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DrewGreen — Dark
Published: 2008-05-31 23:50:15 +0000 UTC; Views: 4946; Favourites: 110; Downloads: 116
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Description
Hey guys!Okay, so you see the "100" logo at the bottom-right corner of the piece. That logo indicates that this piece belongs to the 100 Word Challenge, which I gave up trying to complete (I barely started it) a while back. Because it was constantly on my mind and I was determined to complete it, it was the cause of all of my art blocks and frustration.
But I've decided that I wish to take a more passive, less proactive approach to the list and just check off items on it when they come to me. I don't feel pressured to complete it at all, so I feel good about it now.
This piece represents item number 4 on the list, "Dark." Back when I had first started the list, I imagined many run-of-the-mill, dark-colored pieces, but I decided to take a more antithetical approach to Dark. The image itself isn't particularly dark, but the person in the image probably is.
What's his deal? I don't know. Maybe he's a demon or something. I was just doodling some busts and he came to mind out of nowhere.
I also tried something interesting with the pattern. I think it's pretty successful!
Anyway, hope you guys enjoy!
About 4 hours (if you include the sketch and color composite), Adobe Illustrator CS.
PS: Sorry for the ugly watermark. But you know the deal.
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Comments: 55
oh wow! this is beautiful!
im so in love with the details of colors in this guys face
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i really do like the patterns
they give the whole piece texture
i really like this, even though i didn't understand all the white at first (i had to read your artists comments) but i agreed after i figured it out
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Haha, well, I'm glad you eventually got the concept, and that you like it. Thanks!
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Not immediately, but maybe soon.
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kinda looks like greg lake from king crimson
well the young greg lake anyway
neat stuff
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Hm, not sure I know exactly what you're referring to. Is that a band or something?
Thanks for the comment!
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wow i love how it took over a month to comment on this
i could've sworn i made that comment here before though :S
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Thank you! I'm glad to hear it!
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I love the pattern. And yes....the piece in general isn't very dark, but the subject kind of accomplishes the 'dark' symbolism thing you've got going on. (is it symbolism? I dunno.)
So good job!
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Yeah, you might call it symbolism. Perhaps.
Thanks!
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I am totally in love with the illustration...the coloring, the colors themselves, the weave, the texture, everything.
This is amazingly expressive for a vector...too often people's vectors get lost in the tight lines and crisp colors and look too flat. This looks just right.
Also I envy your skills in illustrator. I gave up trying a long time ago.
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Thank you! I take pride in the fact that my vectors are actually illustrations and are not trace-overs of photos of celebrities that I find on Google images (which is good practice, but devoid of personality or soul). I strive to use Illustrator for...well, illustrations. ;D
And you should totally try Illustrator again. I gave up several times over the course of about 3 or so years before I finally found out how to work the program and get some form of decent results.
The trick to Illustrator is embracing how much more technical it is that Photoshop. Using vectors is like figuring out an elaborate, amazing puzzle and can be a lot of fun when you get the hang of it. Oh, and you need to know the pen tool, because a tablet won't give you very good results in Illustrator for too many things (and to be clear, I love my tablet and use it often...in Photoshop).
Do you know how to use the pen tool in Photoshop?
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I used to mouse vector in Illustrator a looong time ago, but I wasn't very good at it so I gave it up to use that time to better my Photoshop painting skills. I've been wanting to try my hand at Illustrator again I'm just a little too intimidated to try.
I do use the pen tool in Photoshop, but the way I use it works differently than Illustrator. I'd like to actually vector stuff sometimes rather than 'vexel.' I think vectors would be a cool thing to be able to incorporate into my regular paintings to give them an extra kick. That and I've never ever been able to master doing curves with it. I'm just horrid at it.
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The pen tool in Photoshop is a little bit different in Illustrator, but really, at the end of the day, they're the same beast. If you do get the chance to toy around with Illustrator and you realize the differences in the pen tool, you'll see that it's almost like Photoshop's pen tool is broken in comparison.
I'm not a mixed-media kinda guy personally, but I love to see what other people do with it. I hope you do try your hand at Illustrator sometime in the future!
And for the record, I really need to work on my digital painting skills (especially since the next commission on my list is a digital painting and is going to be quite the undertaking). Sometimes I think I rely too much on Illustrator.
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I'll mess around with it. 
Like you said about Illustrator, I rely a bit too much on Photoshop and I really would like to branch out and try other things as well. It'd really give me a lot of room for interesting experimentation.
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Wow, it's a smashing success I say.
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Thanks! I'm glad you like it!
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I like your take on "dark" I think it's very original. Also, I had that nose piercing for approximately 24 hours haha.
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Haha, really?
Thanks a lot!
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Yes, it looked absoutely terrible on me for various reasons so I just took it out haha
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I imagine it probably wasn't too comfortable, either.
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HAH no it wasn't but if it would've actually looked good I would've dealt with it.
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Yeah, you probably would've gotten used to it.
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Neat lines. I suppose you are going to make a "Nice" version of this guy for the challenge called "Light"?
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No, I actually have a female portrait for "Light" already sketched (and it's nothing like this one). Originally, I thought I might complimentary pieces, but I decided against it.
Glad you like it!
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Wow I can't believe that you've used Illustrator. it seems like it's done with Photoshop. I'm very impressed. *o*
I'm curious to know how you work.Are you doing a color area and then apply a gradation?
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Hm, it's kind of complicated. I create a base layer for almost every color (that includes every shaded color) and then I turn each base layer (which is really its own shape) into a kind of mask that operates on transparency. Within that mask, I do the detailed shading, often with gradients. It's really hard to explain and I'm sure that hardly makes sense, but you're closer than anyone else I've ever head trying to guess my process! ;D
One of these days I'll have to make a tutorial.
Thanks for the kind words! I take pride in the fact that I'm able to get such interesting results in Illustrator, and I'm glad that you've taken notice to that.
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I think I understand the process.
It would be very interesting to see a tutorial from you. I cant wait to see it. That will be an occasion to experiment an other kind of color process.
And you're welcome for the com! Your pic made me curious and I really wanted to know how you got this result. ^-^
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Woah! an amazing job my friend! Pretty cool indeed!
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(Ha, you might call it a sun, sure) No, I actually created the pattern myself. Before I started working on the final version of the piece in Illustrator, I took about an hour to properly engineer the pattern because I knew that had to be one of the central elements of the image.
Glad to know you like the piece!
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Oh! I see! well it ended pretty well If I should say so, haha you shold sell the pattern to adobe, hehe
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heh i gave up on the 100 a long time ago, it will actually take you forever to finish it
but your approach to the list is better than what most people faced `-`
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Yeah, I'm not in any rush to finish it. So I don't think I'll lose my mind. Hopefully...
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Man, do I love the way you color things. That pattern looks great, too. I'd have no idea how to even begin making one of those.
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Thanks! I'm happy to hear the pattern was successful.
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ooh~! I agree with the texture part. It worked out great! I look forward to the other 99.
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Thanks! I'm glad you like it!
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Oh my bad, I meant to tell you one of those nice work comments but then I started thinking about said cook. Creepy Kid. So yes, Dark, it works!
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Well I think one of the cooks at my work came to your mind. It looks just like him save for the mowhawk. Did I spell that right???
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Haha! I think it's just Mohawk. Apparently the Firefox spell-checker insists that it's capitalized. Weird.
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