New illustration for my PaperDolls's collection.
Process:
It begins with a reference picture, then I make a pencil sketch re-defining the entire portrait at my style, and finally I re-draw the scanned sketch on vectors using only a 2 button mouse and a PC. From pencil sketch to vector illustration. No tracing over a photo, and no tablet used, just mouse-click.
First I choose a concept for the model. This time we worked together on a pin-up-like-style pose, and the photo shoot was made with the model naked over a bed. This was the photo reference, then I began to sketch.
This is the most important stage of the work. After more than 20 years of traditional and digital illustration, I think the pencil sketch needs to be highly accurate, because to maintain the general shape of the original photo reference, to keep the original attitude or mood, and also to give the portrait the details and style only using no more than 2 to 3 tones and dropping a few lines to make some volume. Here's you need to picture in your head how the final artwork is going to be and the rest is just mouse-click vector drawing.
Once scanned, I begin to draw exactly over the pencil lines, using Adobe Illustrator's Pen Tool and my old high-presition mouse.
Having a view of how the illustration is taking form without the pencil sketch, this time I first draw the whole lineart and then I use a minimal color palette with 1 tone for everything. Later will add more tones if needed.
Always I'm refining and cleaning up everything, erasing some tones or some shapes that I think just don't need, and adjusting some lines before converting to shapes and before adding some line values. Isolating almost every element in ordered layers. Since this one have less tone detail, I focused on the texture, working specially on the lingerie and face details.
