Over the summer I have being working on some of the skills we have learnt throughout the year, revisiting techniques and old work and creating more work to become more familiar with the methodology of working mainly in illustrator.

We created a Marilyn Monroe illustration in class, and given her prominence in the public eye during the 50's and 60's I decided to create a series of illustrations of american celebrities/public figures during 1960's from different realms of the american public's consciousness. Marilyn took care of film and television, JFK was possibly the most well known politician during the 60's (before being assassinated in 1963), Frank Sinatra and his Rat Pack shows were massive in Las Vegas during the 60's and represents the music scene. Sports stars in 1960's America took a little more research but I found that one of the most successful and popular American Football stars was the Baltimore Colts Quarterback Johhny Unitas.

Original Marilyn Illustration

Former President John F Kennedy

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source: http://www.returnofkings.com/22635/5-life-lessons-from-jfk

Former Baltimore Colts QB Johnny Unitas

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Photo: Malcolm Emmons/TSN/Icon SMI

'Old Blue Eyes' Frank Sinatra

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source: http://therecordingrevolution.com/2013/09/13/even-frank-sinatra-recorded-in-awkward-places/

These were made using the same process as the Marilyn Monroe illustration of using the pen tool to draw the outlines of the key features within the image such as the head, face, outlines of the clothes and the facial features. Once all the features had been outlined with the pen tool it was time to add the fill colours. Once all the fills were in place I adjusted the layer stack so that the elements were in the right order so the objects that were on top of each other in the photos were on top in the illustrations.

I then added depth to the pieces by adding the shadows which were black layers where I turned down the opacity to give the illusion of a shadow. Overall I'm pleased with the outcomes of my Marilyn and Sinatra illustrations, I think that I learned a few things creating the Johnny Unitas illustration about depth and shadows, and adding the additional detailing such as the jersey stripes and numbers.