Before I go any further with this I'd like opinions (Except for Blowhard and Jester, who are unmeciful). This was done entirely in Illustrator using the pen tool. It is a prelude to doing an actual profile though I get rather lost after doing the line drawing since I can't figure out how to add colour. Suggestions are appreciated...especialy those areas that you know are wrong. Proof will be required. Non photographic evidence will not be accepted unless accompanied by the Füher's signature and the approval of General of Fighters Adolf Galland. I'd add Göring in here....but he's such a fat weenie.
You asked for it!
Seriously, it's a good start. A few things to consider as you progress, if you are going to do this as a fully rendered piece; keep in mind what outlines are really shapes without outlines at all. Also be thinking of what are simple panel lines and what are larger gaps or overlaps. You might want to think ahead now and determine ways to separate those kind of things for when you start shading it in.
I can't wait to see how you do the rivets, that should really make it come alive.
One other tip I learned in school, always color inside the lines That's grade school of course
Looking good so far
If BH is trying to emulate the Bf109 of Luftwaffe Reichslieutnant Hans DerEnglanderisttodt with his color exercise, then the spinner should be a tad more mauve . . . more seriously wish i had Otterkins' skills at outline . . .
If you intend to do this entirely in Illustrator you really need to have all of your lines enclosed, it is no good to just use a series of non connecting lines, as there is no way for Illustrator to fill them. if you intend to transfer this over to Photoshop,(which I suspect is what Blowhard did) remember masks are your friends.
If none of this applies to the O/P, disregard this post in its entirety.
The intent is to do all linework in Illustrator and then move it into Photoshop. In CS3 there is a nifty little button called "close paths", so I'll be sure to do that anyways once I think I've got everything right. I'm having a terrible time posting here, so haven't been able to post responses.
Hi Otterkins,
nice work for now!
I just want to ask a quick question about drawing in Illustrator: when I want to make an outline of a drawing, is it possible to do it somehow easily? Or do I have to do it the way as now by meaning that I take all the lines that make some part of the outline and cut/join them together?
There is no easy way to do this Zamex. You can use the autotrace option, but the results aren't really all that desireable. I wouldn't recommend this anyways, since you will simply be duplicating the mistakes the original artist made. Your best bet is to get as many detailed photos as you can. If you get a decent side shot, you can use this as your first layer. Lock it after reducing the transparency so you can see what you are doing otherwise you will wind up working on layers that you didn't intend to. Layers and the pen tool are your best friends in the world, and what you create will be uniquely your own.
If I understand your request, you want to create a total outline, or perimeter path, from the paths you have already created in Illustrator. Is this right?
If so, you can copy all the paths that will make up the outline (I mean the whole shapes, not just the bits of the path that make up the actual perimeter) into a new layer, name that layer "Outline", then with ONLY the paths in that layer selected, run the "Add to shape layer" option in your Pathfinder pallette. This is the top left option. If this gives you the result you want, you can then hit the Expand button in the same pallette which will turn it into a single shape.
This is a very powerful way of making complex shapes up out of simple paths and shapes.
It really depends on how you've got your lines drawn though.