The Making of "The Exit"

I apologize that I didn't get this up when promised. Anyways, here was the process that I went through to create my newest poster, "The Exit". You can click any of the images below to see them larger.

I knew that I wanted to depict the "donkey wheel" and had a rough idea of what the image would look like, but I wanted to explore a few different layouts. I brainstormed a number of quick thumbnails to see what was working. I thought about making a glow in the dark poster again - the area where the wheel comes though the wall would glow (like it does when the wheel is turned) and you would basically see a silhouette of the wheel with the lights out (These are the ones on the left and bottom middle). However, I really want my posters to hold their own in normal light and the wheel by itself was looking a bit boring.  Also, if I do a gimmick in a poster, I want it to conceptually have a reason and not just be for the sake of doing a gimmick, so in the end I decided against the glow. I also thought about maybe doing the "xray" image, but I thought showing the wheel and the exit worked better as a layout and chose to move forward with that idea. I did the center sketch first, then tried a slight variation (2nd row, right side) where there was just a solid line cut instead of blending the wall with the hills. I also tried another variation (bottom right) where steam was rising and you could see the desert image in the steam.

Once I decided on the center sketch as a layout, I sketched out the idea on 8.5" x 11" paper. I used a couple of images for reference (I'm sure you can find which ones if you look), but I altered them to fit my layout.

I scanned the sketch and traced it using a ball-point pen to get clean lines. I tried it in felt pen first, but the lines were coming out too thick, so I switched to ball-point. I also like ball-point pens more because they feel more like using pencil - my preferred medium. 

I again scanned the inks and this time printed them at 11" x 17". I went in and filled in the blacks using a sharpie marker. I also added finer details mostly in the sand and the wall. 

At this point I was pretty satisfied with how it looked, so I scanned the finished image one last time. Once I had the image in the computer, I began the coloring process. First, I laid down some basic flat colors. I started work on the ground on the bottom half of the composition first. I wanted it to have a lot of texture to keep your eye interested.

Next, I worked on the textures for the wheel and the wall. I wasn't quite sure how I wanted to handle the sky, so I explored a couple of ideas. I thought the idea below didn't fit the textural feel that I was going for. It also distracted from the rest of the piece.

Once I was happy with the sky, I moved on to texturing the desert. Lastly I played with the colors to try to balance the top half and the bottom half more. Below is one of the color explorations. I was playing with making the colors a lot more vibrant.

In order to mesh the top and bottom halves together better, I added warmer tones to the poster overall. And here's the final product.

In the final prints, I thought it lost some of it's depth, so I personally went in and touched up each and every poster by hand. And that's the process!

Thanks to everyone for the support and for making "The Exit" another success! If you haven't picked up a copy, there are still some available at ImGoingSomewhereCold.com!

Also, I will be doing another giveaway soon. Following that, we have a really great release from one of my personal favorite fan artists! Check back soon!