First attempt @ line art in flash

[awligon]

Suggestions on how to improve?
go easy on me. I didn't take too long to do this on account of my laziness and also the fact that I don't like the way it was turning out so I airbrushed it a bit and ....

http://www.awligon.com/gfx/want.jpg

[DDD]

not bad at all......seems a lil flat but it is cool

is the one in black male or female??

[awligon]

female, ****, just flat chested I guess, I'll do better next time

[Illuminae]

i think it's great! i would have made them naked...
but that's just me i guess... lol :sigh:
the only thing i see really, is where the red's right arm is near the black's chest/shoulder, it is kind of, weird. they look like they interlock.

[T-O]

Nice try did it work?

[T-O]

No just kiddin


Awesome Art. Good one starting with babe's. :P

[RussianBeer]

Nice, is that original or traced?

[ribcage]

looks like he traced a photo, absolutely nothing wrong with that when
practising. Looks good, maybe you should think about using deeper tones in areas where there would be shadow. this would give the image more depth unless flat is the way you wanted it.

[TheOrangeOne]

Originally posted by ribcage
looks like he traced a photo, absolutely nothing wrong with that when
practising. I dont think theres ever anythingwrong with tracing photos, even if you are experianced!

anyway, nice job mate. Suggestions on how to improve? How about a subtle background?

[ribcage]

Professionally speaking if you are going to trace an image , you should credit
the source. You may run into legal issues otherwise.
The artwork looks fine but the content seems like it may be unchanged from the source( that is ,there is nothing obvious that suggest he may have added his own concepts to it, i.e. a fantasy theme or science fiction or the background the Orange One suggested) .

[TheOrangeOne]

Originally posted by ribcage
Professionally speaking if you are going to trace an image , you should credit
the source. Thats very true. Have to be carfull. I tend to use either my own photos/footage or free stock images.

[Kitiara]

Well either way it's a pretty good first attempt for sure. :)

I'd say that regardless of whether it was traced or drawn by hand, I'd be tempted to make more of the figures... At the moment the girls don't look very curvy, so no matter what the original pic looks like, I'd emphasise what they perhaps should look like. So I'd take in the waist of the one in black, and er... Round out the bits that should be rounder, if you see what I mean? :) Since this kind of image is stylised anyway, you can probably get away with altering a few proportions so it looks better at the end.

You've managed the hands and feet spot on though, I always have trouble gettng them right. :)

[awligon]

Yeah, it was traced, couldn't find the pic now if I tried though. If it were for a contest or if I were actually going to use this in any way besides this, I would have cited it properly. Thanks for all the pos. and neg. criticism though.

[RussianBeer]

I am not saying there is anything worng with tracing (did anyone see the movie Chasing Amy?)
But there is a big diffrence, if he drew that by hand from memory , I would be extremly impressed! Its still good but obviously there is a diffrence. Not saying what you did is bad, I like the ladies!

[DDD]

tracing is not that bad.....I traced my boxster then used gradients to accomplish what you see here http://www.kirupaforum.com/forums/attachment.php?s=&postid=268034 I dont think he was straying over any copyright lines.....I think it is good to start by tracing.

Tracing an image by line art and making it look impressive is not an easy task.

[awligon]

Yeah, I would find it hard to believe that tracing a photograph would be some sort of plagerism. Now, if you traced some sort of Thomas Kinkade painting and then sold it you'd indoubitably be sued, but this is far from that.

[awligon]

tried a bg and some more shading

http://www.awligon.com/gfx/dimes_double.jpg

[awligon]

but I like this better w/ no photoshopping at all

http://www.awligon.com/gfx/dimes_vector.jpg

[DDD]

the shading makes it alot better less flat...althought the eyes look pretty creepy

[awligon]

yeah, didn't do 'em ;)

[Kitiara]

Cool. :)

I trace all my pictures - if I tried to draw the people straight onto the screen they go all weird and wonky. So I always sketch first, scan then trace. :)

[awligon]

do you use flash? and a layer for each level of detail, hiding the previous ones? and if so, pen or line or pencil? I've been trying various methods and I'm kind of liking the results I got with the last one, it just gets sooooo time consuming adding the details and such.

[Kitiara]

Sometimes Flash, sometimes Illustrator. It all depends on how I want it to look, since they come out differently...

I use Illustrator when I want to keep the outlines in, like this:

http://www.nowingsnohalo.co.uk/img/gallery_kitiara_01.gif

And Flash when I don't want outlines, like this:

http://www.nowingsnohalo.co.uk/img/gallery_tifa.gif

I know you can do either effect in either program, but this is generally the way that I do it. :)

And when I do them in Flash, I don't really use multiple layers much... Basically I do it the way it's written in the Kirupa.com tutorial.

[awligon]

ahh, i guess that would make sense on account of you being the author

[Kitiara]

It helps. :P

But that's how I do line / vector work in Flash. Illustrator I do slightly differently though, I use the Pen and a Tapered Stroke for that. I'm writing a tute on it atm, actually. :)

Quite why I don't use the Pen in Flash, I'm not sure..

[awligon]

I don't use it like it's intended to be used, but if you turn the 'snap' off, it can be handy in tight spots by just doing about a hundred points then smoothing the line. The pen in any program tends to piss me off though. I'm just stubborn when it comes to doing things a diff way than I've convinced myself is best. ;)

[Kitiara]

Tell me about it. :P

I guess that I started by using the Line in Flash and that's how I wrote the tute. Then I learned the Pen in Illustrator, and realised I could probably do the same in Flash, but I didn't. :)

The whole Bezier curve thing threw me to start with, but once you get used to it, it's no so bad...

[awligon]

I just don't understand it, you can get a great curve, but then the next point is thrown way off. But like I said, I could learn it easily, but it makes me mad that I just don't 'miraculously understand it'. ha ha. I'm not quite right I guess.

[DDD]

another way is to use your path combines in like Ill or in Fireworks which is where I do my line art. And freehand. To get my precise shapes I use alot of intersect, comine and punch.