Black and White Illustration Portfolio

Why Black and White Matters

Almost everything I make, except for maps, starts out as black and white work. Drawing and sketching are the foundation. I have learned over the years that a lot of people have some pretty fixed ideas about how art gets made. Sometimes those ideas are so deeply held that people get defensive when you show them something different. But that is another story for another time.

Most artwork begins as small, rough sketches. Artists call them thumbnails. Once you pick one that works, you move on to more finished drawings. You might do several, or you might zoom in on specific areas and draw those in detail. After that come color studies, and then finally the painting itself. This is not just my personal habit. It is a method that has been around for hundreds of years. Most trained artists use it most of the time, even sculptors. Showing up and just splashing paint around to make a finished painting looks good on video, but it is not how things usually get done. Starting in one corner and working your way across a blank surface is also pretty uncommon. Classical training teaches you to work all areas at once so proportions stay right.

Black and White as an End, Not Just a Beginning

All of that is to say that most art starts in black and white. But for some projects, black and white is the destination. In the past, printing in black and white was often about saving money. These days, with modern printing, it is usually a style choice. Some of my older printed work was done under budget pressure, but plenty of my current work is black and white by request. The drawings I did for the Fox and Iguana restaurant, for example, were specifically asked for in black and white. The client wanted that warm, hand made, artisanal feel. I have also done work where black and white sits over an arbitrary color, like the bee I painted in a mural over an isometric color pattern.

What Black and White Means to Me

Black and white drawing will always be part of my process. I will always produce some amount of dedicated black and white work too. I love doing photo realistic drawings, and I will keep doing them, but I also have a soft spot for rough sketches. There is something honest about a piece that clearly came from a hand holding graphite or charcoal against paper. I honestly think drawing should be an alternative to foreign language classes in school. If you can draw, you can communicate with anyone.