Making an Interview Feature Graphic (Process)

I would like to feature more interviews on this site, so I figure that I should have a custom graphic to have at the top of the interview.  That way someone visiting the site will know that it is an interview.  It's only polite.  I started off with a thumbnail in my Moleskine mini-sketchbook.  I knew I wanted it to resemble kind of a late night talk show, with Philly as a background, and something to be generic (in terms of being able to use for multiple interviews) but specific as well.

Step 1: Moleskine thumbnail (more palm-sized than thumbnail sized)

So, I wanted the guest to be a black and white outline: first to stand out against the color background, but also so it would prompt the question "who is the interview with this time?"  My cartoon interpretation of the Philly skyline, me in a suit with an old-timey microphone.

Step 2: Non-reproducing blue colored pencil sketch

So, I have made myself rounder and more cartoony.  My guest is no longer slumping and slouching like in the larger than a thumbnail sketch.  And I am looking more into the camera than at my guest interviewee.  Philly is more defined, but still inaccurate, which is fine by me. The blog has roughly a 575px width, and I wanted something like a 16:9 ratio, so I worked horizontally.  But I already have a problem: this is not 16:9 or even close.  This is more like a 4:3 ratio.  Not quite what I wanted, but I don't want to have to use filler to fill in the blank spaces if I go back and work wider.  I figure that the graphic will be bigger than I originally thought, or I will include text or something else on the right or left hand side, forcing it to be a wider, more horizontal graphic.

Step 3: Inked-in version of blue pencil sketch

So, with the exception of one of my thumbs, I like how this turned out.  No Wite-Out used to correct anything. I really like how the Blick "Wonder White" brush performed.  I will definitely be using it more often. Now on to the coloring process.

So, here it is.  I used more patterns than I originally intended, but I like how the wood of the table turned out. The pattern for the suit and the star pattern is kind of a cheat, but again, I like the results.  I still have to play around with making it more horizontally longer, maybe by adding something to the right or left border.  I don't want the graphic to overwhelm the text.  It is supposed to be a re-usable graphic for my interview feature, so it should be recognizable, but the point is to feature the interview.  You will see what I do with it in my next post when I feature an interview.