Developing my illustration skills through Pop Art portraits
2023
/
graphic design
/
illustration
/
artwork
During an internship at a marketing agency in 2023, I was assigned to create a Pop Art portrait of a famous person for an online shop. Despite my background in graphic design, illustrating in this style was a new challenge. However, my existing design skills gave me a solid foundation and enough confidence to take it on.
Development & feedback
My first portrait received positive feedback from my supervisor, who noted that it showed a more refined approach compared to work produced by previous interns. There were still areas that needed improvement, particularly in the use of colour tones and shadows. While revising the illustration, I was encouraged to rely more on my own artistic judgement rather than strictly following the reference image.
This proved to be an important lesson. I learned that translating a reference into an illustration is not necessarily about reproducing every detail, but about understanding which elements contribute to the overall image. By adjusting details such as skin tones and shadows, I was able to achieve a better colour balance while maintaining a consistent visual style.
Results
Towards the end of my internship, I was given another opportunity to contribute to the Pop Art collection, this time creating a portrait of Will Smith. By then, I had developed a much stronger understanding of the style and greater confidence in illustration as a whole. This allowed me to make more deliberate creative decisions, such as choosing a yellow background to complement the existing collection without creating conflicting colours.
This project marked an important development in my illustration skills. Beyond improving my technical abilities, it gave me greater confidence in trusting my own visual judgement and established illustration as a meaningful part of my skill set.
