Terms to Know:
Blend
Blending Modes
Mirror Image
Vignette
Horizontal
Vertical
Blend
Blending Modes
Mirror Image
Vignette
Horizontal
Vertical
Instructions:
Complete the tutorial provided. We will construct this as a class!
When you are done, you will compose an advanced line design on your own.
1. Choose a photo.
2. Repeat steps provided below for your own design!
3. Make sure your design fills the space and uses the elements and principles of design!
Complete the tutorial provided. We will construct this as a class!
When you are done, you will compose an advanced line design on your own.
1. Choose a photo.
2. Repeat steps provided below for your own design!
3. Make sure your design fills the space and uses the elements and principles of design!
Blending Modes Video:
Step 1
Author: Evert Martin
Evert Martin is a Ghent-based graphic designer. Apart from the usual graphic work, he has spent time refining a technique that involves digital and line design.
Before you start any project, you’ll need to do some research. Google is your best friend, so use it. Because we’re creating a front-on artwork, look up photos of a deer looking towards us.
Whenever I’m creating artworks with animal heads in them, I always search for a good picture of its skull, so I can use the bone structure as the basis of the structure of my drawing.
Author: Evert Martin
Evert Martin is a Ghent-based graphic designer. Apart from the usual graphic work, he has spent time refining a technique that involves digital and line design.
Before you start any project, you’ll need to do some research. Google is your best friend, so use it. Because we’re creating a front-on artwork, look up photos of a deer looking towards us.
Whenever I’m creating artworks with animal heads in them, I always search for a good picture of its skull, so I can use the bone structure as the basis of the structure of my drawing.
Step 2
It’s now time to start drawing. Open Illustrator and sketch some simple basic outlines of the contours of the face without the horns (I use a Wacom tablet for this). You’re not trying to create a recognisable drawing of a deer, but map out the peaks and troughs of its geography.
As the artwork is going to be horizontally symmetrical, just draw one half of it – we’ll mirror it later.
It’s now time to start drawing. Open Illustrator and sketch some simple basic outlines of the contours of the face without the horns (I use a Wacom tablet for this). You’re not trying to create a recognisable drawing of a deer, but map out the peaks and troughs of its geography.
As the artwork is going to be horizontally symmetrical, just draw one half of it – we’ll mirror it later.
Step 3
Next, draw the horns of the deer. I’ve found it best to try this a couple of times on different layers. We’ll pick the best one in a bit.
Next, draw the horns of the deer. I’ve found it best to try this a couple of times on different layers. We’ll pick the best one in a bit.
Step 4
Select all the lines of your deer’s face (without the horns). Go to Object > Blend to produce the intermediate contours that give the drawing its depth.
The best way to choose the number of lines you want is through trial and error. I used 20 for the head, ensuring the Spacing was set to Specified Steps.
Do the same thing for your first set of horns. I used 30 steps, as there are less lines in my drawing here, so I ended up with approximately the same density of lines created by the Blend as in the face. Repeat this with your other sets of horns. Save this as deer-complete.ai. Pick the horns you like best and delete the others. Save this as deer-horns1.ai.
Now our artwork is taking shape.
Select all the lines of your deer’s face (without the horns). Go to Object > Blend to produce the intermediate contours that give the drawing its depth.
The best way to choose the number of lines you want is through trial and error. I used 20 for the head, ensuring the Spacing was set to Specified Steps.
Do the same thing for your first set of horns. I used 30 steps, as there are less lines in my drawing here, so I ended up with approximately the same density of lines created by the Blend as in the face. Repeat this with your other sets of horns. Save this as deer-complete.ai. Pick the horns you like best and delete the others. Save this as deer-horns1.ai.
Now our artwork is taking shape.
Step 5
This step is the easiest one. Select your face and horns, duplicate them and then reflect the copy horizontally to create the other half of the face.To create the artwork that you see opposite, I copied and pasted everything into Photoshop as a Smart Object, added a grey background with a vignette and tweaked the colours to get the finished result.
This step is the easiest one. Select your face and horns, duplicate them and then reflect the copy horizontally to create the other half of the face.To create the artwork that you see opposite, I copied and pasted everything into Photoshop as a Smart Object, added a grey background with a vignette and tweaked the colours to get the finished result.
The final product can be altered like the one provided on the left! The sky is the limit. Leaving it as is looks like this: