After revising and tightening up my pencil sketch (you can see it if you scroll down a few posts) I printed out a small copy of the line drawing and used color pencils to rough out the colors for the finish. My client for this project was Furia Rubel Communications in Doylestown, a PR firm specializing in law firms and non-profits, and the colors they use for their website and promotional materials are orange, golden yellow and a medium purple. I used those colors on the balloon to align with their company brand. I designed this illustration to leave two large areas for type in the ad – the area of lightly clouded sky below the balloon, where black type could be used, and the dark shadow on the grass where their logo and some reverse type could go.
I transferred the drawing to illustration board and started outlining and painting in the ground and balloon, left the sky for last. I made the crowd unit mostly a dull version of the purple in the balloon, and added more color to the clothing of staff of my client. I wanted them to be recognizable but still be a part of that unit, and not stand out so much that they took attention away from the dramatic launch above them.
I painted this illustration in acrylic paint, watered down a little to act like watercolors, and outlined with prismacolor pencils.
The finished art was used in two ads, one black/white, one cropped but in full color, in different publications.
