Illustration of my wife

Soldato
Joined
19 Oct 2002
Posts
3,480
thought i'd showcase this illustration i did of my missus :) - done in photoshop cs3 lemme know your thoughts (either on here or in the deviantart comments) :)



(click for full image)

first illustration i've ever really done... really enjoyed doing it so i may have found a new hobby :)
 
Its very good, you say its your first illustration... Have you used Photoshop heavily before or did you use a tutorial?
 
thanks :) - took about 4-5 hours i reckon, and yes although it is my first illustration i'm pretty comfortable using photoshop... i've been using it for around 18 months but previously only for web graphics and photochopping photos, this is the first arty thing i've done ;)
 
Superb, it has the look of a professional. Never been able to get my head around illustration even though I've been using photoshop etc for 6 years.
 
thanks :) - took about 4-5 hours i reckon, and yes although it is my first illustration i'm pretty comfortable using photoshop... i've been using it for around 18 months but previously only for web graphics and photochopping photos, this is the first arty thing i've done ;)

I assume you took a photo put it on a layer and then drew layers on top of that to get it perfect?
 
Awesome work that, top notch.

If you've got it Illustrator has far better controls for manipulating vectors, and it make the whole job much easier, plus you can import them into PS if you want to composite something together afterwards.
 
yeah i did start with a photo to get the original lines... then once they were in place i just had the original open as a seperate document to refer to :)

with regards to illustrator... i'm quite happy to use it (not quite as comfortable as ps but i can get around it perfectly well), and use it quite a lot for logo design etc... in this case the only vector based stuff was used as temporary measures before being stroked or filled and then deleted...

but i agree, it could indeed have been done mostly in illustrator... and maybe if i had have done so i would now be able to print it a lot bigger but as it stands the 1:1 ratio gives me about a 250mm x 250mm print - would have liked it bigger now i've seen it in the flesh but live and learn :)
 
I'd simply love to do something like this, mind if I added you to msn dude, for a few questions? :)
 
I have photoshop CS2 but very rarely use it, I find GIMP easier to use.

However, following a few suggestions here I have just downloaded the trial of illustrator CS3. I have a few images I would love to do this with and then get printed off professionally for some funky pictures in the dining room.

Anyone know of any guides that would aid me in this?
 
any chance of you writing a quick guide up on how to do this?

It really is great and I am sure other novices like myself would love to know how you managed it?
 
no problem, a quick guide i can do:

firstly, its all done with the pen tool... vector paths are drawn and then either stroked (with "emulate pen pressure" ticked) to get the outlines, or filled to get the more solid bits of colour and also all the shadows and highlights...

its all about building up layers, for the shadow layers, use the same colour as the skin and set the blend mode to multiply and the opacity to around 50%, and for the highlights the same but using the screen blend mode instead.

build up the contours to add depth...

thats pretty much all there is to it technically, other than that make sure you start with a great picture and pick your lines carefully :)

i was originally inspired to make something like this by this wallpaper:

http://skitch.com/sootylad/ff7n/sensuallips-1680x1050

but then i came across an article in photoshop creative which talked through the process of creating one of these vector style illustrations in photoshop... as you can see the biggest difference between the inspirational "sensual lips" image and mine is that the outlines are visible and prominent but other than that its the same effect really...

if anyone else has an attempt using the guidelines i just wrote be sure to post your pics :)
 
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