A redraw from last year

[Patricia Dishmon]

@lizardillo It makes total sense! I went through a similar thing recently. I had to sit down and sort through my brushes. Getting rid of the ones I rarely used really helped me streamline my process. I've got it narrowed down to like three brushes that I use for rendering.

How would you go about adding more texture to the vector images? I haven't worked with a vector program for a looong time, and to me, the textures always looked inorganic. I feel like nowadays there's actually a way to work around that issue, right?

[PenAndrew]

@lizardillo I really like this image and it reminds me of surf shops in Cornwall. You could adapt the bird to each region of the country, or animal for different countries.

[lizardillo]

@PenAndrew thank you I like surfing (well, bodyboarding, I can’t surf!). We like to go to Croyde in Devon when we can. I like the idea of adapting the animals. This is a design that I did a few years ago for a company that sells illustrated Land Rover and other automotive merchandise globally but it’s still active on their shop so I can’t change it at the moment. I still find it strange seeing people in other continents wearing my designs

[PenAndrew]

@lizardillo Wow, that's so cool.

[lizardillo]

@Patricia-Dishmon Texture is a bit tricky in Illustrator. After being a life-long user of Illustrator (bit of an exaggeration but you get the idea) it's really started to feel clunky to me lately. Affinity Designer seems to have a lot more features for adding texture more organically to vector as it has both vector and raster layers. I'm not sure if the texture comes in as raster though as I've not tried it out. I bought Affinity a year or so ago and have not used it much yet as I just went crazy using Procreate and nothing else! I'm thinking of either moving over to Affinity or Clip Studio for illustration, it's just getting the time to get my head around a new programme.

[PenAndrew]

@lizardillo Skottie Young uses Clip studio for his comic illustrations.

[lizardillo]

I'm not normally one to blow my own trumpet (British phrase ) but Giuseppe Castellano featured my dolphin before and after on his Twitter! It was a lovely surprise!

Not sure if you are allowed to put links on here but...
https://twitter.com/IllusDept/status/1519776340861464579?s=20&t=sq-sxyLkLVYwputbrknCnw

[Mike Marttila]

@lizardillo That's terrific, congrats! It really is an incredible difference between the two pieces. I think the redone bird picture is a huge step up as well, and really showcases how some more subtle elements (linework, gesture, value control) have also grown by leaps and bounds. All the hard work is paying off, and I'm looking forward to checking out your future pieces!

[lizardillo]

@Mike-Marttila thank you I’ve been trying really hard to get my portfolio ‘agent-worthy’. Hoping to take the plunge in sending some emails out next week (I keep putting it off)

[PenAndrew]

@lizardillo Yes, that image deserves it. It is excellent. Congratulations. Blow your own trumpet.