Changes, changes, changes! As any designer/illustrator can attest to, changes from a client can be a huge headache and can cause major issues in the progress of the project. In this tutorial I will show you how I approach reworking an illustration after the client has change requests, without having to start over and re-draw every step of the illustration.

For the sake of fun and simplicity, I will be supplying a simple drawing of a hippie bus as a starting point. Simple enough, till the client comes back with CHANGES!

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There are numerous ways that you could approach using a reference photo in illustration, an obvious option being to ‘trace’ the photo. Since there are so many microscopic details in a photograph you have to make numerous decisions on how you want the image to look in the end. Do you want it to look photorealistic? Or more stylized? Comic book-esque? Cartoon-like?

All of these decisions will result in the look and style of your final image, and your work as a whole. As a commercial designer/illustrator, the style and look of your work will make or break you. This tutorial will cover these decisions as we create an illustration from a reference photo.

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In this tutorial I am going to show how I use a reference photo to create a realistic yet stylized illustration. There are a tons of different ways that people use reference images in their illustrations. Below I’ll show you how I go about it. Let’s get started!

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We have another great Vector Plus tutorial available exclusively for Plus members today. If you want to learn how to combine illustration and typography, then we have an awesome tutorial for you. Learn more about this tutorial at the jump!

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A great piece of design or illustration can be taken to new heights by having it screen-printed. The texture and variance of the ink on the paper is beautiful, and the ‘happy mistakes’ are delicious. But this magic is not possible without prepping your artwork. Let’s learn how!

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Working with beautiful, perfect, clean shapes in illustrator is what I love, don’t get me wrong, but sometimes its nice to give an illustration a little something more. Some depth or additional layers of visual reference, when done well, can take an illustration to the next level. When done poorly they can make an illustration look amateur. We’ll learn how to make a high-quality vector texture from scratch in this tutorial. Let’s get started!

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We have another great Vector Plus tutorial exclusively available to Plus members today. If you want to learn how to create novel cartoon characters, then we have a fun tutorial for you. Learn how to create characters from everyday objects that work great for illustrated cartoon style posters!

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