First vector EVER

[klevr]

I'm new to the forum, and graphic design in general, and I love you guys! I've been using photoshop for a little while but I'm trying to teach myself Illustrator. This is literally my first attempt and a vector EVER and probably about the 3rd time I've even tried to make anything in Illustrator. Any thoughts on how to improve this? I'm honestly not great with the pen tool and I know this, but I'm not sure how to make this better.

[teqbra]

adding shading using the pen tool would make it look more realistic like.
it's a very good first attempt though.

[Kool]

Not bad for a first attempt. :)

Learning how to shade would be the next step. Learn your gradient mesh tool. Take a look at this gals vector faces http://www.juniatwork.com/ She is a master at the gradient mesh. You can see how she shades the faces and what is possible.

[Randomhero]

Looks pretty good for a first attempt. The pen tool is your friend so be sure to practice a lot.

[klevr]

Thanks a bunch for all of the input. I'll definately start learning how to shade asap.

Something looks off on the mouth to me. Does anyone agree with that or am I just looking to far into it? I'm not too sure how to make it look better. Any thoughts?

[Microswede]

Practice, practice, practice. As for the mouth, you seem to have placed it too far from the nose; that or it could use a philtrum (the groove between the nose and mouth).

If you don't regularly sketch by hand, I suggest doing that as well. Do it while you're away from the computer. Use different tools - ball point pen, pencil, styllus, brush, charcoal sticks, etc. It'll make drawing with anything (ie your tablet) that much more comfortable.

Also, scan in some pictures (faces or whatever), or grab some off the internet (don't steal them, of course). Trace the contours/features. Get comfortable with your tools.

[CkretAjint]

Quite nice for a first attempt. Definitely do as others have said and look into putting shadows AND highlights into the image. That will really help i pop a lot more! Check out the gradient mesh tutorial here (http://lifeinvector.com/?page_id=181) (its the pepper at the bottom of the page).

:)

[budafist]

Practice, practice, practice. As for the mouth, you seem to have placed it too far from the nose;

The great thing about vector is that you can just pick up an object (ie the mouth) and move it around until it's in the right spot!

[Mr_LeE]

look into this tutorial.. should be a great path for you later ;)

http://psdtuts.com/drawing/create-a-complete-vexel-image-using-photoshop/

[klevr]

tutorial I've been messing with the gradient mesh tool quite a bit today and I'm still confused as hell. I have a feeling this is a tool that is going to be incredibly amazing to use, but incredibly hard to get used to. Thanks for the tutorial, it's a good one.

tutorial Another awesome tutorial. I'm going to study this one a few times and hopefully the pen tool will become more natural and I will understand it better.

advice I actually don't regularly sketch by hand. I used to, but not anymore. I think I'm definately going to start doing it again asap. Thanks a lot for the info.


Thanks again for all of the input guys. I really appreciate it.

[CkretAjint]

It's not really THAT hard to use. Just remember that at each point and cross section you can use your white arrow to select that point and change the color there. They it's only a matter of pushing it around to get your desired
gradient line.

[Danger_Mouse]

Good first attempt. Pen tool mastery is of utmost importance in my opinion.
You should be using minimal points possible when drawing with pen tool. For example if you were drawing a circle with the pen tool (over the easier circle shape), it should take no more than four nodes to complete (with some minor handlebar adjustments.) If you are at that point, then I would play with the gradient mesh tool.

Another must for me is understanding of the pathfinder pallette.

Just knowing the pathfinder (and creative ways to use it)and pen tool will take you a long way.