GTS 2014 Contest - My Process

GTS stands for Global Talent Search. I'm generally not a big fan of entering contests, but every now and then one catches my attention, and this one put on by Lilla Rogers Studio and Do What You Love, caught my eye. Many of my design friends have been taking her Make Art That Sells classes to rave reviews.  But I've known about Lilla Rogers Studio for a long time because I have long admired the work of Carolyn Gavin and Helen Dardik, illustrator whom she represents.

So, I decided to go ahead and enter. It took over my life for a week and I had an absolute blast. I loved the flexibility of building the piece on the computer. I incorporated patterns that I created, and ideas that I've expressed in other mediums and other ways. The contest stretched me both creatively and technically. I loved the challenge!

I can't show you my finished piece yet, not until next week. But I can show you some photos of my process and some of the pieces I started to create as my idea came into focus.

First I looked through my sketchbooks, because I knew I had some drawings I had done a year or so ago that would fit, found them and scanned them in. I knew I wasn't going to use them as is, but I liked the simple, well drawn succulent and cacti shapes, and they were a good starting point for my composition sketches. I like to have good, clear drawings of plants if I'm going to use them...these cacti and succulents are some of my favorites from my own collection.

 Then I started thinking about vessel shapes, composition, content...and sketched about that, until I was satisfied with some ideas I thought I might use.

 

Next I started painting in color.  I painted several versions, and some things just on their own. I knew I was going to build this in photoshop, and I wanted the flexibility to move objects around and layer, so I wanted lots of space around them so they would be easy to grab...this is a luxury I do not have on a canvas.

 

One of the requirements was to incorporate some text.
I wanted something simple, in my own writing, and I had a couple of songs going through my head about what I wanted to portray. I listened to the songs a few times, and wrote down the words I liked. One song was 'S Wonderful by Ira Gershwin. 

So, what did I create! Tune back in next tuesday, and I will reveal the final piece that I submitted. Myself, and 998 other talented artists and designers submitted pieces. I know many of these artists, and have seen their entries, and it is a wonderful group of work. Good luck to everyone!