To begin with, I scanned in my image and drew over it using the Brush tool to get the finished 'lineart' (above). After this I added a background; I added the background first because the surrounding colours and atmosphere would be able to help me decide on the colours of the rest of the piece.
I used a watercolour texture of my own scanned in and colour changed to get the background like this. I chose these tropical-inspired colours because Miami, where Iggy became popular, is a very warm environment with sunny beaches and palm trees. Therefore the peachy, summery colours fit perfectly with the concept and the actual product modelled.
Then I made a new Layer underneath the lineart and started filling it in with 50% gray. I like to work mostly with layer masks- i.e. any layer above that with the clipping mask enabled would stay within the boundaries of the bottom layer's drawing.
I then made a whole new Layer for the skin too. As a rule of thumb, whenever something major changes or you do something new, either make a new Layer so it doesn't disturb what you've done underneath or save your file. I always name my layers too, so I don't lose track of them.
This is a small example of how the Layer Masking tool helps. No matter where I scribbled on that layer, it stayed within the Mask.
Made a new Layer for Hair.
Using a small brush with the opacity and hardness lowered I started to shade the hair. I only shaded it simply because it isn't going to be a huge illustration and all the detail wouldn't be seen.
When I finished the shading, I zoomed out again to look at the image as a whole and to figure out if it needed anything else to give it a bit of 'oomph'.
I used the a paintbrush tip brush with my graphics tablet to draw the large 'swirl', and the custom shape tool in a star to place in the corner. Originally the shapes were black but this looked far too distracting, so I went through the Layer Style options and decided I liked the effect of 'Overlay' the most.
Like stated earlier in my development, I really wanted to use the custom typography I created as part of a colloquial brand, and I wanted to push it as much as possible throughout the module.
Because the figure I drew is looking to our left in a curious manner, I thought it best to place the type on that side, at her eye level. This also gives us a point for our eyes to enter the image and to draw it past the text and down her whole body, then along the left (at the brush detail) and out again.
I liked the text placement but I thought the rest of the image was rather plain compared to it. So instead of drawing any other elements or details, I recycled the digitised border used on the album cover; this was a part of my process I could save time on while still keeping it looking fresh and professional.
The only thing I wasn't sure about at this stage was again, the harsh black on the subtle background. Again I used different layer styles to get a softer, more feminine effect.
This was the final outcome of the fashion illustration. As you can see the bold black text and border are a soft golden colour, inspired by a beach in the evening with a tropical sunset. I also locked the lineart layer and coloured it with a dark golden brown. This is because (with there being no other black on the image) it looked really out of place (in a bad way) and the softer outlines give the image a better sense of togetherness with the rest of the image.
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