I’ve been meaning to do this one for awhile. Here’s the answer.
The background photo is from Wikimedia Commons. As it was going to be dark, I used a simple rain effect to add the requisite weather. For the corner ornaments I used Illustrator to trace a 19th century draughtman’s alphabet, another project I’ve been meaning to do for awhile.
The biggest challenge was the display font. I wanted something that would suggest East Asian influence without resorting to racist clichés. This article from The Print Authority recommended Zhi Mang Xing. The font was designed by Wei Zhimang based on the work of calligrapher Wu Changshuo. It did the job nicely. Indeed, I like it so much that I may use it for other projects in the future.
The only part of the illustration that I didn’t like was the water damage effect. I used a watercolor brush in Fresco to create it. Though I’ve used the tool successfully elsewhere, here it looks more like the junky edits they do on videos to blur logos when companies don’t pay for placement. The edges are too hard, for starters. Hopefully I’ll get better results the next time I attempt something like this.
