Kris Atomic | Blog | The making of a cover

The making of a cover

13 September 10

As you might have heard in twitter land earlier today, I illustrated the cover of Anthology, a gorgeous new print publication from editor-in-chief Anh-Minh Le and creative director Meg Mateo Ilasco. I finished working on it months ago, so it's really exciting to be able to share it with the world!

If you're curious, here are the sketches and how we got to the final image:

I submitted four initial sketches on the theme of "The Slow Life". The rough brief was a depiction of home, possibly a NY brownstone and a girl on a bike, but I played around with different scenes and points of view.

Meg liked the bottom right sketch best and suggested having the buildings cut away from the masthead at the top. I redrew a second, more refined sketch, making the girl smaller to balance the scene and giving the buildings more character.

The colours were looking a bit bright, so I presented two more muted versions to better complement the content inside. The warmer version on the right was chosen and I had the go-ahead to produce the final cover.

And ta-da, here it is! Each little window and step (every "straight" line in fact) was hand drawn on my Wacom, which I think gives it that slightly wonky charm that you just can't get with line tool. I thought I would drive myself insane by window number 50, but it was actually quite therapeutic in its own way!

A couple of detail views:

Can't wait to get it in the mail and see inside!

Comments

just saw this on the Design Sponge site earlier, looks soooo awesome! congrats!

eli replied over 12 years ago.

thank you! x

kris atomic replied over 12 years ago.

These kind of posts are some of my favorites – it’s so exciting to get little peeks inside another artist’s world / process.

And an entire cover all to yourself – SO exciting! Congrats!

Kim replied over 12 years ago.

Thank you! I love seeing others WIP too, I’m so nosy! xx

kris atomic replied over 12 years ago.

Gorgeous cover! It’s nice to know there’s an actual new magazine being published, not just a virtual one. Congrats to Anthology!

Jennifer replied over 12 years ago.

I know, isn’t it great! I’m really looking forward to giving it a read.
thank you! xx

kris atomic replied over 12 years ago.

Congrats on the cover, it looks amazing! Very interesting to see this process, thank you! :)

Angelica replied over 12 years ago.

beautiful! what a process! its so fun to see how it develops! congrats!

Angela Joy replied over 12 years ago.

congrats what an amazing cover. i have subscribed to this new mag and i sure hope i get this issue.

Inessa Zherebnenko replied over 12 years ago.

this is fantastic how the blogesphere works – I found you via some bicycle link over a year or two ago, and Megmigh are based out of the Bay Area. I believe the interview I took part of will be here.
AWESOME + beautiful work kris!! <3
xxo.meli

meligrosa replied over 12 years ago.

[…] a few posts detailing the process that goes into creating her colorful artwork. (See a few of those here, here, and here.) I love getting a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the process artists use to create […]

Anthology & Kris Atomic « Blue Print replied over 12 years ago.

Cool – I like seeing how you from A to B (or perhaps Ato Z) – I would get so impatient re-drawing things, but I guess that’s why you’re the pro ;)

Hannah replied over 12 years ago.

Wow. Gorgeous covers, all of them really. Was this ‘drawn’ digitally?? I’m really impressed, love the paper effect.

ChantaleP replied over 12 years ago.

Thank you! Yep, all digital :)

kris atomic replied over 12 years ago.

Aww, congrats! These are gorgeous!!

Jen replied over 12 years ago.

This is the most beautiful cover I’ve seen in ages! Its incredible, I admire your patience haha :)

Katie replied over 12 years ago.

Kris, this is just sooo gorgeous. I first saw it earlier today on Design*Sponge, and was so excited for you! :)
Meanwhile … are you giving lessons on how to draw using pen and Wacom?? When I try to freedraw I’m all over the place! ;)
x

Melissa Buchanan replied over 12 years ago.

Thank you :D
Haha I promise it’s just lots of practice! I couldn’t actually draw with mine for over a year of constant use! I just coloured and edited bits and gradually my brain got used to the change. Try scanning in a rough sketch and drawing over that, I found that helped a lot in the interim. x

kris atomic replied over 12 years ago.

This is gorgeous, Kris! Thanks for sharing your process :) Do you use the computer the whole time now? Even for sketches?

Ann replied over 12 years ago.

For this one, yes. Sometimes I do sketches and line art on paper though. Depends what I feel like on the day! Generally I go digital for the more elaborate and complicated stuff though, as it’s easier to tweak and edit.
And thank you! x

kris atomic replied over 12 years ago.

In a word: wow.

kiwi replied over 12 years ago.

Congrats! Super exciting to have your work on the first cover of what looks will be a fabulous magazine! Can’t wait to get mine in the mail!

Kimberly Lewis replied over 12 years ago.

