affinity designer San Francisco Vector

[specworkfan]

Sketch of the work in raster. I didn't like the board pointing down, so I found a location West of the Golden Gate Bridge to go the other way. She's a bit plain and emo. Emo doesn't sell well. Even Hot Topic is exciting and upbeat.

 

The font is my own handwriting. I like it, but it was a bit over the top here.

 

Details close up. I used the stock vector stitch brush in Affinity and played with it just a bit to get the stitching on the jeans. I'm a new to vector and doing things the easy way in it. The results were very good.

 

 

That's the final result, 100% vector!  I'm quite happy with the work flow. This one unfortunately took 4 days to complete, but that is mostly because I was unhappy with the previous sketch and wanted to nail down the feel. Sometimes relying on an imperfect sketch is more time consuming than just doing everything from scratch again. Live and learn.

 

The idea started with a pinup in mind related to other designs I am doing currently. The real inspiration for the pose, believe it or not, was the "Jesus Christ is My N----a" youtube video, where an old white lady turns her other "cheek" (itself inspired from Weird Al's Parody of Gangta's Paradise, and he probably got it form somewhere else).  The motion was tough to get. I don't skate, and I don't know if this is possible, but her weight is centered. 

 

I used kind of a composite of stock photos with some transformation to sketch the background, which is not exactly correct, but is probably clear for anyone who has been to this location that it could be real (I've never been). Most of the stock photos are low quality, and art is interpretative, so I made my own lens. 

 

I did cheat on one thing though! The skateboard is tough to do in an exact perspective without it looking wonky. I sculpt in 3D, and own a copy of ZBrush, so playing around with a 3D model of a skateboard overlayed on a sketch helped immensely.  It's an underrated technique for weird poses. You could probably use it to render light as well, but that would take away from the artistry for a style like this.

 

[MattP]

Really well done and such superb colours - very impressive! :)  The only teeny-tiny bit that sits slightly strangely for me is the angle of the top line visible on the right shoe - there's just something that draws my attention to it because it seems subtly wrong. Maybe it needs to be ever so slightly moved down to make it appear the shoe is marginally not as tall? I'm not sure - see if anyone else spots it. Either way, it's an awesome achievement! :)

[specworkfan]

Interesting. It's very hard to see this for me now.  :-) It is like editing your own words. I will look with fresh head in morning and see, you might be right. I appreciate your feedback greatly.

When something is out of proportion I like to turn it upside down and around to see it. Even if something is physically possible and correct, doesn't not make it artistically correct. The flow of the eyes and what draws attention are very important, so this kind of thing carries weight.  :) 

Edit: I was thinking about shoelaces too, but the white color drew too much attention there. I still can't see it, but maybe it will be like the white and gold dress that turned blue after 15 minutes. 

 

Edit 2: I think it can be retouched. You are correct!

Really well done and such superb colours - very impressive! :)  The only teeny-tiny bit that sits slightly strangely for me is the angle of the top line visible on the right shoe - there's just something that draws my attention to it because it seems subtly wrong. Maybe it needs to be ever so slightly moved down to make it appear the shoe is marginally not as tall? I'm not sure - see if anyone else spots it. Either way, it's an awesome achievement! :)

[ronnyb]

Wonderful colors, I love how you rendered the skin tones in the arms and legs and the socks came out great as well... Great style!

[specworkfan]

Made some changes. Thanks again Matt.  :-)

[David]

really nice work, loving the detail youve put into the bridge

[denironaut]

Top drawer quality right here, colours, details, composition, all great.

[MattP]

That's got it! :)

[penwiper]

Wow, that is an amazing piece of work!  Maybe I am nosy this way but it would be fun to see a desktop shot of all the layers involved here.  :-)  (One of the strangest things I found when first designing with a vector program and now it's just something fun to look at later and play around with ...)  Love the colors, too.

[specworkfan]

Hundreds and hundreds.  :-)

Wow, that is an amazing piece of work!  Maybe I am nosy this way but it would be fun to see a desktop shot of all the layers involved here.  :-)  (One of the strangest things I found when first designing with a vector program and now it's just something fun to look at later and play around with ...)  Love the colors, too.

[GRScott]

All very nicely done.