I was recently commissioned to do a special edition wine label for Classic Harbor Line, a boating company that operates out of Chelsea Piers, in cooperation with Brotherhood Winery, for the quadricentennial celebration of the Hudson River. They provided me with this really helpful little sketch as an idea of what the wanted the label to look like.
I did a sketch based on their concept, making the banner more interesting, and the boat and Chrysler Building more realistic. 
They came back to me with some revisions (make the boat shape more accurate, make the 'crown' stand out more - I had thought it was a sunburst, only do the lettering on the banner, and add the Hudson River...!). They were also concerned that the number 400 (which is worked into the design of the sails) wouldn't stand out enough, so I convinced them to let me make the crown yellow rather than black (like it is in their sketch and company logo). Once the sketch was approved, I began the painting process. First, I masked out the banner with liquid frisket, and lay in a loose wash of watercolor to act as my base.
I then transferred my drawing onto the prepared paper using white chalk. I prefer using chalk to transfer because it erases easily, and dissolves if I paint over it.
The first round of outlines, and the first layer of color. For the most part, I use watercolor in the dark areas, and colored pencil for the light/middle tones.
Here I've boosted the color, and done the lettering with a crow quill pen and walnut ink.
And this is the final! It is so satisfying to add the final details and highlights which pull the piece together!
This project was all around very enjoyable. It took about a week from start to finish, the client was a pleasure to work with, and I get to see my artwork on booze!
