Have you considered trying to recreate detailed fur, showing shadows and highlights? Today’s Premium tutorial goes into creating a personalized dog portrait using Adobe Illustrator art brushes for the fur and flowers, as well as some useful tips that can be applied to creating hair!
You can find the source files in the directory labeled ‘source’ that came in the files that you downloaded. You may wish to look through them briefly before we begin.
Introduction
Last month I introduced you to the new member of our family, Shelley. In the tutorial I went over a basic fur technique using the Paintbrush Tool (B), well it’s time to get more in depth. Sometimes you want to knock up the detailing further so it matches a more realistic appearance, which is often hard to pull off in vector and much easier in say Photoshop/raster.
In today’s tutorial, I’m going to show you how to create a detailed, personalized, pet portrait. I’ll be going in depth with creating long fur and how to create a basic flower. In this case, I’ll be creating dandelions. These techniques can be applied to other elements in vector art, so it’s definitely one to check out.
I would recommend attempting any in depth tutorial on fur and hair with a graphics tablet as it will cut down the work time on the piece; however, it is achievable with a mouse, as I have done in the past.
Background Research
Shelley is a female Cavalier King Charles Spaniel with a blenhiem coloring (red and white fur). She’s very typical of her breed type, which is eager to please, friendly with humans and other animals and always up to something naughty – I have a butchered Wacom stylus pen to prove it!
One of the stand out traits she has, which my family joke about, is her attraction to dandelions – a very native British weed. Apparently the eating of dandelions is good for dogs, as it helps maintain a healthy liver. Considering liver issues are a pedigree trait with the CKC, her addiction to this bright yellow flower is a positive thing.
The inclusion of yellow with her red and white coloring is great, but I feel I’ll need another color to balance the warm tones. So to make it more seasonal to a Spring come Summer theme – as this is when the dandelion is in full bloom – I’m going to add some light green shades to balance the coloring.
A straight animal/pet portrait is great, but including personalized elements (such as I’m doing with the dandelions) will bring out the animal’s personality. Should you get a client who wants a pet portrait as I have in the past, get talking about what the dog is like. Not only will the client connect with the art further, but it can also create a good conversational point for the owner to their friends!
Step 1
I took the photo used as a reference in this tutorial in natural light rather than indoors with a flash. I would recommend that should you do one for yourself, to source the image from outside to prevent any distortion of the lighting. You don’t want to vector a client’s pet with the “yellow” tones of an indoor light, nor do you want modified lighting from the use of a flash. So the aim here is to get as close to the natural coloring as possible.
I want to centralize the portrait, so I’m going to open the reference in Photoshop and then use the Move Tool (V) to rotate it so the eyes are vertically parallel. This will also help emphasize the off central white in between her eyes.
Once done, Save for Web & Devices at about a 600px width.
Step 2
I’m going to create a new Portrait oriented document in Adobe Illustrator and then File > Place the reference image onto the artboard. Double-click on “Layer 1,” rename it “Original,” and then lock it.
Create a New Layer and rename it “BG.” Within this layer draw a rectangle with a white fill at Opacity 30% using the Rectangle Tool (M). This helps show the strokes you’ll be drawing based on the reference image, which can be the same color as those on the reference, without you losing your strokes into the reference image. Lock this layer once done.
Create a New Layer and rename it “Bases.”
Step 3
I’m going to begin creating the “base” layers for Shelley. To create a solid base for areas with fur, specifically long fur, it can be very time consuming. I found the quickest and best way to do this is to use the “Width Profile 1” brush from my past tutorial and to draw a sort of zig-zag line around the area.
Step 4
Once you’ve drawn the outline for the area with the short strokes, Select All (Command + A) and then Object > Expand the lines until they become filled objects. Then using the Pathfinder options, Unite them.
While your area is selected, use the Live Paint Bucket (K) to fill it with a brown/red color (C=30, M=65, Y=85, K=15). Then Object > Expand the live paint group that has been created, and then use Pathfinder > Unite again to create one shape.
Step 5
Use the same process to create the shape for the legs and chest area. This is to be filled with an off-white shade (C=0, M=0, Y=0, K=10).
Step 6
Duplicate the base for the head and then draw over it with the Pen Tool (P) for the white areas on the face. Use the Pathfinder > Intersect option to trim it to the shape required. Fill this shape with the same off-white color.
