Design Process of Phoenix Illustration
March 23rd, 2007 Filed in: Design, Tricks & Tips Jump to comments
Numbers of people have asked me how to do the phoenix illustration on my site. Was it vector? Did I use Illustrator or Photoshop? Well, here I will tell you my design process from concept sketch to final illustration. Hope you will find this useful.
1. Concept Sketch
Like most other designers, I like to brainstorm and sketch out my ideas.
2. Research
Then I will go to Google image search to get design inspiration. Notice the color theme used on my site is very similar to the images that I found?
3. Tracing
Normally I will do a fine sketch and import it in Illustrator for tracing purpose. Check out my Illustrator vector tracing tutorial. Here I experimented with different color variation.
4. Illustrator Files
Here are the Illustrator files that I traced from sketches. These vector illustrations then imported into Photoshop for composition.
5. Effects
I used Photoshop to add FX effects like: rainbow, glow, particles, and gradient. One of the frequently asked questions is how to do the particles effect on the tails and flowers. To make the particles, just set the layer’s blending mode to "dissolve".
6. Final
Here is the final illustration. Download the full size wallpaper.
March 23rd, 2007 at 2:44 am
Excellent work and it is really useful for the designers…
March 23rd, 2007 at 3:19 am
Nice work! Thanks for sharing you technique. I just wish I could draw as well as you! :(
March 23rd, 2007 at 4:12 am
Great process, how long did the whole thing take from the sketch stage to the final image?
March 23rd, 2007 at 4:42 am
ooh, how i wish i could do it all from the sketch to the final :|
i can only take some pics, add here and there :P
this is a great reference for a designer wannabe ^^
thanks for sharing :)
March 23rd, 2007 at 5:11 am
Nice tutorial. actually i was looking for something like that. Thanks mate.
your work is solid.
March 23rd, 2007 at 9:12 am
Wow, very useful.. tnx! :)
March 23rd, 2007 at 10:11 am
Awesome design & tutorial!! :) I’m astonished!!
March 23rd, 2007 at 10:34 am
Richard - the full process took about 16+ hours.
March 23rd, 2007 at 11:18 am
Nick, thanks for sharing. I think people see a design like that and don’t really think about how many hours go into it. Thanks for being transparent about the work your design requires and for not pretending to just invent the whole thing, i.e. admitting that you looked at Google Images for inspiration. I think that is admirable. Thanks again.
March 23rd, 2007 at 12:54 pm
Thanks for sharing, and great job.
March 23rd, 2007 at 2:52 pm
a real masterpiece !
this is my new office wallpaper ;)
thanks for your talent
March 23rd, 2007 at 3:02 pm
thanks for the insight man keep up the good work
March 23rd, 2007 at 3:12 pm
alright thanks, and like Jamie Phelps mentioned it’s really great how you share your process. I’m an industrial designer and always enjoy looking at the process that results into something wonderful as this site. By the way, what happened to the forum?
March 23rd, 2007 at 3:25 pm
Richard - the spammers killed my forums. :(
I had average of 20 spam posts and 10 spammer signups everyday. I tried to install the anti-spam MOD, but didn’t work. So, I decided to remove it.
March 23rd, 2007 at 7:11 pm
The phoenix illustration looks incredible, thanks for providing some insight as to how you made it.
March 24th, 2007 at 4:10 am
thak you for this little tutorial, it’s most important the research to get design inspiration.
March 24th, 2007 at 12:34 pm
woooooooooot thanks for the tutorials man!!
March 24th, 2007 at 2:35 pm
Dear Nick,
Nice works man. But I really appreciating your willingness to share the knowledge. Though, I may not use this kind of design in my websites, I really like to use this in films. Keep the good work and spirit!
Shine.Ravindra
March 24th, 2007 at 7:53 pm
Fantastic, Thanks!
March 25th, 2007 at 5:37 am
Your illustrator tracing tutorial helped me so much that I already made 2 big artworks out of it and yes most of us sketch so that there will be a guide to trace when we draw it down to illustrator.
Having both Photoshop and Illustrator is a very big thing specially for computer artists.
And may I say that what you did telling your techniques is mighty generous. Most artists won’t tell their techniques.
Keep up the good work.
March 25th, 2007 at 11:15 am
It´s really nice to see how you work! I have asked many people about how they work, how they start, how they get the inspiration and stuff. And it´s was fun to see that I´ve done the same way as you but you are much much better:P Keep working
March 25th, 2007 at 2:48 pm
Great job, like it alot. Really makes me wonder why i still haven’t learnt the glory that is illustrator.
March 25th, 2007 at 10:48 pm
Wow, great tutorial… very simple, but it gets the point across with just the right amount of pictures.
I should really learn illustrator too… I’ve needed it a few times, but had to make to with pShop.
March 25th, 2007 at 10:49 pm
Good stuff man, I should start scanning my drawings to trace in Illustrator. I have always liked the site layout, cant wait to see what you do next.
March 25th, 2007 at 11:09 pm
Hey Nick,
Even your rough sketches look cool! Thanks for this tutorial. I appreciate your ability and willingness to share your knowledge. Your work has inspired me so much. Please ad some more Illustrator tutorials. I simply lov ehat software.
Malini
March 26th, 2007 at 5:27 am
i am really impressed for your imagination and how to create the illustrator. can you give me a tips to using adobe illustrator …..? =)
March 26th, 2007 at 9:01 am
Great,Nice design
March 26th, 2007 at 9:58 am
Wow! again a very nice Tips on gathering ideas before heading on creating a masterpiece!
I always found that the articles included in your site is something x-tra to the designer community! Thanks man!
March 26th, 2007 at 1:55 pm
It is beautiful! I love Phoenix; I actually have a tattoo on my right shoulder of a Blue Phoenix! :-)
March 27th, 2007 at 12:53 am
im starting using Adobe illustrator and it really hepl me thank you.
March 27th, 2007 at 12:11 pm
Hello, could you make an Illustrator toturial for beginners? I would be grateful.
March 27th, 2007 at 2:17 pm
Beautifull
March 27th, 2007 at 2:59 pm
What tips can you give me on making such precise outlines in Illustrator? I just can’t seem to get the hang of tracing proper curves and paths with that darn pen tool…
March 28th, 2007 at 2:25 am
Thank you for this. You are lovely to the max.
March 28th, 2007 at 4:36 am
En effet, même moi je me suis posé la quetions en ce qui concernait le procédé de cette mise en harmonie, j’ai maintenant une reponse :) !
Bonne continuation
March 28th, 2007 at 5:15 am
test
March 29th, 2007 at 4:30 am
Hi, Thank you for your inspirations! Peace
March 29th, 2007 at 8:47 am
Hi!:)
Congratulations on the amazing blog & talent you have, this tutorial has been most enlighting, thank you so much for posting it, thanks to this and the other ones in this site I am beggining to understand Illustrator.
Thanks again!
March 29th, 2007 at 12:23 pm
thanks a lot for this great tutorial, i hope i can ever make anything like this. For beginners i found a great illustrator tutorial, it’s great for your pen-tool skills ;) http://www.tutorialized.com/tutorial/Cartoon-Birds/20573
March 29th, 2007 at 4:30 pm
Nice work. Keep it up
March 30th, 2007 at 3:21 am
That’s great -
I tried but i didn’t succed but now i know how you did it .
Awesome!!!
Cheers
Steve
AudioChroma.com
March 30th, 2007 at 8:38 am
Excellent, This is the noble inspiration like ours (beginer designers). Thank you very much for giving very useful information and thanks a lot.
March 31st, 2007 at 1:29 am
真厉害.高水平
March 31st, 2007 at 6:38 am
Good Job!
March 31st, 2007 at 7:50 am
Speak english dumbass
April 1st, 2007 at 5:28 am
中国元素喜欢
April 1st, 2007 at 8:31 am
Very good illustrations and ideas given keep up the good job
April 1st, 2007 at 12:20 pm
Great site
April 2nd, 2007 at 7:25 am
HEY!!!
You inspire me!!!
Thank You and keep the good work!
April 2nd, 2007 at 8:15 am
يا ريت الشرح يكون اكثر وضوح عن ذلك
April 2nd, 2007 at 4:45 pm
Your work, and my girlfreinds buetiful eyes, have inspired me to do some of the work I’m most proud of. Thanx!
