East Falls Tee Shirt Design Contest

Every year, my neighborhood in Philadelphia holds a tee shirt design contest. The winning design is sold at the annual bike race, fall arts fair, and at local bars and restaurants. When we moved to East Falls in February of 2009, I was excited to participate in the contest and took my task very seriously. I was even more excited when I found out my design was chosen as the winner. I thought it would be fun to share my design process here. Beginning with a photo session of the Falls Bridge, I captured the best angle for my illustration.

Based on the photo, I sketched the scene and scanned it into Photoshop. Using historic color combinations and one of my favorite fonts, Rosewood, I drafted the design in Illustrator. As a finishing touch, I incorporated the arch shapes of the bridges along the Schuylkill River.