I’m not going to say how ignorant people are in washing their own cars, washing dishes by hand, brushing their teeth while letting gallons of water run down the drains, cleaning their beautiful cement driveways with the hose, and not replacing their toilets with more efficient mechanisms that save 60 percent more water with each flush than older toilets.

And what about our American standard of luxury: water parks, water shows (especially the Las Vegas kind), water falls and fountains in both business parks and homes. It pains me to see a party of 5 people sit at a dining establishment and not take one sip of their 12 oz. water with ice cubes. Multiply that out!

No. All I’m going to say is, think a little more about this resource that we can not recreate or substitute. Amazingly the water you use today has been around since the creation of life on this planet. Appreciate the sound and site of a body of water whether it’s in a fountain or in your bath tub.

Be conscientious, be aware, be grateful.

In the midst of a diversity campaign, I was shooting some art at a Mexican restaurant chalk full of chotchkies (that’s Spanish for “chotchkies”), aluminum stampings, painted ceramic sea animal sculptures and window-box. ‘Love this kind of art because you don’t have to figure out what it is. You just enjoy it. I’ve always liked folk art—unschooled, simple and naive. But that doesn’t take the technique, charm and artistry away.

Octo was every bit as fascinating to me as a Van Gogh or a Matisse where the textures, patterns and paint strokes just don’t seem to be in proportion to the rest of the piece, and yet, it’s genius. And the colors! Why can’t we use more color? I wanted to reproduce it in vector format of all things. Here’s Octo!

I want to show that just because you’re illustrating in this format doesn’t mean it has to look “vector-ish”. Stiff, perfect, flat. Use Bézier curves to create a controlled freeness?

KNOW YOUR TOOLS

You might have seen this before but I can’t emphasize this point enough. The more you know the tools—and I don’t mean “just how to use them”, the more you can be relaxed and really draw and produce art in the truest sense. Think about your pencil. You’ve been using it so much and most of your life that you know how to make sharp lines, dull lines, shading, scribbles, minute details. You feel comfortable turning it on it’s side and rubbing the sh*t out of it to get massive coverage and getting it all over your fingers and the base of your palms. That’s how you should know your tools!

SAMPLE PROCESS: ACRYLIC

For all you snobs out there, I exclaim, “I love acrylic!” Nothing covers an area the cleanest and dries the fastest then acrylic. You can come back to an area just seconds later and not smear and dilute, all the while retaining its vibrancy. It’s a medium that you choose if you want to paint something that looks complete and rich in one afternoon.

Getting Started—Even if you draw well enough to be able to do this project free-hand, using the photo image behind the drawing will keep you from getting mired down in decision making of such a simple and fun piece of art. Plus, it’ll go faster. Use this image by dragging onto your desktop or take a snapshot: [Command/Shift]4 and drag (Mac).

Document Setup—Using Adobe Illustrator CS3 for Mac; letter; horizontal; CMYK; sized to fill the entire document for more control.

Intitial—By importing or placing the photo image you create a layer. Name that Layer bitmap temp. Dim it and lock it in the Layers palette or in the Layer Options window.

Create another layer above it named drawing.

Select the Pen Tool; 2 pt; black outline; and draw the outline of Octo. Don’t stray too much from the actual silhouette of Octo or else it will be harder to follow the patterns within. I varied a couple of arms on the right and pulled out one end on the left.

Create a layer between the two existing layers; name it Art. I put this portion of the drawing on it’s own layer because it’s an area that doesn’t have any strokes that we’ll do later—purely an organizational and visual thing.

Change the Pen stroke to .25. Keeping the stroke thin allows you to see the edges of the drawing behind it. Draw all the shapes of the head. Because I like the weird expression of Octo I followed the shapes precisely.

Color Usage—As I want to keep the charm of the painting and shapes of pattern true, the same holds for the color. Pick the color right off the photo. Go into the bitmap layer and show Dim Images to: 100%. Keep locked.

Back to the Art layer and select only the shapes you want to fill blue. Use the Eyedropper Tool and click on the most dense true color area you want.

