Tutorial on tracing Vixen Tamer's work

[PlayShapes]

This is how I do it.

[Obviousmcgee]

The problem is for me is, that simply I don't use flash to draw these. Which is why its somewhat difficult to lets say "duplicate" something similar. Because I use Illustrator, I end up pretty much using the pen tool for everything, which in turn ends up "cleaner" and more streamline. But this is why I wanted to meet somewhere in the middle or discuss a way to work it out.

[PlayShapes]

um, thicker lines should make it look the same i hope.

[Obviousmcgee]

Well, I'll get one done and we'll compare of where I can change or etc. But also the reason why I don't use too thick of lines is to maximize the details. I don't know if you want that but, again I'll ink out the same design and we'll go from there.

[Obviousmcgee]

Here is my side by side comparison, this is without any details added, nor shading, just simply showing you my line work.

[Renara]

I think Illustrator is probably the wrong tool to use to reproduce this art-style; as you say it's a lot cleaner, as it is very much designed for, well, illustrations
I believe it /is/ possible to get a more suitable brush/line effect for Illustrator, but it may require a lot of extra steps compared to Flash's tool.

[Obviousmcgee]

Well, dunno what I can do then for this project besides item art then. This is Playshapes brainchild after all so I am not going to push for anything. If we use the same scripts from this project later on I can provide the vector art, but due to style and program differences, I don't think I can really help out more than little tidbits here and there that doesn't involve too much in the style department.

[Poob]

Here is my side by side comparison, this is without any details added, nor shading, just simply showing you my style.

Are you using the pen tool to achieve this look?

Maybe you could try freehanding it?

Alternatively, couldn't you apply a brush with a bit of waviness or jitter to the paths you've made with the pen tool?

(BTW, it looks very good, just thinking of ways you could keep the look consistent, since I do think you bring a lot of talent to the project )

[Obviousmcgee]

Yes, I do use the pen tool, I am not as fond of using the brush for this kind of stuff, especially in illustrator, due to the fact that once you have to actually paint or work on the pieces, you'd end up with a quite a mess with extra weight on the file size. Frankly at that point it means sacrificing quality, which to me is sort of difficult.

This is probably the closest I can go with the current figure by changing line weight, due to how I drew the details I was not able to up the line weight. Overall personally, its undesirable to myself to keep it this way since much of the line work from Vixen is being overwhelmed by the larger stroke. But again I think when it comes down to it, because this game already has a set art style and is already started, I can't really contribute anything character wise since it conflicts with the already set art style.

[-QQ-]

You can help with drawing over in back ground because i personally think that the background needs to be updated.

[Obviousmcgee]

Well here is the lizard with playshapes palette vs the older one, personally I prefer the shadeless one, simply because you can pretty much just script areas that are darker etc. But that is more of a personal preference.

[PlayShapes]

I dont know why your working on the new sharpclaw when its already finished Obviousmcgee, lol.
I think those lizard baddies are the perfect style for say a female character (line thickness and technique). You should make the gerudo girl request, i think it would look great.
You could then even take a print screen of the flash game (on full quality) as a background to your examples (with krystal in it and the forest level say) and then post that, so everyone and yourself can see if it will fit well and look good in the game.
Hope it works out!

[Obviousmcgee]

As I said in the other topic, this was whether or not I'd be working on characters at all, and also needed to know later on what I needed to do to make the bone tool compatible with vector art. So don't feel threatened playshapes, this is only an example and a testing phase for me to what is compatible and what is not.

[Budokai]

McGee, after the second try and applying PLayShapes' palette, I think that if you don't contribute to character design it's because you don't want to.
You have stated that you can mimic PlayShapes' style quite well, but as you say, it's an style far different from yours...
You can do it, now it's your election to do it or not, what it's not gonna be made it's changing the actual style of the game...
It's sad, because you are a pretty good vector artist.

[Obviousmcgee]

Actually, I have never stated that I could mimic Playshapes style, only line quality as he uses a brush and I use a pen tool. Pretty much to say the least it comes down to this, the reason why I use the pen tool and illustrator is the ability to quickly edit or add things on to the original, more or less its a matter of thinking ahead, it takes a bit longer to vector things, however, the end result is an easily editable figure that can be changed without having those pesky lines etc. Also the overall size of the file gets smaller, which means a faster game and more detail. Which is why I use Illustrator but also because it is my forte.