Create a Monochrome Portrait in Illustrator – Vector Premium Tutorial
Tutorial Details
- Program: Adobe Photoshop & Illustrator CS4
- Difficulty: Advanced
- Estimated Completion Time: 4 hours
Download Source Files
We have another great Vector Premium tutorial available exclusively for Premium members today. If you want to learn how to modify a stock image in Adobe Photoshop and how to use various blends and techniques within Adobe Illustrator to create a soft monochrome portrait, then we have an awesome tutorial for you.
This Tutorial is Filled with Creative Techniques
Starting with a stock image, you will use Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator to draw a soft monochrome portrait. A graphics tablet would help immensely during the line work stage, but it’s fine if you don’t have one.
Premium members can Log in and Download! Otherwise, Join Now! Below are sample images, which show some of the development of this tutorial.




Vector Premium Membership
As you know, we run a Premium membership system that costs $19 a month which gives members access to the Source files for tutorials as well as periodic extra tutorials, like this one! If you’re a Plus member you can log in and download the tutorial. If you’re not a member, you can of course join today!

Wow…really nice….can’t wait to make it….
Nice outcome.
Very nice outcome! I do have something to say:
1. Extend the top side and the back of the skull a bit. You can pump up the hair volume, since the woman is young and also the head won’t look flat.
2. Add a tad volume to the bottom lip (like you did with the bottom eyelid) and darken the top lip.
I like a lot the subtle tearducts, the beautiful noseduct and the smooth touch on the cheek.
I also like how you made the eyelid of the left eye thicker than the right one, to add more perspective.
Most of all, i like your choice if using a watercolor-ish effect, it gives to the skin a really nice, soft effect.
Clearly you are highly educated in drawing portraits, I enjoy your art!
Beautiful!
Thank you for the wonderful feedback on the tutorial, I’m glad you like the final outcome.
I must say, I really enjoy doing portraits and I love this style. I hope you get a chance to try doing a portrait in this style, it is a lot of fun!
Your welcome ^-^
In a word—impressive.
Sorry, I’m new here. When I clicked on the link to the tutorial It downloaded all the pictures and the source files. But when I click on the (continue) link it doesn’t show the step by step part of it. Am I missing something here?
This tut looks awesome and I really want to do it.
Thanks
Continue link? With premium tuts, you download the .Zip file and inside the file you will find index.html, load this into your browser of choice and you’ll see the tutorial :)
This really looks good. Oh envato, one day I’m ready to delete my RSS feed, the next I think that premium is a bargin.
Thanks Lkat. I almost did that. I got confused because some of the lessons just go right in to step one then step 2. Now I’m off to do a great piece.
thank
This is great! Though I am having a problem, for some reason my first clipping mask results end up backwards, with the lightest shade to the outside and the darkest to the inside. I can’t figure out what I’m doing wrong, does anyone know how to fix this?
Thanks!!
Um… nevermind, I found my problem. Stupid mistake lol.
I absolutely love this portrait however I find the tutorial really confusing. Everything is explained very well in the beginning, but I got confused after step 12 where the shading starts. I never really working with shading in portraits so I wouldn’t know where to start and what areas I should use. Personally I thought it would’ve been better if the process behind this was explained step by step as well.
This work was the reason why I purchased a premium account a few days ago. And it was definitely worth it. I’ve always wanted to get more into vector portraits but never used the right techniques (I’m more of a photoshop guy). I haven’t finished this one yet and I’m about halfway, but the steps and detail are great, top quality.
Excellent, I’m glad that you like this tut. Sharon has written some great tuts for us, you can check them out here – http://vector.tutsplus.com/author/sharon-milne/
Hi Sharon, thank you very much for this tutorial. I’ve already msg’d you on DeviantArt but thought I’d leave my ‘thanks’ here to. Without this tutorial I wouldn’t have been able to make this within 5 hours of starting!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cathiegraphy/4991696055/
Great work! Did you know we have a Flickr Group? http://www.flickr.com/groups/vectortuts/
amazing art and a really nice tutorial. thanks!