In today’s tutorial I’m going to show you how a mixture of styles can produce and effective lifestyle illustration, while giving thought to basic body language and what views will focus on.
Introduction
In today’s tutorial I’m going to show you how to construct this illustration, which is fit for a women’s lifestyle magazine. I’m going to be creating a day dreaming scene using a variety of styles to help create a difference between reality and the dream and as well as some basic tips on key elements to pay attention to, to ensure you’re able to communicate the concept clearly to the viewer.
I’m going to create a monochrome style skin shading, which is still detailed and smooth in appearance, unlike previous skin shading effects I’ve shown you before.
All stock images used in this tutorial have been provided by the talented Tasastock. This includes the images of the female model and the shoes.
Concept Research
The concept I’m going to be working on is to create an illustration that shows a woman dreaming of shoes. The woman is to be shown in a positive light and possibly longing for the shoes. It seems a simple concept, however the key elements of it are the latter portion of the concept. It’s the body language and expression of the model from the stock image I’m going to use which will help communicate the emotion behind the piece. Let me show you some examples and explain.
I’ve got three possible images I could work with as the main stock image for the woman dreaming. The first is of a woman lying on the floor with her limbs towards her abdomen. The reason why this sort of pose wouldn’t work is that we often associate the fetal position as regressing back to being a child in the womb, to a more comfortable place, therefore the situation the model is under at present is a negative one.
The next example, although the model is in a comfortable position, as you can probably guess, we can’t see her face. Whenever we look at an image containing a person in it, we go straight for the face, as this is one of the main areas where emotion can be conveyed… so with the model being in this position, we are unable to connect the viewer straight away with the emotion of the illustration.
Our last example is the one I’m going to use. The reason for doing so is that she is conscious in her dream or daydream if you will. She’s appearing relaxed and deep in thought, both of which can be seen as positive moods. Her arms aren’t crossed over and are open towards the viewer, as you may already know, crossed arms are a sign of being unapproachable and this isn’t what we want. I’m wanting to invite the viewer into seeing what she’s dreaming of.
Now that I have my main stock image, I’m going to draw a very rough plan of what I’d like the composition to be like. When I have this in mind, it’s easier for me to visualize the entire project. Once I have this, I can move on to the vectoring stages.
Step 1
I’m going to open the stock image into Photoshop and then lighten it with Curves (Command + M) and use the preset “Lighter.” Then use the Crop Tool (C) to select the area of the reference I wish to use. Once complete, I’m going to Save for Web & Devices with a width of about 800 pixels.
Step 2
Into Illustrator, create a New (Command + N) file. I’m going to File > Place the stock image and rename the layer “Reference.” I’m going to use the Ellipse Tool (L) to draw a circle for the area I want the dreaming element to be contained within. The Opacity will be 50% and Blending Mode Multiply, as I still wish to see the stock image clear enough. Then lock the layer.
Create a New Layer and rename it “BG.” Add a white filled Rectangle (M) over the canvas and reduce the Opacity to 30%. Lock the layer once done. Finally, Create a New Layer and rename it “Bases.”
Step 3
In the “Bases” layer folder begin to add the base shapes for the skin (C=15, M=25, Y=30, K=0) and the clothing (C=61, M=0, Y=25, K=20). The clothing is in two parts, I’ve added them together by creating a Compound Path (Command + 8).
Step 4
Create a New Layer and rename it “Shading.” For the initial shading shapes, I’m going to use Pathfinder > Minus Front to remove shapes from duplicates of the skin base. Effectively, what I am doing is removing the lightest parts out of the skin base so you’re left with the darker areas, this makes it quicker to begin the skin shading.
I’m going to use the same skin color and set the Blending Mode to Multiply and Opacity to 15%.
Step 5
Continuing to add the darker areas of skin shading, I’m going to add further shapes. This time these aren’t removed from the original skin base, but drawn separately with the same Blending Mode and Opacity.