April 3rd, 2007 at 12:15 am
Hi Nick,
Brilliant job! Your work inspires a lot. Keep up the good work!
Regards,
Sudatsun
April 3rd, 2007 at 12:36 am
Such vibrant colors. It just pops out at you. Very nice design. I’m glad to see that you use other resources for inspiration. I somehow always thought up until now that you kind of just popped those colors straight out of your noggin.
April 3rd, 2007 at 12:40 pm
I love it! Great design! It’s interesting, not overly busy.. Just love it..
April 4th, 2007 at 12:39 am
wow, it’s taste very luxurious.
– yeah dumbass.
April 4th, 2007 at 8:14 am
Parabéns pelo artigo e pelo maravilhoso site. Eu adoro os seus trabalhos. Abraços e até mais.
April 5th, 2007 at 2:46 am
wow,i have no words!
April 5th, 2007 at 3:38 am
We love all your work. your website is one of our favourite site. great design, fantastic portfolio.
many regards from germany.
mike
April 5th, 2007 at 11:06 am
Nik, you are loved the world over - you just blow us away everytime - love you man.
Team Mana Media
April 7th, 2007 at 12:21 am
I love the whole site you own here, and I love all your graphics. Currently I am using your WP Theme GlossyBlue 1.3 until I can create my own! So far I think it goes great my site, and I just love the gfx! Thanks again!
April 7th, 2007 at 9:07 am
Incredible. I absolutely love your style and work. The tutorial was very interesting to read.
April 7th, 2007 at 4:03 pm
hello… that the brilliant job…
April 7th, 2007 at 10:19 pm
awesome job!
i tried it but it was too hard for me=[
ahwell.
i just wanted to know though, where’d you get all those awesome flower brushes?
cheeeeeers!
xxx
April 8th, 2007 at 6:05 am
Nice work!
simply amazing.
but unfortunatly I dont have Illustrator :(
April 9th, 2007 at 6:33 am
hey i think you do have a great mind for abstract, and i like the way tell your story.the designs are most fabulous.my friends and i in Nigeria really love your work.be happy bro.
April 10th, 2007 at 9:28 pm
Es bellísima tú página… tienes unos tips muy buenos.
Saludos desde Arica-Chile
April 11th, 2007 at 6:01 am
amazing … I love your work!
April 12th, 2007 at 1:19 am
your ideas and style is amazing every illustration is detailed and the colours you use creates different moods. Your site is very educative for up coming designers.The tutorials have improved my designing skills I just love your work.
many regards from India
April 12th, 2007 at 1:21 am
amazing work
April 12th, 2007 at 8:36 am
Wow, amazing work ;)
I like your style
April 12th, 2007 at 8:50 am
good work, you can use Inkscape, it’s free or Xara. thank you.
عمل رائع وجميل بالفعل، يمكنك أيضا أن تستعمل برامج حرة تلبي نفس الغرض ، تحياتي.
April 12th, 2007 at 11:58 am
I like it!
April 12th, 2007 at 2:24 pm
That’s amazing! Good work
April 12th, 2007 at 10:46 pm
i love the shape you create. thanks a lot !
April 13th, 2007 at 2:30 pm
Really nice, I love your work, gets me in the mood to make my own website. haha. =]
April 14th, 2007 at 3:28 am
I browse and saw you website and I found it very interesting.Thank you for the good work, greetings
April 15th, 2007 at 1:33 am
Cool art work
First i like ur style …
i am a amateur designer too
may i know u? i wanna u to be my teacher
i am in indonesia,thx
April 16th, 2007 at 1:56 pm
very very cool! thnx for this
April 16th, 2007 at 9:24 pm
very good
I like
April 17th, 2007 at 5:37 am
hello from indonesia
wow keren! (realy cool!)
April 18th, 2007 at 11:40 am
Thanks
You are a really good designer.
Thanks for sharing how you experience.
Can you please post more tutorials
April 18th, 2007 at 9:53 pm
Hmmm, awesome!
A true artist! Keep with ur excelent work ;)
April 19th, 2007 at 1:55 pm
Good work!
I have followed your tutorials on many occasions for private use.
