Process

For me, it's always been important to be creative - and specifically, to draw and doodle and sketch. For the past several years, I've not left home without a sketchbook. You just never know when The Idea Monster (distant relation to The Flying Spaghetti Monster) is going to send an amazing idea through your brain. You just have to be there to catch it.

I'm a big fan of Photoshop, and quickly becoming a cheerleader for Illustrator. But for me, a pen and sheet of paper is the way to go. Some artists begin with a landscape, others begin with an image. For me, I start with an icon, or several icons if there's a theme. Here I drew my 'Camping' pattern. To begin I drew a tent, lantern, kayak and paddle, compass, and a roaring campfire. Sometimes I get 'success' after the first sketch. Other times it takes a few sketches of the same object before I'm satisfied.

Camping Doodles

Each of these 'doodles' is scanned into Photoshop. I break the scan into pieces, cleaning up each icon and saving each as an individual file (in case I want to use it in a later design), and then import each as a layer to Illustrator. And then the magic happens...

I take each icon and add color. When I've got each just right, I move them around my artboard until I've got a placement that seems to work. This can take anywhere from 10 minutes to over three hours. What can I say, I'm picky when it comes to my art. : )

Next, I save the file as an .ai and as a .jpg for the web. Then, ta-dah! It's ready for the portfolio or to be posted here.

Let's Go Camping!