A Short History Lesson On The Art Of Vectoring
Posted on 28. Dec, 2009 by jusuchin85 in Vector Arts
The above title can be misleading, if you think I was gonna go through with you the history of vectoring (when it first started, which artist did the very first anime vector, etc). What I am gonna tell you is a short story on how I started off vectoring anime characters.
In The Beginning...
If you have read my about page, you would remember that I started off watching anime series in 2002. On every series that I watched, I was intrigue by their character designs. One such notable series that caught my eye was Gensomaden Saiyuki. Bishounen they may be, but without a doubt that the character design was very intricate at that time. Soon, a 3D-CGed series emerged by the name of Vandread.
But it wasn't until in 2005 when I first stumbled on Neon Genesis Evangelion that I truly appreciated character art designs. What the series amazed me was that it was made in 1995 and it still looks really good now. Around the same time, I was introduced to Minitokyo by my friend. While browsing through the site, I noticed there were many scans and images of characters which made me want to keep for collections' sake.
Little did I know that most of the images were vector arts. I began to ask myself what a vector art is, and therefore I took the liberty to find out the meaning and purpose of this term. That was the beginning of everything that was to follow...
Trials and Errors
As soon as I discovered how a vector art is made, I began to venture myself into Photoshop. Lining was not my forte and I found myself creating a first vector art which didn't turned out well. Despite that, I was happy with my work. I finally achieved my first vector art and uploaded straight to Minitokyo for opinions and comments. True enough, it garnered mainly constructive comments (poor colouring, jagged linings etc).
I quickly whipped up another vector art, this time it's Stellar Loussier from Gundam SEED: Destiny. One of the advice that I took from the first vector art was to get a larger image to work with, and I applied that advice here. It took me over 15 hours to complete this due to its sheer resolution size. That too resulted in some opinionated appreciations. However, one comment stood out from the rest:
mm .. this ish much better than the first one
but some part still look a lil jagged. try to smoothen it a lil more
will be looking forward to your next one
- chibi-lizard (Minitokyo)
Success Beckons!
Taking chibi-lizards's comment into account, I began practicing my lining techniques. It took me a while to get used to it, but once I found the style that I wanted, I stuck with it. Hence, I browsed through Minitokyo and found an image of a character that I wanted to try out my new style on. It took me a while (over 8 hours to be exact) and I was really proud with myself about it. I'll be sharing that result on a separate post in the next couple of days.
Where To From Here?
I have to confess one thing; I don't cut out for drawing. I can't draw for nuts and I can't understand art very well. Yet, I still enjoy vectoring anime characters. When people asked me whether I draw that image of Asuka, I just answered "No, I vectored her." while appreciating their compliments. I still have a long way to go to improve myself, but just listening to their comments spurred me on to continue vectoring.
How about you? Ever had a history lesson regarding yourself that you are willing to share with the rest of the world?
Note: Recently, there was a big standoff regarding artist's work being misused by others without proper recognition. Rest assured that vectors hosted here will be credited to the artists themselves (or the uploader if the artist name is not found).
Edit: Thanks to mefloraine for sharing image hosting site Danbooru for artist credits. Now all images here will be obtained from there.
mefloraine (10)
Argyle (6)
Densha Otoko (3)
Seinime (3)
Cadha13 (2)
Eugen R. (2)
Gemmalyn (2)
Netto (2)
RyoBase (2)
xJAYMANx (2)
mefloraine
Dec 28th, 2009
Gelbooru != artist credit, just so you know.
I’d definitely be too nervous for that.
Heh, I think it’s brave of you to put your first vector up on Minitokyo.
mefloraine’s last blog ..Gunjou / グンジョウ
jusuchin85
Dec 28th, 2009
@mefloraine: That’s true, I agree with you on that one fully. But then again, most of the time it’s not easy to get an artist’s info on the basis of an image unless there is a clear watermark there. In that case, I can always point back to the source where I obtained the image.
Actually, to tell you the truth I was quite satisfied with the hard work that I put in. Maybe that was what spurred me to upload to Minitokyo? Look at the bright side: at least I was given some pointers on how to improve myself after doing so! ^^
Seinime
Dec 29th, 2009
I just started vectoring myself. Making wallpapers now :3
Seinime’s last blog ..Mega Merry Christmas Mix! The 12 moments finale.
mefloraine
Dec 29th, 2009
@jusuchin Yeah, well, I don’t even share the things I’m proud of, so I guess I just don’t get that. XD
Well, gelbooru is a bad site for this as far as I can tell, but the other booru (well, dan and safe do, I know) sites all have direct links to the pixiv page the artwork is on. Linking to that is at least getting it to the artist source.
Of course, most anyone who cares about art anyway will recognize the first one as Sayori. Heh.
mefloraine’s last blog ..Maria†Holic / まりあ†ほりっく
jusuchin85
Dec 29th, 2009
@Seinime: Good luck! Hope to see your works soon, ya? ^^
@mefloraine: Thanks for clarifying that, mefloraine. I just browsed Danbooru and found out that the images are linked to the artists’ pixiv account. At least now I can get an original source for the images hosted here.
Will be changing the links now!
Argyle
Dec 29th, 2009
You are AWESOME at vectoring ^_^ I need to get started on Digital art now >____:3
Argyle’s last blog ..New Theme: Duotone
Argyle
Dec 29th, 2009
You are AWESOME at vectoring =) I need to get started on Digital art now I’ve been drawing with pencil and paper for over 8 years now and thats just sad :3 lol check this stupid digital art i did XDD
http://argyleb.deviantart.com/art/Eat-Us-143841948
BLAHJSHJSSH I need to improve FAST college/university is just around the corner >:3
fail at my first comment…everything at the bottom got cut off~
Argyle’s last blog ..New Theme: Duotone
jusuchin85
Dec 29th, 2009
@Argyle: You want my honest opinion? Your art is very good indeed! I mean, seriously. That’s your first try on Photoshop? Comparing yours with mine, you have a better head start.
Improve soon so that we’ll have a group of digital artists amongst us (Seinime and Gargron comes to mind)!
p/s: Was it the site that caused the comment to be cut off?