Illustrator Work - Drawing the Detective

The first thing I wanted to do in illustrator was draw the detective character I was going to use on my front cover. I knew what the art style was that I wanted to use so it was just a case of drawing the detective correctly to fit in with my chosen style. I used the pen tool and started to draw the dective free hand. I drew a number of different looking detectives some looked quite good whilsts other were either aesthetically poor or didn't fit the style I am using. 

This is the what I started with as the initial shape for my drawing tilted because the man is leaning over. 

Ii then added in the arms and legs seen here on the right. 












Another aspect of drawing the man was the shirt design I didn't want to leave just a white square as his shirt so I added some detail in to make it look better and be more effective.  I drew a collar and a tie in keeping with the drawing style I was using, I also made them contrast using black and white. 




 



One of the hardest parts I found to drawing the detective was getting the hat right as a lot of them looked odd or poor and  ruined the drawing. After drawing about 10 + different looking hats I finally made one that I liked and suited the drawing, on the plus side I can now draw hats with the pen tool really easily. 


After the hat was added to the man I edited a few paths until I was happy with how he finally looked, then I added in the final details such as the eye and the gun.