Woolly Bully! Calling All Sheep!

An illustration for an upcoming post on the Atomic Tango blog. The author’s basic premise: all fashion designers steal: first from the French, then from each other.
My basic idea: the Eiffel Tower as radio transmitter, sending follow-like-sheep signals
to two crystal balls. Here’s the final. Scroll down to see how the illustration was constructed.

I began by scanning this line drawing into Photoshop:

I used the Pen tool to extract the Eiffel Tower and a crystal ball from two separate photos. I posterized both images, did several color adjustments, and pasted them into the line drawing. I needed a second crystal ball, so I pasted in the same crystal ball again and scaled it down to a smaller size. I used the Pen tool to redraw the “radio dial bases” of the two crystal balls, giving them a more slick, geometric look. I added color to the first figure and used the Dodge and Burn tools to lighten and darken certain areas of the clothing. At this point, the smaller crystal ball is invisible because it’s on its own layer beneath the larger crystal ball. 

Since the larger crystal ball was on its own layer, I could use a simple layer mask
to reveal the smaller crystal ball beneath it. Also revealed at the same time: the
color portion of the second figure.

I then used the same trick again: I applied a layer mask to the smaller crystal ball
to reveal the “latest fashion” being transmitted from French Fashion Radio.

This “latest fashion” is my favorite part of the illustration. Unfortunately, it’s small and hard to see– it deserves a closer look.

My original idea was simply to lift a dress from an old photo, colorize it, and put it on a mannequin. But a funny thing happened– it looked pretty good!

A more pronounced absurdist element was needed. I hit on the idea of replacing the mannequin’s stylish hat with a colorized and posterized copy of Gabby Hayes’ famous topper. This clearly struck the right tone…

I used a grungy Photoshop texture for the earth, and experimented with color adjustments and the Burn tool to give it an environmentally damaged look.
For the night sky, I used a posterized photo, then applied various adjustment tools
to change and brighten the colors. 

I found a photo of a single sheep, extracted it with the Pen tool and pasted it in four times, scaling it as need. Finally, I merged the earth and sky layers and used the Eraser tool set to a spatter brush to create the splotchy border. Here’s the final again: