Creating the Art of Destony using Illustrator

From a sketch to a Vector art piece

I always prefer to use illustrator when creating art for anything that might turn out that it is in need of re-scaling. This is because Illustrator uses vector based graphics. This basically means that no matter how big you scale the object or how small, the actual pixels will not be rastorized in a random algorithm which loses quality. So in simple terms, it manages to preserve image quality no matter how you scale it.

The bottom section of the bellow sketch is the sketch that I used for my illustrated piece.

The first step was to crop the section of the image that I wanted and to import the image into Illustrator.

After the image was edited and imported into illustrator, it looked like the above.

Then inside illustrator, I always separate the different art pieces on different layers. Then it's a matter of drawing out each part within Illustrator. Usually I draw out each part with the pen tool although if I used the pen tool to draw each individual swirling line I would have been there for several hours detailing them. Instead I draw the outside of the object and then I use the scissors tool  cut each of the inside of each object, I do this with the control of the graphics tablet to get smoother results than a mouse. 

Developing the character was a matter of creating boxed objects and then manipulating those objects to fit his shape, this was far easier than drawing it freehand or using the pen tool.

The dark boxes were also quite simple, again using simple shapes and manipulating them for the right fit. The blue outline is an outline stroke with the weight of 1 of the box.

The sea was also created using the same technique as the purple rocks, using the scissors tool. 

As for the light box, it was created as a simple white object and the an outer glow was applied to it form the effects menu.

The clouds and the trees were drawn out with the paintbrush tool and then were also cut up with the scissors tool on the outer areas to produce the lighting highlight. This is a simple and effective technique.

Final Image

My Thoughts

I was fairly  pleased with the final outcome as the colours and the crispness of Illustrator create a clean and attractive scene. The white box also stands out as originally intended due to its glow and there is a certain amount of contrast when comparing it with the dark blocks. I like the organic feel to the image and feel that when polished and put into a game it could look quite interesting and possible somewhat psychedelic. 

Pros:

• The vibrancy of the colours bring out the characters and the environment.
• The white box has contrasting features compared with the dark blocks and this shows that there is a clear separation between the two. 
• The clouds look organic and hand drawn in a cartoon style which is cohesive with the rest of the work.

Cons:

• The background is quite noisy and can detract from the main characters and environment.
• There may be too much detail within the environment which may confuse people or create a sense of of distaste when viewing this art piece or particularly when playing the game.

Possible Improvements:

• Overall, I feel this is very close to the final art for the game. Possible improvements would be to dull the background or remove some detail within the background. Also putting a texture on top of the art would help subdue it and prevent the strong separation of line and colour.