Saw this publication on another blog earlier today and instantly recognized your work. It’s fabulous! You definitely made the right choice in hand-drawing instead of using the line tool; it looks perfect! Or perfectly imperfect…you know what I mean:) And thanks for sharing your sketches.

Mary replied over 12 years ago.

Wonky charm indeed!!! I love that this is a publication that is embracing the illustrated cover, like back in the 40s, 50s and 60s. And you’re just the gal for the job! I can’t wait to get my hands on this!

Lillian replied over 12 years ago.

I saw this on Oh Happy Day and knew it was you immediately!

I love it when you show your design process, I had no real idea how illustrations came to fruition! How did you get that great texture on the fill colours?

Carolynpom replied over 12 years ago.

Thank you!
It’s a scanned brown paper texture I use as an overlay :)

kris atomic replied over 12 years ago.

love the process post! so few people realize what goes into the perfect illo. congrats on a beautiful piece. =)

Nicole Block replied over 12 years ago.

wow, as always, amazing to see your behind-the-scenes process. just out of interest (and i apologise if you have answered this question before) what sort of wacom do you use? i’m really keen to get one myself but have read there are some which are a lot more user-friendly than others! thanks.x

Rose replied over 12 years ago.

Hi Rose!
I use a Wacom Intuos3 8×6 tablet. It’s great, I’m really happy with it! I prefer it to using a mouse, even when I’m just browsing the internet or something. x

kris atomic replied over 12 years ago.

congratulations! this is lovely xx

emma replied over 12 years ago.

Always like process posts. Shows the “hand” behind the work. Congratulations!

tommy replied over 12 years ago.

Love, love your cover!!! Can’t wait to buy that magazine too. Thanks for sharing your process too, those are my favorite posts on your blog.

Elizabeth Mackey replied over 12 years ago.

I truly adore your style, absolutely charming. :)

Ley replied over 12 years ago.

Wow, looks wonderful!
It’s funny, I’m doing an illustration with a background full of NY buildings as well (Brooklyn ones), and I know what you mean as I’m also drawing tons of little windows by hand, it takes a looong time to finish, but in the end I think it’s worth the difference!
But again, your illustration is beautiful, congratulations!
:)

Marie replied over 12 years ago.

Amazing, I love everything about it! You are the best :)

Sofia replied over 12 years ago.

I love your blog, and this cover shows how you’re talented, it’s really great, colours are gorgeous, your pen tablet is a magic stick in your hands!
Congrats!

How could i get the magazine? I’m living in France…

Thanks

Joséphine

josephine replied over 12 years ago.

holy crap, that’s absolutely gorgeous. i would love to own a piece of that!

lyi replied over 12 years ago.

You are absolutely amazing. What kind of brushes do you use in Photoshop? Just the standard ones? I couldn’t do this even if I had 80 years to practice!

connie replied over 12 years ago.

wow you are one very tallented lady!!

Luna replied over 12 years ago.

I saw this on Design Sponge first too – immediately recognised your work and decided to buy a whole subscription on the strength of the cover. It looks rather splendid, congratulations!

Natalie replied over 12 years ago.

it’s so stunning. they were lucky to have you! definitely gonna subscribe :)

Olivia replied over 12 years ago.

It’s so beautiful :)

Didi replied over 12 years ago.

Loved the magazine but most of all I loved the cover, the illustration is so lively and colourful!Congrats once again!

Anthi replied over 12 years ago.

I loooove this!!

Laura Gommans replied over 12 years ago.

[…] is not dead”. La copertina del primo numero è stata ideata e illustrata dalla bravissima Kristina, altresì nota come […]

everydayrainbow replied over 12 years ago.

[…] I stumbled across a gorgeous illustration of a similar bike, from illustrator Kris Atomic (top right) which looks a bit like me on my bike (almost – if I dyed my hair blonde […]

riding into 2011 in style | The Blueboat blog replied over 12 years ago.

Hello Kris! Of course, as stated many times, these illustrations are stunning!!
I have a question if you don’t mind me asking (no worries if you can’t answer! :))… did you use Adobe Illustrator accompanied by your tablet? I have a Bamboo Wacom tablet, & I seem to have troubles using Illustrator with it, but maybe that’s just me not practicing as often as I should!
Thank you!

LindseyBee replied over 12 years ago.

[…] of a bike March 11th, 2011 Just realised that I never posted this illustration I did for the first issue of Anthology. I’ve got another drawing in the second issue (and a feature on me and my […]

Anatomy of a bike « KRISATOMIC replied about 12 years ago.

Anthology & Kris Atomic | Rachel Q West replied over 11 years ago.

You are amazing. My biggest source of inspiration without question! We have to do a uni assignment based on our illustration hero and of course I had to pick you. Lovelovelove everything you do <3

Alana xx.

Alana replied about 11 years ago.

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The making of a cover

13 September 10

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