I carry a notebook with me when I travel to sketch certain things that catch my eye. Sometimes I color those sketches in Photoshop to make them come alive a little more. Illustration is one of those careers I’ve been curious of off and on throughout my life but don’t think I’d have the patience to get to a pro-level or to do client work. It’s strictly a stress reliever for me. I’d love to do a graphic novel at some point in my life though.
Here are a few of my favorite personal sketches along with a brief description of the illustration process:
Eunice
This is a portrait of my friend Eunice, a Chinese ex-pat who was living in Syria at the same time as us. I drew it in secret and then showed her after the fact. It might be a little invasive but it’s better to get a natural performance from people when they don’t know you’re drawing them. This was scanned and colored in Photoshop.
Winter Sisters
I drew this quite some time ago without a subject as a visual reference, meaning, everything was from the imagination, no model. The color and the snowflakes were added after the fact in Photoshop and I think they complete the illustration.
Muhajiba
Again, this one was drawn without the aid of a visual reference. Patterns and lines are a reoccurring theme in my illustrations. In this instance I drew the illustration in my notebook then scanned the page and cleaned up any blemishes in photoshop to give it a really clean look.
Booza (Ice Cream)
Drawn without any visual reference. No coloring, no touch-up, just a raw representation of my pure love and obsession for this tasty dairy delight.