Lady Windermere's Fan Step-By-Step

I thought might be fun to show the process behind a recent project- a poster for The Irish Classical Theatre Company's production of Lady Windermere's Fan.

A few years ago I did this quick, loose sketch from a magazine photo while I was working on something else (apparently involving City Hall).  I thought it was an interesting pose, so I tossed it into the cardboard box under my desk where I keep the drawings that might prove useful one day.


 I remembered that original sketch when I started thinking about Lady Windermere- I thought it might serve as a starting point for a portrait of the title character. I did a quick pen-and-ink version, adding jewelry and a fan:

Next, I did a tight pencil sketch, placed it in the layout and sent it over to the Theatre to get their feedback:

The folks at the ICTC gave me a go-ahead with one minor suggestion: move the fan in front of Lady Windermere's face. I brought the pencil sketch into Adobe Illustrator and started "inking" the drawing using the pen tool:

Once the line art was finished, I added flat areas of color, and then brought the drawing into Photoshop where I added a little bit of modeling and a little distress. Done!