Tuesday, May 11, 2010

From Sketch to Final: Crocodile Art Final

Here is the final croc art piece.
Once my "final" sketch was complete, I took it into Flash to do the finished line work in vector. I then exported the line work as an .eps and brought it back into Photoshop as a Spmart Object so I could resize it without losing any of the quality of the line. Then I proceeded to color it in in PS, and VOILA, finished illustration!

15 comments:

Di said...

OOH absolutely lovely!

Lynn Alpert said...

I love it - I see a Richard Scarry influence. I was wondering – in your opinion, what are the advantages of creating in Flash as opposed to Illustrator?

claudine hellmuth said...

amazing! it looks like watercolor! I would love to take a class from you to find out how to get that effect!

Mary Beth said...

OMG, it's beautiful Kathy!

Renee Kurilla said...

This is so much fun! I love that you're using Flash and Photoshop together..it's really fun isn't it? :) Croc's expression is great

Tamara Henderson said...

This looks great! Thanks for the tip!

Gina Perry said...

Awesome, awesome, awesome! I love the little giraffe & zebra sipping lattes in the background. Beautiful work Kathy - I enjoy seeing your process too.

Unknown said...

Thanks everyone!

Renee - I'm all over Flash for line work these days. Sometimes for coloring in, too. It's terrible that they have not optimized it for use additionally as a straight illustration tool. I've pouted many a time when my file is too large and is slow or crashes because it really is not stable for larger illustrations. Oh well, I suck it up and use it still because it is still the best most natural vector drawing tool for my money and time!!

Claudine - Thanks!! Me, teach? Wow, maybe I will some time. I think I would like to. (I never thought I'd say that, but there it is.)

Redhead- Thanks! I loved Scarry when I was a kid. I still do. What wonderful characters. I used to love to look at those illustrations for days, because you could look at them for days. He was a big influence on me I think, definitely in that sense, the busy "big scene" sense. Not intentionally but these things seep in don't they, when you are not looking I guess. He hee. :)
As for Flash vs. Illustrator, the drawing tool in Flash is just more natural to me. It's terrible on one hand because in Flash, you get ONE brush. ONE brush not the many you get in Illustrator. But wehat can I say? That one brush works in a more natural way for me. I still use Illustrator to draw in, but I really RELY on Flash for my clean vector line work. It is my Go-To for line work.


Gina - Thanks!! Aren't they fun - little shopping Zebra and Giraffe - girlfriends out for the day. Very fun. I'd love to show my process some time-like, the seedy underbelly part of the process. That will have to wait for another day. When I posted this, I laughed when I wrote "VOILA!" because it certainly was NOT "VOILA!" type of a situation-ha!! But I love experimenting, it's part of what makes art so much fun... Ok it is a lot of work, but it is a BIG part. :)

Di, Tamara, Mary Beth - THANKS ladies, I'm glad you like it so much!! :) Appreciate the notes!

Unknown said...

Oh Kathy I luv! Awsome work! I just could not wait to see it in color! I really appreciate you explaining your process, too! You are such an awsome illustrator& instructer.

Unknown said...

Oh, I also meant to say I like your new header. Looks great! One more thing, I do know how to spell I did a little oopsy with a few of my words above!:-)

Suzanne Del Rizzo said...

Love it Kathy! I really like the sense of depth and all of the fun details in this piece. From the different fonts on the billboards, busy people in the background, and the cool textures on the croc's jacket and hat, so much to take in- amazing!

Unknown said...

Thanks so much Carmen and Suzanne! I'm glad you like.

Carmen, I'd like to do a tute on the painting process some time, but honestly it is such a "process" that it's daunting to think about how I would capture it for the blog. Maybe I'll plan that out some time.

Loni Edwards said...

Kathy, this turned out beautifully! I love all of the things going on in it.

Wendy Wright said...

This is such an awesome piece! I love looking at it....so much fun and so NY! I love your colors and your treatment of textures! :)

Jannie aka Chickengirl said...

WOW!!! I LOVE this! The composition is so strong; there are so many details yet its not confusing and very fun to look at. I love the colors too. awesome!