First Illustrator Illustration, Please Critque

[jackc4ss]

Hi, this is my first time at doing an illustration in illustrator and I would like some feedback on it.
What can I improve? What should I change or improve?H ave you got some links on where I could learn some more finer points about illustration?
There was no real motivation for the piece other than learning illustrator, the chick is just my ex girlfriend.
http://img248.imageshack.us/img248/9476/idawe9.th.jpg (http://img248.imageshack.us/my.php?image=idawe9.jpg)
Thanks.

[sierng]

Good first attempt. Missing a few shadows, and highlights here and there.

[YNOT]

It seems you've got the basics down pretty well and are off to a good start overall. I'd suggest just diving into it a little deeper...add more details. Maybe some more colorization in the hair, more shadows in the face and more details in the necklace. The eyes look fairly good...the nose could use some more details as well.

Again...overall it's a great start. The best suggestions I can make is practice, practice, practice. Learn all about the pen tool, the brushes and pathfinder tool. There's much more to it than that but if you can grasp how to utilize the brushes and such for more 'texture' it'll make your illustrations more impressive and easier to make.

Honestly one of the best ways I've found to practice over the years has been by 'tracing' images. You can see in the photo you're tracing how a reflection or detail 'should' look and then you can play with different techniques to try to achieve that same look.

Obviously you need to do something more to it to give it some 'character...some way to stylize it as your own. It all takes time, patience and much practice.

Best of luck and feel free to ask me if you've got any questions. I've been using Illy for a long time now.

[tZ]

Nice base shape definition but you should at this stage refine those shapes to create more opportunities for color and value definition.

[bigrich1]

Nice first attempt!

It could do with a little more "depth" in terms of shading.

Her right arm looks a little funny too (there's no gap in the photo).

All in all, impressive for a first go though!

[GraphixNPrint]

Toning the skin as mentioned in many posts above would bring life to her. Gradient fills and blends work well... but really you should learn to work with the gradient mesh tool on something like this. You can create the various skin blends that would match the curvature where the neck meets the chest and collar bones, and facial features. :)

[Jriddim]

Nice first attempt!

It could do with a little more "depth" in terms of shading.

Her right arm looks a little funny too (there's no gap in the photo).

All in all, impressive for a first go though!


i agree with everyone that your off to a good start... I agree highly about her right arm looking funny...I think because there is no modeling, or differences in skin tone...(i didnt really see it as an arm at first, more like a flat background shape) I would try and add a few more variations of color in her skin tones....also you could try and soften the heaviness of the eyes...(the eyes are already a focal point, so by having them so bold and black, my eyes only focus on them...

one website that might help is www.lifeinvector.com (http://www.lifeinvector.com)

there should be some tutorials with the mesh tool, and also it helps to just look at other amazing illustrations

[jackc4ss]

Thanks everyone for your great input and compliments and critque, I will practice more and give a revision some time in the future :) SOrry for the late reply, just have been busy :) Thanks for the website link :)