Emma Stone...

A major goal I've had with my recent Illustrations is to capture a person's likeness. With this Illustration I wanted to also add an element of photo realism while keeping this a vector drawing. There were many challenges along the way, some of which I feel I could do better if given the opportunity, others I feel I was very successful with in how I handled it.

Created with Adobe Illustrator CS3

Tyrion Lannister

Here is the final complete figure illustration. I haven't worked out a background for it, and I may add one later on. As it stands, I'm really happy with how this turned out. There is a lot of detail you can't quite grasp at this scale, but I like that as you zoom in more details become apparent.

Created with Adobe Illustrator CS3

Illustration Process : Step 4

Previously I discussed adding base colors and why they're a good tool to use when establishing a mood in an illustration. Now it's time to add depth to the image by adding shadows and highlights.

Step 4 : Shadows

I like to start with shadows first and then add the highlights after. Shadows can really set an image into a scene by pushing the foreground into the background. They can quite easily add volume and dimension to an image and help to give it form.

However, they can be quite tricky too. I try to never use solid black when I make illustrations as it tends to be a little too heavy. By adding a little color you can still get some interesting detail within the dark nooks of an image. Plus, black doesn't have any color information within it so if you're trying to establish a mood, adding black can break the effect.

Step 4 : Highlights

The highlights are where things really tend to pop. Once the shadows are in place, you can use highlights to pull elements of the image towards you and help to define the forms you're trying to illustrate. Highlights can also help to describe the texture of an object. smooth and shiny objects will tend to have very bright and tightly drawn highlights, while objects that are more dull will have very weak and diffused highlights.

Illustration Process : Step 3

Previously I talked about the process I use when doing line work and how it's important to get a solid line drawing early on in the illustration. Now that that's complete, it's time to begin adding color.

Step 3 : Base Colors

I treat coloring in multiple stages, the first of which are the base colors. Base colors are important because they help establish the over all color tone of an image before you get too deep into an image to make adjustments. They help give you a pretty good sense of what the final image might look like.

I begin first by adjusting the colors used in the line work. This helps me visually separate the areas of the illustration that are drawn similarly yet have different tones. This also helps me get a high level sense of the colors I want to use as fills.

Next, I add the fill colors. It's important to find colors that describe the material of the object in the image, but you also have to ensure that the color feels like it belongs alongside the other colors of the illustration. I'm no expert on color theory, but I feel the colors I've put together work nicely.

Now that I'm happy with the base colors, I can move on to adding more detail, shadows, and highlights to my colors.

Illustration Process : Step 2

Previously I talked about finding good reference images and doing a little research prior to building an illustration is helpful. Now I'll take a look at the early stages of building that illustration using Adobe Illustrator.

Step 2 : Basic Line Work

Sometimes I'll do some quick sketches on paper of what I want, other times when the vision is clear to me I'll just dive right in. I prefer illustrating with Adobe Illustrator as my end product is a vector image that can be scaled to any size and still look sharp and crisp. However, I don't enjoy using a single path to define my lines. When I draw the shape of a head, for example, I draw it twice. First I draw a larger path that defines the outer edge of the shape, then I draw a second smaller path that defines the inner edge of that shape. The lines don't match up perfectly, which is what I want, so when I punch the smaller shape out of the larger I end up with a line that has varying weight throughout it and feels more organic. I do this throughout the illustration.

This is a crop of the initial figure line work. While I got fairly detailed with the face as I wanted it to look like the actor who plays Tyrion in the TV series, I haven't yet added the details to his costume.

Step 2 : Refinement

I spend some time zooming in and out of the image to ensure there is a consistency in line weight and path quality throughout the image. I like to ensure my paths butt up against one another leaving no gaps behind that might eventually cause issues. Tight line work saves a lot of headache later on.

I also finish adding any details and elements that might overlap the previous round of shapes. For example, there are straps that tie the sides of Tyrion's vest together, but they would overlap the line work that actually shows his vest is separated down it's center. To help keep that detail easy to find in my file, I put them in separate layers. I also add any other overlapping details such as the flourishes in his vest.

From here I proceed in to adding the base colors.

Illustration Process : Step 1

I recently started an illustration of Tyrion Lannister from the Game of Thrones. Progress is slow as this is a rather large and detailed illustration that I'm developing. I wanted to post about it as I move through all the various development stages I typically use while creating such an Illustration.

Step 1 : Pre-development Research

Pre-development generally involves researching the subject and getting familiar with all the elements that I want to show. Here are some images I found of Tyrion from the HBO TV series as this is the version of Tyrion I want to illustrate.

The lower image has a good view of his body and some nice detailing of his clothing that I may use, while the top is a much cleaner view of his face. My illustration will have to basically merge the two images seamlessly to arrive at the Tyrion I want to show.

I'll admit that I don't always have a clear plan for a background, but when ever I find something that's interesting I'll grab it and hold on to it. It doesn't always even need to be from the same material as my subject. I don't believe I'll add a background this time around, but I can always add one in the future.

After I'm happy with my reference images and research, I'll begin the line work.