ronmatt

They're vector allright. I checked them out pretty thoroughly. But that raises a question. How good is too good? What I see here is an extremely talanted technician. God knows he must spend hours on a piece. But to what end? The result is practically photographic to a point beyond photorealism. I appreciate photorealism, probably because I can see that it is created as a "painting or rendering" with exagerated depth of field and color application and style. These pieces don't contain that. They're cold and very mechanical. They're as souless as CAD renderings and as camera like as he is, my Minolta Dimage is better. (and quicker) So again kudos to him and his abilities. He should work for Adobe. I personally wouldn't hire him for a project. Way too Madison Avenue for me.

Doodad

I've seen these before - amazing stuff. If you want a translation (of sorts) you can just google for "highside adobe", and then click on the "translate this page" link - and Japanese it is. As you suggested, "tracing" but I get the idea it's not just from one artist? Some of the pieces also have their production time cited.

Ok - they even seem to have a book on Amazon Japan by "highside" - master of tracing.
http://images-jp.amazon.com/images/P...9.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

Quick "tool" to help with translation: http://www.google.co.za/language_tools?hl=en - though the neat thing about just searching is that Google automatically links the page with the correct language (hopefully).

For those who want a good tutorial on gradient meshes on AI, have a look here (at bottom of the page): http://www.lifeinvector.com/_html/downloads.html

A lot of people seem to ask why someone would do something like that - such a waste of time - quicker to take a photo. Yes, maybe a bit artificial - but it exemplifies a dedicated pursuit of perfection - it's not about the result but the process.

ronmatt

Quote from doodad;
A lot of people seem to ask why someone would do something like that - such a waste of time - quicker to take a photo. Yes, maybe a bit artificial - but it exemplifies a dedicated pursuit of perfection - it's not about the result but the process."

And I agree wholeheartedly. Subjectively, I have total admiration for this persons work, which I stated. The calibur of work he does is no less than brilliant. Objectively, I have seen 'product development' renderings done with 3d software apps that render a much more realistic image. The only commercial use I can see for his work would be in the realm of product developement. (renderings of products that are, as of yet, still in a design stage). The subjects he has on his website suggests to me that he's playing to a very commercial market and there is better work out there in that market. Look at the galleries on some of the 3d sites. Take a good look at his reflections [ chrome and glass and paint]. Not that great actually. And upon close examination of his perspective angles (see the first motorcycle) they're off considerably. The initial impact of his images is awe inspiring but they fall apart to close scrutiny. Yet, I've never seen better Illustrator work. But, as I stated in an earlier post, if I was an art director, say for the manufacturer of that motorcycle, there are other artists out there that I would choose over him to render my product for a pre-production marketing campaign

Doodad

You are 100% correct of course ronmatt- I suppose it really boils down to art as opposed to commercial professionalism (as you indicate, the fellow here seems to geared for the commercial). Art is to a greater extent about the tools, effort and skill involved. The professional arena is about the end result - the bottom line - that is why all these tools like Photoshop get developed and evolve to automate more and more functions - to enable more people to produce acceptable results in less time. Like you said, it'll be tough sell touting this exceptional vector art against good 3D visualizations - what if the client suddenly wants it from a different angle? The vector artist starts anew, the 3D artist just rotates and renders.

This disctinction is visible in the board here too - fact remains, some effects, although achievable in Photoshop, are far easier to achieve in other programs ( BLASPHEMY! ). The professional is the one who adapts to use all tools at his/her disposal to achieve some end result as quickly as possible. For this, repeatable techniques/methods are needed. The enthusiast/artist is the one who perseveres with one specific tool, honing their skill at it to produce work that is to their liking.

Now that doesn't mean you can't be an enthusiastic professional! In fact, I don't think you'd stand out as a professional without the enthusiasm.

Ka-ching - my 2 cents.

ronmatt

well put and amen.

MindBender

Just to bounce back to the original topic (since I'm a little late hehe)

That is all done with "gradient mesh". It's kind of a texture wireframe. Very strange to get used to using, but very powerful Illustrator tool. There is a complete "wireframe" mesh version of the baseball glove that can be compared with the finished product as well as closeup examples of the texturing process using meshes and filters. (yes, the girl is 100% vector too).

I've seen some awsome stuff done with Illustrator. You used to be able to check out a lot at www.illustratorworld.com but they had a crash and are rebuilding. Some stuff is back, but it's nothing compared with what it used to be.

There are some amazing Illustrator artists out there. Kinda makes me want to learn more about it... and kinda makes me want to curl up under the covers and hide. heh

ronmatt

http://img205.imageshack.us/img205/3078/fraudvh9.jpg

Could be that I'm beating a dead horse here, but I never really believed my eyes when I first saw this image. So, I got this photodisk from a client for an image for an ad I'm to do. while reviewing it I come across this photo of a baseball glove. I had previously bookmarked this original post so it was easy to find. And lo and behold if the artist who claimed it was his Illustrator illustration wasn't BS'in us. All you folks who got so excited about it can relax. It was all a fraud.
( the one on the left is the fraud, the right is the orig. photograph by Sozaijiten images.