This week's cover art for the Spectator was a whole lot of fun! The subject is the Australian playwright David Williamson, and his sequel to the classic Australian play (and movie), Don's Party.

I chose to draw Williamson surrounded by all the characters from the film version. I also threw in Garry McDonald, who is playing 'Don' in the new play, Don Parties On.

A Quick Process

Thumbnail Roughs

A couple of quick layouts to choose from. The first had Williamson on set surrounded by all the characters, while the second was a little more in your face. It's easy to see why the editor chose the second.

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The Sketch

With the thumbnail rough approved, I move onto the sketch...

... and with that good to go, I start on the inks:

I actually really loved this as a black and white piece, but colour called.

I toyed with colouring it with a monotone background (please see below), but after consulting with Ash (as I always do when I'm stumped) we agreed I needed to go full colour to bring the party vibe.

So, full colour it was. I painted Williamson with dark, saturated colours, and the party-goers with less saturated and magenta outlines to push them into the background a little. Also, I wanted it to look a little retro - sorta like a 1970's movie poster, with a modern twist.

The result was the final art at the top of the page.

For some reason, the printing process sometimes bumps up the saturation, so a little of my effect was lost on the published cover, below:

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