Bluejay, Charlie Harper, Exploring the Ruins

      I'm happy to feature my latest Adobe Illustrator CS2 illustration, inspired by master illustrator Charley Harper.  I found his book, "An Illustrated Life" by Todd Oldham, at a local Half-Price Book Store.  A several-page interview, then chock full of minimalistic, basic shape happiness. :)

"Charley Harper, an Illustrated Life" by Todd Oldham

Bluejay

     I started with a photograph I'd taken with my trusty Canon Rebel XTi.  The challenge came from wanting to stay true to the original photo, preserving shapes, colors, and details, while rendering everything in basic shapes.

Bluejay, Canon Rebel xTI

     The bold, simplistic shapes and coloring of the bluejay's head/face lent themselves to rendering in straight lines and simple curves.
     The colorful pattern on the bluejay's back went through a few iterations before I finally achieved the simplified, balanced symmetry.

At one point, still trying to simplify

     A vertical centerline runs from the left edge of the tail and through the middle of the body.  I centered the pattern--evenly-spaced triangles and arches--on the vertical centerline.
     All the up-and-down lines comprising the tail taper to the centerline at the top middle of the arch of the pattern.
     The tree limbs consist of repeating arches and "V"s.  The blue triangles and rectangle represent the sky.

     I kept the colors to a somewhat limited palette.

----Exploring the Ruins----

      I think I lost the original Illustrator file, but I found this print.  I can redo it by tracing it in Illustrator, but that wall on the right will prove a real challenge.  Worth it once it's done though. :)

Exploring the Ruins