In Focus: Jose Mendez shares his colour tips
Jose Mendez is a Spanish illustrator and art director based in London, with an artistic background in Graphic Design and Moving Image.
Drawing inspirations from underground comics and skateboarding culture, Jose Mendez likes to explore humorous and sometimes unsettling themes using bright and bold colours and typography with strong emphasis on character design.
Here he shares his pro tips for using colour to create striking illustrations, inspired by recent commissioned work.
I often use my mobile phone to collect colour references on the go. Quite often when walking in the street, something will catch my eye and I see colours that attract me.
“I often use my mobile phone to collect colour references on the go. Quite often when walking in the street, something will catch my eye and I see colours that attract me.
It can be a few different buildings overlapping, or maybe signs, posters or simple objects that were placed next to each other randomly. Fashion magazines can be quite interesting for example, clothing, set design and lighting are all a great source of colour inspiration. Visuals used at music gigs can be stimulating and inspiring too.”
Experimentation is key. I normally start working with one or two colours I feel comfortable with and some new colours I would love to try.
“If this doesn’t work, I start again. When it comes to digital it is easy to change swatches any time you want. When I’m painting or colouring by hand, I do some tests in advance on other sketches to make sure that the new combinations will work in the artwork.” says Jose.
Colours add another layer of meaning to an image, yet they also set the mood and help to tell the story.
“Sometimes a drawing may not be particularly engaging but adding the right tone and palette succeeds to elevate it and deliver surprising results.”
josemiguelmendez.com
Extracts from this post feature in 20 Colour tips published by Digital Arts, June 2016.
Jose Mendez is represented by WE ARE GOODNESS