Urbancowfolks (Los Desperados TV) Blog: Process of Creating "Bandit Girl" Icon
I recently was hired to come up with an album cover text logo for Yonder Music artist Stephanie Fagan. Knowing that they will also want to make merch I decided to also create an "icon", something simple but strong.... The "Emily the Strange" character image came to mind, because it's so identifiable, so I wanted to create something that was simple and had that same kind of "power". Stephanie's album is called "Heart Thief" so an image of a "bandit" came to mind.
Above is a sequence of how the Bandit Girl icon was created. First I looked at photo's of Stephanie on her FB page. I then took out a pad of paper and quickly sketched with simplicity in mind, but that it's no doubt an image of Ms. Fagan. For the geeks, I love sketching with Color-Tex non-photo blue pencils. I just like how they feel. Once I got the image I liked, I then light-boxed it and hand inked it, using Windsor & Newton series 7 brushes. From there I then scanned it and re-traced it in Illustrator, making it a vector file, which now can be sized at any size and retain it's sharpness.
This was a super fun project for me, one in which the execution matched the expectations of my initial vision. That doesn't always happen. The bonus is that the client loved it!
- Tom Vadakan, Urbancowfolks, My name is Tom Vadakan, and I run Urbancowfolks Studio. I'm just a guy trying to live a good life in this big but small world. I live life doing the things I love to do, and spending the time with people I love. I'm truly humbled and grateful to have my health, a wonderful family, awesome friends, and stoked to have had art shows in SF, LA, & NY. I hope the blessings continue.
Source: http://urbancowfolksart.blogspot.com/2011/09/process-of-creating-bandit-girl-icon.html