Gustav Klimt inspired art

Gustav Klimt inspired art

VectorTutsPlus.com has a great tutorial on creating a Gustav Klimt- inspired golden painting in Illustrator.  Check out the tutorial here.

In following this tutorial, I learned several new tools in illustrator, including how to use a gradient mesh. I will have to explore gradient meshes more in the future as they seem quite cool.

gradient mesh

gradient mesh used to make the artwork

Here is my result from following the tutorial:

I hope you like it!  I am very happy with the result.

Custom Sherlock paper toy project

Custom Sherlock paper toy project

VectorTutsPlus.com recently posted a community project of making a custom paper toy.  This looked like lots of fun so I decided to make one too.

The character I chose to make is Sherlock (from the new BBC mini series).  Sherlock is played by Benedict Cumberbatch, who is also in the upcoming Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy movie, based on Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy: A George Smiley Novel and next year’s The Hobbit.

If you haven’t watched the BBC Sherlock, I highly recommend it! It’s three 90 minute episodes and is set in modern London.  Sherlock is a “consulting detective” and uses all sorts of modern technology to solve crimes.  He even has his own website: The Science of Deduction. You can buy Sherlock: Season One on DVD or Blu-Ray now, and the next season will be airing in 2012 in the UK.

sherlock and watson

sherlock and watson in BBC's Sherlock

 

So to get started on the paper toy, I looked at several reference photos of Benedict, and did a couple of sketches to get warmed up:

sketch 1

my first sketch was a bit off on the dimensions of his face (too squished)

 

sketch 2

the second sketch had the face shape a bit better

 

I printed out the blank template so I could sketch on it as well.

vectortuts_papertoy_template-blank

blank paper toy template

 

Since I needed different planes in the toy to match up, I decided to do something really simple, just the Sherlock figure, no props.

To get the face just right, I copied this reference photo into Illustrator and dimmed it to 50% transparency to trace the face on top of it.

sherlock movie still

sherlock movie still

Reference photo from Aithine.org, which has a large collection of Sherlock BBC movie stills.

I then did the final toy design in Illustrator, mainly using the Brush tool.

BBC Sherlock paper toy template

BBC Sherlock paper toy template

I printed it out on nice cardstock and followed the cutting and folding directions.

Now it was ready for a mini photoshoot against a modern London backdrop:

sherlock toy

sherlock toy back view

sherlock overlooking london

This project was a lot of fun.  Definitely check out the new Sherlock: Season One if you haven’t seen it yet!