Test Your Creativity!

Only '8' Shapes.

Recently I was asked to participate in a very interesting book project called 'Vormator'. In a nutshell they have assigned the same '8' basic shapes to broad range of artists along with a pre-set list of design rules of engagement we have to follow. In essence it's a test of our creativity. Can we create a strong design when we no longer control the content? Can we take profoundly simple shapes and create something simply profound? It's a challenging quest many artists are now pursuing for this unique book project.


'Snap Dragon' Click art to view larger image.

Rules of Design Engagement - From the Author
What exactly are you allowed to do and isn’t allowed with the Elements? The following rules have to be followed when creating your artwork:

1. You’re allowed to rotate, flip and duplicate the Elements
2. You are not obliged to use all the Elements
3. Scaling is allowed, but only proportionally, so no skewing or free transform
4. You can add, subtract, intersect and group elements as you see fit
5. The use of colour is unrestricted, you can create your own colour schemes
6. You are allowed to use gradients
7. The Elements may only be filled, the use of strokes is not allowed
8. You are not allowed to use filters or effects (e.g. drop shadows)

Anyone can submit but not everyone will get in the book. Mine may not get picked either. It just depends on how creative it ends up actually being in a group of very talented submitters. I like doing these type of projects though, it's a good creative exercise and I am planning on having my illustration students do something similar for a class assignment.

If you'd like to read more about this book project and see who is participating visit their web site at 'www.Vormator.com'.

IllustrationClass.com Launched

Last summer I was asked to teach a digital illustration class at the local college visual arts program once a week here in Salem, Oregon. I had never taught before so this was a whole new experience for me. I quickly realized the way my students learned best was when I demonstrated a process. I literally showed them how to go about doing a creative task and commented on it. This led me into developing numerous step by steps I could show them each week.

Over the course of last year I built up a nice little archive of teaching resources. I also posted them on the 'HOW Design Forum' to let other creatives benefit from them and due to that being received so well I decided to give them a proper home on their own site.

You can download all my teaching step by step tutorials at:
www.IllustrationClass.com

I hope you enjoy them.

Von

Soaring Vectors - Step by Step Tutorial

I teach a digital illustration class once a week at the local college here in Salem Oregon. Each week I show them how an illustrator goes about creating their artwork. These simple step by steps are provided by the illustrators featured and document their own creative process in an easy to view format. It allows my students and other industry peers to see how various artists work from concept to completion in a variety of styles.

This week I created one I am calling 'Soaring Vectors' which documents a recent sports mascot project I worked on. This weeks download includes '18' step by step images and commentary for each step is thoroughly provided in the Notes.rtf file included. This allows the viewer to print out the notes for future reference and read while viewing each step of the process. You can download the step by step tutorial here. (4.4mb).

I have created numerous step by steps on a variety of projects I've worked on over the past year. Eventually I'll have all available for download soon from a specific web site I am still fine tuning. This will also include all the shared creative processes by other artists too. If you'd like to be featured or share your creative process with my class shoot me an email and I'll tell you what I need. Full credit and links including a small bio is included with each artist featured. At this time approximately 600 creatives in our industry view the weekly content.

PS: Yes I bite my finger nails. Nasty habit I've never been able to break.

Picasso Dog

One day a week I teach a digital illustration class at the local college. Each week I have my student do what I call 'Creative Thinking Exercise'. I told the students: "This weeks exercise is to draw the following three themes mimicking the 'Cubism Style' of Pablo Picasso. Get funky with it, play around with thick and thin lines and solid areas of black. This is a drawing exercise so no color. Keep it simple black and white."

Themes
- Dog
- Human (Full Figure or Bust)
- Bowl of Fruit

Here is the one I did for the dog theme.

Vector Basic Training

Vector Basic Training Book.

I want to apologize for the delay in my new blog being launched. It's been designed for well over a month but unfortunately the developer I'm using has dropped the ball so it'll be a while longer, but will launch within January.

In the meantime as a way to say "Thank you." to those who read my blog. I'm going to do a FREE giveaway of my newest book called "Vector Basic Training." (VBT) I'm already doing another FREE book giveaway on the VBT Facebook page and this one is specifically for my blog readers, but don't let that stop you from participating in both if you wish.

I won't bother posting all the details about the book here, you can read about that on my web site. All you have to do to be included in this drawing for a FREE copy of the book is to comment on this post. I'll than draw three winners this coming Friday and will list them at the bottom of this post.

B Level Acting Skills.

When I came up with the idea for the video intros I didn't think the publisher would take me seriously. But they did, and we had a lot of fun with them as you'll see below in this promotional plug for the book. You can view another video posted on my web site here.

