Sherlock Knockoff

Here's the almost final product for my first project in 'Illustration for publication'. We were to pick a suitable Editorial topic, create an illustration for it, and design a 2 page spread for a magazine. Sans a few typographic tweaks, this is my layout.

I chose the new CBS Show 'Elementary', or rather, it's controversial similarities to BBC's 'Sherlock' and the broader theme of U.S. TV copying English tv as my topic for the Editorial.  I'm glad we didn't have to actually write the article. However, i feel pretty strongly about the topic, so i probably would have been able to write plenty.

I stumbled through a couple of themes for the illustration to begin with. First I had the one sherlock looking over the others shoulder with the magnifying glass, or back to back. Then i had them in silhouette with just their distinctive scarfs in color, and i tried it with them holding their respective national flags. None of the Ideas seemed to click. Worst of all, My professor didn't seem to respond positively to any of them. Then i Came up with the conflict centered around the possession of the Deerstalker cap.

I sketched a few scenes of them fighting over the hat, some of which i think would work well as smaller spot illustrations. I chose, i believe, the most elegant solution for portraying that conflict.   I didn't want the two Sherlock's to seem on even ground, that the CBS Sherlock was the others equal, at least not yet, The show hasn't even premiered yet. And i wanted to emphasize the assumption that CBS was essentially copying, or stealing, BBC's concept. As an added bonus, i already had a Caricature of Benedict Cumberbatch lying around. i cleaned that up, improved the likeness, and threw it in the mix. So here you have it.


Let me know what you think.