{"id":24041,"date":"2018-07-18T05:48:39","date_gmt":"2018-07-18T09:48:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/?p=24041"},"modified":"2019-11-26T19:14:10","modified_gmt":"2019-11-27T00:14:10","slug":"watching-the-detectives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2018\/07\/18\/watching-the-detectives\/","title":{"rendered":"Watching the Detectives"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

Last week I had published my Szpieg<\/em><\/a> or Polish Spy<\/em> illustration that I produced in the superlative vector art and design program Affinity Designer.<\/em> My original intention was to produce an illustration similar to the pulp magazines from the 1930s like Doc Savage<\/em> or The Shadow<\/em>, but I wound up with an Eastern Bloc propaganda poster boy with which I am perfectly happy. I started to add to my simple spy, and I may have gotten closer to my initial aim this week.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"SLEUTH\"<\/a>I started adding elements to the background as well as playing with shadows, and I sort of got carried away as I went along. I also decided to bring this guy to the States and make him a shamus<\/em> or private eye. I was inspired by the old radio programs I enjoy such as Pat Novak for Hire<\/em><\/a> and Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar<\/em><\/a>. I ditched the Polish title of the original illustration and went with the Sleuth<\/em> title in a vintage looking type treatment I worked up.<\/p>\n

\"\"All of the elements are vector making this illustration resolution independent. It will look as good printed on a postcard as it will on a billboard.<\/p>\n

\"SLEUTH<\/a>The problem with this program is that I can work and rework the program endlessly coming up with interesting color combinations and variations on the lighting. That’s the positive thing about a deadline. It makes you stop whether you want to or not.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last week I had published my Szpieg or Polish Spy illustration that I produced in the superlative vector art and design program Affinity Designer. My original intention was to produce an illustration similar to the pulp magazines from the 1930s … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[7,700,318],"tags":[3981,3465,17,8,4444,4452,27,4448,1313,4445,43,3661,5,4443,4442,4454,4453,1312,4447,4446,480,1034,3660],"class_list":["post-24041","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-illustration","category-pixels-versus-pigment","category-technique","tag-affinitydesigner","tag-affinity-designer","tag-cartoon","tag-cartoons","tag-cloak-and-dagger","tag-detective","tag-digital-illustration","tag-espion","tag-espionage","tag-gun","tag-humor","tag-illustration","tag-joe-williams","tag-poland","tag-polish","tag-private-eye","tag-sleuth","tag-spy","tag-szpieg","tag-szpiegowac","tag-usa","tag-vector","tag-willceau"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1ed1x-6fL","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":24008,"url":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2018\/07\/12\/szpieg\/","url_meta":{"origin":24041,"position":0},"title":"Szpieg","author":"Joe_Williams","date":"July 12, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"After my Grandma Went to Altamont\u00a0illustrations that I produced in Affinity Designer, I was looking for a new subject matter to put the program and myself to the test. Originally I wanted to do an old-time, pulp magazine cover similar to The Shadow or The Spider, Master of Men, and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Illustration"","block_context":{"text":"Illustration","link":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/category\/illustration\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Szpieg","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm1.staticflickr.com\/843\/43351420891_99d0d06835_z.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":21182,"url":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2016\/10\/14\/i-count-on-affinity-designer\/","url_meta":{"origin":24041,"position":1},"title":"I COUNT on Affinity Designer","author":"Joe_Williams","date":"October 14, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Here's a little Halloween doodle that I cooked up in my favorite vector art program Affinity Designer. Being that my son's school bus pickup time is just before dawn, I thought it appropriate to work on this icon of The Count! A couple of mornings before sunrise fiddling with shapes\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Halloween"","block_context":{"text":"Halloween","link":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/category\/halloween\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Count in Affinity Designer","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/live.staticflickr.com\/7461\/30022386700_6c104c7673_z.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/live.staticflickr.com\/7461\/30022386700_6c104c7673_z.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/live.staticflickr.com\/7461\/30022386700_6c104c7673_z.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":25898,"url":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2019\/10\/14\/the-witch\/","url_meta":{"origin":24041,"position":2},"title":"The Witch","author":"Joe_Williams","date":"October 14, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Another vector Halloween Head created in Affinity Designer.","rel":"","context":"In "Halloween"","block_context":{"text":"Halloween","link":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/category\/halloween\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Vector Witch","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/the-witch-3-AD.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/the-witch-3-AD.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/the-witch-3-AD.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":25979,"url":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2019\/10\/29\/we-are-not-alone\/","url_meta":{"origin":24041,"position":3},"title":"We Are NOT Alone","author":"Joe_Williams","date":"October 29, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"My latest Halloween Head is a fellow with one hell of a commute. This visitor from another world is a vector illustration I whipped together in Affinity Designer.","rel":"","context":"In "Halloween"","block_context":{"text":"Halloween","link":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/category\/halloween\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/alien-process.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/alien-process.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/alien-process.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/alien-process.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":44976,"url":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2025\/04\/23\/the-diplomat-from-grorfleplotz\/","url_meta":{"origin":24041,"position":4},"title":"The Diplomat from Grorfleplotz","author":"Joe_Williams","date":"April 23, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Once again I am ricocheting back and forth between analog and digital illustration. Today I am back in the digital domain with my latest Halloween Head which I call The Diplomat from Grorfleplotz. I'm not sure what the specific honorific would be for this diplomat from the far distant planet\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Halloween"","block_context":{"text":"Halloween","link":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/category\/halloween\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/The-Diplomat-from-Grorfleplotz-full-frame.jpg?fit=640%2C680&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/The-Diplomat-from-Grorfleplotz-full-frame.jpg?fit=640%2C680&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/The-Diplomat-from-Grorfleplotz-full-frame.jpg?fit=640%2C680&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":21200,"url":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2016\/10\/18\/mechanical-menace-in-affinity-designer\/","url_meta":{"origin":24041,"position":5},"title":"Mechanical Menace in Affinity Designer","author":"Joe_Williams","date":"October 18, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Here's another doodle similar to The Count which I cooked up over the course of a couple of early mornings using the vector art program extraordinaire Affinity Designer. I cobbled together the Mechanical Menace with a number of the program's shape tools along with gradients and transparencies. This was a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Halloween"","block_context":{"text":"Halloween","link":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/category\/halloween\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Mechanical_Menace-4.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Mechanical_Menace-4.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Mechanical_Menace-4.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24041","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24041"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24041\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24041"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24041"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24041"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}