April 22nd, 2007 at 6:13 am
Really good job! How beautifully you have taken with your illustration. keep up
April 23rd, 2007 at 12:01 am
Super cool dude., you are my next inspiration
April 23rd, 2007 at 3:00 am
i am new illustrator user, and
i was totally amazed by your art works.
you are a real artistic designer. awesome!
fyi, i had learned a lot from this web,
since last two weeks.
hope for more tutorials from you.
thx a lot!
April 24th, 2007 at 3:00 am
great technique dude! your so skillful..
nice website for designers! cheers!
April 25th, 2007 at 12:07 am
impressed!
Just wonder how the color mixed.
nice job!
April 25th, 2007 at 1:06 am
I learn new in illustrator u have any photoshop class site informe.
April 25th, 2007 at 2:18 am
I love the outcome and your work. Keep it up.
BTW, where did the forum go?
April 25th, 2007 at 6:41 am
Great designs!
April 26th, 2007 at 3:11 am
wow
April 28th, 2007 at 7:25 am
WOW, this is fantastic!
April 29th, 2007 at 6:29 am
I have been experimenting a bit with photoshop, but i must admit the idea of illustrator is a bit daunting. Illustrator really needs the artistic insight, which you definitely have. Thanks for sharing this step by step overview of how you built your design.
I absolutely love it!
April 29th, 2007 at 12:13 pm
U’r designs rock … and i saw many people very talented on net that create very cool illustrations .. i would like to make also… but i don’t know where to start .. what program to use .. if u have some advices pls tell me :)
May 1st, 2007 at 10:50 am
Breathtaking!!!You’ve raised designing to a whole new level. Thanks for the tutorial.
May 1st, 2007 at 4:44 pm
Your site was recommended to me by a friend. Because of your work I found my inspiration to start designing again. Whenever I run into a dead end with my art, I reference your website for a pick me up. thanx for getting me inspired to draw and design again.
May 1st, 2007 at 5:28 pm
beatiful! I loved!
May 2nd, 2007 at 7:44 pm
sdfhfdhfd
May 4th, 2007 at 12:38 pm
Wow this site is amazing. The grphics in all the work is just awesome! I’m a teen and I love things like this, this is exactly the type of stuff that inspires me!
May 4th, 2007 at 2:15 pm
Wow, incrdible, it’s soo good, i liked your design
May 4th, 2007 at 2:32 pm
THAT’S REALLY WONDERFUL
May 5th, 2007 at 8:46 pm
man you are incrdible
you rock :D
May 7th, 2007 at 9:03 am
You are incredible! :)
May 7th, 2007 at 12:07 pm
May I just say that it’s incredibly cool of you to go through a process like this and break it down! I’m not sure many designers would do this, so thank you. It’s true, this particular illustration has been boggling my mind for some time now. This post is very helpful!
May 8th, 2007 at 12:13 am
your designs are amazing! its been a source of inspiration for me for sometime. keep it up!
May 9th, 2007 at 7:57 pm
i ‘m very like design , but i don’t have basic of Illu . I don’t know what website tht i can learn it . You are a best designer i know
May 10th, 2007 at 10:31 am
That’s wonderful, I really appreciate this tutorial.
Thank you for explaining your design process, it’ll be really useful.
May 11th, 2007 at 2:30 pm
Hi!
You have a amazing website..! Can you put the template you use in your website online??
Thanx!!
May 15th, 2007 at 1:45 pm
Akheyyyyyyyyyyyy Vaveilaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
(-_-)
May 18th, 2007 at 2:00 am
This’s a Chinese phoenix
May 19th, 2007 at 2:56 pm
Outstanding work! Sincere congratulations! :)
May 22nd, 2007 at 1:00 am
Beautiful stuff and I’m doing your tutorial in Web Designer magazine on the e-Store. But my question to you is how did you prevent the image from tiling across the page. I’m trying to use a gradient jpg but I can’t get around the tiling of the background image in Dreamweaver 8
May 26th, 2007 at 12:12 pm
Just wanted to say that your designs are amazing and your site is a great help to young designers. thanks v much =)
May 30th, 2007 at 5:56 pm
That is simply amazing, never saw quite like it.
June 1st, 2007 at 9:46 am
incredible inspiration!
June 3rd, 2007 at 1:52 am
That’s very nice, i like it!
