Tutorials: Vector Portraits

It's been a long while since I made my last vector portrait. These are some recent tutorials I'd love to work on soon. All these artists just come up with awesome stuff, and they help out others by making these really cool tutorials. Here are some of them:

1.  Photoshop Tutorial: New Tricks for Vector Portraits

Artist Daniel Caballero shares the process in making this awesome vector portrait. 

He also talks about how to use the Pen tool, and also explains how to add and change details and elements to give the piece a hand drawn look.

2. Illustrator Tutorial: How To Create A Self-Portrait in Geometric Style

Here's a tutorial on making a vector portrait with just geometric shapes in Illustrator.

3. Photoshop: Texture Effects with Vector Graphics

Pure awesomeness. Definitely check this out. An artistic depiction a Twitter user made by Charles Williams. Will learn a lot from this when I try it out.

So...that's it. These are stuff you should definitely try out. 

Thanks for reading!

Process - Relient K Chibi Magnets

It was around 2005 when our cousin introduced us to Relient K. He lent us a copy of their album MMHMM and I was around 12 years old then. Ever since, I've greatly related to most of their songs and we'd dream of them visiting here in the Philippines. I thought it would be awesome if we could see them live and tell them how awesome they are.

Years later, and behold, they were here and I had the privilege to meet them! Last September 28 and 29, I've been to their shows and also had the privilege to meet them and gave them these cute magnets.  It was an awesome time.

In this post, I'll talk about the process in making the gifts I gave the band - chibi magnets of Matt Hoopes and Matt Thiessen.

First off, I drew both of these awesome guys on a sketch paper,
doing my best to make them look similar to the two Matts.

Using the pen tool, let's trace the characters to form lineart.
You can check here for an awesome tutorial on how to use the pen tool.  

Lineart's a little close to being done. It still looks messy, so we'll adjust them in a bit.

More lineart. Looks really cute! 

Now we'll add the colors, using the pen tool and adding a clipping mask for the shadows.

Now we add more detail by using the brush tool to add some life to the colors,
again using a clipping mask.

Now that the kawaii chibis are done, let's make the magnets!

I visited an office supply store and purchased some magnetic paper. Then used that paper and printed the images.

Cut the magnets carefully with scissors and here they are! Ready to be given as gifts to the most awesome bromance ever, the two Matts of Relient K. 

Here are some photos I took from Relient K's show. 

Thank you so much guys for coming here to the Philippines!

P.S.: They love the magnets and posted a photo on their Instagram. It feels awesome!

Illustrator Tutorial - Watercolor and Marker Style Portrait

This tutorial from DesignInstruct.com shows us how to make a watercolor and marker style portrait in Illustrator. Try it out for yourself and create your own portraits! Following through this tutorial is so much fun.

Here are the portraits I created from following this tutorial:

8 of the Cutest Character Design Tutorials for Illustrator

Here are 10 awesome cute and simple vector character design tutorials for Photoshop and Illustrator.

1. Create a Cute Panda Bear Face Icon

2. How to Create a Cute Bunny Vector Character

Process: Vector Portrait (Time Lapse Video)

Check out this time lapse video on making a vector portrait with that elegant and rosy effect.

Feel free to also subscribe to my youtube channel and follow this blog for updates, resources and tutorials.

Thanks!

Create a Launcher Theme for Your Android Device

I just recently got a cheap-o Android tablet and ventured towards the colorful world of free apps at the Google Play store. Other than all this awesomeness at the palm of my hands, I couldn't help but wonder about the creation process behind it - the how - and thought if I could try out making a few things for the device on my own. With the tablet craze going around, it's surely a nice thing to learn about these things and the hype around the world to this new technology.

GO Launcher EX

One interesting app I've found is GO Launcher EX. One of the top apps for Android customization, you can fully turn your Android device's default launcher from looking like blah to awesome.

With more than 10,000 themes to choose from, fancy effects, gestures, it's the launcher app that's loved by many. The thing I love most about the app is how there are so many themes to choose from, and I felt excited when I found out that I could easily create my own too!

Creating Your Own Go Launcher Themes

Yeah! The developers of GO Launcher have a theme maker for their app. By registering to their website, you could create a launcher theme through their browser-based editor and be on your way to publishing your personal theme.

Here's a preview of the GO theme maker you can use by registering on their website.

The theme maker has two modes: Easy Mode and Advanced Mode. With Easy Mode, you can make simple changes to a pre-made theme. With Advanced Mode, you can take the level higher by customizing your own and changing all of its elements.

I haven't tried making a complete theme yet, but I am on my way to implementing that idea I've got. There are so many professional-looking ones in the theme store, so if I were to make one, I'm gonna have to do my best! Let's see how that turns out.

If you're an artist and have an Android device, this is definitely an interesting route to venture. Your theme could possibly be installed by the millions of Android users out there who have the app.

Check out the GO Themes Factory website here and start making your themes, or if you don't want to, you can check out the awesome ones other artists have made and set it as your own device's theme. :)

And to the developers, thank you for making this awesome app!

Tutorial: Turn Yourself into Onceler from The Lorax

In this video tutorial, I'll show you how I made this art of myself as Onceler from the movie The Lorax.

He's one of my favorite movie characters! Hopefully this tutorial serves as a guide on how you could create an art of yourself as your own favorite characters!

Here is the artwork done completely.

And here's the video explanation on how I created it. 

I didn't get into much detail with it, but I hope you got the idea of it and that this helps you to create your own artwork.

Thanks for watching!

Don't forget to follow the blog. :)

Process: An Apple To An Artwork

What can you do with an apple?

