March 2008 Archives

Here's, a book any person could love.

I had an illustration request for Martin Luther King Jr. for a Living package that will publish next Tuesday.

Here, is the original pencil sketch.

I then scanned the sketch and brought it into Photoshop CS3. I added several layer effects and filters to give me the final result of illustration you see here.

Every year we do a Prom round-up. And every year we need to design a page for it.
Here, was my first idea I started this about a month ago.

Well, I'm very indecisive, comes with being an artist. Artists are always changing their minds about things.
I love fashion and I love the look of fashion illustrations. So here is my preliminary sketch I did.

I then scanned in my sketch. Resized it and saved it as a BMP and placed into Illustrator CS3. I then used the live trace and did some adjustments and the end result is what you see here.

Check out this

The two little old women are not real. They are the realistic sculptures of Australian-born sculptor Ron Mueck.
You, can check out an online gallery with the link below.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/gallery/2005/12/29/GA2005122900888_index_frames.htm?startat=1

Ha, this is just too funny not to share...

And I loooovvvve McDonalds’ french fries

Here, are some more examples of vector art mimicking realism. I did these pieces of art about 10 years ago. They were entirely created in Illustrator version 7. No effects or filters were used. A combination of blends gradients, and masks were used to achieve highlights, shadows, and detailed reflections.

A table light that used to sit on my drawing desk when I was in college.

This was inspired by manga.

My first car that I truly owned.

I love bugs...

My son, Vincent, turned 4 yesterday.
His favorite gift was a set of pro-like golf clubs.
So his daddy took him out for a round of golf. Watch out Tiger Woods...

My husband was watching Oprah today, and she had Simon Cowell from American Idol on. My husband tells me to guess what kind of car Simon drives. It's a Bugatti.

So, in turn I decide to create a Bugatti in Illustrator CS3.

This is not completed illustration. You'll have to tune in to see the final illustration...

I'm addicted to the Swatches palette in Adobe Illustrator. The colors are preselected to compliment one another. The swatch group I'm loving at the moment is the Bright swatches.

Below is a Teen page design I am working on. The color scheme is the Bright palette. I have also used this same palette for my Dr. Seuss inspired FLIPSIDE Weekend page that runs tomorrow in the York Daily/Record.

Here, are some detail shots of the crab and seagull. Aren't they cute?

My 4-year-old son was playing video games with his big sister tonight, so I took this opportunity to play around in Illustrator CS3.

This is the start of a cellphone illustration. Fig.1a is the preview mode and Fig. 1b is the outline view.
Fig.1a

Fig.1b

Fig.2a

Fig.2b

In Fig.2 I have added the keypad and numbers along with the top slider. All the shading that you see is with careful manipulations of the gradient slider palette.

And ta-da! The final illustration. Total creation time: Approximately 40 mins

I used one drop shadow effect, but otherwise the phone is completed made up of gradients.

Below is the outline mode of the illustration.

This was my favorite Super Bowl commercial.

I love Project Runway and this season had an all-star cast of characters. My fav would be Christian.

SNL did a Project Runway parody, that is too funny for words. Ok, Fierce! comes to mind. So check out this fierce SNL skit.

Have you ever been a kid? Well, if you have, then do I have a fun page for you to look for in this Saturday's FLIPSIDE Weekend.

A Mad-lib Dr.Seuss inspired page.
Here's, a small peek at my Seuss like characters.

I'm so excited one of my closest friends just got us tickets to see Frida Kahlo at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

She is such a wonderful artist and her personal life is just as colorful.

I'm taking my sketchbook along too to do some drawing studies.

There is also a Cezanne exhibit at the museum.

To learn more about the Frida Kahlo go to http://www.philamuseum.org/exhibitions/278.html

This is a simple illustration of a circle with a drop shadow and highlights.

Fig. 1

Fig. 2

Can you tell which one was created by blends and which one uses the drop shadow and inner glow effects?
Answer: Fig. 2 is the blended circle and the file size is 460KB
Fig. 1 uses the effects and it's a whopping 900KB

Neither one of these graphics makes for a big file, but the difference is try multplying the usage of effects and filters to a couple hundred times when it comes to a more complex illustration.

Don't get me wrong Fig. 1 is smoother at closer examination, but not by much and with practice and really studying the object you are rendering the blends can become just as smooth without using the effects which can increase file size dramatically.

So, have fun with the filters and effects in Adobe Illustrator CS, but caution in heavy-handed use of them.

I love Adobe Illustrator CS3. It's got some of the most powerful filters and effects to rival its cousin Photoshop, but be warn, just because there’s a drop shadow filter effect just a button click away, know that alot of these same filters can be created with carfeul planning of blends and gradients, which can keep the file size of your artwork down.

The above example is an Illustration done completely in Illustrator 7. All the highlights and shadows were created using subtle blends and gradients.

Here are some more detail shots.

I was going through some of my old illustrations for the newspaper. And I came across one I did in August 2004.

It was a cover for the Friday magazine, which we don't do anymore, but I like the perspective and style I used in the illustration.

An illustration can be simple, but add some perspective and it can transform a simple illustration that is more interesting to the the viewer.