Drawing nicely-detailed vector illustrations

[wienerdog]

For those illustrators that like to create vector illustrations and designs with nice detail, do you usually draw them out on paper first, scan them as templates and trace? I've never gone right to Illustrator to draw something without a photo reference template layer or drawing I did before jumping into Illustrator.

When creating an illustrated Flash animation, do you find it easier to draw a them in Illustrator instead of Flash? I think I'm so used to drawing in Illustrator, I would have trouble adjusting to doing something right in Flash.

[colorsplashstudio]

I don't know if you have ever been here before, but it is an awesome resource with a lot of free tutorials.

www.cartoonsmart.com (http://www.cartoonsmart.com)

I prefer illustrator too, and have a hard time doing flash drawing. This guys stuff is really helpful to help you learn if you have the time to do it.

[Danger_Mouse]

For original artwork, I almost always scan from doodles, sketches or even a past finish drawing to vectorize later in Illustrator. I have done work and "drawn" right from illy too. All the time.
Check out the Illy resource thread too for some great tuts.

Awesome link Colorsplash!

[SurfPark]

I think you can draw in all in Illustrator so you'll have full control and then import them into flash. Remember that before you import anything you should be saving all of the animated elements as separate files. For example, a character should have separate arms, eyes, legs, and everything that is going to move separate. Flash is just for construction and animation of the pieces.

[PrintDriver]

If it takes you 3 days to do it all in Illustrator or 3 hours using a scan of a sketch, which do you suppose is going to be more cost effective?

Do whatever works for you.

[wienerdog]

I think you can draw in all in Illustrator so you'll have full control and then import them into flash. Remember that before you import anything you should be saving all of the animated elements as separate files. For example, a character should have separate arms, eyes, legs, and everything that is going to move separate. Flash is just for construction and animation of the pieces.

So for a work flow process, it's easier to draw different segments and group them into separate layers in Illustrator, then import into Flash?

[Jeff Fisher LogoMotives]

Sadly, these days I seem to be able to draw better with a mouse than a pencil...

- J.