In this exercise, I am drawing another object, but this time I will illustrate its qualities.  Is it shiny, hard, soft, fluffy, delicious, or antique?  These adjectives are subjective – there is no wrong or right.

1. Series of words

I have chosen a pair of my favourite shoes and jotted down a series of words to describe the way I see these shoes.

These words are to describe what I see and what these shoes might be or become.  After this brainstorming session, I have concluded that the word I will focus on for this illustration is: VINTAGE.

The term “vintage” can mean something different to each person. Still, I will describe vintage as old, high quality, sophisticated, feminine, lady-like, dainty, classic, patterns, colourful, smart and old fashioned for these pair of shoes.

2. Moodboards

The moodboard in Figure 3 are images that make me think of the word vintage.  Vintage yellow is such a significant colour, as it is colourful and it looks old.  The butterflies, lace and flowers made me think of dainty and feminine.

3. Explore translating line drawing into images

3.1 Figure 4 – Exploring

In Figure 4, I have translated the line drawing into the images that I most associate with vintage shoes.  I think it is important that the image and the line drawing blend somehow and not look like two separate entities.

1. A) This photo reflected the feeling of little pom-poms, and I was curious to see how this relate to vintage shoes.  B). The colour and texture worked well, but I did not like the deep shadows.  I want the vintage shoes to be beautiful, and this looked eerie, but I will keep this image in mind for another project.
2. A) This newspaper photo created a mood of old and vintage.  B) Flat surfaces like paper seems to translate well to the line drawing.  I like the paper-like feel, and the different paragraphs in the newspaper give the shoes some dimension.
3.  Although I like the colour, I don’t think the image relates to the mood I want to achieve for this illustration. The feel is more casual and not smart and sophisticated. 
4. A) This image is dainty, feminine and the lace looks vintage and sophisticated.  B) The deep shadows give a mood of mystery and seduction, which is not the mood I want to communicate.
5. A)  This photo worked very well with the shoes.  B) It blends well with the image and looks vintage, but it is too dark for the look I am after.

3.2 Figure 5 – Making a pattern

1. Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash.
2. I constructed the butterfly wings in Photoshop to make a pattern.
3. The completed pattern.
4. I love this pattern on the shoes, but it ended up looking relatively modern instead of vintage.

3.3. Figure 6 – Exploring more paper textures

These images were my favourite, and I wanted to see how they translated into the completed line drawing of the shoes.  I was not disappointed, paper seems to translate so well into the line drawing, so I wanted to explore more.  I am pleased with the results.  Now I need to find paper that looks more vintage and colourful.

3.4 Figure 7 – Finding more paper

I scratched around in my cupboards and found some felt and old wrapping paper with typical patterns from the 1950s that will be ideal for the vintage feel I want to achieve for these shoes.

The patterns, bright turquoise and yellow felt are all very appropriate for the feel and mood I want to create for the vintage shoes.  At the end of the day, I have decided to go for the red floral pattern.

4. My workflow

First, I attempted to do the colouring in Photoshop (see figure 9 no.1) and once again realised that real-life watercolour is so much better.  I then decided to rather do real watercolours and printed my image on hot pressed watercolour paper after cutting it to A4 to fit into my printer (2).  I have chosen this paper as it gives me that velvety leather texture for the inside of the shoes.  I mounted the watercolour paper on my drawing board with masking tape (3) and used the off-cuts for my colour swatches. (4)  By testing the colours first, I made sure I had mixed enough colours to work fast enough before drying occurred.  I then used masking fluid to block out layers (5), but when I first tried this, I was unsure what it should look like when applied.  Now I know this is too thick, and I had to shake the bottle more before using it.  I used too much paint in my first attempt and did not work wet on wet, and the result produced unwanted dark edges. (6). I started again from the beginning and had a pleasing result this time, which I photographed and scanned into Photoshop.  I worked both in Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop to add the wrapping paper and do the finishing touches.

In conclusion, it was insightful to have learned more about exploring materials and how to illustrate a drawing by translating different elements into the line drawing.  I also had to research watercolour painting, masking, and various papers.