In designing this illustration feature, I researched Julia Child! The first thing I looked up were clips from her show - I was immediately drawn to her energy. She was charismatic but humble, and very passionate about the work she was doing. She brought a love of cooking back to America that was unparalleled. Her love and passion for food mirrored my own love. The simplest form of pleasure is a good meal and good company and I really felt that Child recognized that.
Next, I started sketching out my ideas. Immediately my head went to Julia Child’s kitchen - I sketched out a couple thumbnails, and started sketching Julia herself. I had a couple of ideas right off the bat - one of which involved a tiny Julia in her big kitchen. I wanted to reflect her humbleness by portraying her work as larger than life. I had another idea in which it would involve Julia’s face made up of food. In the same style as those old optical illusion paintings. I continued to sketch out my ideas. I added a little colored pencil to my ideas as well. I ended up really liking the idea that involved Child commanding food with her wand of a spoon. I also really liked the ideas that involved a more organic and minimalistic approach. People sitting down to eat at a table that appeared like Child’s face. The idea that she was bringing people together through cooking really inspired me - and I felt this captured that.
Next I started exploring some poses and facial expressions - to try and capture Child’s likeness. After exploring some more dynamic poses I went back and watched all the clips of her on the Letterman show. Her posture was not really all that dynamic. She’s a large woman, and her work involved a lot of bending down and hunching to work on the counter. Her shoulders were a tad high, and she always had her head tilted just a little. Julia Child gave the camera a sincere look that I tried to replicate in my final piece. After watching so many clips of her, I started focusing more on her facial expression and likeness.
After finding a final composition, I started working in Photoshop on the final piece. Originally, I’d had the kitchen playing a more active role - but in the final piece, I decided to let the food take a front seat. I felt that showing her command and have control of the food, while giving it a playful spin of a kitchen witch was a good way to go. Child was very lighthearted about her cooking - She had great control, but didn’t get bogged down if she’d made a mistake. I wanted to portray that in my final piece.
