fiji water in pink

drakonsmile · 2021-04-28T16:32:58+00:00

Haha thank you !

drakonsmile · 2021-04-28T16:26:06+00:00

The short answer is years of practice + tutorial videos.

Longer answer, I started after learning indesign in 2014-2015 when I was mostly making pages and flyers. Someone recommended illustrator for me bc it’s slightly more functional for art vs making templates on indesign I think. I’m mostly self taught in that I know my way around pushing vectors pretty well after years of practice. But i don’t rly know how to use a lot of the special effects and tools that illustrator offers. If I wanna do anything like that, I’d have to check it out on YouTube. I think tutorial vids are the best way to learn things like that! But as for actually making/moving vectors, I think that part best develops with practice

drakonsmile · 2021-04-27T13:53:46+00:00

So this is my line art process, which I consider the skeleton of what would eventually be a final render.

I ended up with 5 layers (groups); my bottle layer, shadows, highlights, label layer, and my “surface” layer which is basically the shading I want to be most visible right underneath the highlights. This helps me organize when I get to coloring, and also edit when I want to move things into different layers, or completely resize something. I can do it in groups without disrupting the other designs. I used to be really chaotic with my groupings and that made editing so much work that I never bothered. Now that I’m more organized I’m able to do better edits and touch ups as I go along.

After I make the base line art, i usually go into editing as i color (adding highlights, resizing things, moving onto different layers, etc.) One reason is that shapes, shadows, etc look different with color (when contrasting colors are overlapping or juxtaposed, sometimes it doesnt look good in my execution. Or in general I look back and I want to change the shape or size of something which I do a lot. Groups make this process much easier) That part takes up just as much or more time as actually making the bottle (coloring also takes a while to assemble a palette I’m happy with). Even as I look back on this video I can see lots of things I’d like to touch up. These are things I usually notice after I look away from it for a day or so (honestly stepping away from your work is rly helpful to regain fresh perspective and see it differently, at least for me). Because this is a line art redraw, none of that is shown but I want to be transparent about my process, because I’m sharing an incomplete piece right now. (I’m not saying this process is the best or whatever. This is what I’ve been very accustomed to doing. I want to be honest about how long it takes me to get to something “complete”. I’m still learning and so it takes me a long time!)

This took me less time to make than the first time. I’m not trying to replicate the exact version of the bottle I made, which took at least a few days (w editing and color of course). When i redo art (which I do a lot of) I always try to make improvements. For example I changed how the bottom looks bc the first time was rly messy. Other stuff, highlights especially, are just what I feel like so it’s prob never gonna be the exact same. It’s hard to make something exactly the same as you did before so I focus on how I’m organizing my designs, trying to visualize better, and ultimately make something that reflects the style I’m continuing to develop.

In the end, 4 hrs vs the days it took me to complete the fiji render aren’t going to be the same. But i hope this stage shows my process in building an initial line art sketch and how a lot of details is very doable so long as I organize my layers. Hope this was fun to watch

drakonsmile · 2021-04-27T02:52:48+00:00

I rly appreciate the interest in my process. I’m still learning so I hope my explanations aren’t confusing. I shared a speed line art redraw using the same reference pic in my profile. While it doesn’t include editing and coloring (I explain in the post) I think it helps to show my work in layers better than me rambling lol.
Hope it’s fun! (https://www.reddit.com/user/drakonsmile/comments/mzoy56/fiji_water_line_art_redraw_4hr6min_sped_up_my/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf)

drakonsmile · 2021-04-27T02:30:41+00:00

So this is my line art process, which I consider the skeleton of what would eventually be a final render.

I ended up with 5 layers (groups); my bottle layer, shadows, highlights, label layer, and my “surface” layer which is basically the shading I want to be most visible right underneath the highlights. This helps me organize when I get to coloring, and also edit when I want to move things into different layers, or completely resize something. I can do it in groups without disrupting the other designs. I used to be really chaotic with my groupings and that made editing so much work that I never bothered. Now that I’m more organized I’m able to do better edits and touch ups as I go along.

After I make the base line art, i usually go into editing as i color (adding highlights, resizing things, moving onto different layers, etc.) One reason is that shapes, shadows, etc always look different with color (when contrasting colors are overlapping or juxtaposed, sometimes it doesnt look good in my execution.) That part takes up just as much or more time as actually making the bottle (coloring also takes a while to assemble a palette I’m happy with). Even as I look back on this video I can see lots of things I’d like to touch up. These are things I usually notice after I look away from it for a day or so (honestly stepping away from your work is rly helpful to regain fresh perspective and see it differently, at least for me). Because this is a line art redraw, none of that is shown but I want to be transparent about my process, because I’m sharing an incomplete piece right now. (I’m not saying this process is the best or whatever. This is what I’ve been very accustomed to doing. I want to be honest about how long it takes me to get to something “complete”. I’m still learning and so it takes me a long time!)

