Thursday, March 09, 2006
Beetle
This is my response image for Illustration Friday.com category "Insect".The complete illustration was done in Adobe Illustrator CS. Drawn from scratch in the Illustrator program (no template to trace over etc), the beetle was drawn from one side, then reflected horizonally and transformed together. The leaves were made (sized, coloured & rotated) out of one leaf from the Illustrator symbols library.
I have been using Adobe Illustrator for 18 years, and find that it is a perfect program for graphic design and Illustration. I would be happy to give details for any questions anyone would care to ask about this illustration.
posted by Rob Mackintosh at 1:10 PM
14 Comments:
being clean and crisp makes it so pleasing and wonderful to appreciate.
Wow! This really pops! I am most impressed with your Illustrator skills...I consider myself to be ok at it. I do have one question, if you don't mind looking at my latest post (actually for Tea as well) ...how come when I save the EPS as a JPEG and post it on the site it doesn't have the crispness that it should? It looks a bit blurry....any thoughts? Much appreciated!
This is superb. I love the colors.
A question- I have seen a number of illustrations that are said to be pencil sketches colored in photoshop. I just received photoshop for Christmas and am utterly ignorant of its attributes. Do you know of any good tutorials on this? Is it hard?
I've been wondering for weeks now and all my attempts at 'figuring it out for myself' have been, well...
Hi Amy,
Here's what you should know:
My "beetle illustration" was exported out of Illustrator as a PhotoShop file, I then opened it in PhotoShop, cropped the image to eliminate any "masked hangouts" and then clicked edit in ImageReady from the PS file menu. In ImageReady, I chose jpg as the file type and trial and error took the jpg settings down to 30, I then used the Unsharp mask to slightly sharpen the image to my satisfaction and then saved the optimized image, and that was it.
So I assume that you were not using the export feature in illustrator, and that you also aren't using the Unsharp mask in PhotoShop. If you use these steps, I am sure you will see a difference.
I think the most important step when ever images change format (vector to pixels or even downsized pixels to pixels) the final step should be to use the Unsharp mask. Be careful, unsharp(ing) is easy to overdo!
Hi Charity,
As for a good tutorial, stay tuned to this blog.
I know PhotoShop appears hard, but you'll be surprised once you start using it. What I'm going to suggest is that you start using it by just doing small tasks, or even test tasks. Always work on a dup or copy of your file and you can't ruin the original.
For coloring pencil sketches here are starting steps:
1) Scan you drawing in PS-FILE/IMPORT/(choose your scanner)
2) The new file opens into an untitled window ready to adjust.
3) If not open at the right side of your screen, open the Layers window (in PS-WINDOW/LAYERS)
4) Create a new layer (click bottom, square icon with folded corner)
5) Go back to the main drawing window to start working and any work you do will only go on the layer that you have clicked on in the layers window. Experiment with the tools on the left use the brushes, change colors etc. and if you don't like something, for now just turn off that layer and make another. Your pencil image scan will become the background layer, you can add as many layers above it as you wish. The final image can be saved as a photoshop format doc. and the layers will always be available, or the image can be flattened (dropdown menu at top right of layers window) an saved as a jpg., tif. etc.
This is by no means a tutorial, but it will get you started and the best way to learn is to explore the tools (some of the icons relate to the tools use).
Good luck.
this is a fantastic rendering.
well. it's an realistic and handsome illo, fine tuned skillfully, I do all/almost all my work in Paintshop Pro, all your as well, so I like it all the more.
Impressive technically and for the artistic choices. All the varieties of green reflect nature's variety.
Wow. I wouldn't have guessed that Illustrator has been around for 18 years! So you've basically grown up with it.
I just wish they didn't have the price tag way up there. I refuse to pirate and simply can't invest that much right now; but PSP is good, it just lacks the better vector handling that I'd like to have.
Very nice looking bug, BTW! :-)
amazing beautiful illustration work!! GREAT illo!
This is really a nice looking beetle, and your illustration really pops. A number of people participating in this week's IF are saying things like "I don't really like bugs", etc. Pictures like this bring out the beauty of insects, and may just change a few minds.
PERFECT
I love illustrator, it is the perfect program ;)
Hi bubblegum,
Thanks, I do all my graphic work in Illustrator, the overlooked one from the PhotoShop/Illustrator duo. I plan on offering demonstrations on this blog on both Illustrator and PhotoShop, so check back frequently. For now, just ask and I'll try to answer. I will immediately make a new post for Illustrator Q&A, so anyone can ask questions there.
--Rob
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