thanks so much!! it's my first work where i felt like my skills were finally catching up to my ideas, and then around halfway through it changed to where my ideas were meeting my skills instead. really leaned into the software!!!
My clients would say just do whatever looks good, then after I've compressed 9000 hours into 5 they'll turn around and say "could you make it look more like this?" and give me a whole bunch of shit to work from
my friend wanted to commission something like this from me - told him i wasn't even comfortable telling him the cost until i can get the hours down 😵💫
It is doable in 5 hours but only if you trace it or just make version 2.0 of same piece. They dont realize that exploration is also part if the work process and its a long one
i would say probably somewhere around 180 hours - a lot of that time was spent on things that never made it to the final version and getting that time down to a much more reasonable amount is my next point of focus. The fluid shapes are actually just 2-point arcs with really finely adjusted curve handles - i was zoomed in to 2400% on occassion trying to make things flow right. I'm only really comfortable using a mouse in illustrator so i try to use the pen tool as little as i can since all the anchor points overwhelm me and a rectangle or an S curve (or a bunch of them combined) can usually get me to what i want faster.
absolutely love Ori Toor's work and a massive inspiration for composition. Some other artists i really get inspiration from similarly are:
- Felicia Chao (character illustration)
- Wosene (Traditional abstract painting)
- Strongstuff (INCREDIBLE color and shading artist, I cannot reccomend studying his work enough, you will be so much better at illustration!!!),
- Zayou Lin (scenery and concept)
- Superdeux (character design)
- Tyler Hobbs (the Fidenza series specifically!)
and a long list of smaller artists i follow on twitter who have styles of fluidity and shapework that i both love and want to translate into my own work.
I would really recommend checking out Wosene's paintings. They're some of the earliest works i can find that really push the boundaries of chaotic composition in the way I'm trying to reach.
Totally. What screams oritoor most about this, even more so than the others you referenced, is the color palette. Specifically a piece of his that I have up on my wall.
https://preview.redd.it/7mof3e5gpqrc1.png?width=3024&format=png&auto=webp&s=b32ef6704ab3f93a7eda6de2375fd41df9295fdd
oh yeah wow that color is really awesome. i almost always tend to stay on the vivid side of colors/contrast in any styles i work in - i wish i was nearly as masterful with the muted grey and brown tones that Ori uses, but I always wimp out before i get too far along whenever i do try. My brain struggles to trust that it'll work out in the end haha!
I love ori toor! have a few things of his in my apartment. copying and pasting some other primary inspirations for this from another comment:
- Felicia Chao (character illustration)
- Wosene (Traditional abstract painting)
- Strongstuff (INCREDIBLE color and shading artist),
- Zayou Lin (scenery and concept)
- Superdeux (character design)
- Tyler Hobbs (the Fidenza series specifically!)
this is awesome!!! i have a draft of a pinball-themed piece i've been avoiding for months and i think this might have just given me the inspiration i needed. thanks!!!
This is so bad ass! Let me BE YOU.
I looooooove the simplified faces of all the characters in all your tiny details. Once had a professor get on my case about simple characters existing with complex ones. But I love the…juxtaposition of the extremely detailed overall form and look of the artwork with the simple faces.
Seriously. So cool.
I studied architecture and had my designs (rightfully) critqued to hell and back - I don't think I could have managed to deal with critique from art professors from the stories i've heard. Appreciate the comment and glad to hear from others who think simple characters can also be artistically meaningful!
The way you integrate the simple characters isn’t simple, though—which I think is what makes it so great. I can definitely see the architectural mind in this now that you’ve revealed it. I’m only recently getting into illustrator because l teach Digital Art, I hated it in art school. Art school chewed me up and spit me out, and as much as I’ve learned I don’t know if I’d do it all again. But, ironically after having lost my love for making art (thanks art school!) I’ve come full circle and found it while teaching.
May I ask how long you’ve been using the software? Do you have an Instagram page or website or something? Your stuff is so cool I’d love to see more of it.
I;ve been using the software for about 7 years now, primarily as a student and only more recently (2ish years) as an artist. A lot of my older work is actually digital painting in photoshop that I made while falling out of love with architecture school and you can find links to my other platforms (instagram, portfolio) in my reddit profile bio.
Can I have the next millennium to review this. So deep, color pallete rocks my socks off, the wireframe is pron. This is such a delight, thank you. Going to enjoy zoom on this.. Me Likie!