And nope, I'm not talking about the guys behind the iPad and Mac.

A few months ago, I joined a vexel art contest on deviantART where the mechanics were to make a vexel artwork out of this apple right here. But before we proceed, try asking the question:

"If you were to create something from an apple what would you make?"

Well, let's see what I've come up with! Not that I'm proud of it.

The Gory Insides

 

Hmm... apple. May not be an accurate way to tell what's inside but this was the concept I thought of.

Using the pen tool set to 'Path', I used those paths to make the lines, fill in the red part of the apple, the leaf and that little stem thing.

More details revealing what I have planned for our apple. You can see the core of the apple right there, looks kind of like a cave... and then at the surface, you see something like land and water. Using the same tool for this step.

And Then Suddenly...A Wild Rainbow Appears

 

Looks kind of weird right now. What's that rainbow have to do with the apple and that sun? or is that a moon Also using the same tool for this step.

On The Inside

I've added a man, and a few frames hanging around inside the apple.

 Finished Artwork

And here is the finished artwork for the contest. It shows the young man inside a fresh red apple.

I'll leave you guys to interpret what it means.

I won 2nd place for this contest so..it's a really great achievement.

Process: Coloring a Cartoon Illustration for a School Club

I just finished coloring an illustration for my previous school. I really like how it turned out and would just like to share with you all the process I did in coloring with Photoshop.

The Cute Drawing

Here we see the drawing and the book with some characters and the words "Youth POWER". This is for a club we have in my high school, promoting the reading of books in the English language. 

The illustration is colored nicely with crayons, and I really like the characters the artist made. The wide happy grin really brings out a lot to these characters, making the image of the club look fun. 

Using a scanner, we scan this drawing and then proceed to opening it in Photoshop.

The Tools

The three main tools I used to color this in Photoshop:

Pen Tool (for making lineart, for filling and for making shadows)

Ellipse Tool (for creating perfect circles)

Clipping Mask and Layer Mask (for the shadows and other details)

Text Tool (for adding the small text)

Now There Are Lines

I used the pen tool to make the lineart. There are other ways to make the lines, but I use the pen tool and trace over the lines from the drawing. After that, I proceeded to color the words in the middle, also with the use of the pen tool.

Color is Life

 

With the use of the same versatile tool, I proceed to give color to the characters. First with their hair, next is the skin, and then later, the other colors (like the owl, their clothes, the books, the computer).

Now to bring life to their cheerful faces..all looking so excited to read their books. Using the pen tool, I trace the original drawing, also making changes to the paths when I feel like it. You can see that most of their eyes are different from the original drawing. Using the ellipse tool, I hold down shift to make perfect circles for the eye lights.

Details and Shadows

 

Here's where we make use of the pen tool + clipping mask combo to make things easier. I won't be explaining that and layer masks in detail but you can get a headfirst here. What I did here is add the shadows like in the book. It's not too noticeable in the characters though.

Finished Coloring!

With the other details added, this is finished and with this, I think the book club is going to soar to great wonders! Well, do you think I did well?

 Feel free to comment what you think!

Vector Portraits: Making Hair Strands (Basic)

I've made a video tutorial on making hair strands for vector portraits. I remember finding it so much fun to do and very interesting. Often, when I am making these portraits, I really have no idea how it's gonna turn out but then I surprise myself when it comes out really beautiful.

So here's the video. It's not actually a tutorial though - I just captured how I make the process for the base hair, and haven't put it into much detail. (Sorry about that.)

With the pen tool set to make paths, not to make shapes, I create single curved strokes and then while holding Ctrl + Alt, I drag each stroke to duplicate it and to make multiple copies of paths. With the brush set to Opacity 100% and the second default Hard Round brush, I stroke the path and...voila!

The video shows me how I copy all these to make the hair of the subject. Well, I didn't really capture how I made the rest of the hair, and wishing I did, but for the rest of the hair, I've done the same process except with varying colors and brush sizes. 

And here is how it turned out when I finished making it.

Just Kerryn by tacticianjenro

Sorry about not explaining how I made the rest of the portrait but hopefully I could make more tutorials in the near future. I made this last September of 2012. And also, let me just add that Kerryn makes very good food. :)

Thanks for reading!

Vector Portraits: An Introduction

Vector Portraits

Digital and vector portraits are popular nowadays. It makes a great gift for friends and loved ones, and in my experience, it's also a great way to train on keeping us focused. Vector portraits are not too hard to make, but of course you need a little bit of learning. But learning is a great thing, right?

"Geraldene" by Tactician Jenro

I first found my interest in vector portraits when my friend introduced me to a Filipino group of vector artists called Vector X Vexel PH. Prior to that, I wasn't as interested in making art as I am now and it helped me to take a leaf and try to learn. Since then, I made more and tried my best to improve. Here on the left is the first vector portrait I made from a year ago. I think it looks okay for a first. :)

A self portrait I made.

The Process

Vector portraits are not created from scratch. You take a reference photo of the subject you'd like to create into a portrait, and basically try to "remake" the picture and make it into a digital one.  

This is all made possible with the pen tool.  It's a very versatile tool found in software like Photoshop and Illustrator and you can learn the basics to using it in this tutorial. This is the most important tool!

I won't be going to the entire process in detail, but I'll try to write some "how-to" posts on how I make some of the portraits next time. :)

But, if you'd like to learn more, there are a lot of tutorials around YouTube. I also recommend going to this site and it has everything you need to know about vector portraits.

I hope that encourages you to try it out. Thanks for reading!