Green Eyed Girl

[MetteBB]

Just finished this vector. I'm still pretty new to the whole vector drawing field so tell me what you think.... Help me get better!

:)

[RadioactveChimp]

looks nice mette! I would suggest simplifying the ear a little, it's too complicated and weird looking. Who's this of by the way?

[unchew]

That looks really nice. You could maybe change some hairs because some look rectangular :P

[Lukus]

Looks a bit like Bjork :P

Very nice :) I agree with the ear comment tho ...

[.soulty]

nice start, try not to use single stroke lines, you get a much nicer result if you create some fills that change in thickness, similar to drawing, create thick and thin lines for profile to create a more artistic result. (basically a fill with skewed-in sections)

[MetteBB]

Ok... I agree about the ear... But how can I make it look like an ear if I simplify it?

.soulty... I'm not sure if its too early in the morning or if it's just me, but I didn't really understand what you meant. Are you suggesting I use gradiens fills?

I could possibly be that it looks like Bjork cos I did it after a pic of her ;) Not very original, but hey.


Thanx for the comments guys :D

/mette

[B3NKobe]

Looks like my mom!!

[.soulty]

no no... i didnt mean gradient fills... one sec let me show u

edit:: look at the pic below, see the difference of the weight of the lines, its give your graphic much more depth and artistic appeal. thats what i meant.

: note my image is sorta cartoony since i just used my tablet to quicker throw that out, you can get the same result using different path fill shapes, for example the image below the head was creating using just filled paths.

[MetteBB]

ok... that made more sense ;) Guess I'm a show and tell kinda girl.

I do the vectors in Flash which I know is not the BEST tool, but its handy for me. What program would you guys suggest I use/ what programs do you use?

I dont have Illustrator but I'm thinking about getting it (when I get some money). Would that be an option ?


/mette

[.soulty]

most definitely illustrator is an option, its probably the most used application on my computer, I did those drawings above in illustrator. You can use flash to draw that style of illustration but flash is a pain in the butt when it comes to drawing in my opinion.

[iLikePie]

you're a smart man soulty :P
i really think that the varied stroke widths would look great with your style of drawing... this kind of portrait just cries out for a bit more depth.

it's definitely a nice piece, especially since you're still starting out... here's what i would look at (not to say they're all BAD points, but it's what i noticed first):

1. with the shading, remember you don't need to follow your image exactly (i'm assuming you used a photo reference). While what you've done near the cheek/ear bit might be technically accurate to your photo, when i look at it now it doesn't seem natural, the shapes are a bit odd and cover unexpected areas of flesh. Generally what you're trying to do in an image like this is convey the feel of the picture as best you can, and i think that instead of adding a sense of volume and 3d-ness to it, your shading doesn't always do that (though some bits do it well). Often this just means you need to adjust the shape of the tone blocks... in my opinion one of the hardest things about vectoring is working out how much detail to leave out vs. adding in.
overall i think you've done well here, but there are a few bits i'd revisit.

2. Like others said, the ear is too detailed for the rest of the pic. You could try just ignoring the smaller sections and only blocking in major parts... particularly with something like an ear, people won't even notice at first as their attention is elsewhere, and it also doesn't need to be fully realistic (or else your whole piece needs to be like that, which is really hard to do and while its cool, is a bit redundant (use a photo!!)). but i digress.

3. There are a few small areas wehre i think a bit of tone is needed to add to the volume of the face - in the eye socket there's generally a bit of shadow, and also somewhere around the nose. Of course, often photos have a washed out look so there may be none in your pic, but i still think it would help a bit. Perhaps the very back of her forehead too.

4. the lips could use a bit of highlights to add to the juicyness :P

5. The eyelashes currently are a bit less than perfect imo. They should be sharp rather than rounded.. but i know how tedious they can be to do. I think maybe simplify the overall shape a *little* and adjust the handles on the paths you've drawn to be a bit crisper.

6. I was just looking at the hair and thinking that a bit of highlighting would give it more of a hair feel, but i actually really like the big chunk of black contrasting the white, so it may lose the effect if you do add some detailing.

7. there are also just a few very minor areas where it's a bit messy - they need to be looked at closely to make a difference, but if you're anything like me then they would annoy you! I'll circle them for you so you can see where they are (but if you can't be bothered fixing them the piece will still be good!).

Please don't be discouraged by all these comments - i find it easy to criticize/critique people's work, even though i can't necessarily do better myself. I really do think its a nice pic, and i only say this stuff so that you can experiment more and find the style that you like best!
I'd be proud to have a drawing like this...
*whew, that was a lot of typing*

- stu :)

so i made a few changes as well as circling a few very minor things you could fix up... the blue arrows point to anything that i did (it's just a few bits of shading and adjusting the hair line).
hope it helps :D

[MetteBB]

Hey Stu... Thanx so much for taking the time to really go into details about my drawing!

I can see what you mean with the shading. I deff makes a difference! The ear was really bugging me alsp and I had such a hard time doing it :( Good thing everyone else pointed it out too... now I know it wasnt just me and that I will need to find a way to fix it.

As for what you said about the hardest thing about vectoring was to figure out what to add and what to leave out; wow, I never thought of it like that, but it really makes sense to me.


I wont have time to fix the img this week and maybe not the next either but I will most deffinately fiddle around with it and I'll give you an update once I've gotten some work done on it :)

Thanx to everyone commenting on it :beam: and if anyone still wants to comment please do so :)


/mette

[iLikePie]

i was just thinking... a good way to practice shading is to try some pieces in only black and white. i couldn't find any that i'd done, but i know that it really pushes you if you can't use ANY tones, only pure black and pure white. It forces you to create blocks of shading that really describe forms, because you have no other ways to do it!!

i've still got miles to go with it, but i can already see how now i can suggest details or shapes of form where previously i'd just put down a random mark that wouldn't be nearly as descriptive... a lot of the work i did was in real drawing (i.e not computers) but i find it does help with everything.

this guy : http://novenarik.deviantart.com/gallery/ was probably the first vector artist that really impressed me, and i still love his work. It's changed a lot from when i saw it a few years ago (it was all 'pinups' like fashion ads) but he has a great way with lines and also shading... brilliant, inspiring stuff.

[mlk]

I really dig it the way it is !

[eilsoe]

Really good Mette :thumb:

If you detailed the hair just a smidgeon, and fixed the ear/shading splotches, and gave the eyes a bit more life (go overboard on details there), it'd look awesome =)

IMO, extremely detailed eyes on vector portraits really gives it life :)

[berkoWitZ]

I really like the lips they look yum :), maybe add a little bit of bright to them...