Emma Frost Fashion

Posted February 23, 2009 by jwebster45206

What’s up, peeps? So I finally finished a drawing… sort of. I still feel like I’m losing ground due to not being able to draw enough, due to working my butt off, due to trying to maintain my lavish lifestyle :)

But this one has some good qualities. Hopefully more will follow soon. And if anybody’s interested in the brushes, I used my markers (available here) and also some custom-made bristle brushes. I can upload the bristles if anybody wants them.

From rough to finished drawing

Posted February 5, 2009 by jwebster45206

Whether you’re drawing with a pencil or with vectors, some of the same ideas apply. In my vector drawings, I used to try to be very precise, drawing the finished lines and shapes exactly. Then, after I started learning to use brushes, I saw that I could make much more fluid and interesting shapes by following a larger and looser process. Here are a couple images to show the technique.

  • First, I draw with big loose lines, defining the lines of motion, and worrying about intersection points, but not too much about end points of lines.
  • I try to create relationships between different lines so that they complement each other.
  • Then I add some detail to pull it together. Even with the detail, I don’t worry about defining endpoints very much. This is how a good artist would draw with a pencil, so it makes sense to do the same in Illustrator.
  • Once the rough drawing is done, I copy it and start cutting, masking, and applying brushes to bring it closer and closer to a finished drawing.

That’s a big part of my drawing strategy right now. Sometimes it’s hard to sort out all those loose and crazy lines, but I think the result is worth it–a little bit of unique style and a lot of cool in-progress images!