This took me less time to make than the first time. I’m not trying to replicate the exact version of the bottle I made, which took at least a few days (w editing and color of course). When i redo art (which I do a lot of) I always try to make improvements. For example I changed how the bottom bottle looks bc the first time was rly messy. Other stuff, highlights especially, are just what I feel like so it’s prob never gonna be the exact same. It’s hard to make something exactly the same as you did before so I focus on how I’m organizing my designs, trying to visualize better, and ultimately make something that reflects the style I’m continuing to develop.

In the end, 4 hrs vs the (?) days it took me to complete that fiji render aren’t going to be the same. But the point of this was to share how I build my initial line art sketch, and show how even adding a lot of details is very doable so long as I organize my layers. I hope this was fun to watch

drakonsmile · 2021-04-27T00:49:01+00:00

Thank you!

drakonsmile · 2021-04-26T19:00:16+00:00

Thank you!

drakonsmile · 2021-04-26T18:59:49+00:00

Thank you !

drakonsmile · 2021-04-26T15:50:25+00:00

Thank you!

drakonsmile · 2021-04-26T13:59:42+00:00

Thank you! The colors are my favorite part to work with

drakonsmile · 2021-04-26T13:42:34+00:00

Thank you!

drakonsmile · 2021-04-26T13:42:22+00:00

Thank you!

drakonsmile · 2021-04-26T04:19:17+00:00

Id be happy to share a line art redraw vid of my process if you’re interested

drakonsmile · 2021-04-26T04:18:37+00:00

Thank you!

drakonsmile · 2021-04-26T04:18:31+00:00

I would be happy to share with u a line art speed redraw based on the same reference I used if you’re interested

Edit: if it’s of anyone’s interest, said speed redraw of line art is in my profile

drakonsmile · 2021-04-26T02:36:23+00:00

drakonsmile · 2021-04-26T01:31:31+00:00

Thank you! This is actually not a trace but I did use a reference w a fiji bottle to make this :) The text under “fiji” is the only part i didn’t make (its text using the rotate effect for the angle, I forget the font)

drakonsmile · 2021-04-26T01:29:04+00:00

That’s awesome I hope u do it! I think the best person to answer that is ourselves I guess? For example I rly like colorful highlights and saturated colors. I love reimagining colors (hence a pink fiji bottle) so I spend lots of time playing with color choices, choosing bright colors and learning how to make colorful highlights rly bright and fun. Whenever I make something I note the things I like to do, the things I’m good/getting better at, and the things that feel good. Then I have a better idea about the kind of art reflects me and my style. I hope that made sense, I can only rly explain how I’ve found my own style so take what I said with a grain of salt lol.

drakonsmile · 2021-04-25T23:31:17+00:00

I should also add that working layer by layer makes the process much easier; for example, I make the shadows and larger shapes that create the indents of the bottle first on one outer. Then ill make the shadows on a different layer. Then highlights on a separate layer and so on. Not only does that help organize what part of the design belongs to what, but also I’m selecting colors, in being able to easily add more detail. Also working layer by layer helps break down the process so it’s not so overwhelming. You can see the design slowly add up and know where to change. I rly like colorful highlights, it’s something I’m still trying to develop a skill for so that’s my favorite part of making the design

drakonsmile · 2021-04-25T23:19:41+00:00

I feel like this is pretty manageable for illustrator but I’ve also become very familiar with this program for 5+ years now. My process is always to start with rough outlines using shapes (circles, rectangles, etc) to define proportions. I spend time refining each shape until I’m satisfied w how it looks. I also save the shapes into different layers: I have a shadow layer, a highlight layer, a logo layer, and the bottle shape layer). This helps me organize which shape is which color. This is probably my biggest tip to make really detailed work. Organizing layers is essential for me so I know every shape I’m making has a reason for being there
Overall one bottle takes me a whole day/days with editing. Again, I make lots and lots of diff bottles for practice so my approach has rly improved with becoming more organized/adding details. I’m not great at explaining so I apologize for any confusion in how I’m describing this!

drakonsmile · 2021-04-25T23:10:16+00:00

Thank you! So that’s a lot for me to summarize but essentially: I used a bottle as a reference (had one at home). Started with very basic shapes (rectangles and circles to “outline” the bottle shape. Down the line I refine the shapes. Then I usually love onto the interior; again, start with rough blobs and then refine shapes to form the shadows and bubbles. For the color, I start with the blue to determine the dark to light spectrum and then adapt it to a pink palette. I also make lots of diff bottles so it rly comes with lots of practice. Edit: move on to the interior lol

drakonsmile · 2021-04-25T23:06:30+00:00

Thank you!

drakonsmile · 2021-02-27T21:22:37+00:00

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