A few months ago, I was asked to create a T-shirt design for Port Austin Kayak, a business that rents kayaks to tourist to explore the outdoors and natural beauty of Michigan, in an area of the state simply called “The Thumb.” I had the pleasure of having my first artist residency in that area, and they loved my art and wanted me to create a T-shirt design for the upcoming season. I was really excited for the opportunity, and already had an idea loaded up in my head for how I wanted to tackle this challenge.

Justin thought it would be a great idea to do an illustration of Turnip Rock, one of the top tourist attractions of the area. I had seen it before on various list of top attractions to see in Michigan, and other Instagram and Pinterest post, so I knew I could get expressive with my inks and mark-making. I opened my sketchbook and began to play with different marks, while trying to find the proper angle visually to get the most drama out of the image. I had to keep in mind this was going to be a wearable piece of art, and something I wanted people to be proud to wear.

sketch turnip rock michigan ink drawing process image

I always start with ballpoint pen with sketching. It forces me to commit to the mistakes and “happy accidents” that occur with drawing.

I didn’t do too many variations, I knew what I wanted to do from the beginning, but figuring out how I wanted to do the type and lettering on the final image was going to be the challenge. I’m a fan of the illustrator and comic artist Ashley Wood, and how he incorporates type into his illustrations. The bold graphic quality is always quite striking to me, and I want to incorporate it into some of my illustrations as well.

I use different arm angles, tools, and even a dry brush marker keep a natural feel in the lettering.

I even experimented on the dot of the letter “i.” I liked the playfulness of the swirl, so I did multiple versions of it until I got the one I liked the best.

To the side of the type, I messed around with ideas of clouds in the margins, I ended up doing a completely different sheet of cloud designs to incorporate into the final design.

I find that writing the logos multiple times, using different pens and markers, allows me to find letter variations and changes in my penmanship that are valuable. I do this many, many, MANY times, until I find one that works for me. I take letters from each version, and arrange them to fit my needs. I was able to get the “Turnip” figured out rather quickly. The brush marker made the letters look sharp, but playful, but I still played with different tools like the parallel pen, just to see how that looked.

Writing the “Rock” was a little more challenging. I was certain that it would look visually appealing with the Parallel Pen, but with the rigidness and textured design of the graphic, I opted to keep the brushy text consistent within the whole graphic.

The final drawing of Turnip Rock, used a combination of ink tools over my original sketchbook drawing.

Just like for my comic book drawings, I like working over the top of a printed version of my sketchbook drawing. My goal is to maintain the energy of the sketch for as long as possible, so scanning in my sketchbook drawing, printing it on bristol paper, and finishing it with the ink, is the method of choice for me.

Justin loved the final designed, but we also wanted to find a way to put “Port Austin” in the design as well. I created a little stamp that I wanted to tuck into the corner, but I couldn’t figure out where to place it on the image. When I get stuck on the little details, I turn to my friend and mentor Dave Chow. And he didn’t disappoint. He gave me more options and ideas than I knew what to do with. I posted a picture of the two I liked the most, but trust me, he gave me way more!

The final version of the T-shirt came out so dope!! Later this summer, I plan on heading up to the Port Austin area for some well deserved chill time. Last fall, I did my first Artist Residency in Harbor Beach, a neighboring town in the Thumb area of Michigan. Its such a beautiful area of the state, right on Lake Huron. I had a really great time up there exploring the town, meeting the people, and creating meaningful pieces of art about the landmarks in the area. So I was really excited when they reached out to work with one of the business in the community. I’m new to the outdoorsy lifestyle, and I’ve personally only been kayaking one time in my life, but I’m looking forward to doing again, especially in a t-shirt that I designed!