David James

Renewed pop-art style from James Design Studios

Based on a style from an era decades old, and in true pop-art fashion, this illustration of Marilyn Monroe is the introduction to a series of artwork destined to be printed on canvas. This artwork from David James of James Design Studios, has clean lines and sharp colours perfectly rendered in Adobe Illustrator. Originally, the composition was only to be developed in illustrator, and then hand painted on canvas, making one-of-a-kind art with little or no chance of duplication. Mid way in the design process, it became obviously clear that the software was perfect for the final render… the flexibility of the vectored curves and the selection of Pantone colours made the process a success.

Marilyn vector details and colours

A limited number of prints will be made of this image and the one canvas print is already sold. To order a print or to own the next illustration in this series on canvas, feel free send an e-mail for dates and prices. Custom portraits can also be commissioned.

I hope you enjoy this exciting new line of artwork inspired from a classic style.

Cheers,

David.

As a part of the Canadian Army, I’ve been volunteering my time in helping an affiliated cadet corps. The 19^th Alberta Dragoons is an Army Reserve Regiment that was disbanded several decades ago and has been represented by a cadet corps here in Edmonton, for almost as long. Not only does my Regiment, the South Alberta Light Horse, have an interest in keeping this lineage alive, it is also my old cadet corps from… let’s say… a “few” years ago, and when they asked me to help them with their cap-badge, I was pleased to help.

At the time, I didn’t realize how many different attempts were made at making this icon. I researched everything from the origin of the badge and its original drawings to the type of horse that needed to be illustrated. There was a difference in the cap-badges themselves that I noticed, the old badges looked skinnier than the new badges, and the fonts from the drawings didn’t match the official issued graphic. I basically had to rebuild this icon in vectors and select the elements that worked.

Outline of icon from physical cap-badge dimensions

Adjusting the text to suit the flow over the banner

Adding some depth to the text and some details that were lost in the banner

19th Alberta Dragoon cap-badge

Vector based graphics are amazing. I started illustrating with Adobe Illustrator in the late nineties when I was hired to create drawings for a sign language dictionary. I enjoyed the flexibility of the software, especially the undo feature.

Now that this graphic is created in vectors, it can be scaled up, it can be used for print and embroidery, it can even be used in animation. Best of all, it can be archived so it will not be lost again.