Magic Time

OK, so this project came across my computer. The blog's name is "Where the Wild Kings Are" The client had no idea what she wanted, just that she wanted her family of 5 worked into the header (the client wanted a custom header only)

I could not resist the opportunity to take on a project like this! I mean, how could I not make this look like the book by Maurice Sendak "Where the Wild Things Are"? Now then, while I was sure I could do this...it was not a style I had illustrated in before. The client was totally on board with it...so off I go to create a her family version of a Maurice S. style header...

I started by illustrating each character in the woods setting like the book...Now you would think "wow Warden, you can draw" but here's the thing. I sketch the heck out of an illustration, then I clean it up (a ton) in Photoshop. What I lack in drawing skills, I make up for in Photoshop skills;) Believe me...I doctored the sh*t out of this pic. OK, so I get sketch approval from the client, now it's magic time...

First, I decided to add the color in Photoshop...Now, this looks pretty good, but the point of this project is not to make it pretty good. The project is to make the design look like the illustration work of Maurice Sendak. So, here is what I decided to do...I printed the image. Then, I did pen shading over the top. I knew on paper, that would look great, the unknown was "how will it look once I scaned it back onto my computer?"

Guess what, it looked better than I expected:) I was really pleased with the scanback...but it wasn't quite right...Then it hit me! I added a film gradient filter to it, and pow! It was done...Check it out...For this post, I shrunk the pixel size. Real size the film gradient is quite stunning. Basically,the goal was to give her family a Maurice Sendak, story book feel. I was winging it a bit, but I'm really happy with the result:)

On a completly unrelated note, I have been buried in blog work this week and I so have to play catch up with everyone:P I know it's lame, but I'm trying here. Oh, I emailed potential BFF...she wants to do a play date on Monday...Yay! I'll let you know how it goes...