Drawing fur in Illustrator

Let's say you want to draw a cat in Illustrator (who wouldn't want to do that?), how do you make the fur?
Here is a few tutorials on how to do so.
This one is drawing fur for a stuffed animal bear. Doesn't look ultra realistic, but you might be able to modify it to make it look more realistic if that is your desire. It is well written.

These are Photoshop tutorials, but you should be able to apply most/some of the techniques to Illustrator.


http://ballistic-kitten.deviantart.com/ ... l-22997085

http://shadowumbre.deviantart.com/art/F ... -104939086

http://fatal-mantis85.deviantart.com/ar ... l-25125510

http://yellow-eyes.deviantart.com/art/W ... D-32253741

http://venator-somniorum.deviantart.com ... l-36338777

http://www.drawfurry.com/?p=46

Here is one on drawing hair in Illustrator. What is fur after all?

Here is a link to create "cute" looking fur. 

vector portraits - examples

http://www.melissaclifton.com/tutorial-vector6.html


http://chewedkandi.deviantart.com/art/VectorTutorial-for-Illustrator-28952359

http://yajido.deviantart.com/art/CS-Vector-Tutorial-3-18008695
http://psd.tutsplus.com/tutorials/drawing/create-a-vector-style-illustration-in-photoshop/
http://www.vectorportraits.com/

http://abduzeedo.com/20-beautiful-vector-portraits
http://www.illustratorworld.com/contest/vector_portraits/

http://designrfix.com/inspiration/50-incredible-asian-vector-portraits
http://verucasalt82.deviantart.com/art/Self-Portrait-Number-Something-38454040

http://vector.tutsplus.com/articles/inspiration/25-fantastic-vector-portraits/

http://tv.adobe.com/watch/max-2009-design/how-to-create-vector-portraits-with-illustrator-cs4/
http://www.fudgegraphics.com/2010/03/fyi-inspiration-monday-gorgeous-vector-portraits-by-christiano-siqueira/

http://www.renderdemo.com/instructorgallery.html

http://www.behance.net/Gallery/Gradient-mesh_-Portraits/202669?project_id=202669
http://quantum67.deviantart.com/art/beyonce-152793777
http://webitect.net/design/40-magnificent-vector-portrait-examples/

http://www.vectorportraits.com/detailing-eyes/

Kuler - a sweat online "color ruler"

It can be a challenge to create a color scheme. Often times, people add color as they create their images. Some people have great success with this. Others benefit from planning ahead. Adobe has a website which is really fantastic for this purpose. It is name Kuler. You can select from thousands of color schemes that other users have created or create your own. You can create your own following suggested rules, or just wing it. You can even create your own color scheme by uploading and image or selecting and image from Flickr. It is really awesome to create a color scheme from your own image! You can save your color schemes as well using and Adobe.com account. If you have ever downloaded a trial version of an Adobe product, you probably already have an account. The numerical data for the colors is provided in five different color models; RGB, CMYK, HSB/HSV, hex, and even LAB. Kuler is really one of the truly great design tools on the web.

How to take a screen grab

A screen grab or screen capture is a recording of what appears on your computer screen. There are innumerous uses for screen grabs. For example, my students are working on a project in which they need to pull a screen grab of a map into Illustrator for use as a template. I use them to record purchase receipts and to take images for use in tutorials and handouts. Depending on your operating system, the means of creating screen grabs varies widely. Below are links on how to take screen grabs with the most popular operating systems.

How to take a screen grab on a Mac

How to take a screen grab on Windows XP machine

 How to take a screen grab on Windows Vista machine

Vector Maps...What's your Vector, Victor?

This is a rough write-up of your assignment. I will refine it ASAP. 

Vector Maps...What's your Vector, Victor?

UT, Spring 2010, ART 2150

This assignment is meant to introduce you to vector graphics. You will be creating a personal map by creating a vector map and combining raster images with it.

Over break, record the routes that you go. Take photos along the way and at your destinations. Photos can be of anything that you want. Make them interesting though.

When you get back from break, you will use Map Quest, Google Maps, or Bing Maps to trace your route/routes. You will take a screen grab of the maps. You will bring that screen grab into Illustrator. You will then Trace parts of it depending on your grand vision. You will add in your photos to create a person map.

Assign names to memorable roads. Rather than name a street “Maple Street,” you can name it “Bumpiest Road in Toledo” or whatever.

Ultimately, prints of 16x20 or larger will made from your images. This requires a lot of detail to remain interesting at that scale.

On the first day back after break, I expect you to bring in enough work to spend the entire class period working on your map. If you are failing to come up with anything, look up maps and mappae mundi. Also consider going to the library and looking at the books on maps and actual maps they have there.

Maps are due in digital form ?. Due as prints on Monday the ?.

Below are a number of links. They also describe and illustrate some unconventional maps which may serve to inspire you.

Ohio maps from the department of transportation, you need a plug in to view some of them

Mental Map
http://geography.about.com/cs/culturalgeography/a/mentalmaps.htm
http://www.scribd.com/groups/view/12810-mind-map-art
http://progdrumblog.blogspot.com/2008/08/art-mind-map.html
http://zummi.deviantart.com/art/Retro-Mindmap-99419864
http://www.johnclapp.com/artw_pages/sketch_pages/sketch_eyeworks.html
http://books.google.com/books?id=Dm0SILERbOgC&pg=PA33&lpg=PA33&dq=mappae+mundi&source=web&ots=De9xyVXTBX&sig=a0CW6oADesbpmNObJTOBoU9LFpc&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=10&ct=result#PPA45,M1

Raster versus Vector
http://www.adobe.com/education/instruction/webtech/CS2/unit_graphics1/gb_bitmap_id.htm



Excellent tutorials by Ken Hulsey, a real technical master of Illustrator


Awesome use of blend tool to make backgrounds
http://www.layersmagazine.com/blend-tool-revisited.html
Fancy vector techniques
http://www.webdesignerwall.com/tutorials/vector-polishing-techniques/
Tutorial on creating a roadmap- class tutorial was based on this
http://www.blog.spoongraphics.co.uk/tutorials/creating-road-maps-in-adobe-illustrator

Different take on maps:
The ones I showed you
http://www.xkcd.com/256/ (world map of internet)
http://www.xkcd.com/195/ ( square map of internet )
http://www.xkcd.com/482/ (space)

Night Photographers

Excellent Aperture web feature on Gregory Crewdson. His work is amazing. I thought my process of shooting my Three Minute Series was complex, but his process makes me feel inadequate.

