If you're going to change the image into vector art, it'd be a lot easier for you to do that in Illustrator than Photoshop. Just export the photo as an .eps and import it into Illustrator as a template layer and build your vector art on top of it in layers. Much like the self-portrait Rachael made for the preliminary VisCom class.
Unfortunately I've already started in PS, also I'm using the computer in the office for it since it actually has a mouse and not a touchpad, and it doesn't have Illustrator. Also I've only used Illustrator for like 5 minutes, so it probably wouldn't be the best idea. So far I have the face, nose and mouth done...the eyes are blank patches of midtone skin, which looks freaky, and the hair is just blocked out and dark.
Plus the way you just described doing it is pretty much the way I'm doing it. It's a crap ton of layers that are just new shapes and blah blah blah. It isn't going to look very good either way, and I'm probably going to cheat on the hair and thus void the vector status of the project, but it will still look cool, so I don't mind.
How does it work in Illustrator? Is it the same (just using the pen tool or something else over and over again to make a lot of shapes that are layers on top of layers)? Or is there actually an easier way that will shave several hours off of this?
It's just that Illustrator is more friendly towards vector artwork. Typically when you create a raster image you go with Photoshop because that's what it handles best. The pen tool tends to be more flexible and the fill/lines are more easily adjusted in Illustrator. You could actually copy and paste some of your work directly into an Illustrator document if you've only made vector lines since it's all mathematical. Also, you've probably already figured out that if you go from one point to the other and hold down on the left mouse button as you create your next anchor point, you can move the mouse to create a very crisp, curved line. The less anchor points, the cleaner your image will look.
Um, yeah. It'd be damn near impossible if I didn't use curves, although I'm not using them a lot since faces, or at least mine, isn't entirely curves. Used them a lot for the teeth and gums. The way PS does it though it's nigh impossible to get the curve right doing it that way. You have to add an anchor inbetween two, then move it with ctrl and it creates the curve in a sensible manner. If Illustrator does it the way PSP8 does it, then I might switch. PSP8 did it in a way where you could make a single curve, unlike PS where it seems to want to make an S-curve unless you do what I said earlier. But honestly if they're the same tools (I'll check in a bit) then I don't see why I should use one over the other.
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Plus the way you just described doing it is pretty much the way I'm doing it. It's a crap ton of layers that are just new shapes and blah blah blah. It isn't going to look very good either way, and I'm probably going to cheat on the hair and thus void the vector status of the project, but it will still look cool, so I don't mind.
How does it work in Illustrator? Is it the same (just using the pen tool or something else over and over again to make a lot of shapes that are layers on top of layers)? Or is there actually an easier way that will shave several hours off of this?
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