BACKGROUND
Many of my works start out as me simply wondering if I can recreate the style I see in other artists' pieces (hence my lack of a consistent style in this portfolio), and this piece is no different. Back in 2017 I was working at Utah's Hogle Zoo in my first full-time position as a graphic designer when the zoo decided to host "Bugzillas!", an animatronic exhibit from Billing Productions featuring massive robotic versions of real-life insects, blown up to be sometimes as big as a car. Russ Gray, a local artist based in Salt Lake, did the promotional illustrations used for the branding of the Bugzilla exhibit, and I was captivated by his use of shape and color. Nearly five years later I would try and emulate his style for those illustrations when I began working on this piece I put together for Star Wars Day (May 5th) 2022.
COLOR SCHEME:
PROCESS & TECHNIQUE
I started out in Illustrator by using the pen tool to make simple stroked outlines and block in the planes of the helmet. Once I was satisfied, I used the gradient tool to filling these planes in with (very rudimentary) shading before applying a "Course Dots" mezzotint to get the grainy texture. Using this black and white composition as my foundation, I then began experimenting with color, eventually landing on the final cyan/lime green/dark blue scheme on the dark magenta background. Finally I added in the additional texture elements and text to give it a gritty printed feel.
