View Full Version : Ruby Throated Hummingbird sketches
The female on the left was drawn in ArtRage. The male was drawn in Photoshop. I'm experimenting with making greyscale tiff files to use as texture and detail overlays in Illustrator vector illustrations. I'm hoping to create a design to have printed on some fabric. There is a website called Spoonflower.com that does it and you can purchase what ever amount of fabric to make clothing or other items. My mom is a very good seamstress and quilter and I'm hoping we can collaborate on something. Suppose to be a Christmas gift but I don't think I'm going to figure it all out in time.
Here is the male sketch used as an overlay in Illustrator where the vector shapes were built and then colored with various gradients. I'm not sure it's going to work out but I've learned a lot.
markw
12-11-2015, 08:19 AM
Wow, I like these!
They are really good jmac.
Almost missed your post here, glad I noticed it today.
Thanks Mark. Still working on the background elements.
Oakshios
12-11-2015, 06:24 PM
These are really nice! Like something you would find in an encyclopedia or bird watcher guide. Very technical touch to them.
danny72
12-14-2015, 08:25 AM
Here is the male sketch used as an overlay in Illustrator where the vector shapes were built and then colored with various gradients. I'm not sure it's going to work out but I've learned a lot.
Very good done.. Beautyfull!!!
chellesky
12-24-2015, 02:29 PM
Love your sketches of the hummingbirds and the coloured version is sublime. Hope I become as good as you Jmac :-)
Thank you very much chellesky.
Here is the finished effort. Trumpet Vine and hummingbirds drawn and colored in ArtRage. Background done in Photoshop, Illustrator and ArtRage. Keeping my fingers crossed it will print ok on fabric.
markw
02-01-2016, 07:26 AM
Oh my, jmac!
This is beautiful. It's going to look stunning on a fabric or for a wallpaper design.
Thanks Mark. I'm going to have sample printed soon and I'll let you know how it comes out.
I'm almost speechless! It looks like every leaf was painted - no cloning or duplication. The hummingbirds are perfect. Lovely, lovely work.
Thank you Enug. I did clone 2 small stems, rotate and move them and then changed a couple leaves slightly. That was towards the end when I was sick of doing leaves :). The painting was really the easiest part. I did a pencil drawing in ArtRage of the vines and flowers, as I had done with the hummingbirds. Then on a separate layer I set the blend mode to "Tint" and I used the air brush to color the leaves, erasing away the overspray. Basically hand coloring a greyscale drawing. It work great until I added a background and realized my pencil drawing had a lot of transparency and the background showed through the leaves. My limited familiarity with AR led to a lot of extra work. I had to create a white fill behind the vines and birds to block out the background. That was the most tedious part of it. Fortunately AR is great for allowing you to fix mistakes!