Step 6: To continue from where I left off, here everything gets digital. Depending on the feel of the piece, I either scan in the linework as either print quality or screen quality. If it's screen quality, I'm importing the rought into Adobe Illustrator to redraw all the lines. I know that live-trace exist in Illustrator, but I still find it clunky and has never really used it. This way also allows me to fix up bits of linework as I'm re-drawing it as I'll encouter things that doesn't work as well on second inspection.
Step 7: Here I'm just laying down flat colours and gradients. I use to do more of a cel-shading process, but I tend to avoid that these days or don't use it as much. It has its uses and has its own feel that I'm not using as much. The same goes for when and when not to use linework in a piece of illustration. It does sound stupid, but honestly the illustration will call out what it should be. Back to the illustration, as I was working on it, I started to play with the background and thought of putting up trees instead of buildings. It worked well, but gave off a different conceptual idea I didn't want.
Step 8: Here's the illustration with the buildings as a background like the original drawing had mapped out. I have to admit that backgrounds are an area I still have trouble with so I like to play around with it more to see what works and what doesn't work. Sometimes, in this stage of colouring, I might decide to change the whole palette of the piece, which is a lot easier digitally than painting traditionally.
Step 9: After finishing everything up on Illustrator. I transfer it all over to Photoshop. I've tried to export it in the past, but it is honestly one of the just awful. It creates way too many layers or just the wrong layers so I prefer to just copy and paste it layer by layer from one program to another. It gives me more control. I got at this slowly and I start to add in the texture works to the illustration as I go along.
Step 10: Here's a close up of some of the textured work in the piece. I tend to avoid heavy filter usage in Photoshop though I do admit I do use the blur filter a bit to give lights a bit of a softer look. Maybe it's just layering and a bit of dissolve here and there to give the desired look. So this is more or less how I create my illustrations thought it can vary if I'm going for more of a flat look and sometimes things don't make it past step 6. I have my own mini-graveyard of abandoned illustration that I've given up on for various reasons.
