I thought I'd also show a bit of the process of a commissioned illustration. What normally happens is that I get a call asking if I'm available, I then get a bit of a verbal description of what it is that the client wants me to do, some times referencing colour or other work I've done in the past, but mostly describing the context of the illustration. I then get emailed the copy (the article I'm illustrating) I then read through the copy a couple of times and try and work out the feel or crux of the piece, this becomes my starting point. I then start doodling to come up with a very rough idea of what the copy is talking about. once I have an idea I work on the compositional elements of the piece and produce a rough:
After emailing the rough attached with colour notes to the art director, we then have have a chat about the image, in this case it was felt that the stress aspect was too much and that the begging hands and bike was enough, so I got the go ahead to do the final artwork. a few hours later its finished it's emailed off, all being well the art director then approves the artwork (or asks for changes) and a few weeks later it appears in print.
