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 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 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 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 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 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 24th, 2007 at 7:53 pm
Fantastic, Thanks!
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 12:34 pm
woooooooooot thanks for the tutorials man!!
March 24th, 2007 at 4:10 am
thak you for this little tutorial, it’s most important the research to get design inspiration.
March 23rd, 2007 at 7:11 pm
The phoenix illustration looks incredible, thanks for providing some insight as to how you made it.