This week's Australian Spectator cover story highlighting the supremacy of Rugby Union over the other codes, especially Rugby League - just in time* for the Rugby World Cup! *I actually drew this illustration a few months ago, but the Egyptian riots and subsequent other big news kept bumping it off the cover. I'm very glad it is able to see the light of day, as it is one of my favourite cover illos this year.

Please click all images for a closer view...

 

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The Process

Sketches and Roughs

The thumbnail rough is the best way to get your message across quickly. It also lets you see if the illustration will work in the design. If it doesn't look ok like this, it won't larger.

The polished sketch, below:

And in the cover template, below:

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Inks

This is inked digitally on the Wacom Cintiq 21UX screen tablet.

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Base Colour

Here I block in flat colours that I can select in Photoshop to shade and colour more.

And the final art, below:

Thanks for looking!

Anton