The Premier Jewelry Lady is a picture that I have done using only Adobe Illustrator. With vector graphics you do not get the type of shading that you would get from using Photoshop or your own hands but with simple techniques of layering you can come up with effects that give the illusion of shading but also give a clean, sharp look. Below is the step by step process of creating this piece.
First, I always start off with a thumbnail sketch. Whether it is a painting or a design I always start with one so you can see the composition before you start getting into it. But with Illustrator this is extremely important because you will be using this drawing to outline your pieces.
After I have my sketch I import it into Illustrator and give it its own layer. When I start creating multiple layers, I always have this one on top with a transparency of about 40% so I can turn it on and off and keep my lines exactly on the drawing.
The first thing I start doing with the actual artwork is apply the bottom layer as a simple shape. Each layer really is just a bunch of shapes on top of each other just like in painting. You want to start with the basic shape and keep adding colors with smaller shapes to give the illusion of shading without using the gradient tool.
Here is the first layer of shading. The reason I don’t use the gradient tool or the mesh tool is because for me it’s so clean that it’s cheesy. You know what I mean? Sometimes it looks good but for me, I just stay away from those. As you see, the shapes of darker yellow already give the hair body and form so the more you add, the more solid it becomes.
I always say that using illustrator adds instant satisfaction and this is the reason. I am 20 minutes into the project and I get excited on steps like these: It’s looking great and I know it’s about to look even better.
Here is the last bit of shadow that I am applying to the hair. I plan on doing this to every piece of this picture so this is the only part where I will go step by step into this type of shadow. You’ll notice that every time I added a layer, the shapes got smaller inside of the previous shape that I added. This gives the shape body.
Last, I add the hilights. It’s the same idea of creating smaller shapes inside, but you just go lighter instead. A lot of this has to do with knowledge of painting so you will have to understand where your light source is before you create the shading or else it will not make sense visually.
Ok so we have a head…now I am going to add her body. On the dress, I did the same effect as the hair but I used larger shapes as folds and I used a smaller amount of shapes to give it a satin look. To give her the right folds, you have to visualize where her movements are and think about how clothing would drape on top of those movements and then how the lights would hit each part. After that, I add arms and she is finished…Well almost. I need to add accessories.
By this point, I have about 6 illustrator layers and about 100 actual pieces to her. The reason I say illustrator layers is because I create a new layer every time I start a new part of the girl. I have one layer as the hair, one as the head, the dress, the arms, the accessories and the sketch on top. This way I can lock layers that I’m not using and work on sections at a time if I need to go in and fix anything. Also it helps to stay organized.
Next I start adding background pieces. The jewelry box is again just shapes on top of shapes. I used three colors in all for the outside of the box: red, lighter red, and lighter red. You’ll see that I did that just to give it a highlight. It’s pretty easy once you start to get the hang of it.
Next I create each piece of jewelry. First on the necklace, I created a white line with a copy of it behind it but as a grey. To do the shine, I just create really skinny triangles on top of each other than I add white circles on top of that. I then grab the circle and add a gaussian blur and you get a shine. For the diamonds, I put extremely small circles next to each other and made them different colors of white and grey. Mostly white though. Then I add the shines and you get a diamond necklace. For the second necklace, the chrome piece was started by making the basic shape a color of grey. Then I add smooth shapes of dark and light colors. Chrome doesn’t really have smooth shading so you need to make sure that the colors right next to each other have a harsh contrast
For the last part, I create the background. You don’t want it to overpower the foreground so you make the shapes extremely simple and have almost no shading. Then, use lots of pastel colors to keep it in the back. Last, you grab the whole background layer and you give it a slight blur to give it that depth perception and that’s basically it. The thing to remember is that these are all just shapes. It takes some practice and understanding of light source and composition but after you get the hang of it, it is a lot of fun.
