The Living City
\The living city illustration was inspired by the city I live in London, and my intricate floral illustration style. The illustration is broadly based on London it’s self in terms of geography and its features with the Thames river flowing through it.
Within the intricate vector shapes and forms of the illustrations, I illustrated famous London landmarks, such as the London Eye, Big Ben and the now recognizable Sir Norman Foster building the Gherkin. To add more detail to the illustration, I also created little glimpses from London life.
The glimpses of the living city included a small family going about their daily lives, a woman partying and London Bobby policing the beat. Since the illustration is based on the living city, no city would be complete without thinking about the small detail and in this case I thought about the small insects and animals which are all around us, from large to small, it was my vision to show touches of London intertwined in a haze of vector crafted floral intricacy.
The illustrated shapes and forms which makes up the bases of the illustration were hand drawn within illustrator, I often find this is the quickest way to work. With my Wacom tablet and pen, I can easily manipulate the vector shapes so they form a pattern, which mold and complement each other, while at the same time I can change the form when I add details such as the people and London landmarks.