In the Color palette, round off the percentages to whole numbers. It keeps the processor happy and it’s easier to remember for reference if needed. Obviously, you can just type in the color manually but this is just one of the ways to get a color from a bitmap image.

Fill the selected shapes this color.

Note—Keep shapes selected. If you deselect, your next Swatches window will not show the same options. If you do not get a window that looks like the following, this is why.

Go to your Swatches and CLICK/HOLD that down icon far right shown with the magenta arrow.

Scroll down and choose New Color Group; choose Selected Artwork; name it Octopus.

You’ve started a group of color swatches within this artwork. “Yeah, so?” You say. It just keeps this color group embedded in this Document—that’s all. Every time you open this Document, the swatches will be waiting for you without deleting your other color options.

Repeat this process with each new color. I selected 7 colors for Octo: Cyan, Rose-Orange, Yellowish-Orange, Bright Sage, Tea Leaf Green, Purple and a Bluish-Gray. Again, I stayed very close to the original.

COLOR COVERAGE

Background Color—Create a new Layer named Legs below Art and above bitmap temp. Draw the orange and green shapes dividing the legs. Draw the large cyan and orange color areas for each leg. Note—Draw past the outline of Octo. You don’t want to mask objects unnecessarily making your file size large.

CLIPPING MASK

Unlock drawing layer and select the outline. Hold the Selection Tool (V) over the orange box to the far right (it will turn into a pointing finger); hold [OPTION] (you should see a squared plus sign above the pointing finger icon); and drag the orange box to the Legs layer. You have just copied the outline onto the Legs layer “in place” (same X,Y coordinates as the layer you copy from). Lock drawing layer.

Note—Whenever you drag and/or copy an object onto another layer, that object will automatically be placed on top. (It is crucial to have the outline that you are using be on top of everything you want to mask.)

Choose outline with the Selection Tool (V) make no fill and no stroke then [COMMAND]A for Select all; go to Object > Clipping Mask > Make or shortcut by using: [Command]7 (Mac).

Head and Chest Art—Create a Head/Chest layer; lock other layers; make only Head/Chest layer and the bitmap temp layer viewable. Draw the shapes of the head and chest. As before, copy a clipping path from the drawing layer and mask the any of the shapes extending outside the outline of Octo.

DETAIL

Brush Strokes—Adobe Illustrator has a pretty good brush filter selection and I use them all the time but in this case I couldn’t find the randomness found in real brush strokes. Not only that but I couldn’t find a way to outline an Adobe brush stroke. If anyone knows of a way to do this, share, please. You can also create a thick stroke and outline it. You can then add and subtract points to move around but it seems like a lot of busy work. So I opt for hand drawing the black brush strokes just like you did with the shapes. Make a Strokes layer. Crank up some tunes and get into the zone!

Sample of outlining a thick path vs. a manually drawn brush stroke
Select all your hard work and fill with black; no stroke.

TIME

Continue to draw the patterns; fill with color; mask; and add strokes. Repeat and repeat—no cheating and cloning any shapes and brush strokes. Well, I guess you could. Whatever works best for you.

With digital illustration this part can be the most enjoyable and the most laborious. I seem to get more impatient with digital art. My mind thinks that because it’s digital, things should take less time. And ‘you know what? It does, but you still have to put the time into it.

FINAL TOUCHES

Change the stroke on the drawing (Orange Outline 2) layer to orange. Duplicate that layer and drag it to the very bottom. Make this stroke Black and 15 pts.

In usage: I’d place Octo on a vibrant blue background. It really shows off the colors and quirky shape. ¡Viva Octo el pulpo!

In this time of poor economy and sluggish business, I’ve been sending off a lot of estimates via pdfs of spreadsheets with formal proposals. I get it—everyone is looking for a deal and bids are a great way of finding that. Often I’ve been asked to rush the proposals along and jump through hoops. Then… I hear the sound of crickets. It’s like dating again. How long should I wait before I can call and not make it sound like I’m so desperate? Everyone is busy and “it’s not your life”; time passes so quickly when it’s not yours. When is it alright to bother them to see if I’ve gotten the job and to give them enough time to check out my security clearance or business practices?

How about 9 times out of 10, I don’t hear anything—not a phone call, not a letter, and not even an email. I don’t require a Jane Austin Sense and Sensibility reply letter; just the common courtesy of a Thanks, but no thanks email. That way I can let that extra freelancer go that I’ve been holding onto just in case, or take that 2-day weekend that’s been so badly needed. Self-centered and rude people are unaware of the harm they are doing to themselves and their business.

“Whoa!”, you say, “That’s pretty harsh. Everyone is self-centered and rude at times. It doesn’t make you a bad person. I’m just stating a fact about non-reply as bad business. Don’t believe in kharma? Well, believe people will remember your actions or non-actions. Every time you put forth negative energy and disrespect toward another person’s time, it does erode business relationships and lesson your opportunities. You’ll probably be unaware at the time, but it’ll be measurable down the road.

Recently I went to a client’s showroom to look into doing his website. Soon after I left the location I received a voicemail—from him, the client. He thanked me for coming by; left me words of encouragement on my business; reassured me that he would do everything he could to make our partnership easier. I left the message on my voicemail for a few days as if to make sure it was real. I listened to it over and over like a sixteen year old. A client leaving a message, a nice message, thanking me!

“Pleases”, “Thank yous”, “Dear so-and-sos”, “Best regards”… where have they all gone? How about even picking up the phone and talking with real voices and intonations? Next time you do reply email, take a second to clean it up, remove all those SCREAMING CAPS, ask them how they’re doing, sign your name at the end, and proofread it before sending it off.

It’s fast. It’s fun. It’s bright and colorful. If you want some editorial art that doesn’t look like your run-of-the-mill stock art, or need something to accent the corner of a print piece, here it is. Chalk à la Photoshop!

This tutorial will show how to use channels to create a “fixed” texture not unlike working chalk on a real canvas.

Getting Started—While not critical for the completion of this tutorial, when applying this technique in the real world it is important to know the final size of the art before you begin illustrating. It is best to work at 100%. Although resizing as much as 20% in either direction should be fine, be careful with anything more, as it may degrade the quality. Too much enlarging tends to make the texture look rasterized and hard; while excessive downsizing will cause the texture to close up and you’ll lose the details that define the chalky porous look.

Document Setup—Start a new canvas at 10 x 8 inches; 300pixels/inch; CMYK Color Mode; with a White Background.

Drawing The Masks—By using paths for mask instead of the channels, you keep your file smaller and easier to manage. So, we’ll do just that. On the Paths Pallette select New Path and name it Flowers. Using the Pen Tool (P) draw the shape of a flower—keep it simple.

Use Command + T to adjust and position the path.

Option + Drag to copy pieces of your flowers. Adjust and arrange the flower path as you like. Add a simple path for the stems.

Now, create the fish. For convenience and to prevent any confusion against the Flower path, create a new path layer called Fish.

Creating The Canvas—Fill background layer with 50% Cyan.

Add a new Alpha Channel by selecting New Channel from the menu on the Channels Pallette. Name this new Alpha Channel Texture.

With the Texture Alpha Channel highlighted go to FILTERS > TEXTURE > TEXTURIZER. Choose Canvas as the Texture. Set to maximum both the Scaling (200%) and Relief (50). You want the strongest contrast and most detail. It doesn’t matter where the light comes from as long as it’s not directly from the top or the side. This will give you the nice crisscrossing pattern that happens when the light hits the canvas at an angle. Hit OK.

Your Texture Alpha Channel should now have a very high−contrast canvas pattern like the one above. Enlarge the pattern even more by dragging the Marquee to about 4 x 3 inches and then sizing to fill the entire canvas.

Note: Use Command + T and hold down Shift to size proportionally.

Duplicate this Alpha Channel; call it Texture Copy. Rotate Texture Copy 180° by going to EDIT > TRANSFORM > ROTATE 180º.

