Trying to realise my goal (a new way of thinking)?
I'm trying to find the fastest way, to draw on a high-end level. I am decent in Photoshop, but find myself using a lot of time with details and cleaning up my drawing.So I started to research and I found Illustrator... learned the basics, and encountered the problem that every vector should be closed. And that's a problem for me, because it means I might as well draw in Photoshop, because I still need to draw an extra line and add an unknown number of layers to the drawing in order to reach a complex goal in Illustrator. THEN I FOUND LIVE PAINT AND MAKE LIVE! Such wonderful idea, but sadly it doesn't give my Photoshop skills the tools they need (since it seems that only a weak base color and some gradient can be used).Long story longer... I wonder if it's possible to draw for example a complex AND realistic face with gradients in Illustrator? I found some guides and found them very realistic (mostly flames). Link to the tutorial: http://design.tutsplus.com/tutorials/create-a-burning-vector-match-using-gradient-meshes--vector-4349But can those techniques be placed on a face, to reassemble a realistic color scheme? Can gradients be used together with live paint, on the same level as the guide, or should I only focus on the gradients? (it seems to be a thing to learn for itself). If so: Do I then have like 1000 weird shadows, due to the edges of the strokes, i'm using? and do I need strokes upon strokes? In the end my simple question is... Can I ever reach the skills required to draw realistic monsters like the ALIEN? or should I just go back to Photoshop and its layer system. I can't seem to find my way, all I know is, that if this does work, I could save 3–5 hours next time I need to draw something, while still being satisfied with the result. Please guide me.
The latest update for Illustrator includes a new option for the Gradient Tool. While you can always make linear and radial gradients you can now make freeform gradients. It's quite amazing and really easy to use. Get the latest version and it has a tour of the tool right in your interface to get you started!
