Below is a tutorial I’ve written for a cartoon character created in Adobe Illustrator. I start with placing a scanned pencil sketch in Illustrator. Go to File > Place and choose the sketch file. I usually use 72 dpi grayscale scans.                 Next, I use the pen tool to trace over my scan. I like to use a color stroked line because it is easier to see. I also close all my paths, so each piece is an individual complete shape.       I remove the sketch once I’m finished tracing.       After I finish tracing,...

Below is a tutorial I’ve written for a cartoon character created in Adobe Photoshop. This is an alternative method from my other cartoon tutorial in Adobe Illustrator.               I start by opening a scanned pen and ink illustration. I cheated and drew mine in Illustrator because I suck with inking. Anyway, you’ll want to scan your illustration at at least 300 dpi for print. Also after opening your sketch in Photoshop. You may want to adjust the brightness and contrast or the curves to get your blacks black and your whites white. Both of these are...

Below is a tutorial I’ve written for a cartoon character created in Adobe Illustrator. This is an alternative method from my other cartoon tutorial.               I start with placing a scanned pencil sketch in Illustrator. Go to File > Place and choose the sketch file. I usually use 72 dpi grayscale scans.       Next, I use the pen tool to trace over my scan. I like to use a color stroked line because it is easier to see. I also close all my paths, so each piece is an individual complete shape.       I remove the sketch...

                            Back onto the monster character series; Part two covered the creation of the Dumb Blue Sucker Monster, now we'll take a look at the Angry Orange Monster! Once again, hopefully these will be easy enough to follow by Illustrator beginners, with mostly the basic tools and shapes being used.         Launch Adobe Illustrator, and create an oval with the Circle Tool.       Draw a simple arm by using the Rounded Rectangle Tool, use the cursor keys to give large rounded...

                        Part one of the mini-series covered the creation of the Flying Bat Ghost, now we'll take a look at the Dumb Blue Sucker Monster! Again, using mostly the basic tools and shapes making the tutorial suitable for beginners to Illustrator.           Launch up Adobe Illustrator, select the Rounded Rectangle Tool and draw a shape as shown. Use the cursor keys to adjust the roundness of the corners to give almost circular ends.       We don't need the bottom half, so create...

Download the ‘Frankenspoon’ PDF, grab yourself a Scalpel, some double sided tape, a spare 20 minutes and have some fun!                   Download Frankenspoon PDF                                   

                        The final monster cartoon character in the mini series; my favourite – the Green Slimey Monster! Once again, a tutorial that will hopefully be easy enough to follow by Illustrator beginners, with mostly the basic tools and shapes being used.           Launch Adobe Illustrator, and draw a Rounded Rectangle. Use the cursor keys before deselecting to give large rounded corners.       Use the Pen Tool to draw a tentacle, starting from the lower body and flowing outwards,...

                        I'm in a monster character illustration mood this month, after the creation of Frankenspoon I thought it would be cool to create a mini-series of tutorials on how to create a set of simple monster characters. Hopefully these will be easy enough to follow by Illustrator beginners, with mostly the basic tools and shapes being used.       Part one of the series will cover the creation of this flying bat ghost type fellow, so to begin launch up Adobe Illustrator.       Draw a circle...

              Method 1 – Pen Tool: Select the Pen Tool from the Tools on the left. It’s easier if you zoom in to your image and start to create a new work path by plotting Anchor points along the outline of your subject. Once you have closed the workpath, go to Paths tab and you will see your newly created workpath there. Ctrl-click on the workpath layer to load selection. Select > Inverse to select the area outside the subject. Press Delete.         Method 2 – Extract Tool: Open up your image and go...

                        Preparations: We will need 3 images here, a car, a Hello Kitty logo and its face. You can download the Hello Kitty images here. All rights of these resources belong to their respective owners.         Step 1 – Setting Up Background: Create a document of size 750 by 550px. Set your foreground color to #FF84C3 and background to #AE1D51. Fill the background layer with a linear gradient top-down.         Step 2 – Forming the Floor: Create...

  Using only Layer Styles, create a design similar to that of the Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince posters in Photoshop. Make sure to download the font and the PSD file if you wish! http://www.tutcast.com/harrypotter     Photoshop: Harry Potter Text from zullee72 on Vimeo.

I think some of you may have seen the artworks on Fantasy Eyes theme on deviantART, Behance or other design portals. There is also a huge collection of Eyes Fan Club here. Today we shall explore the basics on how we can create such effects in Photoshop.               Image sources from FanPop   Preview of Final Image     We will need a pair of eyes for this tutorial. I have found a beautiful pair from Maria Gao here. Download the image and open up in photoshops        Let us start off with glowing the eyes. Make selections...

      Preparations: We will use an image of the Transformers logo, Cracks Brushes from Falln Stock and Texture Set from Krakograff. Click here to download the Cracks Brushes. Click here to download the Texture Set. All rights of these resources belong to their respective owners.         Step 1 – Setting Up Background: Create a document of size 750 by 550px. Fill the Background layer with #000000. Drag the Transformers logo to the center of the document.         Step 2 – Tracing...