I was selected by the agency that holds the American Bus Association account to do this illustration. The needed an image that conveyed bus safety, and had original photos and some reference material to work from. They requested that the bus show the structure, and it needed to suggest people inside, but not actual people.

The resulting image may look like a photo, but is about 90% illustration. The only parts that are not illustrated are the body details such as door handles and lights, the wheels, a few bits of the interior, and the mirrors.

The Photoshop document had thirty seven (yes, 37!) layers to achieve this goal. I am a long-time Photoshop geek. To paraphrase a country song, I was Photoshop before Photoshop was cool.

This image really blurs the distinctions between photography, commercial illustration, photo-realistic illustration, and technical illustration.

11"w x 8.5"h

American Bus Association "Bus Safety":



Original for comparison: