The Art Blog of Emily Gonsalves

Green Corner: Page 26

2009-11-09T21:30:00.003-05:00

Page twenty six of Green Corner has been published! (see preview below from one of the panels)

Please visit the Green Corner website to see the update.

Tip: Vector Blood

2009-10-31T20:22:00.006-04:00

Adding a touch of blood to an illustration can instantly make an image seem more sinister. I've added blood to a couple of pages of Green Corner, as well as the 2008 Hallowe'en special.

Creating blood in Illustrator is very simple.

For the base:

Set your fill colour to: C 0/ M 100/ Y 60/ K 60 and transparency mode to multiply.
Use the pencil tool (N) to draw a path with sguiggly pieces that look like they're dripping off. It's okay to be a little messy with this, it's an organic shape.
Use the smooth tool to get rid of any sharp edges that you don't want. (option/alt while pencil is active)

For the highlights:

Set the fill colour to C 20 / M 70 / Y 100 / K 10 and the transparency mode to hard light.
Use the pencil and/or pen tool to draw your highlights. Be conservative with these, you don't want it to be too shiny. You just need enough to add depth.

And this is what it looks like (click to enlarge):

I hope you enjoyed this tip! Please feel free to leave a comment.

Tip: Creating Vector Fog

2009-10-30T10:00:00.001-04:00

Fog can be used in an illustration to enhance a spooky mood and chilly atmosphere or simply as an effect to draw attention to the focal point.

My last two Hallowe'en specials for Green Corner have used fog, but each illustration has a very different mood.

The Red Riding Hood illustration has a subtly chilly, spooky atmosphere. The somewhat deserted path, the blood on the axe in Barudo's hand, and the fog draping across the feet of the characters help reiterate the theme. The image is meant to be a little spooky, but not frightening.

In the Pop Idol illustration, the tone is much lighter, vibrant, and cheerful. Here, the fog is used as a stage effect to enhance the theme of a 1980's inspired pop singer performing on a stage. With this image, the intent was to emphasize the fun and escapism that dressing in costume can bring.

It's very easy to create fog in Illustrator using the feather effect.

My settings for fog:
Fill with 10% grey, reduce opacity to 40%.
To soften the edges, use Effect > Stylize > Feather.

Depending on the size of the paths you create, you may need to adjust the feather radius, but I generally use around 0.2" and find that softens the edges just enough. Remember to make your path larger than you want the fog to appear, as the feather makes the fill appear smaller.

You can also experiment with different colours, to suit your colour scheme and the mood of your image. This tip can also be adapted for creating wispy clouds.

Note: the feather effect does involve rasterization, but it will scale more smoothly than a regular raster image and output based on the document raster effects settings.

Look out for another Hallowe'en-related tip soon! Hope you enjoyed this one!

Free Ribbon Symbols for Adobe Illustrator

2009-10-21T22:53:00.004-04:00

I created these ribbon symbols for my "Rockin'Hallowe'en" image.

File type: AI, version CS3 (if you need an older version, please request)

Instructions for Use:
Please open your Symbols palette to use these, if not already viewable (Window > Symbols). To open as a Symbol Library, select open symbol library > other library... from the Symbols palette menu, and navigate to the location where you saved the file.

The first symbol is a white starbust that can be used as an accent on top of the ribbons. I have used lighten 50% to show how it can be modified, but feel free to try your own settings.

Free for personal and commercial use. Not to be sold. Please credit Emily Gonsalves as the creator of these symbols whenever possible.

Download Now

Thank you for downloading! Please, feel free to let me know how you used these.

If you like these, please consider donating via Paypal.

Rockin' Hallowe'en Art Post

2009-10-20T18:36:00.004-04:00

Here's the 2009 Hallowe'en special for Green Corner. Aena is dressed as a 1980's inspired pop singer. I was influenced by Jem and the Holograms, as I mentioned earlier.

I'll be offering the ribbons as a free download soon. I couldn't find anything like them on the Adobe Exchange, so I'll upload them there too.

I hope you enjoy this image. I certainly had a lot of fun drawing it :)

Please feel free to leave a comment with your thoughts on the image.

Previous posts about this piece:
Art Post: Pop Idol (part two)
Art Post: Pop Idol (part one)

Art Post: Pixie Pirate

2009-09-19T19:33:00.002-04:00

Here's a quick marker drawing of Aena from Green Corner as a pirate, for Talk Like a Pirate Day. Hope you enjoy it.

Art Post: Pop Idol (part two)

2009-09-18T18:41:00.003-04:00

Here's the fully shaded colour of Aena for the pop idol piece:

I have since added shading to the flower arrangement on the bow, they won't be quite so flat in the final. I have also been working on the background behind the scenes, but I'm going to wait a while before I share that. I may make some changes to the background closer to Hallowe'en, but I'm finding the image to be extremely bright, colourful, and cheerful in my working file.

It makes me wonder how I'm going to top it for the winter holiday special!

In case you missed it: part one is here and includes the pencil, digital line work, and flat colour.

Art Post: Pop Idol (part one)

2009-09-11T09:00:00.004-04:00

Here's some progress from a piece I've been working on recently. I've been trying to come up with an idea of what Aena's Hallowe'en costume should be this year. A 1980's inspired pop idol sounded like a fun experiment. I was thinking a little about Jem and the Holograms when I was drawing this, and I think the positive energy is great for Aena.

I know it's a bit early to be thinking of Hallowe'en, but I had some time over the long weekend to get a head start on this. That should make it easier to get this done well ahead of time and go back to working on new pages.

I hope you like these progress images. I still have a fair bit to do for the background, so feel free to make comments or suggestions.

Click the images to enlarge them.

Here's my pencil drawing:

The black and white, vector line art:

And the flat colour:

Also, if you have any questions about techniques I'm using for this piece, please feel free to ask. I hope you enjoyed this look at another drawing in progress.

Tutorial: Creating a Vector Fireball

2009-09-09T13:30:00.000-04:00

This tutorial requires the use of two tools in Illustrator:

the flare tool (located under the rectangle and ellipse tools)
the spiral tool (located under the line segment tool)

The end result of the tutorial will be to create a fireball that can be used as an effect in vector artwork. Below is an example of how this technique can be incorporated into a figure drawing. The image is from page 12 of Green Corner.

Colour values are listed in CMYK in percentages (in the format of #/#/#/#). This tutorial is mostly a list of the settings I used for this effect. The tools are pretty simple to use and only need modifications to suit this purpose.

The Flare:

Here is what a flare looks like in outline mode:

Compared to regular view, against a background:

The full size of this flare is 3.0084 inches. The bottom most part of the flare has a pale yellow stroke (5/20/50/0) of 3.171 pt. Opacity: 10% screen. Feather: 0.03 inches.
Moving up a level, this part of the flare is a circle with a radial gradient for a fill. Opacity: 15% overlay. Feather: 0.1 inches. Th gradient is composed of two swatches: a rich black (0/100/100/100) at 0% and 100%, plus a brownish red (29/80/90/25) placed at 73% on the gradient slider. The midpoint remains at the default position of 50%.
Another radial gradient, this one with opacity at 50% overlay. Feather: 0.1 inches. Colours and placements on the gradient bar are as follows: white at 15% (with the next midpoint diamond at 40%), a dark rose (27/69/50/28) located at 45% on the slider (next midpoint at 40%), rich black (0/100/100/100) at 85% on the slider (next midpoint at 70%), orange red (14/80/90/0) located at 90% (next midpoint at 25%), and rich black (0/100/100/100) at 100% on the slider.
Moving up a level, to a slightly smaller circle filled with a gradient. Opacity: 100% difference. Feather: 0.1 inches. Gradient stops are white at 15%, midpoint at 35%, and black at 100%.

For the entire flare group, opacity is set to 100% lighten.

The spirals:

The brush style used for these is "dry brush 10" from the "Artistic_Paintbrush" brush library. The feather effects are more noticeable with these thick strokes, and help to soften the edges to seem more like flames and less like flat ink.

The bottom most spiral is a group, with chunks missing from the original spiral. Opacity: 40% hard light. Feather: 0.05 inches. Stroke is 0.75 pt and coloured orange (0/80/100/0).
The second spiral is intact. Opacity: 60% multiply. Feather: 0.1 inches. Stroke: 1 pt, maroon (0/91/100/51).
The third spiral appears intact, but has been cut into four pieces for a more pleasing line quality. Opacity: 80% multiply. Feather: 0.1 inches. Stroke: 1 pt, warm yellow (10/40/100/0).
Again, this spiral appears to be intact, but is actually cut into four segments. Opacity: 100% multiply. Feather: 0.07 inches. Stroke: 0.656 pt, light brown (25/45/70/5).
A smaller spiral that appears to be intact, this time in three segments. Opacity: 40% hard light. Feather: 0.04 inches. Stroke: 0.374 pt, warm yellow (10/40/100/0).

The following image is what the fireball looks like assembled, on a background. Transparency modes, opacity, stroke thickness for the spirals, and colours will need adjusting depending on the background being used. It's important to create some contrast between the fire ball and the surroundings, or the effect won't be as strong. Also, don't forget that when placed in a scene, the fire ball is a light source and will affect the placement of shadows and highlights on the surroundings.

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial. Feel free to let me know if you liked this and/or have any questions in the comments.

Green Corner: Page 25

2009-09-08T13:19:00.006-04:00

Page twenty five of Green Corner has been published! (see preview below of one of the panels)

There are more panels than usual on this page, which helps push the story along a bit faster. It's closer to the outdoor scenes now.

Please visit the Green Corner website to see the update.

The TWC incentive is black and white line art for an upcoming special. I'll probably be using it for the Hallowe'en special, but I had the chance to get a head start on it over the weekend. If you liked Jem and the Holograms and/or 1980's style, you'll probably like this one.

And a little note on the Green Corner story:
You may have noticed that Zalanda's purse seemed to disappear. I hope the way Suko's books appeared on this page give you a hint of what actually happened. The purse is with Zalanda all the time, but she's more subtle in her magick and hid it without calling attention to what she was doing. She prefers people notice her, not her magick. A lot of the females tend to be subtle with magick of this sort. Males tend to prefer quicker options, and "snap spells" are common among the guys in town (unless they're trying to show off!).

As for how that might affect security in the bookshop, the security system can detect even magickally hidden items. It also prevents fire magick.

Hope you enjoy the new page! There are also new progress images, the pencil for page 25, and new icons.

Art Post: Completed Twitter Illustration

2009-07-30T17:11:00.005-04:00

This is the new background image for my Twitter profile page. I kept this pretty simple in the digital stage. There's shading, but I didn't really add many details to the hair. Total time was about three and a half hours. I kept the colouring in shades of brown, but it sometimes gets a more greyish tint on screen.

This drawing features myself and my pet cat, Tabitha.

The pencil version of this is available here, if you'd like to compare. (I flipped the bangs for the digital, to be more accurate)

Hope you enjoy the image :)

Green Corner: Page 24

2009-07-27T19:15:00.000-04:00

Page twenty four of Green Corner has been published. Please visit the Green Corner website to see the update.

Progress images and Pencils listed in the image gallery have also been updated. New icons and an updated incentive will be added later.

I hope you enjoy the updates! :)

Character Study: Zalanda Eritsuro

2009-07-19T12:50:00.005-04:00

Zalanda being snooty, from page 21

If you've been reading my art blog for a while, you're probably familiar with my comic series, Green Corner. Zalanda is the primary antagonist of the series and the older sister of Aena, the protagonist. You can read Zalanda's character bio on the Green Corner site.

There are certain subtleties to the character relationships in Green Corner. Of course, I want the characters to have depth and be interesting, but I also want them to seem like they could be real people aside from the fantastic setting. I draw some inspiration from my own experiences for that kind of natural feeling, but none of the characters are really modeled after anyone I know. Aspects of their personalities may be similar to people I know, and some of the things they say may be quoted from life; but that's as far as it goes.

Zalanda is a character that I find a lot of people are drawn to at first. I think my character design for her is very successful in this regard. She's beautiful and curvaceous; she's got the kind of look that other girls and women are envious of (even if they won't openly admit it).

One of the things that bothered me growing up was the image of the female ideal that girls are exposed to. Zalanda is very much a commentary on how that type of image can be hurtful to the self-esteem of other girls. Girls are incessantly told and shown that the ideal woman is thin, with a small waist and large breasts. No matter how much you may try to tune it out, when an often impossible to achieve image is out there that much, it only encourages a division and sometimes an elitist attitude from people who feel that they are more important because of their physical appearance alone.

There's nothing wrong with taking pride in your appearance, of course. But there is a difference between caring about how you look and being elitist about your looks.

For Green Corner, I made a point of making Zalanda the gorgeous older sister with an abrasive personality. She has a sharp tongue and never hesitates to speak her mind. She can seem rather cruel and dismissive. That's an intentional commentary on how a supposed ideal of female beauty says nothing about a person's worth or personality. External beauty is only physical.

It may seem strange for me to say this, since I'm a visual artist and a graphic designer; but I don't think that physical beauty adds a great deal more value to anyone. I don't think that a physically beautiful person deserves more good fortune than a person with average looks.

Zalanda, bored when the attention isn't focused on her. From page 23.

Like Zalanda, a woman can look beautiful on the outside but also be a sour, selfish, petty person. Zalanda knows when she's being hurtful, but she doesn't care about the feelings of others for the most part. She is the type of person who craves attention and will bully others in an attempt to gain power over them and distract from her own flaws.

She is very much a combination of female bullies I've met in my life. She spreads lies, shuns people she dislikes, and leads the crowd for no apparent reason. She is superficially popular. Others may envy that for a time, until they come to the realization that she's not the type of person you want to emulate in terms of actions and/or personality. Rather, she's the type of mean girl that other girls are glad to see fall flat on her face in a sort of karmic retribution.

Self-worth is an objective thing, a personal thing. Improving your appearance for yourself is great, but doing so for attention from others could indicate you need to look more closely at your self-esteem. In Pathfinders, a friend of mine was once asked by one of our Leaders why she was wearing makeup at camp, as there were no boys around. My friend smartly retorted that she was wearing makeup for herself, not for boys. Experiences like that that really made Guiding memorable for me, and encouraged me to feel better about myself. WAGGGS is a great thing for girls and women to become involved in.

Green Corner is very much a series about teen girls, for teen girls. I have specifically developed characters such as Zalanda to encourage teen girls to think more about what it means to be physically attractive, and if it needs to mean much for them. But I also want girls reading the series to take comfort in characters like Aena who are openly frustrated and envious of the supposedly ideal body image. Aena sometimes finds it annoying to be dismissed as "cute" in comparison to her voluptuous sister. Like a lot of girls, she worries and feels insecure about herself at times; despite being genuinely well-liked by many people, skilled, and charming.

Zalanda making feeble excuses about teasing her sister, while Aena is unamused. From page 22.

It's a normal thing, but it can feel very isolating when you're a teenager. We need more positive influences for girls and women. We should be giving more encouragement to appreciate our own achievements and assets. Being a teen is hard, you will probably struggle and stumble many times. But don't forget that you are worth something, regardless of the nonsense written in magazines. If you really think about it, you already know how amazing you are.

Other things to check out on the topic of self-esteem and the feminine "ideal:"

The introduction of Zalanda and Kasha. The contrast of the antagonist and the celebrity. From page 10.

Dove's campaign for real beauty – a refreshing campaign that encourages girls and women to recognize that beauty comes in many shapes and sizes. I love that this campaign is honest about Dove products too and doesn't make exaggerated claims about moisturizer making you look youthful. A moisturizer promotes healthy skin, nothing more.
Girl Guides of Canada is a wonderful organization for girls as young as five through to adulthood that promotes knowledge and self-esteem. Outside of Canada, check out the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (go to the "Our World" section to find the member organization in your country).
Sex, Lies, and Photoshop a commentary video from the New York Times about the extent of Photoshop retouching in magazines and whether it should be disclosed.
David Airey is a professional graphic designer and discussed Sex, Lies, and Photoshop on his blog previously. I'm glad to see that both genders are concerned about the topic of retouching and how it encourages negative self-esteem.
The Photoshop Effect blog post by Sarah of Diet.com is a companion to the video of her experience on a professional photo shoot and having her image retouched. There's also a second video where Sarah and experts further discuss retouching.

What do you think about the topic of the feminine "ideal?" Any more articles or videos you'd recommend? yecrqwzm7f

Book Recommendation: The Art Model's Handbook

2009-07-11T10:00:00.000-04:00

While I've only reviewed the samples on his website, Andrew Cahner's book looks like a great resource for models and those who work with models for figure drawing or life drawing. Even the sample chapters offer information that's bound to be useful for art models and those hiring art models. It's definitely the kind of book I would want to have on hand for reference if I were looking to hire a model.

Here's a little about the book, from the Art Model's Handbook website:

The Art Model’s Handbook explains what you need to know to model for art classes and professional artists. You’ll learn about the structure of a figure drawing session, how to come up with interesting poses, costume modeling, fine art photography, professional conduct, finding work, and security concerns. Awkward but important questions about nudity and body issues are addressed. Guidelines for faculty and sample policies are also included.

Based on the experience of the author, plus interviews with male and female models, artists, fine art photographers, and art school management, this is the definitive guide for art models, artists, and workshop leaders. The book is illustrated with figure drawings, paintings, sculpture, and photographs.

You can take a look at some excerpts from the book on the site, just select Table of Contents and Sample Chapters in the menu.

If you'd like to buy the book, it's available on Amazon.com

Andrew, by the way, is the model who supplied the pose reference for the Suko with a Rose illustration.

Which is More Readable? Black on White or White on Black?

2009-07-10T09:00:00.002-04:00

Speaking as someone who's studied typography, there are truths to both sides of this argument. I'm going to get a bit technical here, feel free to ask about any terms that seem confusing.

Black text on a light background is common in print because it is high contrast and very legible, but also because it's more cost-effective to print. Printing light text reversed out of dark ink is a little more involved and may involve trapping to ensure that fine lines aren't obscured by ink spreading through the substrate.

This is more of a problem with a lower-quality or toothy substrate. Newsprint, for instance, generally requires a low line screen value because ink spreads very easily. This also makes trapping a little more tricky. A coated paper (or even a calendared paper) found in art books and the like will require a higher line screen value, and trapping is easier.

When I say line screen, I'm referring to the halftone line screens used in most professional quality presses. It's similar to the process used by inkjet printers. Resolution (measured in Dots Per Inch for print) is closely related to line screen, being 1.5 to 2 times the line screen value. For newsprint, 150 dpi is usually crisp; for art books and more high resolution printing, 300 dpi is a common value.

Screen resolution is measured in Pixels Per Inch, which is similar to DPI. 72 ppi used to be a very common screen resolution. Nowadays, users often have larger screens capable of higher resolutions. This is something that web designers need to remember when setting type size on the web. Setting type in pixels is unreliable as the physical measurement changes based on resolution. But that's a topic for another post.

For the typography enthusiasts, there are 72 postcript points per inch when measuring type for print. That doesn't mean that type is printed at 72 dpi. Type is usually treated as vector shapes (which are considered resolution independent, so they will print at the highest possible resolution based on the print settings). Again, that's not really something I want to discuss in-depth for this post.

Back to the topic at hand: if we're really going to get specific, the issue is actually about high contrast for readability. For something like a projected presentation, white text on black is actually far more readable and less straining to read, regardless of the audience. In a dark room, it's easy to focus on bright letters but straining to focus on dark letters surrounded by a bright background.

Looking at a computer screen though, it boils down to things like age, visual acuity, and personal preference. It's also a mistake to treat print and on-screen media as overly similar. There are many errors that people make when they try to transition from one to the other. Certain things work in print that don't work on screen and vice versa.

There is high contrast between the primary type and the background on my art blog. But it is not black text on a white background (at least not when you visit the site, I can't control the display in feed aggregators). I chose a dark type on a light background combination as I want to appeal to as wide an audience as possible.

However, if I were designing a site that primarily targeted teenagers, light type on a dark background could work just fine. Teenagers online are more accustomed to looking at light text on a dark background.

There also needs to be some consideration given to serif versus sans-serif typefaces as well as the weight of a typeface. A very fine weight sans-serif can be hard to read in body copy when the text is lighter than the background. On screen this can cause some readability issues if the type is too thin or too small. In print, the type would need to be trapped more carefully so that letterforms aren't obscured, meaning that there are more possible problems with this combination in print.

Many studies will tell you that a sans-serif typeface is more readable on screen, and a serif typeface is more readable in print; but that's a bit subjective. There are certainly ways to use both on screen and in print effectively.

I have a program on my computer for checking contrast for colour-blind visitors called Sim Daltonism. I use it sometimes on my sites and sites I design for clients to ensure that there is distinguishable contrast for all text. It's a simple program, but it makes it easy to double-check contrast.

I hope you found this post interesting. Feel free to comment with any of your thoughts on the subject of contrast for readability.

Tutorial: How to Create a Modern Fantasy Character in Illustrator

2009-06-10T23:15:00.005-04:00

This tutorial covers the process of creating a fantasy pinup illustration with Illustrator CS3. This tutorial uses Live Paint, so you will need CS2 or above to follow. If you need an alternative method for a legacy version of Illustrator, please download my Creating Comics with Illustrator tutorial which includes instructions for that.

Only an abridged version is shown here. You can read the full tutorial on Vectortuts+ here.

Downloads for Following Along:

Highlight #1

When setting up a new document, I like to start with a layer named after the character (in this case, "Suko"), with these sublayers:

g – for character-specific guides (optional)
d – for top details and line work
sh – for shading and shine details that will be filled paths
c – for colour and shading with Live Paint

Feel free to use longer names that make more sense to you. You should also create a template layer at this point for your foundation drawing. I dim mine to 60% and set to unprintable (I delete the template later). Position the template image on the artboard and lock your template layer. My pencil sketch is available here, if you'd like to take a look.

Highlight #2

With the d layer active, start drawing with one of the calligraphic brushes with a black stroke set to 0.05 pt. Using a small stroke weight allows for a more delicate line. The brushes are angled to give subtle line variation.

It's easiest to start by drawing simpler lines first and leave the finer details such as facial features until later. I use the pen tool for drawing most lines. Use your pencil sketch as a guide, but don't be afraid to make corrections if you feel a line will look better if adjusted. Switch between the two brushes as necessary, if you find a line to be too thin or thick in a certain place.

Here's what the linework looks like when it's mostly done:

Highlight #3

Continue adding more details to your line work. Then, to make sure that the facial features are correct, unlock and show everything on all layers and sublayers. Rotate everything 90 degrees clockwise with the black selection tool (V) while holding down the Shift key. Adjust the facial features as needed, but ignore how the brush styles look altered. Use outline view (Command + Y) to see the paths without styles if that helps you while adjusting. I changed Suko's expression at this point to a slight smile. When you're happy with the changes, rotate everything back to the original position.

Highlight #4

When the line work is done, select and copy all of the paths on your d layer. Then lock all the layers you are not using and activate the c layer. Make sure that "paste remembers layers" is off.

Paste the copied line work on the c layer and delete any compound paths. Then, select everything on the c layer and convert to a Live Paint group by pressing Command + Option + X. You may receive a warning about brush styles being discarded. This is why the line work is on a separate layer.

Once you have your Live Paint group, hide your other layers. Use the direct selection tool (A) to select any superfluous paths that you won't need for Live Paint and delete them.

Select your Live Paint group and set the fill and stroke to none. Press X then / to do this quickly. Make the d layer visible again, but make sure only the c layer is unlocked. Now you can use the Live Paint bucket (K) to fill in your flat colours.

The image below shows partial flat colours and the gradient applied to the belt buckle (which I made as a compound path).

Highlight #5

Now we can move on to shading. Lock your Live Paint group and choose a bright colour that you are not colouring with. I usually use pink. Make sure you have no brush selected and set your stroke to 0.25 pt. You need to see the lines, but you don't want them too thick as you need to make sure the shaping is correct.

Draw outlines for the areas where you will add your shading. Some areas are easier to create shading outlines for by copying existing paths, ignore those for now. If you shaded your sketch well, use outline view to use your sketch as a guide. When you're done outlining, use the magic wand tool (Y) to select all the paths. Send them to the back of the layer by pressing Command + Shift + [. Unlock the Live Paint group and drag your selected paths into it via the layers palette.

When done correctly, you will see only your Live Paint group in the layer, but your paths will still be selected, as in the image below.

Press / to change the stroke to none if you haven't already. Deselect the paths and fill with your shading colours. Make adjustments as needed if there are gaps between paths that prevent you from filling.

When the bulk of the shading is completed for Live Paint, move to your sh layer to start adding extra details. I like to add a shaded accent to the eyes (alternatively, the accent can be lighter than the iris), and add small shading paths for the lips and the nose. You can also add shiny details to the skin and clothing. Use shiny accents on the skin minimally, you usually don't want you character to look like they have greasy skin.

The Final Image from the Tutorial:

This is only an abridged version of the tutorial. You can read the full tutorial on Vectortuts+ here.

Relevant Links:
The final illustration of Suko with a tiled background was shown in an earlier post (which includes links to the line work and sketch).

"Suko with a Rose" (with the tiled background) is available on RedBubble as prints.

Hope you enjoyed this tutorial!

Art Post: Lady with a Fan (Final)

2009-06-04T00:29:00.002-04:00

This gift illustration for my Mom is finally finished. I hope you like it! (I know she's happy with it)

Since the last post, I have made quite a few changes to the background. The trees you may recognize from my Alice and the Garden art post a while back.

I have, of course, changed the TWC incentive again. This time it's a sketch I drew of Aena last Friday.

The Designer and Client Relationship

2009-05-19T22:14:00.004-04:00

Here's an article I heard about today on Twitter that I found interesting:
The proper care and feeding of the in-house graphic designer (from the Jeff Fisher LogoMotives blog)

There are lots of great points in the article, it's a good read for in-house designers and those who work with them. It's also good as a general read for graphic designers and those who work with designers.

I think sometimes, from stories I've heard, that tensions tend to rise when clients and designers have trouble understanding each other. It may be necessary for the designer to give some idea to the client of what's needed to do a great job and what their working process is; but the client also needs to be able to step back and let some things happen behind the scenes before giving input. I think one of the greatest ways to build trust is for the designer to offer to give a little education about technicalities of design to the client. This is a way for the designer to show their expertise and helps the client understand the designer a little better.

Things like colour modes, resolution, and copyrights are good things to discuss in brief. The client doesn't need a ton of details, but they do appreciate knowing when things are being done correctly and knowing that the end result will be better for it.

I used to be an in-house graphic designer. It was something that I really enjoyed and learned a great deal from. I also made myself available to answer questions about design related things. I still work with that company, and they're one of my major freelance clients. I love working with them, corporate design is one of my specialties and I really get to be involved in so many areas of that with them :)

Prior to that, I worked at an engraving shop. In some ways, I think that had similarities to print on demand shops. It's high volume, high speed, and you deal with a lot of customers with different tastes. I always smiled when a customer said "you're the expert, please give me advice." What a great thing to say!

This carries over into design too. I always try to give advice on what I think will help the customer shine and I make a point of asking specific questions about things such as their needs, likes, and dislikes. Approval is always in the hands of the client, but the designer is there to offer creative solutions and help the client to meet their needs in the best way possible. And that's what we all want isn't it? The best possible solution to the task at hand :)

Illustrator Tip #2 - Knife versus Scissors

2009-05-19T01:11:00.003-04:00

Click the image to see a larger version. I have moved the separate pieces apart to show the divisions.

A friend asked me recently what the difference is between the knife and scissors tools. You'll notice in the image above that the knife tends to cut on a squiggly path. It also creates closed shapes, which isn't always what you want when modifying a shape.

Personally, I prefer the scissors tool (C). You can cut anywhere on the path to get exactly the line that you want. For closed shapes, you get more control by using the pathfinder palette with overlapping shapes.

Hope you found this tip useful! If you have an Illustrator question feel free to ask. Or, if you have a suggestion for a tip, feel free to let me know.

Art Post: Lady with a Fan (part three)

2009-05-15T13:56:00.005-04:00

I can finally reveal that this illustration is a Mother's day gift. While I'd gotten input on the sketch from my Mom earlier, I didn't tell her until Mother's day that the illustration was a custom gift for her. Kind of sneaky, but it worked out well for me! She said the lady kind of reminds her of Belle, from Disney's Beauty and the Beast. I kind of see it, but it was completely unintentional. I used the bright blue because it's my Mom's favourite colour :)

I've been making some changes since the image showed above, based on my Mom's preferences. She's pretty happy with it so far, I just have some minor changes to make. When it's done, I'm going to get it printed large so she can hang it on a wall. She's had art from me on the wall before, but nothing this detailed. I'm glad to give her something really nice and finished that she can display.

Changes I've made since include a different pattern on the ground (I switched it to a multi-coloured tile), the removal of the steps in the back, and the addition of some plants. The finished piece is viewable in this post.

My Mom enjoys Regency romance novels, so I used a little Regency inspiration for the clothing. The earlier changes to the sleeves and gloves were based on that. Obviously the bodice is completely wrong for Regency, as the dresses in that time had a vertical emphasis and often an empire waist line. For personal work, I tend to design fashion in a very eclectic way. I like using a particular period as a point of inspiration and then going beyond that and creating something unique, instead of creating something random. It's a nice change, and I like to encourage myself to experiment.

I should say that I'm defining fashion design rather loosely here. I'm drawing clothing, but I wouldn't know where to begin to physically create some of the more complicated pieces. Basic mending is about all I can do with a needle and thread. I would definitely be intrigued if someone felt inspired enough to attempt creating any of the clothing that I've drawn in my personal projects.

I hope you like the image so far :)

Art Post: Lady with a Fan (part two)

2009-05-08T22:21:00.004-04:00

Here's the initial progress on the vector of the lady with a fan (the sketch is viewable in this post). Just the flat colour here, but you can see most of the costume changes in this image.

I'm still working on this one behind the scenes, but I need to decide on some more background elements to add.

~~If you want to see further progress, you can check out today's TWC incentive. I'll be moving that image to my art blog as soon as I have a new incentive replacement.~~ The next progress image has moved to this post.

