[GenericGuy73]

YEAH I'M SO AWESOME. BEAT THIS GAME USING NO CONTINUES. I THOUGHT I COULDN'T DO IT BUT I DID. I FEEL LIKE I CAN TAKE ON HAR- Ok it was on easy mode I'm not awesome. I'm an elementary school kid. Damn that Overdrive song.

Anyway back to business. Sensei-kun requested that I do this vector while showing how I do it step-by-step. I did say, “I have a feeling I can do that and make it interesting” but I don't have a feeling I can make it interesting. Maybe making a video will do the trick. Nah I can't do a video of me vectoring. I'll need audio and I'm sure as hell I'm not getting on a mic to provide it. Plus I'm too easily distracted, after like five lines I'll be minimizing Illustrator and go play mahjong or lurk some site. Plus my hard drive doesn't have enough space. Having three people use one hard drive isn't a good idea. I also can't post just my progress after each day, that's boring.


I'll think of how to make it interesting later. I need to start vectoring this, can't have a step-by-step vector project if I don't have a vector...Now open up Illustrator... What the heck? I don't want to work on Youmu. File...Open...Ahh there we go. Gah Tenshi another project pushed back. Whoa so many projects I thought were good ideas back when I was in elementary school. Vectoring a whole poster...the official art of Rebecca from Fire Emblem 7...Ugh. Get to the towel.




Oh God this is huge. Oh God where to start. Her legs? Nah, there aren't any lines that isn't connected like this and are easy to do. Her clothes? I can't see the lines clear enough. Maybe I can do something to the picture, later though. Might as well start with her head. Hair lines connect at a point so I don't need to guess where to stop the line and usually start not connected to anything. Perfect place to start building. Tomorrow.


Man I really gotta hurry and think up how I'm gonna make this work. I mean I only have like eight or nine days to do this and I have school two weeks. My usual vectoring time is a little after the P becomes an A. *sigh* Might as well work on the post.

[FlamingYu]

you're watching anime at the same time as listening to songs+PS+Ills + Forum??*you're awesome* o.o anyways good luck once again with that monster

[Sensei-kun]

lol, damn you're a busy guy xD
anyway, thanks for doing this, will be checking this topic often now :D

[Chie]

Too bad for you. I hope you have a good life while doing this massive image.

[GenericGuy73]

$&*$ I DEALT INTO ANOTHER HAND! Man I'm awful at mahjong. My damn heel is swollen and itchy from some plant and I'm hungry, but there's no rice. Ah what to do when you're pissed...I KNOW! Always the best for calming down and forgetting about how hungry you are.


Ahhhh what have I done so far. Great, nothing. So I'm going to complete this 'monster' in a little under a week. Thank God most of her lines are simple, aside from her clothes, but fortunately she isn't wearing a lot. Now lets get started.


First things first, what colour should I make the outlines? I usually pick black, but this one looks like it could use colour. I do it the easy lazy way and use the eye dropper.

Spoiler!

Now for the formation of the first line. Her eyebrow is a nice first line as it is absolutely isolated from other lines. A perfect first line (sarcasm.jpg). I usually make eyebrows and hair lines like this. Make an anchor point right on the tip, then put another one at the other tip, manipulate the path to form one part of the line

Spoiler!

then finishing it off using only two anchor points.

Spoiler!

Now most of those lines can be made with only two anchor points, but not all of them can. You can try to do ridiculous stuff like this

Spoiler!

but it is a hassle to do correctly. You have to counter-balance the two direction points

Spoiler!

and ugh it takes too long and too much effort, but it is an option. Whenever I connect two hair lines

Spoiler!

I make another path to connect those two lines

Spoiler!

and I get this

Spoiler!

. It takes a while, but I like it. I know there's another way but meh.


You know what? After looking at this I've noticed that the outlines change colour or lose transparency in some places.

Spoiler!

I really don't want to bother with it right now so I'm making the outline a traditional black. I will put those effects in later maybe in a post or 2.


Maybe I should go try that other way now.

Spoiler!

Why don't I usually make my hair line like this?

Spoiler!

Oh that's why, I get carried away. Oh well lets see if it looks good.

Spoiler!

Sometimes it's a good idea to take off the colour temporarily so you can see where the lines are.

Spoiler!

Or you could just pull the path radically to move the colour out of the way and see the line without removing the colour. Like I was saying before not all hair lines can be make with only two points.

Spoiler!

Now how does it look?

Spoiler!

How am I going to make this line without creating two paths?

Spoiler!

ignore the bad 'oval' I KNOW! I GOTTA BELIEVE! In scissors. Make the line, pretending that ahoge isn't there. Once the line is created, select the 'Scissors tool'

Spoiler!

, select the line, then click on where you want one end of the path to get cut off and the other end. Like so.

Spoiler!

Delete the two paths that aren't needed and join the lines to themselves with the pen or right-click then 'Join'.


That halo looks like it could be created with the 'Ellipse Tool' and a 'Stroke'

Spoiler!

. Make that ellipse oval and you don't have to worry about it not looking exactly like it right now. Get out any of the manipulating tools that has the selection box

Spoiler!

and start shaping it to look like it. Once you've got that click the stroke box and click 'Align Stroke to Inside', or to outside depending on how you shaped it.

Spoiler!

Then pick an appropriate size for the stroke. I think strokes look better when its not aligned on the centre.


The pen tool is being used for the inside hole of the halo because I need to show the other way of doing it. Switch to a fill and create a path that fills in just the outside of the line.

Spoiler!

Make that path turn invisible by clicking the eyeball next to it on the 'Layer' box. I'm not posting a picture of it because its on other pictures. Then fill in the inside of the hole.

Spoiler!

)

Once thats done make the other path visible and then select them both and click 'Subtract from shape area'

Spoiler!

Whoa why was my language bar JP? Guess my comp thinks I'm Japanese when Illustrator is selected. Anyway the hole should be well a hole,

Spoiler!

if it isn't make sure that the path that will be the hole is on top of the path that will be the line.


Here are somethings I couldn't meld into those paragraphs and make it sound good. If you want to have those pointy tips on the eyebrows or hair lines you gotta click the second anchor point (assuming you are using only two of them) after you have manipulated it. Basically after this part

Spoiler!

. Or you could just manipulate the direction point that it has to create the other side of the line as you are finishing it off.


Well thats all the tutorial I can think of. When I'm done the outlines or I think of something that could go with this part of the tut I'll make a new post, hopefully it will be the colouring part. Until then...I'll be doing other stuff, like posting in other threads and playing random games.

[Sensei-kun]

looks good so far :D maybe I should also install Illustrator instead of using Photoshop CS for my vectors xD
and I see you use shape layers with the pen tool (or maybe it's the only option?) but I always use paths and a "Fill Path"

and lol, you really get distracted by alot xD

[GenericGuy73]

No updates. Only more excuses. After actually trying to colour the outlines I realized that trying to colour those lines is harder than I thought. I had to actually think up a new technique just so my head won't explode trying to make the perfect gradient that would look good and make sense. Now I'm finding irony in my other post when I said that her clothes are the most complicated. The clothing lines themselves are complicated, but the colouring of them is simple. Looking it over, again, trying to replicate her skin blending with the shading is something that I'm not sure if I can actually do and look proper. I'll think of something. I'll get this done. I know I will. I always finish my school projects last minute and still get an A on it. Ok except for a few.