FFWD Cover

Here's that ffwd Calgary cover I did! I was super pumped to do this because I've seen ffwd all over town and covers are always fun to have out there. 

The feature article was about the different kinds of races that are happening in Calgary this summer: Tough Mudder (muddy mudfest), Spartan race, Death Race, and a race where participants dress up as fruit. 

It was a bit challenging to fit all four into the composition, making their arms and legs do different things while not getting too cluttered. And keeping that upper left corner mostly clear, except for a giant banana stem. :{

And here's the "art only" version. I knew I wanted those majestic Rocky mountains in the distance, as well as the yellowish-brown + slightly green fields that Alberta is all about. 

Sketches:

We did away with the water, too busy. 

The Spartan didn't change much from those preliminary sketches, eh?

-- Julia
Portfolio site

A bit of paint

I do a lot of my colours digitally but sometimes it's nice to get back to some good ol' real-life painting. The blue-green background I put in digitally (because who wants to waste precious paint putting down a flat colour :P) but everything else is as close to what the original painted piece looks like. 

I had to fight the urge to adjust the colours -- I kind of went all over the place and used too many different ones, I think. Maybe next time I'll practice more restraint!

Process:

-- Julia
Portfolio site