Finally, Duplicate the Texture Alpha Channel one last time and call it Texture Fish. Go to EDIT > TRANSFORM > SKEW and Skew the entire pattern 10°. (There will be some extra space at the corners—just quickly clone, or marquee and copy the skewed pattern over it. This does not require perfection.)

Adding Color—The next few steps will require a leap of faith. You will either find yourself giddy or disappointed with the outcome. The History palette is your friend, so relax and have fun. Experiment with the colors. I arrived at my color choices after experimenting with about 30 different combinations. My only strong suggestion would be to use extreme contrasts and variations. Also, periodically reduce your view to make sure the colors are not muddy. Above all, keep it simple.

• 1. Choose 20 magenta/100 yellow for your Background color. You should already have 50% cyan on your canvas.
  

• 2. Select the Alpha Channel Texture through SELECT > LOAD SELECTION. You should see a “noisy” mess over the cyan.
  
  3. Command + T to transform the entire textured selection. Those are the “marching ants” of your selection.

  4. Rotate 180°, either by doing manually and holding shift or input into tool bar.
  

  5. Select 400px Airbrush; 25 Hardness; 30 Opacity; Switch the Orange to the Foreground color and airbrush in more intense areas.



Repeat this general process with more layers of different colors, but use the Alpha Channel Texture Copy, rotate at random angles (SELECT > TRANSFORM SELECTION) and Fill. This will decrease chances of moiré patterns occurring.

Keep all of the different colors on separate layers so that you can still erase some of the edges and areas to make your background look imperfect.



Here’s a picture of the purple addition…



Magenta addition and then green.


 

Fish And Flowers—Using the paths you’ve already drawn, make selections.



Go to SELECT > LOAD SELECTION and choose Texture.

Under Operation, choose Intersect with Selection. Click OK. (Use Command + H to get rid of the “marching ants” so that you can see clearly.)


Airbrush your flowers in white and yellow. (See toggle Pointer below)


Using the same process as with the flowers, create the base color of the fish.



Using the Texture Fish Alpha Channel add the details to the fish.


 

Adding Detail—Create a new Alpha Channel named Stems by selecting only the paths that comprise the stems; choose a Brush (B) of 35px, 100 Hardness; stroke with white.


SELECT > LOAD SELECTION > Stems and then brush in some white and bright green. Keep it random.

Pointer: By creating the two colors you want to use in the foreground and the background, you can toggle while you draw by using (X) on the keyboard. Drawing tools will be using the foreground color.


 

One of my favorite things to do is use the Lasso (L) tool and just freehand draw shapes to brush in color. (It helps if you have a drawing tablet, stylus and confidence.) I drew some leaves and waves. You can either SELECT > SAVE SELECTION or create another Alpha Channel to save your hand−drawn shapes. You can now add and subtract these shapes from your drawing to create spontaneity.



Pointer: View the hand-drawn Channel and CMYK layers at the same time. This way you can add or subtract to the Channel with accuracy.


 

Adding An Adjustment Layer—Great for non-commitment and a chance to go back to change the colors and contrast.

1) Load the Selection you’ve just created with the leaves; 2) Choose Hue/Saturation in the pull down menu; 3) Click the box for Colorize and then slide the Hue, Saturation and Lightness until you get the color you want. I chose a similar magenta/purple as the background but with more saturation and darkness. Any color will work as long as it contrasts with the background and doesn’t take over the subjects.



By using an Adjustment Layer, you can change your mind later.

Note: I’ve adjusted the Background layer so that some texture and colors show through transparently—keeping with the Chalk characteristics.

 

Completing The Drawing—Don’t create detail for detail’s sake, the goal should always to make the piece as strong as possible and then leave it alone. I added some blue circles or “bubbles” to balance out all that blue in the corner where the fish is, some soft white swirls to add movement. By using the Burn and Dodge (O) on some layers, you can intensify colors and add colors. Remember, that by utilizing Alpha Channels, Adjustment Layers and Layers, you can experiment to your hearts content—something you could never do without muckying up your real Chalk drawing. Have fun!



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