Behind the Scenes: Sailboat in Town Illustration

I often fall head over heels into new interests and obsessions. It's how my brain is wired and if I find something new, I dive deep. Two years ago, I had an opportunity to get a boat license, so I did it just for the fun of it. Never even coming close to a boat, I then rented a speedboat and had some fun.?

But I always wanted to know, how sailing works. So in the meantime, I studied all there is on YT about sailing. And then rented a sailboat. Yeah. With a fresh license, without an instructor, with YT knowledge :D I make it sound reckless, but trust me, when I study something, I study hard and deep. So it was all nice and smooth, and I had a blast of an experience.

Attitude like this trickles in other areas of my life. It's how I learn to adapt to something new, how I keep my learning skills sharp and how I train myself to overcome challenges and endure discomfort.

And ultimately, it trickles down to my work. If I only spent time in my office, doing the same thing all over again, how can I expect to breathe some fresh air into what I do?

Visit the full Pinboard here

So while engaged with activities and obsessions like this, it's a completely different sort of excitement to visit that new topic in Blender, rather than picking a lifeless theme from the list and keep crunching on. (Though, that is always a welcome lifeline, that I wrote about several times before.)

I wanted to continue the style I set with the recent Italian facade render, so I thought it would be nice to move seaside this time. I did my boat exams in Sibenik, Croatia and I loved the city pier there, right in front of the captain authority office. Older Mediterranean buildings with iconic window blinds, paved street with concrete pier and long row of sailboats docked astern.

So this time, I had a pretty good picture of what I want to deliver. At least in terms of the emotion and atmosphere. The particular details and point of view were still to be explored, so I started my Pinboard looking for similar places and vibes, that would help me to materialize what I remember.

I then launched Procreate on iPad and started sketching some rough lines. This is a little bit different from the top-down isometric work I do on a regular basis, so?I need to think more carefully about proportions and perspective.?

The main thing I needed to solve was the composition. How can I fit the street with buildings, sea and the boat into one layout to deliver the emotion I remember. It was clear, I would have to do 180 degree turn on my view and move out onto the sea. So instead of the watcher on the pier, I would stand on the bow of the boat looking back. This exploration immediately changed everything and felt like a breath of fresh air.

This was the composition I was looking for. The rest was mostly about finding a good balance in details like buildings, street props and boat placement. And of course, deciding on a type of the boat.

You can watch the full?process video on Youtube.?

See you in the next one!