Wednesday, August 11, 2010

The River Wild

The River Wild, 13.5x5", graphite/digital

I got a call from the AD at GRID Magazine, a Philadelphia publication that focuses on sustainability and environmental concerns, to do a piece for their back page essay entitled The River Wild. The author advocates swimming in the local rivers of Philadelphia and the possibilities thereof.  The nature of the article made me cringe a bit, bringing to mind the idea of trash and debris (read, bodies) floating about you while you're out for a bit of swim, but there is a confidence and love of nature in the article that imbues the reader with the sense of curiosity. It made me want to experience the historic bodies of water in my backyard and embrace the river. That, and the article makes a point to mention how clean the rivers are these days.

UPDATE/ The AD was kind enough to send me a PDF of the article in its layout. So, enjoy the piece in its home. 


Sketches

5 comments:

Daniel Fishel said...

Great illo Tim! I really love the colors in this one and I especially love how you rendered the form. Jamie is awesome to work with.

Tim Durning said...

Thanks, Fish. Yeah they were great to work with.

Unknown said...

Great illustration! Inspiring as always. Can you tell me how you did the sketches and a bit about how you colour digitally?

Patch said...

That page is becoming a "Who's Who" in terms of PCS Illustrators. You this month, Jacob Lambert last month.
Really dig how you handled the water, kinda symbolic but true to form. Kudos my friend!

Tim Durning said...

Thanks so much, guys.
Eric- The sketches are drawn digitally on top of thumbnails that I like and scanned in. Then it's some BW tone under the line and using softlight layers to add a touch of color. For the color, it's a lot of toned textures that I scan in (like ink, graphite, etc) and painting with custom PS brushes that I made. Feel free to email me or what have you if I'm being too vague, haha.