Illustrating Santa Monica & Venice Beach culture
Illustrating my home town
I was born and raised in Santa Monica California surrounded by the relaxed beach culture. After returning from my travels in Mexico and South America I realized how unique the lifestyle was. So I started sketching and creating illustrations of my old neighborhood.
![Illustration by Joseph Kiely of a Californian crossing a typical West Los Angeles street](https://kielydesign.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/joseph-kiely-california-beach-culture-illustrations-5-1024x1024.jpeg)
![Joseph Kiely Illustration of a California surfer texting on his smart phone wearing a hoodie and California hat](https://kielydesign.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/joseph-kiely-california-beach-culture-illustrations-2-1024x1024.jpeg)
![Illustration of blue Converse shoes by Joseph Kiely](https://kielydesign.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/joseph-kiely-california-beach-culture-illustrations-6.jpeg)
Illustrating the diverse locals
The locals are a diverse group from the skaters and hipsters to the ever-present homeless that make the beaches their home. I played around with a couple different illustration styles to depict these different personalities.
Solid color comic book style
For the skaters and hipsters I used a comic book style with a restrained color palette of red-orange, blue grays and yellow with an overlaid texture. I liked the graphic impact of the unexpected color combinations.
![Graphic illustration of two hipsters at Venice Beach California by Joseph Kiely](https://kielydesign.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/joseph-kiely-california-beach-culture-illustrations-3-1024x1024.jpeg)
![Joseph Kiely illustration of two skate boarders at a California skate park](https://kielydesign.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/joseph-kiely-california-beach-culture-illustrations-4-1024x1024.jpeg)
Rough sketch book style
For the homeless and street musicians I played with a much looser sketch style. Using water color splatter backgrounds and roughly sketched line work on top to define the subject.
![Homeless man in Santa Monica California illustration by Joseph Kiely](https://kielydesign.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/joseph-kiely-california-beach-culture-illustrations-9.jpeg)
![Guitar player at Venice Beach illustration by Joseph Kiely](https://kielydesign.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/joseph-kiely-california-beach-culture-illustrations-8.jpeg)
The illustration tools
For the illustrations I used a combination of photographic reference, scanned in textures and the Procreate App to combine everything together. I then added additional texture and line work on top – it is very similar to the process I used on my Oaxaca Sketches.
The combination of the organic with the digital makes for a flexible and fun process since you can always undo a mistake!
![California bluffs with the sun and palm trees illustrated y Joseph Kiely](https://kielydesign.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/joseph-kiely-california-beach-culture-illustrations-7.jpeg)
![Joseph Kiely illustration of a life guard tower and surf board on a California beach](https://kielydesign.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/joseph-kiely-california-beach-culture-illustrations-1-1024x1024.jpeg)
Always a Californian
No matter how many countries or cities I have lived in there are things from California that I have a hard time leaving behind. Two of them are my hoodies and my Converse or Vans – I guess they just make me feel comfortable and remind me of home.
![Joseph Kiely illustration of a Los Angeles Marijuana Dispensary](https://kielydesign.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/joseph-kiely-california-beach-culture-illustrations-10-836x1024.jpeg)