Oct 08
Design Process of Koi Illustration
It has been a while since the last time I’ve done any illustration work. Recently I’ve created a new awesome piece that I would like to share with you. It is a koi fish illustration inspired by my tattoo. Read this post to find out more about my tattoo and see how I created the koi fish illustration based on my tattoo.
Final Illustration Preview
About My Tattoo Artist - Daemon Rowanchilde
I always wanted to get a tattoo ever since I was a kid. Finally, last year I decided to go ahead and get a tattoo done. After hours of Googling, I found Daemon Rowanchilde of Urban Primitive. Daemon is an amazing artist who has been in the industry for long time. He has done work for movie, fashion, illustration, and tattoo design. I particularly like his Energy Wave style/technique. Visit Urban Primitive and Daemonology to see his work.
Tattoo Research
Then I spent couple days on researching tattoo design. I found the koi fish very meaningful and decided to use it as my main design subject. Koi fish tattoo symbolizes "courage, aspiration and advancement".
According to Japanese legend, if a koi succeeded in climbing the falls at a point called Dragon Gate on the Yellow River, it would be transformed into a dragon. Based on that legend, it became a symbol of worldly aspiration and advancement.
Tattoo Sketch
Below are some of my concept sketches. It is a koi swimming upstream toward the sun.
I asked Daemon to incorporate his art into my design and he did this design which was used as the tattoo stencil. The floral and wave patterns were done free-hand during the tattooing process.
Finished Tattoo
The tattoo took 2 painful sessions to complete (6 hours each). Below are the photos of my finished tattoo.
Illustration Sketch
Based on my tattoo, I did the following sketch. The sketch was done on the returning plane from a Chicago trip (I was too bored). I did the sketch in about 30 minutes.
Tracing
As usual, the sketch is scanned and imported in Adobe Illustrator for tracing.
Here is the complete vector art in outline mode (over 2600 paths in total). The tracing process took about 12 hours.
Coloring
The artwork was then filled with color and gradient. The images below are different color themes that I tried. The coloring process took about 20 hours.
Texturizing
Then I imported the elements in Photoshop in separate layers. The texturing effect can easily be done by setting your layer blending mode to Dissolve. I used the Brush and Pencil tool to make the grungy background. Read my Vector Polishing tutorial to see the details of the techniques. The polishing process took over 10 hours due to the large file size and numerous layers.
Inspiration
The koi fish idea was taken from my tattoo. I made the fish tail a bit abstract so it can connect with the water wave.
The sun is also inspired by my tattoo design. I added a waterlily flower behind to make it look like kind of a flower and the sun.
The symbol on the fish head is the initial of my name and my girlfriend.
The flying mushrooms are a combination of jellyfish and mushroom.
The other design elements are mainly inspired by aquatic plants.
Related Article: Finding Inspiration From Your Environment.
The Next Serif Trend Follow Me on Twitter @nickla
Comments
Pages: 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 … 1 » Show All
There are 144 comments (+Add)
Pages: 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 … 1 » Show All
Loading ...
144 Sean McCann http://hubase.org/blog/
August 23rd, 2010 at 6:51 pm
That design is beautiful! I love the creativity that art can inspire. Just started to use Illustrator myself so can hopefully create a piece as amazing as that in the future.
143 rosette
July 29th, 2010 at 9:24 pm
Absolutely amazing! I love your tutorials. You are a real inspiration. I hope one day to come close to being able to do this!
142 chiho http://melyanao06.student.ipb.ac.id
July 23rd, 2010 at 6:27 pm
just wanna say, amazing…
141 doris http://dorismanp06.student.ipb.ac.id
July 15th, 2010 at 7:39 am
nice illustration, I make tattoo of this illustration, without know, this is inspired in a tattoo
140 James
July 15th, 2010 at 6:12 am
Awesome! Truly inspirational work - thank you so much for taking the time to show your working methods and creative process.
139 Rowena N
June 21st, 2010 at 7:18 am
WOW - I loved your abstract phoenix & peacock and haven’t visited your website for some time. I was looking for a Wordpress Theme and saw your work again…Koi…I am still mesmerized. Your illustrations are absolutely beautiful. Thank you so much for sharing them…they are a beauty to the eye.
138 Nicholas Czuma http://blog.nicholasczuma.com
June 15th, 2010 at 2:07 pm
Really nice. I’ve always had issues working with vector programs for detailed designs, but I like the crisp clean look it produces.
137 wahyu
June 14th, 2010 at 2:02 pm
wwoooww… luarrrr… biasa…
136 Aurora
June 5th, 2010 at 2:26 am
WOW!!! awesome illustration!!! I just found this website from google and i love it so much! it has so many useful tutorials, not only for photoshop and illustrator, but css too!!! By the way, this illustration is so detailed and i like the grungy background you made. i had been looking for a tutorial teaching me how to make such a background a long period already, it seems like it’s not that hard to make one(hopefully it is not). anyways, i like your work so much!!
135 Gudo Fredo http://glocorpwebdesign.com
May 25th, 2010 at 2:53 am
WOW ★★★★★