As the internet and television bring us instant
information and access to millions of resources
worldwide—some more trustworthy than others—separating fact from fiction requires a bit of skill ...
and luck. Illustrator Lonnie Busch recognizes this
conundrum, as depicted in his illustration below.
Using a palette that combines warm, rich shades
along with cooler highlights, Busch is able draw the
viewer into the action.
“The subject matter of any piece will get you
only halfway to your goal. Color will take you the
rest of the way there,” says Busch, “because you do so
much with it—create moods, tell stories.”
“When I am doing product illustration, I am
using color and tone to create appeal, make something
appetizing. If I’m working on an editorial
piece, my concerns are more about evoking a certain
mood or atmosphere, telling a story—upbeat, scary,
dangerous, optimistic, majestic, funky. But am I
using color vibes to make people buy way more toilet
paper than they need? I hope not!” says Busch.
Busch selects colors intuitively, without a lot of
forethought. For him, color is about a marriage of
“subject matter” and “feel”—colors that reflect the
mood of the piece: “Sometimes the color isn’t right
from the beginning, and it’s bugging me, so I push
on, finish up more of the piece, knock something
back, bring something forward, delineate an edge,
throw an orange cast across the background, whatever
it takes until the piece starts to sing—until it
‘feels’ the way it looked in my head before I started.”
When asked whether Busch had any favorite
colors, he pointed out “that’s like asking a fish what
is his favorite water.” Touché.
 Hip fonts
Make headlines with
Lucida Blackletter
(headline), available
at www.fonts.com,
and Times New Yorker
(spin), available free
at www.dafont.com.
Change focus with
Plexifont (elude) and
Shift (dodge)—free at
www.dafont.com. |
Spin-zone
Step up to the mic
and share your
thoughts with us.
E-mail dgmeditor@graphics.com and let
us know what themes
are important to
you. Image 4838225,
Comstock Images,
www.jiunlimited.com.
(download your
free images at www.dynamicgraphics.com/downloads) |
Ripped from the headlines
Busch draws inspiration
from the outside
world: “It’s all around
me, everywhere: the
cover of a brochure
that arrives in the mail,
a tree stump covered
in soot mold, the
reflections off a ’58
Chevy Impala at sunset.”
Image 5201916,
Bananastock, www.jiunlimited.com |