Equally fantastic is the night series by Jan Staller. Check out the Frontier New York series. Like Crewdson, they make images as opposed to taking them. Unlike Crewdson, he doesn't phsically construct the scene. Rather, he explored the familiar areas around him and photographed them in a manner which makes them seem simultaneously familiar and unfamiliar. One of the significant things about Staller is the seeming insignificance of what he photographs. He doesn't seek out the most obvious chooses. There are no photos of the Statute of Liberty or Times Square. In most of his photos, there aren't people. This adds to the otherworldliness of his photos. The color is amazing. Most of his images contain large elements of neutrality to which the colors offer a counter point.

Here is a link to a guy who blogs about night photography. There are some links to some really good work from here. 

Night Photography

In a much earlier posting from 2007, I talked about shooting Sunsets. I am currently teaching a Digital Photography course and the next project involved night photography. So, for their benefit and yours, here is some things to keep in mind when shooting at night:




-If you are including the moon, sunset, or sunrise, consider where it will be at the time of your shoot. OF course, the sun rises in the east and sets in the west (changes a little throughout the year, but not much). So, you will get a vastly different photo when shooting sunrises to the east or sunsets to the west.



-It is going to be very dark. Bring a flashlight. This will help you see your camera as well as see where you are going.



-You must use a tripod as exposure times will be long



-Use a remote release to trigger your camera. Or use the self timer if the timing of the shutter release isn't critical. You may want to invest in a cable release which has a timer function. This will allow you to use a shutter speed longer than what the camera otherwise offers. For example, the longest shutter speed my Nikon D300 offers is 30 seconds. If I need a shutter speed longer than that, I have to use the Bulb setting. In that mode, you have to hold the shutter release button down to keep the shutter open. This is not conducive to sharp photos. Higher end cable releases have timer functions built in that will allow you to set longer times and hold them with a single press of the cable release button.





-Use the mirror lock up or anti-shock feature of your camera. This will help insure that the photo won't be soft due to vibrations from the mirror (Only applies to those using DSLRs as compact digital cameras don't make use of a mirror).





-Turn on long exposure noise reduction if your camera has it. Most DSLRs and some compact cameras do. May have dig through the custom menus to activate it. The problem with this is your longer exposures will take a very long time to complete. Let’s say you take a 30 second exposure. First the camera takes the normal shot, and then it takes another 30 second shot in which the shutter doesn’t open. It takes the resulting noise pattern and subtracts it from the original exposure. It is very effective, but it really slows shooting down. Not a big deal when it is 80 degrees out, but it really stinks when it is 25 degrees out.





-Bring your camera’s instruction manual. You should always carry it with you anyways. If you are using a seldom used feature like long exposure noise reduction, then it is likely that you will have to look up how to activate it.





-Use your cameras lowest ISO. This assumes that you can use a very slow shutter speed as needed. For most of you this will require that you use the bulb mode in which the shutter will remain open as long as you keep the shutter release button pressed. Many of the remote releases have a provision to lock the button down until you release it. If your camera doesn’t have a slow enough shutter speed, then you may have to increase the ISO in order to obtain a correct exposure even when the aperture is lens all the way open.



-You may have to manually focus. All autofocus cameras require a certain light level to autofocus. If you are setting up in the dark, you will have precious little (if any light) so you may have to manually focus. If you have a DSLR, you can set the lens on infinity. You should note that the lens will likely allow you to focus past infinity. Past infinity?!? This is to take into account the expansion of the lens due to different weather, humidity, and pressure. So, you make have to take a few photos to insure that it is really set at infinity. Almost all compact digital cameras have a manual focus provision that entails selecting a distance from a distance scale. I simply set mine for infinity when using a compact camera. I was happy with the results. Another neat trick is to utilize an external flash. They often have a much more powerful autofocus assist light built in that will allow your camera to focus in pitch black night. So, you would use it focus, then turn the flash off.



-Consider all the ambient light sources unless. Even a very weak light adds up during a long exposure.



-Set your white balance to daylight. This will preserve the unique colors at that time of day. There is no point at getting up at 2am if you just want to take a photo that looks like it was taken at noon.



-Start taking photos before you even see the sun. There is usually a lot of color in the sky that you don't even notice until you take a long exposure photo and see it. Try it.



-Remember to expose for the highlights. Ensure that you are taking in enough light so that the histogram is very close to the right most wall without touching it. On a recent outing I noticed that some of my students were not doing that because it looked better on the LCD when it was underexposed. That is true. However, it will not look nearly as good as the image that was properly exposed once you begin editing on it the computer.



-Shoot RAW file format (assuming your camera supports it). If it is worth shooting, then it is worth shooting as a RAW file.



-Consider creating a HDR image from multiple, varying exposure (I will soon post more on HDR).



-Look for reflections in water (assuming there is water) that will give you twice the color.



-Bring a cell phone or a buddy; preferably both. If you are trouncing around in the dark it is a good idea to have a way of getting some help should you run into any trouble. Please take this seriously.