June 8th, 2007 at 4:51 am
So beauty…sweet design bro…
ada web design gratisan ga yaaaa….
aku lg belajar dreamweaver mx2004 nich…
Thanks
June 11th, 2007 at 12:49 pm
Oh wow! That should have taken you a long time to finish! And great work on the details nick! :) Absolutely adorable! :)
June 18th, 2007 at 9:26 am
Wow! Amazing!
Wish you give us another great design work!
June 19th, 2007 at 10:08 am
moamen
June 20th, 2007 at 7:08 pm
The power of oriental art colors inspired in marvelous Phoenix Bird? It is a wonderful work. Good method.
Thank you.
June 23rd, 2007 at 10:30 am
amazing!
June 23rd, 2007 at 12:16 pm
phoenix=凤凰
Only appera in Chinese Legend
June 28th, 2007 at 11:40 pm
You do gorgeous work! I am learning much to improve my own techniques here.
June 30th, 2007 at 3:28 pm
If I were younger I would have your babies…
Your genes are to good to squander…
But I’m old now and have had my 6, so All I can do now is admire and learn…:smirk:
July 1st, 2007 at 9:19 am
how long u do it, coz it very nice..!!!! cayo
July 1st, 2007 at 9:02 pm
阁下是中国人吗？
这个孔雀、花、山石可是中国画的样式啊！
July 2nd, 2007 at 12:05 am
Oh wow!
It’s just beautiful!
July 2nd, 2007 at 8:25 pm
Great! Very interesting!
July 4th, 2007 at 6:26 pm
Why don’t you make an design of yourself, in the interpretive art way. I think you could do a really good job and it would look great!
- Chels
July 4th, 2007 at 10:15 pm
Very good teaching!!!!
July 17th, 2007 at 9:02 am
dear ..
I need some turorials for adobe illustrator ..
thanks for you ..
July 18th, 2007 at 2:03 am
great!… thanks a lot for good teaching
July 18th, 2007 at 3:22 am
Thanks 4 give me a lot of inspiration…Tips And Trick…
July 18th, 2007 at 7:38 am
good idea thank i begin illustrator i from thailand little language Eng
July 20th, 2007 at 1:25 pm
Wow nice job :D looks good
August 3rd, 2007 at 2:24 am
Very very good design, but final layout is not so impressive, what we thought..somehow.. thanks for sharing…!
August 4th, 2007 at 5:29 am
Thanks for Sharing your ideas and creativity moods…
really u deserve congradulations…
August 24th, 2007 at 3:54 am
hi! nice tutorials, thanks a lot…
August 24th, 2007 at 5:32 am
love it .. thanks a lot
August 26th, 2007 at 8:15 am
ur sites are very interesting and so are your blogs and tutorials as well.
September 12th, 2007 at 4:24 am
great… thanks for your good teaching. God Bless You!…
September 13th, 2007 at 4:20 pm
you know i’ve used the dissolve thingy a kajillion times. i was one of those ppl who asked how you did that. i feel so silly knowing full well what it is, and how simple it was to do that. brilliant!
September 18th, 2007 at 5:30 am
Hi there,
I would like to use this and you as part of my graphic design project, I am working on what graphic design means to me, to me a big part of that is taking hand draw illustrations to digital productions. Would it be possible to have the concept sketch through to the tracing in a bigger format. I am making an A1 poster. You can watermark the image if needed, but I will be giving full credit to you. As its part of my research :)
Many thanks,
Josh
September 28th, 2007 at 8:30 pm
非常喜欢 有中国元素
October 6th, 2007 at 9:51 am
Very Nice.. I like that. Nice Work Guys
October 9th, 2007 at 11:10 am
i am new illustrator user and work with CS3,
but you are a real great designer.
October 9th, 2007 at 3:18 pm
Damn you are amazing men… i like so much your website, i’m a desinger too but you are out this world… if you can put more tutorials of Adobe illustrator Cs2… See ya later, n’ ..::WeelDone::..
October 11th, 2007 at 3:05 am
i hate the disolve effect thingy it hurts my eyes it doesnt seem smooth to look at.. but u make it all different u rilly make it part of a wonderful dream.. damn i wish i cud do those swirlies on my own.. the phoenix is amazing i like dat smooth pinkish thing on its neck hahaha whoa… ur simply great!!