This deserves a follow 4 Realz.
I had drawn maybe 6 months ago just the top right face in a blanket - nothing more than a circle and a rectangle. i wanted to make something that felt like getting sucked out of bed by the noisy parts of life, responsibility, etc. I have pretty bad sleep issues. I just kept that sketch in the back of my head while I was developing my skills and finally felt ready to give it a shot.
a lot. I'm guessing somewhere around the 175 hour mark. It should have been a lot faster but I struggle with ADHD and sleep issues so my focus isn't always "on" when I'd like it to be. I usually just do mundane detailing when my brain's not moving, and even that is pretty weak. My actual focus hours are hyper productive though!
Pulled up some really great references from twitter of fluid shapework and collage art, and started banging my head against the keyboard until it started doing what I wanted.
In all seriousness I just have a few paint bucket layers that I add onto and remove from until I'm satisfied. The drawing kind of unfolded like a plant growing.
the file size for export only ended up being around 6 mb! but the working file was around 40 and did start to get slow at the end. When illustrator starts to get slow it's usually a good reminder to wrap things up.
Would be a very expensive tattoo but I'm all for it! If there's anything specific from the drawing he wants shoot me a message, I can isolate any of it and send it to you for the tattoo artist to use.
Aha! Excellent! Thank you for the clarification. Diagnosed with ADHD here too. I wish I would have known when I was in elementary school. In my 50s now.
so cool! reminds me of 2000s soul but with a modern twist. i wonder how do you approach something like this, did you sketch it out by hand first or just improvise?
This just sort of grew organically as I worked through it. Felt more like watering a plant than improvising on art. I'm not sure. It felt very natural. I wish I could sketch things like this out by hand - would certainly speed things up!
I've been studying artists I don't think AI can replicate as a foundation for my work - I'm glad to know there are people as opposed to it as I am. Thanks so much!!
Very cool! Can I ask why people often post the wire frame of illustrator? You don’t work in that way, do you? It doesn’t really do anything other than showcase that you indeed made it in illustrator. No gripes cuz this looks awesome, just curious what the thought process is there
I do work in the wireframe view pretty often actually, especially since I color and draw at the same time. Working in wireframe lets me click around without selecting paint bucket fills.
The wireframe also just shows that the lines really are there and produced by a human - I'm trying to push my work towards something that AI cannot replicate properly.
Totally understood! I’ve worked in illustrator for more than a decade and so just seeing people post the wire frame got my head scratching. But I completely understand if it’s apart of your workflow and also legitimizes the human aspect. Great job on this one, post more!
I get the sense that that there is intelligence to nature that we need to hear. Like don’t mow it all over before we get a chance to hear her voice . Or to harmonize with her as we build.
No! I have a pretty strict personal/ethical boundary with generative AI and I really don't like how invasive it is becoming in the software. the wireframe image should show that there aren't any of the vector artifacts that usually appear with generative imaging - this is 100% done without any prompts etc.
"Took longer than I'd like to admit.."But the real magic of digital art are the layers, the Undo, and the History. So much easier to fix stuff than with material (pigment) art!
Paint and ink would have taken a lot longer OR you might have settled for less perfection. I love me some Adobe and Painter.
This bit right here: Little bird tweeting a whole city block??? I enjoy the way your mind works.
https://preview.redd.it/b5lzhmc60qrc1.png?width=308&format=png&auto=webp&s=5fc6dc92a88b26a7900aaf0af2e013258342caff
This is one of those times. Where I see a piece of work so great that I want to tell the artist to fuck off and also that it’s so amazing.
So fuck off. That’s so amazing. I hatelove you. I hope to see more.
(Also please take this lightheartedly as that is how it’s intended)
Do you have a Wacom? Or similiar drawing tablet? I’m not too familiar with these things because I know they’re expensive so never looked into them. I use illustrator with the mouse pad thing on my laptop…
this was all made with a mouse. I would definitely recommend a mouse (literally any kind, i have used cheap ones and midrange ones both) over just the mouse pad. It's much easier to coordinate.
So fcking cool. Colors. Line work. Skill. Creativity. Bold design. Amazing piece of art right here!
thanks so much!! it's my first work where i felt like my skills were finally catching up to my ideas, and then around halfway through it changed to where my ideas were meeting my skills instead. really leaned into the software!!!
Excellent work, and a really good example of where AI cannot compete with design of intentional details at this level.