Hope you like the progress so far :)

Art Post: Lady with a Fan

2009-05-08T10:00:00.004-04:00

Just a little something I drew on the prompt "hats and hair." My mother said it seemed to have a bit of a Regency feel to it and made some suggestions about things I could add to give it a more obvious Regency inspiration. Drawn with fineliner marker and cleaned up in Photoshop.

I've been working on the vector version which includes changes to the sleeves and gloves, feathers added to the hat (thanks to my mom's suggestion), and I added a bow and flower where the top skirt parts.

I still have some more work to do on the shading for the digital, as well as creating most of the background. It's coming along, but I still have quite a bit of work to do to finish it.

Hope you enjoy this initial line art :)

Portfolio Site Update: New Design and Illustration Pieces

2009-05-06T23:15:00.002-04:00

I've made some updates to my portfolio website.

In the design section, there are some new pieces that I completed for Swastika Laboratories (you can see the page of items created for them here). I designed their website to focus on the content while also strengthening their branding. I also designed some forms for them. Forms are one of my favourite things to design, but I don't get to do them very often. My educational background is really in print design, so I like getting the chance to work on some print projects as well as web projects. It's nice to balance the two, it keeps me on my toes :)

In the illustration section, there are some newly added Green Corner and Alice Project images. They've been shown here, but you can get a quick look at a selection of them in my portfolio.

I think the illustration page will need some more organization soon. It can be a bit tricky to arrange the thumbnails as they are. I prefer to give an idea of the entire image in the thumbnail, but the illustration pieces tend to vary a lot in size, so I may have to rethink that in future. I'm also debating the removal of traditional media from the illustration section, as the pieces are a bit old. I find that traditional media tends to be less forgiving when it's older. But I guess that's a good thing, as it means I'm improving. I am open to doing something traditional again, but it's not requested very often. Vector illustration is an area where I feel more skilled, and it's very flexible, so I tend to gravitate to that for personal projects.

General Updates:
I changed my portfolio site background to a subtle gradient. I was using a pattern for a while, but it didn't feel right. I think the gradient is cleaner and maintains the aesthetic I was going for from the very beginning: for the work to be the focus, and the site to look nice and be user-friendly but never distract from the work. I also streamlined a little more coding and removed an older page. And there's a new link in the menu to my Bubblesite for purchasing prints, in case anyone feels inclined to do so :)

Hope you like the changes. I have tested the site but, if I missed something, I appreciate a quick note pointing me in the direction of the problem so that it can be fixed as soon as possible.

Art Post: Sketch for My Twitter Page

2009-05-05T16:18:00.002-04:00

This is a pencil sketch of me and my cat, Tabitha. I plan to do a digital version of this later to add to my Twitter page.

I'm holding a Cross mechanical pencil in my right hand, in case you were wondering :) It's my favourite pencil for sketching.

The clothing is based on things I own. I may make some edits for accuracy in the digital.

Usually, Tabitha sits on my left shoulder and watches things behind me. I didn't really want to draw her like that though. I thought showing her face would be better.

When I hold Tabitha, I usually support her with my forearm, close to my waist. I don't usually hold her as shown, but I took some liberties for the sketch. I'm not sure yet if I want to move her to my shoulder and then put a sketchbook or something else in my left hand.

I just realized, I parted my bangs backwards in the sketch. Oops! I'll have to fix that later.

Hope you enjoy the sketch :)

Art Post: Suko with a Rose Green Corner Special

2009-05-03T16:03:00.008-04:00

I posted the pencil for this drawing a while back, in this post.
And the inked linework is in this post.

Here's the Final Image (click to enlarge):

The final image can be purchased as a print on RedBubble, here.

I'm not sure if I want to add more detail to the background. If I do, I will update the RedBubble prints. Hope you like the image!

Are you are attending the Toronto Comics Art Festival on May 9-10, 2009?
If so, you can contact me directly for 8.5" x 11" prints (of any of the Green Corner specials or Alice Project drawings). These are $7 CAD, signed (if you don't want it signed, just let me know). Prints I make will have a white border around the edges.

I can give you a print (or prints) in person at TCAF, but you need to contact me first to set up a meeting and notify me so that I can bring prints with me. I'll just be walking around, so you might not spot me unless you know what I look like. If you do spot me, please say "hello" and ask for a card :)

You can e-mail me by clicking on a "contact me" link on my portfolio site. I don't think encryption works in the blog, sorry!