Last week I submitted my last "Mountain Village Landscape" vector to Istockphoto.
It got rejected the first time with the rejection reason:

"Please crop your file more closely to the subject, or submit the file in its original size.
The composition of this file contains an unnecessary addition of negative/blank space."

I thought, Ok, they don't like my artsy uneven shapes of this landscape, so I cropped it to almost a square and added a thin frame of white space around it.
It got approved this time, but with the following note:

"Very nice illustration! In the future, you may wish to consider adding a small amount of white space around your JPEG preview.
This will stop your illustration from butting up against the edge of your preview, giving it some 'breathing room'."



Hey, Istockphoto, make up your mind! ;)

Wanted to make a couple of landscapes for my Istockphoto portfoilo.
This is the first one. I really like how it came out.
This scene exists only in my imagination. I would really like to live in a place like this, though ;)
I experimented with a quick sketch, but this time I colored it first with colored pencils,
and used it as color reference later, while creating my vector. 

Latest vector illustration "Asleep".
Born out of a small quick pencil sketch of a face (too small to show here) :)

ASLEEP

Finished writing my second Vectortuts tutorial
"How to Make the Most Out of Your Vector Illustrations - Vector Plus Tutorial"
on Monday and yesterday evening it was published on the site! :)
This time it's a Plus tutorial. It means that one should have a subscription to Vectortuts to read it.



In this tutorial I share with you my method of creating three different styles of vector illustration
based on one concept and sketch.
You can make the most of your vector illustration concept by extending the usage possibilities
and making it suitable for more designs and projects.

I describe my detailed work process in Adobe Illustrator CS3 from concept sketch to three vector variants of one illustration:

My new Poppy Keds Shoes are finally here! :)
I designed them some time ago, but waited till summer to order them from my zazzle shop.
These summer cuties are featuring a part of my digital drawing "Flower Mind" I created in Photoshop.
They are the second pair of Keds Shoes I've ordered from zazzle.
First one "Hungry Cat Keds Shoes" and went to live with my friend Eva.
I really love the quality of print on both of them! Well done zazzle! :)



Check out my other Keds Shoes designs!
( More photos... )

 

As I've been reading some beauty blogs recently I got an idea to make some vector makeup face charts for my Istockphoto portfolio.
In the process the whole series of the face charts was born! Same face, but different hair and accessories.
Here are a couple of them:

Makeup Face Charts
[download EPS files at my Istockphoto portfolio]



Decided to try my face charts out and to color them with eyes and hair colors and some makeup in Photoshop.
Got this fresh spring look :)



I don't do much of Photoshop coloring, but found it quite fun this time,
so moved on to making this more complicated colored version of brunette:

This is what I've been doing on weekend...
Made this drawing of a colorful African Grey Parrot with my Faber-Castell watercolor colored pencils.

African Grey Parrot
Watercolor pencils on paper 30x40 cm.




I saw this red-tailed cutie at the Hortus Botanical garden in Haren last month.
He or she was so friendly to pose for a couple of photos :)
Just love this red tail!

 

Been working on this collection of vector girly cartoon zodiac signs for some time.
Wanted to give every zodiac girl different personality, but still keep them all in one style.
They are for sale as EPS on Istock: part 1 and part 2.



Created some buttons with these girls at my Zazzle Shop today. 
By the way, my Zazzle Shop is featured on the home page of Zazzle! Yay!!! :)

Zodiac Signs Buttons
 

I am Capricorn :)

Finished a new colored pencils drawing recently.
Feels great to work with colored pencils for a change...

Spring In My Hair
Colored watercolor pencils on paper.
30x40 cm.


 

Great news! Vectortuts website published my tutorial
"How to Create a Vector Illustration and Prepare it for Micro-Stock Sale".

It is my first tutorial ever, so I am very excited about this exposure and the possibility
to share my knowledge and skills with lots of creative people!

If you are starting your career as vector illustrator on micro-stock websites and want to learn some techniques then this tutorial is for you!

You will learn:

• How to create a vector illustration from sketch to finish in Adobe Illustrator according to the demands of micro-stock websites.
• How to clean up your Adobe Illustrator file before saving it in EPS format.
• How to find and close all open paths.
• How to save EPS and JPEG files correctly for micro-stock sale.

Hope to get your feedback!

I love spring so much! This great weather makes me really energetic and smiling :D
Two Easter weekends in the Netherlands came to be wonderful...
Lots of inspiration collected ;)

And here I have a little Easter Bunny wishing you
"Happy Easter!"
I got a set of ceramic bunnies as a gift from one of my friends some time ago.
I painted it with acrylics and made a photo's on one of our little Easter trips.

Here is something useful for all vector artists selling their illustrations on micro-stock websites like Istockphoto and Shutterstock.
“Save for stocks” script for Adobe Illustrator,
that you can download for free and use it for saving your EPS 8, and JPEG files
for upload on micro-stock websites.

Download and read more at my website!


 

Vector illustration of a cute little puppy waiting for you to play with him outside :)
When do I get  a puppy?! (sigh...)

Let's play!
[prints]



And here you have a pencil sketch I made for this puppy character:


 

Great news! My recent "Space friends" illustration was yesterday chosen vector of the week on Istockphoto!!! :)
Only there should be Ukraine instead of the Netherlands, but they've used my current address and not nationality...
I'm still very happy to receive this exposure and to read all those wonderful wishes and comments!
Thank you very much! :)

Vector illustration of a happy boy and his dog as astronauts

exploring outer space and having a lot of fun :)

SPACE FRIENDS
[prints]



Pencil sketch:


 

 

Had this idea to refresh the childhood memories and play around with some plasticine...
Discovered that I'm still a big fan of it! Yay!
Gives me a lot of inspiration and creative ideas.
And even more importantly, it is a nice way to spend an evening NOT in front of my computer :)

More pictures in my Flickr Plasticine Collection






 

Dreaming of warm summer sea... ;)
This time made a sketch, outlined it, but the final piece turned out without outline.
I sometimes feel that artworks have mind of there own...

Turtle-diver
[prints]



P.S. Happy to report that Istockphoto experience is getting better and better :)
The review times of submitted images under exclusivity contract is great.
This illustration got approved in a couple of hours! yay! :)

My newest vector illustration. I'm still playing with outlines, colors and shapes.
This time wanted to make something more realistic, but in the same time cartoony ;)
Inspired by spring...

White-eye and sakura
(prints in Redbubble and Zazzle)

My new vector character for Istock. I made a little experiment while working on this vector.
I've been tracking time during the process with Timer so that I could know the amount of time
I spend on character design and creating vector of moderate complexity.

CLOWN WITH BALLOONS
(I obviously have a crush on balloons ;) )



 

 

Here is the process of creation from sketch to finish:

Time spent on this project:


1) Sketch: 30 min

2) Photographing sketch + Photoshop: 10 min

























3) Work in lllustrator

     Outline = 1 hour

 





























 
      Coloring = 57 min

  Shadows and highlights = 29 min

 
Total = 2 hours 30 min

This is my result for now. I have no idea if it is slow or quick, but it is my time for now. I feel pretty slow with making sketches and then inking and coloring them in Illustrator. It is still a new type of work for me. But I like the results and a new look. I should probably make this experiment again in a couple of months to see if the amount of time changes ;)