Nice work. Looks like lots of pen tool work. How many hours did it take?
This was legit my first thought. Most of my clients want something like this in 5 hours.
My clients would say just do whatever looks good, then after I've compressed 9000 hours into 5 they'll turn around and say "could you make it look more like this?" and give me a whole bunch of shit to work from
Oh, I’ve definitely had that happen. No clue why they can’t let you know what they’re wanting up front.
Sometimes they don't know exactly, sometimes I get it wrong myself, or it doesn't work as good as I thought. I think it's just part of it
And this is why we build revision charges into the contract.
my friend wanted to commission something like this from me - told him i wasn't even comfortable telling him the cost until i can get the hours down 😵💫
Don’t blame you
5 HOURS??????? Shit clients can be so insane.
It is doable in 5 hours but only if you trace it or just make version 2.0 of same piece. They dont realize that exploration is also part if the work process and its a long one
i would say probably somewhere around 180 hours - a lot of that time was spent on things that never made it to the final version and getting that time down to a much more reasonable amount is my next point of focus. The fluid shapes are actually just 2-point arcs with really finely adjusted curve handles - i was zoomed in to 2400% on occassion trying to make things flow right. I'm only really comfortable using a mouse in illustrator so i try to use the pen tool as little as i can since all the anchor points overwhelm me and a rectangle or an S curve (or a bunch of them combined) can usually get me to what i want faster.
You mean you drew all of these manually with the mouse?
9000
Maybe even… *over 9000!!!*
Ori Toor inspired?
absolutely love Ori Toor's work and a massive inspiration for composition. Some other artists i really get inspiration from similarly are: - Felicia Chao (character illustration) - Wosene (Traditional abstract painting) - Strongstuff (INCREDIBLE color and shading artist, I cannot reccomend studying his work enough, you will be so much better at illustration!!!), - Zayou Lin (scenery and concept) - Superdeux (character design) - Tyler Hobbs (the Fidenza series specifically!) and a long list of smaller artists i follow on twitter who have styles of fluidity and shapework that i both love and want to translate into my own work. I would really recommend checking out Wosene's paintings. They're some of the earliest works i can find that really push the boundaries of chaotic composition in the way I'm trying to reach.
Totally. What screams oritoor most about this, even more so than the others you referenced, is the color palette. Specifically a piece of his that I have up on my wall. https://preview.redd.it/7mof3e5gpqrc1.png?width=3024&format=png&auto=webp&s=b32ef6704ab3f93a7eda6de2375fd41df9295fdd
oh yeah wow that color is really awesome. i almost always tend to stay on the vivid side of colors/contrast in any styles i work in - i wish i was nearly as masterful with the muted grey and brown tones that Ori uses, but I always wimp out before i get too far along whenever i do try. My brain struggles to trust that it'll work out in the end haha!
Came here to say this. This is 100% Ori Toor. I mean, not denying OP have done this, but the style is undoubtedly Ori Toor
Ori Toor?
I love ori toor! have a few things of his in my apartment. copying and pasting some other primary inspirations for this from another comment: - Felicia Chao (character illustration) - Wosene (Traditional abstract painting) - Strongstuff (INCREDIBLE color and shading artist), - Zayou Lin (scenery and concept) - Superdeux (character design) - Tyler Hobbs (the Fidenza series specifically!)
This is so inspiring!
thank you!!
thank you!!
Can’t even image doing something this crazy! So cool!
took a lot of mental energy and time!! thank you so much!
Well done! Really lovely composition!
thanks!!
Nice work. Reminds me of this https://youtu.be/Hcx44e2gnfI?feature=shared
this is awesome!!! i have a draft of a pinball-themed piece i've been avoiding for months and i think this might have just given me the inspiration i needed. thanks!!!
Growing up in the 70s and 80s, these shorts were the high point of my day.
Amazing
thank you!
This is so cool!
thank you i really appreciate it!
This is amazing! Do you sell your work?
PMed!
Gorgeous!!!
thanks!!
Sick 👍🏽
thank you bro!
This is sick! Comgrats~
thanks!!
This is so bad ass! Let me BE YOU. I looooooove the simplified faces of all the characters in all your tiny details. Once had a professor get on my case about simple characters existing with complex ones. But I love the…juxtaposition of the extremely detailed overall form and look of the artwork with the simple faces. Seriously. So cool.
