Asian Beauty.
View larger preview of art here.
I've been wanting to illustrate a person in this specific style for a while now. I wasn't sure who I should illustrate, but then while I was watching an episode of "Star Trek Enterprise" the character Hoshi solidified it for me. I wanted to illustrate a Japanese women. (Someone pointed out to me that the actress that plays Hoshi isn't Japanese, she's Korean. So there you go.)
Illustration Detail.
Being a former diehard FreeHand user of 15 years I have to say that I simply could not have pulled this off in that application at all. Not even close. The blend modes and transparency alone within Ai is just so awesome and fun to use.
"Beautiful" tiled pattern design.
View larger preview of pattern art here.
In the past year I've designed well over a 100 illustrative patterns for my new book on vector tiled patterns called "Drip.Dot.Swirl" due out in May.
For this project I wanted the background to have a nice authentic Japanese type pattern you might find on a Kosode.
It's not a traditional Japanese pattern, but I was inspired by many of the historical designs I researched. It's a west meets east approach if you will.
In regards to the Kanji characters in this artwork it translates to "Beautiful."
This project was a lot of fun, I'm happy with the results and I look forward to doing more artwork in this style soon.
11 comments:
You're making me anxious for this pattern book Vonster. Her eyes make the illustration in my opinion.
WOW!
Awesome illustration! We need a tutorial how you drew her. :)
-Cal
Fantastic - it's beautiful! I love your style.
Gorgeous. As a totally pixel-based artist I'm always blown away by really good vector guys like you, Von. So much vector art looks wrong because the 'ink line' doesn't follow the rules of thick-to-thin physics. You understand how to create a natural look, and its the key to why your work works! ;^)
... and your design sensibility creates a solid foundation for your artwork, making it so very impactful. A strong sense of design is something many of us illustrators need to work on.
Awesome, Von! Gorgeous rendering and precise control over the tool. good work!
Very well done. Looks great. However, as I'm sure you know, the actress that plays "Hoshi" isn't Japanese. So I guess its a decision to illustrate a portrait of the Character (who is Japanese) or the actress, who is Korean American. Koreans looks different than Japanese, just like Chinese look different too.
I'm always curious when people include text from other languages in their art, why not have "Beautiful" in your native language? It would have been a lot less Cliché if the portrait was of the actress and the characters used were in Korean (in my opinion).
I am a big fan of your style and teachings, so I just wanted to offer some constructive criticism!
Vectorbug,
You're right that actress is Korean, she was just a source of inspiration in terms of making me realize what I wanted to do. It's not portrait of that character or anyone specific for that matter.
The photo reference I compiled was Japanese. A few different pose actually, hair body from one and the facial features from another and shape of the face in general from many.
So it's my take on an Asian likeness, not on any person in specific.
Von
Your stuff makes me weep!
With jealousness....haha.
Seriously, though, I saw you at HOW last year and plan to attend your seminar this year as well. Keep up the great work!
Nicely done.
Dude! That is brilliantly sick!
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