Design #1: Adobe Illustrator vs. Procreate

My first designs on Adobe Illustrator and Procreate were my very first attempts at creating these digitally traced picture portraits.  While I have a long way to go, with only a few brief video tutorials, I managed to produce something that somewhat resembled all these pictures I have been seeing lately.

Here is the picture I set out to design:

Starting with Adobe Illustrator, I used the techniques described the YouTube video referenced in the introduction blog to create the first design.  Essentially, the entire portrait was completed using the pen tool.  After I imported my image into Illustrator, I created a new layer and started to outline different elements of the picture.  At first I was concerned the pen tool would make the design have a box-like appearance, but surprisingly the tool formed well to the details of the picture.

Using the pen tool, I outlined the picture through a variety of closed shapes in order to effectively fill each space with the proper color.  Aside from the pen tool, the only other main feature I utilized was the eyedropper tool when I wanted to take the color directly from the picture rather then play with the color wheel in an attempt to match it.

Between the pen and eyedropper tool with the occasional curvature tool to close gaps of space, this was the final product of my first digitally traced-portrait:

After experimenting with Adobe Illustrator, I started working on the same design in Procreate.  While I have used Illustrator before just not for thus type of project, I have absolutely no experience working with Procreate.  

This is a program I have always wanted to try and I could not wait to get started.  I find it so impressive and even mesmerizing watching what people can do with Procreate and considering the endless possibilities this program offers users, my first interaction with the app was overwhelming to say the least.  I had no idea how people knew which brush to use and with which settings, but that decision was eventually made for me.  Perhaps a calibration issue I have yet to uncover, but my Apple Pencil was only compatible with one specific calligraphy pencil, the Monoline. 

For some reason all the painting and drawing tools do not seem to do anything.  I can see the cursor and the shape of the line that should produce color, yet it just doesn't.  Whether there is some weird setting I have on or the Apple Pencil needs to reconnect I will hopefully figure that out soon, but for now the calligraphy pen it is.

It is for this reason and many others I could never explain the right way to go about creating these designs.  I just started playing around with Procreate, discovered this brush worked, and went with it.  Once again, just as I did with illustrator I used the colors from the image itself.  The difference this time is that I placed my finger down on the image until a magnifying circle appeared displaying what color I was drawing from the picture.  

While I'm sure between the two designs the exact place I extracted the color from differed, but what I found interesting was the Procreate design took a relatively darker tone of colors across the board.  I do not have a preference of one over the other necessarily, just an observation I made flipping between the final two products.

For comparison, here is the final design that resulted from my first time working with Procreate:

After working on both these designs and staring at each of them for several days, I don't think I like one better than the other.  There are certain aspects I like in the Illustrator design over the Procreate design and vice versa, but nothing big enough to sway me one way or the other.  Experience wise, I have to say I'm leaning towards Procreate as my preferred platform for these types of designs.  This does not come as a surprise since Procreate is generally the program people use to create these digitally traced portraits, but I still would not count out Illustrator just yet.  I have loved using Adobe Illustrator these past few years and there was something about the process of designing these portraits that was slightly easier than Procreate.  As fun as Procreate is, a steady hand is not always easy to come by.  Illustrator certainly reduces the frustration of a shaky hand or poor grip that is inevitable with Procreate.  

Overall, I'm excited to see how the rest of the designs go and to see if my program preference changes.  Hopefully with each design I will find ways to improve the final product with more details or new tips and tricks from tutorial videos I will continue to watch throughout this process.