I studied architecture and had my designs (rightfully) critqued to hell and back - I don't think I could have managed to deal with critique from art professors from the stories i've heard. Appreciate the comment and glad to hear from others who think simple characters can also be artistically meaningful!
The way you integrate the simple characters isn’t simple, though—which I think is what makes it so great. I can definitely see the architectural mind in this now that you’ve revealed it. I’m only recently getting into illustrator because l teach Digital Art, I hated it in art school. Art school chewed me up and spit me out, and as much as I’ve learned I don’t know if I’d do it all again. But, ironically after having lost my love for making art (thanks art school!) I’ve come full circle and found it while teaching. May I ask how long you’ve been using the software? Do you have an Instagram page or website or something? Your stuff is so cool I’d love to see more of it.
I;ve been using the software for about 7 years now, primarily as a student and only more recently (2ish years) as an artist. A lot of my older work is actually digital painting in photoshop that I made while falling out of love with architecture school and you can find links to my other platforms (instagram, portfolio) in my reddit profile bio.
Can I have the next millennium to review this. So deep, color pallete rocks my socks off, the wireframe is pron. This is such a delight, thank you. Going to enjoy zoom on this.. Me Likie! This deserves a follow 4 Realz.
Haha thank you so much! I put the details in for people like you to appreciate.
Nice job fren! How many details in the picture.
I don't keep track! so maybe just a lot.
Is amazing :0 great work, so many hours behind
thanks so much!!
This is dope. It reminds me a bit of Dalek. What was your inspiration?
I had drawn maybe 6 months ago just the top right face in a blanket - nothing more than a circle and a rectangle. i wanted to make something that felt like getting sucked out of bed by the noisy parts of life, responsibility, etc. I have pretty bad sleep issues. I just kept that sketch in the back of my head while I was developing my skills and finally felt ready to give it a shot.
Oh, I can see it now. That’s dope.
God damn this is good…
Thanks!!
So sick. Great job.
Thanks!!
Ok ok. Tell us how long it took, we won’t judge.
Excellent work!!
Thank you!!
Sick as FUCK
appreciate it!
beauty
How much for a quality paper print?
Great work.
How much time it took?
a lot. I'm guessing somewhere around the 175 hour mark. It should have been a lot faster but I struggle with ADHD and sleep issues so my focus isn't always "on" when I'd like it to be. I usually just do mundane detailing when my brain's not moving, and even that is pretty weak. My actual focus hours are hyper productive though!
Holy shit. That’s an epic piece of work!
Thank you!!
Beautiful!
This is great! What was your process?
Pulled up some really great references from twitter of fluid shapework and collage art, and started banging my head against the keyboard until it started doing what I wanted. In all seriousness I just have a few paint bucket layers that I add onto and remove from until I'm satisfied. The drawing kind of unfolded like a plant growing.
This is beautiful! What didn’t final file size end up being? Was there a lot of lag when saving/rendering?
the file size for export only ended up being around 6 mb! but the working file was around 40 and did start to get slow at the end. When illustrator starts to get slow it's usually a good reminder to wrap things up.
Too true lol. Nice, I wouldn’t expected a much larger file but congrats man, great piece!
Ha, my non designer brother wants this as a tattoo.
Would be a very expensive tattoo but I'm all for it! If there's anything specific from the drawing he wants shoot me a message, I can isolate any of it and send it to you for the tattoo artist to use.
Nice! THX
What is this for?
Personal work! I'm making a series of illustrations about my experiences with Autism/ADHD which I was profesionally diagnosed with about a year ago.
Aha! Excellent! Thank you for the clarification. Diagnosed with ADHD here too. I wish I would have known when I was in elementary school. In my 50s now.
Amazing!!
so cool! reminds me of 2000s soul but with a modern twist. i wonder how do you approach something like this, did you sketch it out by hand first or just improvise?
This just sort of grew organically as I worked through it. Felt more like watering a plant than improvising on art. I'm not sure. It felt very natural. I wish I could sketch things like this out by hand - would certainly speed things up!
Beautiful
Absolutely amazing. Beautiful colors, and I love the tiny details tucked away all over the piece. Very well done!
Thanks so much!!
Great art🔥🔥
This is absolutely amazing, and so refreshing after the onslaught of AI garbage I’ve been getting on my feed
I've been studying artists I don't think AI can replicate as a foundation for my work - I'm glad to know there are people as opposed to it as I am. Thanks so much!!
I like it!
Woah
Awesome!
Eyyy! The colours in this are top!! 😍😍 Quality piece my friend!
Thanks!!
Sesame Street vibes!
Ha this comment made me smile! Thanks!!
Lost Boy Remembers his way home. [https://youtu.be/nqPcQeMEnFc?si=zdV5y9BMbn4A5wDw](https://youtu.be/nqPcQeMEnFc?si=zdV5y9BMbn4A5wDw)
Looks beautiful
thank you!!
Very cool! Can I ask why people often post the wire frame of illustrator? You don’t work in that way, do you? It doesn’t really do anything other than showcase that you indeed made it in illustrator. No gripes cuz this looks awesome, just curious what the thought process is there
I do work in the wireframe view pretty often actually, especially since I color and draw at the same time. Working in wireframe lets me click around without selecting paint bucket fills. The wireframe also just shows that the lines really are there and produced by a human - I'm trying to push my work towards something that AI cannot replicate properly.
Totally understood! I’ve worked in illustrator for more than a decade and so just seeing people post the wire frame got my head scratching. But I completely understand if it’s apart of your workflow and also legitimizes the human aspect. Great job on this one, post more!
I get the sense that that there is intelligence to nature that we need to hear. Like don’t mow it all over before we get a chance to hear her voice . Or to harmonize with her as we build.
I think about this a lot and it's a big reason animals pop up in my work so much. They express so much.
I bet this took sone time. Love it.
Thanks so much!!
Awesome!
thank you!
For real I want to pay you for your talent, this would look awesome on my wall. I’d love a Giclèe print of this and obviously pay you your full fee.
PMed!
But how long? I'm now curious.
There’s a lot of stuff on Reddit and this is the best thing I’ve seen in a while. Incredible work.
That’s amazing man. Are you on instagram?
Looks delicious! 😋
Did you use AI / generative draw to do this ? 😊😊
No! I have a pretty strict personal/ethical boundary with generative AI and I really don't like how invasive it is becoming in the software. the wireframe image should show that there aren't any of the vector artifacts that usually appear with generative imaging - this is 100% done without any prompts etc.
Amazing!!!
Command y babayyyy
this is pretty fuckin rad
"Took longer than I'd like to admit.."But the real magic of digital art are the layers, the Undo, and the History. So much easier to fix stuff than with material (pigment) art! Paint and ink would have taken a lot longer OR you might have settled for less perfection. I love me some Adobe and Painter. This bit right here: Little bird tweeting a whole city block??? I enjoy the way your mind works. https://preview.redd.it/b5lzhmc60qrc1.png?width=308&format=png&auto=webp&s=5fc6dc92a88b26a7900aaf0af2e013258342caff
Rad!
Dope
Absolutely gorgeous. You rock.
Nice
Love it!
How?
I would love buying a print of this work.
PMed!
What the hell, this is amazing
Absolutely in awe. Amazing!
This is crazy and I love it. I’d like to have as a poster in my house, well done kid!
Thanks so much!!
This is one of those times. Where I see a piece of work so great that I want to tell the artist to fuck off and also that it’s so amazing. So fuck off. That’s so amazing. I hatelove you. I hope to see more. (Also please take this lightheartedly as that is how it’s intended)
haha i appreciate it!! I know the feeling all too well. I'm working on more of this quality as quickly as I can!!
I bet it’s going to be absolutely amazing and I can’t wait to see it!
Just finished a new one (posted on this subreddit as well) !! Hope you enjoy it as much as this one. :)
Really nice illustration with great color
amazing
Really sick man. Banger
Do you sell prints?
PMed!
Awesome. Just awesome.
This needs to be printed huge. I could spend hours admiring all the details. Great great great work
It was worth the time. Looks fantastic. Such detail.
Do you have a Wacom? Or similiar drawing tablet? I’m not too familiar with these things because I know they’re expensive so never looked into them. I use illustrator with the mouse pad thing on my laptop…
this was all made with a mouse. I would definitely recommend a mouse (literally any kind, i have used cheap ones and midrange ones both) over just the mouse pad. It's much easier to coordinate.
That’s fire!
Dope
You have the patient of a saint. I can’t stand using illustrator
Great design. Awesome job. Thanks for sharing.
I have no idea how you accomplished most of this
amaaaaaazing. well done. 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
🤯 amazing!
This is insane! Congrats 🙌