For my second design, I decided to use a picture of my cousin and me from when my brother was a senior at the University of Delaware. With this picture, I figured focusing on just two people again would help me gauge my progress with adding details and creating an overall cleaner design.
Here’s the picture I used:
This time around I started with Procreate. On my last design, the sweatshirts did not have much definition and looking back, they just look like blobs of color. So I decide to add a layer of details that created a more realistic representation of the shape the sweatshirts and jacket take. The oversized green jacket I’m wearing definitely benefitted from outlining the creases, layers, and embroidery. Without details like these the clothing situation would have been difficult to figure out.
Even after deciding to be a bit more adventurous in my design process, I still thought the lettering on my cousin’s sweatshirt was too ambitious for me. I made a few attempts and was very displeased with the results.
As a joke I added the "Delaware" in my regular handwriting, but then I ended up liking the way it looked with the pop of yellow. Of course I wasn’t paying attention and misspelled Delaware the first time around, but thankfully I was able to rewrite it somewhat close to the way it was before.
Writing this now though, I have learned I very well can do the lettering as it appears in the picture on Procreate. My first few attempts went awry so I figured my Procreate skills were not up to that level of detail quite yet. However, I now know I was too quickly deterred and allowed laziness to interfere the potential of this design. Regardless I think the colors in the Procreate design pop more and I’m relatively pleased with the outcome so the little sweatshirt blunder simply leaves room for improvement on my next design.
Here’s the final Procreate portrait:
After working with Procreate, I once again replicated the design in Adobe Illustrator. It was interesting switching back to Illustrator since technically the last two designs I made were in Procreate. Although it took me a moment or two, I got back into the Adobe Illustrator mode and was excited to use the pen tool to really accentuate the details on my cousin’s sweatshirt. The lettering certainly took some time and there are a few areas of the design I could not get to be exactly the way I wanted, but overall, it definitely trumps the Procreate sweatshirt free-hand lettering.
Also in Adobe Illustrator, I noticed adding sweatshirt details such as creases, layers, and embroidery were a little more challenging. I couldn't decide if the pen tool was creating the same effect I had going on in the Procreate design and any free-hand drawing never goes over too well for me in Illustrator.
I ended up using a mix of the pen tool and what I could salvage from my free-hand drawing and I'm not sure if I like one or the other better. Just using the trackpad on my laptop, the free-hand drawing definitely requires more patience, but sometimes you need it to create the desired effect someone like me who also struggles with the pen tool could not quite produce. Perhaps if you have a mouse the drawing/painting feature on Illustrator is much easier, but for me it's a toss up if I want to fight with the pen tool or redraw something 50 times before I like it.
Either way here’s the Adobe Illustrator version of this design:
As I mentioned in the first design comparison, the color difference between the two designs is very noticeable clicking back and forth. Whether it is the place I draw the colors from or the programs themselves, this has been a consistent difference so far and generally the only one that has really motivated any personal preference in the designs.
My program preference still remains with Procreate for the time being, but I would like to note my preference teeters from one program to the other when working on different parts of the designs. This time around what I was able to do with the sweatshirt lettering in Adobe Illustrator definitely made me rethink my preference. It always seems the program I am using at that moment is the one I prefer, but if I had to choose, Procreate has so much to offer that I’m still exploring and the fact it’s like a new, shiny toy also fuels my favoritism.
I guess we will see if anything changes as I work toward my third and final design. But for now I hope you’re enjoying the rollercoaster ride this project has been and perhaps even learned a thing or two along with me.
Comments
Post a Comment