So what are you waiting for maggot!? Post a comment now!



Winners of the FREE VBT Book Giveaway!

My oldest daughter Savannah drew names out of a hat and the following three people were chosen.

- Jeff (No Last Name) This Jeff.
- David Sizemore
- Ronda Couch

Each of you have 24hrs to claim your FREE copy by emailing your snail mail to info@vonster.com.

FYI: I'll be doing a workshop at the HOW Conference in Chicago this summer on "Vector Basic Training" so if you're planning on going I'll be demonstrating the methods I cover in the book.

Thanks everyone.

Brewing Design

I just posted a new project at my primary design site regarding a coffee label design I did for Rahzo.com. I had shown this label to twitter users a while back after I got shipped some printed samples and was asked if I'd deconstruct how I went about creating it.

Well that is what this blog post is all about. So grab a cup of coffee and enjoy the post.


Source Photo: Paris, France.

1. Source Photo
Because I named the roast "Noir French Blend" it goes without saying it needs to have a French flair to the approach. I sourced out this picture which has the Eiffel Tower in the background.

I also picked this image because the contrast was perfect for how I planned on using it too.


Compositing images via Photoshop.

2. Distorting Reality
I wanted the the Eiffel Tower to be a focal point in my composition so if reality doesn't work you do what every fashion magazine does and manipulate reality so it looks better than real.


Converting photo to a halftone.

3. Halftone FX
I converted the photo to a halftone. In a nutshell: Convert color photo to greyscale, convert to halftone by going to the menu image/mode/bitmap. From there you'll have to experiment in order to determine what size of halftone works best for you, it isn't a one size fits all process. Once you have the size nailed down you have to convert back from bitmap to greyscale then copy/paste it back into your PSD file.

If you're still scratching your head after reading the above try this link it might help you? Or my big dot tutorial might also explain this process better?


Halftoned photo integrated into layout.

4. Halftone Integrated
I nest the halftoned photo into my over all layout. Mind you this is screen res so it doesn't do the halftone justice. Make sure to view the larger image at the end of this post to see how the halftones enhance the look and feel of the design.


European Beauty.

5. Romance
I wanted drama in my design. It's Paris so it needed some beautiful romance so I sourced out this photo. Her eyes were captivating and that was what I was after.


Romantic dot gain.

6. Larger Halftone FX
Once again I used the same halftone effect, just a larger size and composited the romantic gaze into my design.

A lot of what I do when I use Photoshop is experimentation. Playing with transparency, blend modes and arrangement of content and via layers to achieve the look and feel I'm after.


Laying a graphic foundation.

7. Graphic Foundation
This historical ornament and banner dangler will serve as the foundation for critical content like type and iconography as you'll see in the following images.


...Like a big pizza pie that's moire.

8. Creating a Moire Effect
The design over all felt too stark to me. I wanted to blend it all together more. So I just opened another color stock photo (Any will work) gaussian blurred it, went to filter/Pixelate/Color Halftone, converted it to greyscale, copy/pasted it back into my PSD file, messed with transparency and blend modes and there you have it.


...You're in love.

9. Moire Effect Applied
Compare this image to step 7.


Adding more character.

10. Texurizing
To add more depth and interest I used a variety of surface textures from my "Crumble.Crackle.Burn" book.


Interesting diagram art.

11. Diagram Illustration
I wanted culture appropriate imagery to collage my design with so I did some research and found this great retro diagram illustration of a Vespa scooter.


The Vespa has been parked.

12. Diagram Illustration Integrated
I'm building my design layer by layer taking the various graphic elements and collaging them together. After all that is essentially what graphic design means.


Information added to the layout.

13. Typography & Iconography
It goes without saying that the type you choose need to work for the specific genre you are designing for. This design uses just two typefaces and I've added an iconic graphic of a coffee plant to lock up the design motif.

I also left room so we could work in Rahzo's logo stamp as well.


The label diecut.

14. Diecut
On this project we had the luxury of doing a custom diecut so I created this unique shape to frame my design. Of course I knew I was doing this from the beginning so I kept that in mind as I collaged my graphic content too so as not to loose anything when it was trimmed.


Piping hot design ready to pour.

15. Final Product
The final labels came out great and the product is now available.

Click here to view a larger image of the final label design.

If you'd like to deconstruct this project further just download the "Brewing Design Pack" below which contains a print resolution (150 dpi) layered PSD file. (CS4 file but will open in CS3 or CS2) You'll be able to click through the layers and see exactly how everything was set up.

- Download "Brewing Design Pack" (5 MB)

Creative Faceoff

NHL Hockey Patch Micro-Tut


Source Photo: NHL Legend Gordie Howe.

1. Source Photo
With this style my client provides the archive photo that their team has selected for me to draw from. For these types of portrait patches it helps to have a dramatically lit picture but sometimes that proves to be somewhat difficult since many players have long since been retired and the variety of source photos is very limited.

Thankfully this one was well suited for this style which has to be pulled off in three spot colors due to budget and reproduction methods overseas. So it's all about simplifying detail and baking down an image to not only work small but retain clarity and of course look like the person your illustrating of course.

I grew up in the Pacific Northwest. Hockey was never a big thing in our parts. Sure we had professional teams but they were an hour north in Seattle.

There was one neighborhood kid who liked hockey, but we didn't have any ice rink locally. Every so often he'd pull out some goals he had built, gather a group of kids, and we'd have a game in his drive way using a tennis ball as the puck.

I had about as much success handling my hockey stick as I do chop sticks. It was fun because it was different but I felt something was being lost in our translation of the game.


Refined Pencil Sketch.

2. Refined Sketch
Since this style lacks any use of gradients I draw out my artwork with shapes in mind. If you scrutinize the photo enough you'll see that his eyebrows aren't exactly shaped like that, or his inner ear really doesn't contain those forms. But that is OK, It's not about photo realism it's about iconifying his visual persona.

I look at a photo and the first thing I do is purposely blur my eyes and study it, this helps me see the facial features as contour shapes and this guides my drawing.

I do this not only because of the limited production specs but also because of my own budget constraints. I can't afford to spend 8 hours on a specific patch design when my budget allows me at the most two hours.

This process is expedient but still allows me to retain the level of quality I expect from myself. And thus is the difference between fine art and commercial art.

I still don't have a clue when it comes to hockey rules, or current players or teams. Every now and then I come across a game and I watch it, but I miss the laser puck days when it was on Fox Sports.

I do recognize the hall of famer players from hockey past like Wayne Gretzky, Bobby Orr, Gordie Howe etc. but even in this blog post I'm only familiar with 4 of the 8 players shown, but thankfully I don't need to be in order to draw them. ;-P


Building Vector Artwork.

3. Building Vectors
Because I spend the board time drawing my refined sketch I know exactly what I have to build when go from analog to digital. There is no guess work it's just a matter of creating what I've already determined I need.

Working like this also speeds up the production process because I'm not slowing down trying to figure out how something should look and noodling around trying to figure it out on the fly.

I still have never actually seen a hockey game in person. And I may never will? And unlike my childhood I don't know anyone now locally who is a hockey fan?


Base Artwork.

4. Base Artwork
Once I have all my core base vector shapes built I flow in the basic colors and set up the outer stroke thickness. At this point I'm about 3/4 of the way done.

In the last three years I've done about 300 of these type of portraits. I've done so many that I've caught myself looking at peoples faces in public and in my mind I begin to simplify their features and think about how I could build the vector shapes. So I guess you could say I have an acute case of Vectoritis.


Drawing Shading.

5. Drawing Shading
At this point in my creative process I print out my base artwork and referencing the photo I draw out the shading using the same modus operandi as I did with the rest of the portrait illustration.

My process is a mix of digital and analog going back and forth until I complete the project and unless clones become part of our everyday lives I don't see this methodology changing anytime soon.

Here is some hockey patches I created a couple years ago.


Vector Detailing.

6. Vector Detailing
I scan in my shading drawing and build out the detail in vector form. Now the art is ready to integrate into the over all patch motif and the iconification of a hockey icon is now complete.

I usually do all of my portraits at the same time progressing from one stage to the next until I have all of them done. It just goes faster that way rather then doing one at a time from beginning to end.

This post is what I call a micro-tut, if you'd like to see a full on tutorial covering this same style in more depth just visit my tutorial site at IllustrationClass.com.


Final Gordie Howe Patch Design.

7. Final Patch
Here is the portrait art nested in context of the final patch design. Along with each patch I have to use the specific team colors as well.

On very rare occasions I've managed to pull this same style off without drawing out my art first. OK, I've only done that once and it was for a very tight deadline and the photography was custom shot by my client. You can view that project here.

2008-2009 NHL Hockey Patches

This Guy Lafleur patch is in reference to his hockey achievements.


NHL hall of famer Ray Bourque.


Legendary iceman Bobby Hull.


The dramatic goalie Robert Luongo.


Tony Esposito and the big hair days of hockey.


Player and now coach Patrick Roy.


The great Mario Lemieux.

Hockey may never hold a lot of interest for me personally but I have learned a lot about it through my various design projects and no matter what the sport it's always fun to illustrate in this fashion.

Artito Bandito

Thumbnail sketch.

