not be Valerie. She kind of looks like a Valerie. I just thought it a perfect excuse to use the name of my favorite song at the moment.

I'm always on the lookout for interesting photographs. In 2005, while in San Francisco for the Illustrators Conference, I was able to absorb the wonderful energy of the city and take nearly 1,500 photographs.

Near the Hotel Nikko is Union Square, where people gather to eat lunch, hang out, people-watch, or just rest their weary bones. I hung out there quite a bit, grabbing a panini on occasion from the adjacent cafe. Of the many people who caught my eye, this girl with her cell phone and portable CD player was a source of many photos. She kept making great animated faces as she sat and waited out the afternoon. In this scene, I seem to have snapped her in mid-blink.

This turned out to be more of a character study with the background remaining fairly non-descript. The radiating brush strokes and shocks of vibrant color are recurring themes for me at the moment. I'm also experimenting with storytelling -- allowing the viewer to engage with the picture and come up with their own story. How little is required to tell a compelling story? I don't know if I've come in under or over the line on this one, but there are puzzle pieces here for the finding. I think the human mind is always looking to make sense of whatever it sees. It's always more fun to let there be some interactivity rather than spelling everything out for the viewer.

It's the same kind of intrigue we get from looking at a candid photograph -- trying to fill in the blanks to the lives of the people in the picture. What are the details of her life?

detail


"Valerie"

Pumps

Great illustration is great storytelling.

There is a story here, but I'm going to let you tell it. Why is the chair red, like the picture hanging above her head? What's her name? Is it 3:29 a.m.? Why is she dressed like this and why is she holding her glass like that? Does everything point to the wine and what could the wine represent? Bitter, sweet, red, blood, thirst, heart, mind, dependence? Is it important that the wine level is perfectly horizontal, yet not quite spilling? And, why isn't the picture frame level? What does the hanging picture symbolize...a memory? What is off the right side of the page? Does it matter? Does it have something to do with the way she is piercing your eyes with hers or that her right foot extends off the right side of the frame? Do the boots symbolize something? Power? Sexuality? Red wine, red hair. Love, anger....what do you see on an emotional level? Does it connect with you? Does it make you nauseous, anxious, uneasy, overjoyed? Does it remind you of anything. Does it feel like the dream you had last night?

It could all just be a coincidence.

There are many ways to tell a story. Everything means something. Illustration is so great because the artist has so many tools at his or her disposal with which to tell their story. Everyone has a story and everyone loves a story.