Little White Lies: Drive
An illustrated portrait cover for the Drive issue of the alternative film magazine Little White Lies.

Whilst the film had a quite a strong visual style I did not want to take any obvious stylistic route and decided to interprete the illustration based on how the character was, not the film.

The films protagonist, known only as the driver (played by Ryan Gosling) is virtually expressionless, showing little or no emotion when brutally killing people throughout the film, and the contrast between the good and the bad is often shown strongly through a family that must be protected by him from a dark criminal underworld. This contrast is shown here with the use of colours and a bold use of negative space. The film features a number of intensley violent scenes, and inspiration for the illustration was taken from one particular scene where the protagionist is involved in a shotgun fight with men who are trying to kill him. This is the first scene in the film where you fear for the protagonist’s life and he appears from a doorway covered in other peoples blood, as well as his own. A close crop into the face and the direction of the eyes is used subtly to hint at panic and something about to happen, and the boldness and clarity of the cover means it will stand out among more flashy magazine covers and images in a store, as well as fitting into the illustrated style of the magazine.

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