Joan feynman studying the sun
This image depicts Joan Feynman, a renowned astrophysicist and sister of Richard Feynman, who dedicated her entire career to the study of the solar activity and its effects on the Earth's magnetosphere. As part of her research, she has made critical contributions into the understanding of the nature and causes of auroras.
The image is part of a personal project I did in the attempt to learn how to use Adobe Illustrator, under the guidance of Camilla Garofano and Giulia Quagli. The aim was to create a square format illustration, comprised of the author's portrait and name, to be used as the cover of a hypothetical podcast series aired online.
BIbliographic research
Before doing any sketches, I gathered as much information as I could about her career and field of study, her personal life, her relationship with her brother and any other piece of information which could be translated into meaningful and visually appealing graphical elements. I came up with these key words:
Aurora - Curiosity - Solar Flares - Sun - Magnetic field - Sunspots - Research -
Golf (inside joke) - Hippopotamus (inside joke)
Thumbnails
Next I drew several thumbnails, keeping in mind the keywords and with an eye on composition.
I liked idea nr. 6, and some elements of idea nr. 1 and idea nr. 3, so I tried putting them together and focused on solely two thumbnails.
I reckoned drawing those lines (depicting the magnetic field) in the first thumbnail without obstructing the face would have been an exceedingly difficult task, so eventually I chose the second one because of its straightforwardness and visual simplicity.
Finding the Reference images
Next came an extensive search for the right reference images.
What I needed was:
- closeup images of Joan Feyman's face
- Images of the Sun, The night sky, Solar Flares
- Nocturnal illustrations of other artists, to use as a reference for my palette choices
I downloaded about 50 images. Below there's an excerpt of what I found.
moodboard
I also made a moodboard, in which I gathered the keywords and all those images that had a similar mood I wanted my illustration to have. This helped me clarify my ideas and also boosted my creativity.
Finished sketch
The most difficult part here was that there were no photos online of Joan Feynman in the same position i gave her in the thumbnail, so I had to guess where her main facial traits would need to be placed to maintain the resemblance.
FINALIZING with illustrator
Finally, having done the lineart, having blocked the main shadows and having chosen which color to use, I could get on with finalizing the illustration in Adobe Illustrator, adding some gradients and halftone effects aswell. Afterwards, I tweaked the colors a little bit with Adobe Photoshop.
Thank you for your attention
SEBASTIAN IRIMESCU