My client requested an illustration of a Mexican Bandito. Of course the first thing to pop into my mind was a favorite childhood cartoon mascot called Frito Bandito.

And as the rabbit trails of my mind work I had that theme song stuck in my head the whole week, humming it as I drew my art. But I digress.


Rough Sketch.

The client actually sent me one of the tools and like they do on American Chopper I had to create a custom die for the sticker based on the tools casing. My creative challenge was to provide the requested theme in a very restrictive format, so I drew out my art with the final shape of the sticker as my guide.


Refined Sketch.

Usually I draw and redraw until I get exactly what I want to build. I don't like leaving a lot of guess work in the build stage of my creative process. It just wastes time. Since this art is symmetrical I only have to draw half of it. Digital FTW.


Building Vectors.

Once I scan in my refined sketch I simply start building my vector shapes. For more about vector build methods and plugins that make it easier just visit my tutorial web site and you'll find all kinds of information on how to control your bezier curves like a pro.

I draw all my art out before I hit the computer. If you can get into a good creative habit of working this way you'll see a huge improvement in your work and it'll prevent you from becoming a Tooler.


Base Art.

With all my shapes built and fused together via the Pathfinder Palette I'm ready to work out how I'll model my art with more details.


Shading.

I'm a digital artist but my creative process goes back and forth between digital and analog. So when it comes to shading I print out my base art and grab a pencil. 2B or not 2B, that is the pencil!


Building the Shading.

Once I've drawn out how I want the shading and highlights to be handled. I scan it back in and use it as my guide to build the vector shapes.


Details of Illustration.

Once I have the shading resolved I visually study the art and determine other areas to drop in darker shades and highlights to create depth and focus attention within my design. I also start to balance my color palette and experiment with tonal values until it feels right.

It's not always a visual thing, sometimes it just has to feel right. Call it a creative intuition but I depend on it a lot. It's the one intangible aspect of my creative process that is hard to define.


Art in Context.

This is the actual tool the sticker will be applied too. It'll wrap the front of the casing. During the process I'm printing the art out and if time permits putting it aside and looking at it with fresh eyes later and making any necessary changes that improve the art.


Final Artwork.

This shows the final art for the Tool a little larger. You can see this art re-purposed for other usages here.

Volume 1 PDF Tutorials

"Alien Skull" PDF Tutorial cover.

I'm happy to announce that I've finally produced my first collection of self-contained tutorials called "Volume 1 PDF Tutorials."

This first collection was derived from our top “25″ downloaded tutorials. Each tutorial comes in an easy to access multi-page PDF file format. Each PDF tutorial includes creative process images and exhaustive text embedded with links to referenced software, books, and resources. You’ll be able to view and read them on-screen or print them out for hands on reference purposes.


"Alien Skull" PDF Tutorial interior pages.

For more information visit my "IllustrationClass.com" web site.

Cassette Tape Art

Blue eyes linear tape illustration. (Click for larger image)

Linear art (also called continuous line art or contour art) has seen a resurgence in the last five years or so in our industry. I've personally done linear illustrations for clients like a grocery store chain, magazine editorials, coffee companies, medical industry, Kleenex box packaging, and a Banks animated TV Ads.

I've had the idea of doing an illustration such as the one above for a few years now but just haven't found the time to do so. Well a couple weeks ago someone shared the art of iri5 with me (Cool art!) and I realized I better hurry up and do my linear take on the same genre before it becomes old hat.

Creating the Artwork

Drawing linear art.

Growing up my parents had a nice size LP collection filled with big band and the classic crooners like Frank Sinatra. So naturally I still love his music and decided to base my tape illustration on "Blue Eyes" himself.

I drew out my art based off a classic reference, and I'll use it to help guide me as I build my artwork.


A sticky situation.

I used my xacto and scraped off small amounts of glue stick to affix the tape to the paper and keep it in place.


Inch by inch.

Placing small amounts of glue stick on the paper I then pressed the tape down. I did this on my light box so I could see my drawing underneath and follow it. I repeated this process for the next several hours until I completed the entire linear art.


Eyeing the details.

Tape is flat so I had to bent, fold and twist it to follow the form I wanted. I almost broke the tape a few times along the way and it got tangled on my desk since I was constantly rotating the paper too.


Antique audio = Art.

It was a slow process but it was fun. I almost did Elvis for the iconic aspects of his image but I decided to go with Sinatra instead since I actually listen to his music more often.

Another idea hit me as I was working on this though. I'd love to get my hands on a real Watergate tape and do a tape illustration of Nixon. Now that would be cool! (If someone at the Smithsonian is reading this lets talk.)

Serious though, I'd love to do a linear illustration of John Wayne using rope, just not sure when I'll get around to that?