Watch Me Illustrate Some Fish in Flash
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Click play in the video below to watch me illustrate last month's NH Magazine spot. This one was done entirely in Flash and you can see all the sneaky little ways I cheat. :-) It's sped up considerably... the video is about 8:40 minutes but the actual illustration took me roughly 3 hours, start to finish. Enjoy!
If you can't see the video above, please click the following link to view it on my blog: NH Mag Fish Illustration Video
Thoughts?
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the expression on the fish faces it’s priceless. ;-)
as always excellent illustration. i really dig the flash workflow as far as drawing, however i’m trying so hard to draw the same way with illustrator. it takes almost twice the time.
Hey Radu, thanks for the kind words, glad you liked it. I’ve tried for a long time to draw with Illustrator the way I do in Flash and I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s just not possible. They are 2 totally different animals.
One thing that would go a long way for Adobe Illustrator is if they had line snapping like Flash does. I LOVE that feature. Line snapping is when you draw a line with the line tool or pencil, and when you draw the next line close to your previous line, it “snaps” to it so the two lines are connected. If illustrator was able to do this, especially with their brush tool, it would be a game changer for me.
Fitz, Have your ever tried telling Adobe about your request for Illustrator or showing them how you use Flash? If not perhaps if they knew they would either put in the feature(s) and/or make Flash work [even] better for people like you. Just wondering.
Amazing, i never get tired of watching you illustrate stuff, it looks so easy, but i know that it is not, though i’m getting better, thanks for the inspiration.
Killer sketch, but what’s getting me is your choice of color. I realize that it was meant to be cartoony, but my God, lay of the saturation. Just a tad. Please. :D
It’s really a nice work, but try messing around with the color palette a bit more. Particularly on the contrast between the shadows and the basetones.
Keep it up though. Like RADU said, the expressions are sweet.
Thanks for the thoughtful comment on color Jac. Too saturated eh? I guess I should stop staring at this for an hour before I illustrate.
AMAZING,, I really enjoi watching. You are good.Thanks a lot fore the insperation.
Elisabeth.
Glad you liked it Elisabeth, thanks for stopping by!
Nice video, you’re pretty good at illustrating on a computer, i’m solid on a canvas, but on a computer screen i’m a lot slower, any tips to increase speed?
Hey, First time I’ve seen one of your videos. It is Sorprendente!
Good luck on other projects.
Damn, you’re good!
This is a very good tutorial for anyone trying to learn how to draw in flash. I really enjoy your work by the way.
This is really cool.
Can I ask: How did you manage to take the video?
Definitely one of the coolest videos that I have ever seen. How were you able to time-lapse the screen capture of you drawing it? Specifically, what software did you use?
As a relatively new and amateur illustrator I take heart from the fact that you, as an obviously accomplished, professional illustrator, also use Flash! I started out using Flash and just cannot make the switch to Illustrator. My own technique differs from yours as I use the brush for outlining but, like you, I also find that Illustrator just doesn’t have the tools I need i.e. a brush.
Your technique is very interesting and has gotten me thinking about giving the line tools a second chance. Thank you for taking the time to show us your workflow. I’ll definitely be stopping by again to see what else I can glean!
Wow, very inspirational! I am just beginning to mess around with Flash and watching this video makes me want to really dive into it! Hopefully one day i will be able to draw like you in Flash! It jsut stinks because I have no actual drawing skills so I can’t really make myself a template to draw from in Flash :( Anyways, keep up the good work!
I cant believe you created the entire thing in Flash and no sign of Illustrator or any other vector software. The colour saturation looks great on my monitor.
Fitz,
Man this is awesome but now I’m thinking…after 8 long years of working (nearly mastering) CorelDRAW I gave in to the WORLD pressure and switched over to a Mac (love it) and of course then Illustrator. Not only am I struggling to draw in thta program I defintaely cannot manipulate text in there thwith the same ease as CorelDRAW.
Now, I see you doing your line AND coloring in Flash?
When your done can it be converted to a vector ilo easily?
LMK,
Bernard
Fitz,
This is the first time I’ve seen your site. Got the link from your Twitter homepage.
Wow, I’m impressed. I’ve used flash for web design stuff but never for a full illustration. I normally stick with Illustrator for that.
Flash looks pretty flexible for illos. I’ll have to give it a try.
Thanks for the inspiration
John
Drink lots of coffee :) And practice!
The screen capture video program i use is Camtasia… or you can use the free, open source CamStudio
Thanks! Yep, it’s time-lapsed. I used Adobe Flash to create it.
Good advice… I really should, I hear they actually listen to these types of requests.