MAD times?

So I've moved on to the second Illustrator-based piece which I wanted to complete by the end of the week. It focuses on the racism which unfortunately still exists in many countries, chiefly in the USA. I wanted to display my thoughts about the police shooting of Michael Brown, an unarmed 18-year-old black man, in 2014, and also on the death of Eric Garner, who was placed in an illegal choke hold by NYPD officers and suffocated. A serious issue that, I thought, could do with some thought-provoking artwork.

For many years I have been a fan of Spy vs Spy, which is a wordless cartoon published in MAD magazine - particularly the shorts drawn by Antonio Prohais, as they have a distinctive style which appears very simple, but upon closer examination can be seen to be very complicated.

An immediate thought of mine was that the two spies ("Black" and "White) are an excellent connotation for races and could hence be used very effectively in a racism-focussed piece. They also fit well with the black-and-white, colour-popped style of my deforestation piece due to their natural monochrome. This was my initial sketch for the piece:

I really wanted to show just how horrific the deaths of Brown and Garner were, whilst adding a Banksy-esque satirical style of message communication to make them relatable to most audiences. The fact that I have adapted a cartoon also works well to this effect in my view, because I think that most people find cartoons engaging (whether that be due to the artwork, layout or comical content).

Because I wanted the spies to be in specific poses, drawing them was not a case of simply photographing reference material and tracing it. However, wanting to stay true to Prohais' designs, I used a small amount of image reference taken from the book Spy vs Spy: An Explosive Celebration in order to estimate the correct proportions and positions of each spy in their intended poses. The "Pen" tool is a really great asset; I was soon finished with White Spy's main outline.

However, as noted in my initial sketch annotations, I wanted to make it clear that White Spy represents white police officers in the USA, so I had to add and exchange some parts of his uniform to make this obvious. Using visual reference of an NYPD officer's hat and a Ferguson officer's badge, I was able to assemble these elements quite easily. Because the badge had some very particular shapes, I decided to use my tracing method to get an accurate representation.

Difficulty came about when I was drawing White Spy's joke revolver. There were again some golden rules to adhere to concerning the position of White Spy's shooting hand - chiefly, in the position of his fingers in relation to the shape of the gun. Using a photograph of my own hand really helped to solve this problem.

After that, it was time to think about the Stars and Stripes. I decided to draw the shape of the flag that I wanted first (rather than drawing it and trying to skew it into shape with the "Wave" effect) to obtain a more free-hand feel, and then took photo reference of the Stars and Stripes to transfer to the flag. It was relatively easy to follow the flag outlines and get the stripes in just the right positions. The stars followed soon after thanks to the presence of the aptly-named "Star tool" (located in the shape menu in Illustrator CS6).

I then used simple freehand strokes to create a small explosion (comic-book style), and added the word "BANG!", (also drawn freehand with the pen tool), to give an authentic Spy vs Spy look. I also added a subtle drop shadow by simply copying and pasting the "BANG!" text on a lower layer, then changing its fill and stroke to #B7B7B7 (my "trademark" light grey). This kept it in style with the shadows of my deforestation piece.

I added some speed lines (simple black strokes) to the gun and flag, which completed the comic-book aesthetic.

The final stage of drawing White Spy was the addition of a floor shadow. This proved quite easy by means of copying and pasting the entire shape in #B7B7B7 (minus the 'BANG!" and speed lines, since they wouldn't naturally show up as shadows), and using the "Shear" and "Perspective Distort" tools to get the position and proportions correct.

With White Spy completed, I moved on to Black Spy. I started with the same shapes as White Spy, but changed the position of the arms and body to create a tripping motion. I then added the hat and some simple stroke lines to denote motion.

The final stage of drawing Black Spy was again adding a floor shadow. I employed the same method as before.

Really pleased with how this turned out. I think that both spies stay faithful to Prohias' designs, whilst conveying distinctive emotions to create a deep and powerful message.

An afterthought to my piece was the addition of a breathing mask (in reference to Garner's suffocation) which Black Spy could be lunging for. To create it, I simply followed the general facial shapes of the spies and added some breath filters via the "Rounded Rectangle" tool. The final steps were to add freehand-drawn straps with the Pen tool and a floor shadow as before. I also threw in some motion strokes to complete the mask's consistency with the rest of the piece.

Here's an image of the completed piece. Very happy with this, I think it communicates the message of the piece in a bold way, yet doesn't give too much away to keep the viewer interested.