Heres tomorrow's Guardian Guide cover of Beck that I've been working on this week. I also thought I'd take you through the creative process while working alongside The Guide's art director Sara Ramsbottom.Its for an article on Beck's new album Morning Phrase and the key words in the brief were Ethereal, Woozy, Organic, Sunlight and Tripped Out. I wanted to go for a psychedelic feel (with a hint of darkness) while still keeping a modern sensibility and above all not allowing the portrait of Beck to get too lost in the elements that surround him.
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The backgrounds on these first attempts hinted at things like lava lamps and planets but we soon agreed that the colours needed to be more organic and sun kissed rather than bright purples and blues.
We started by using this wider shot of Beck but soon realised it would be better to crop into his head if we wanted to communicate the feeling of tripped-out psychedelia. I also removed the outline around Becks body as it created the feeling that something was locked in rather than something that was more expansive.
I also started adding more geometric shaped to hint at a more kaleidoscopic feel. These were the last two attempts before we went to final. The last one was pretty much the basis for the final with some small tweaks. I made the background more symmetrical and also darkened his hat as it was getting slightly lost in the background. I also brought out the contours of his face more and worked textures into the Guardian logo so it became a part of the illustration . Also here's a GIF to show more of the stages.
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