In this post, I wanted to share the process I use when creating illustrating for my design projects. I’ll be using the robot character that I created from my last post for the 404-error page as an example.

Materials

I’m comfortable working with traditional media and tablets. When in a bind, tablets are my number one choice because you can quickly sketch out an idea and imported it into your computer, which saves time.

In the case of the robot mascot, I made my initial sketches on paper. Then I took a photo with my mobile phone and imported the images I needed. Whenever you’re not near a scanner, mobile phones come in handy.

Process

With mobile devices, when taking a photo of your sketch, make sure that the setting is set to the largest pixel size. This is really helpful if you need to resize your image.

Software

I use Adobe Photoshop to clean up and darken my images to my needs, cleaning and sharpening it as much as possible. On occasions where I have a clear illustration that I don’t feel requires to be digitally inked, I just darken my line art in this step. This is a separate process in itself that I would like to discuss in another post.

Once I feel the image is clean enough, I’ll import it to Adobe Illustrator. I’m really into vectors, and for this type of illustration, I like to keep the lines clean. This will give the character the cartoon look I want.

After completing the digital inking process, it’s time to bring back the illustration into Adobe Photoshop, where I’ll be adding colors and details to the clean lines. Personal preference here, but I feel more comfortable coloring in Adobe Photoshop with my tablet.

There you have it, that’s my process of converting illustrations into digital format, using paper mobile phone and computer!