October 12th, 2007 at 12:05 am
Amazing! Thanks for showing us how it’s done, mate. You shame me and my shabby portfolio.
October 18th, 2007 at 6:11 am
you are a genius and humble.thanks for giving us free tutorials.
nairobi kenya
October 28th, 2007 at 12:05 pm
Yeah I lıke Thsi You awsome Designer
_____________________________________________
AHmet Doruk from TURKEY
October 31st, 2007 at 3:38 pm
You are awesome man. I really appreciate your effort to teach the masses. I am going to frequent your site for more tutorials as time goes on. Keep up the good work. I definitely admire them.
November 13th, 2007 at 7:40 am
Heey very nice.
I have a question. I work as a designer after school and I always have a problem in the switch between Illustrator and Photoshop. To wich kind of file do you save the illustrator file so you can open it and adjust it in Photoshop?
Thanks
Niels
November 20th, 2007 at 4:59 pm
Thanks really cool, keep up the good work.
December 7th, 2007 at 1:02 am
I enjoy your site very much! THANK YOUt
December 8th, 2007 at 5:32 am
dude u rock..
December 17th, 2007 at 7:38 am
AAAAmmmmAAAAAzzing!!
December 21st, 2007 at 1:48 pm
great indeed, wonderful graphic :), keep up ;)
December 29th, 2007 at 10:25 am
wow nice work i like it
January 11th, 2008 at 12:22 pm
You are my new inspiration. I’ve been promising myself to focus on the things that I want to do and this is my year. You are truly AWESOME and generous for doing such great tuts!!
January 13th, 2008 at 12:17 pm
goood man
February 18th, 2008 at 8:02 am
great indeed, wonderful graphic :), keep up
February 20th, 2008 at 3:58 pm
phoenix illustration is greate :)
February 25th, 2008 at 2:54 pm
wow..this is so inspiring.
I have been following some of the tutorials and it has already helped me. Thanks!
February 27th, 2008 at 1:34 am
Marvelous thing
February 28th, 2008 at 12:07 pm
wow!!! nice work… i like it!!!
March 4th, 2008 at 6:48 pm
i really like this work, it makes me think about the beauty of the bird. i just wanna hop in there and touch it stroke it like it was my own.. i love it to bits :)
March 5th, 2008 at 8:46 am
wounderful !!!!!!!!
March 6th, 2008 at 4:54 pm
nice
April 2nd, 2008 at 12:33 am
nice one….well start to do it rite now
April 3rd, 2008 at 3:18 am
Amazing work, Awesome really great…
April 3rd, 2008 at 7:18 am
Awesome can i have copy of these
April 17th, 2008 at 9:09 pm
very best design
April 19th, 2008 at 10:28 am
thanks
April 19th, 2008 at 10:34 am
thanks
April 19th, 2008 at 10:35 am
thanks
April 19th, 2008 at 10:38 am
Awesome can i have copy of these
April 22nd, 2008 at 7:17 am
Nice Work, and fine Design
April 24th, 2008 at 6:54 am
Very good job, i would have avoided the Dissolve step, i don’t like all that scatter
April 29th, 2008 at 10:39 pm
Beautiful Work… your process is inspiring… I wish I had talent to draw like that though.
May 6th, 2008 at 7:32 pm
Thanks, I am using this as an example in my Digital Imaging class! Beautiful work.
May 26th, 2008 at 1:59 am
This guy is rock star.
And imagination skills are really amazing.
I love tutorials on this site.
June 10th, 2008 at 2:09 am
Reminds me of Aubrey Beardsley
June 28th, 2008 at 11:23 pm
Wow this site are great ONE…
July 5th, 2008 at 10:53 am
Excellent tutorials.Got to learn a lot from it.Keep going.
July 7th, 2008 at 11:17 am
Nice design…I want to integrate similar design for Joomla templates.
July 9th, 2008 at 12:44 am
That’s really great! I really like the way how you draw and your imaginations. Can you show in your tutorial how to draw hairs or something like slick and smooth. Mostly you can find in designs 2 color artworks of flowers or something like hairs comes from a corner in a darker color then background. I think you know what I mean. Thank you. Cheers!
July 10th, 2008 at 6:05 pm
your design is absolutely great!
really nice work, also the icons, well done!