Design Process of Phoenix Illustration

March 23rd, 2007 Filed in: Design, Tricks & Tips Jump to comments

illustration process 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.

sketch

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?

research

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.

tracing

4. Illustrator Files

Here are the Illustrator files that I traced from sketches. These vector illustrations then imported into Photoshop for composition.

Illustrator files

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".

Photoshop effects

6. Final

Here is the final illustration. Download the full size wallpaper.

final illustration

audioeric

# 54

April 3rd, 2007 at 12:40 pm

I love it! Great design! It’s interesting, not overly busy.. Just love it..

Nocturnal

# 53

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.