Best way to create artwork?

[GreenBoy]

I'm planning on doing my own artwork for my cab.  But I'm at a bit of a loss for how to go about making it into a format that's of the neccessary quality and size to be printed (probably by Souldraw).  I've made a basic sketch of what I want to do.





Is it better to draw the proper design and then scan and colour or is it better to do it all with photoshop?

What's worked for you?  Is there any tutorials you've found that were helpful?

[jmike]

Sorry I can't help with a good software, just wanted to say pretty cool sketch so far.
Better than what I could do.   


 

[opt2not]

Here's how I approach my art commissions for various members here:

1. Primilinary Sketch, like you have here.

2. Then scanned into Photoshop, where I'll clean up the image, re-draw what I need to. Separate each character onto their own layer  (using Smart-Layers in Photoshop. They're amazing). For an image like yours with a lot of characters, I find it best to draw the full characters out, in case I want to re-arrange the composition a bit and move them around.

3. Now here's where some people tend to differ when it comes to print-images. For me, I like to extract each layer out and throw them into Illustrator and start the vector process. Vectors will give you the best image quality. I then save those layers out as .ai files (Illustrator native files), then re-open them "as Smart Layers", then re-import them into the main image. This way, when you open up the smart layers, it'll open Illustrator for editing. 

Now some people like to just work in Photoshop and generate the vectors there. Personally I don't like using PS for vectors, Illustrator has way more options when it comes to vectors tools. As well, PS doesn't like to properly display Vectors in the working view (try zooming into a vector object in PS, you'll notice the blurriness, due to PS converting vectors to rasters only in the working screen-view. Unlike Illustrator where the image zoom maintains it's crisp display -- this is much easier to work with when you can see exactly what the vectors are doing). 

Some people just stick to a high-res raster image in Photoshop, forgoing vectors and Illustrator altogether. This is fine too, but you'll have to figure out what the best resolution for the size you're printing off, then do all your fine clean-up within Photoshop, which to me is more "pixel-to-pixel" work that I like to avoid. But if I did go vector-less, I'd go with a 300 ppi image for most large-sized prints.
You're style is going to be more on the cartoony side, so you'll probably have more solid colour, less gradients and so forth.  300 ppi is pretty sufficient for what you're doing.

Back to my preference though: Once I've vectorized the outlines, I'll put them back into Photoshop (This is my Pass 3 stage) and start colouring on separate layers, using groups for keeping the Smart Vector layers together with their colour layers. This is a decent way of handling the colour pass, especially since the colour is done in Raster while the lines of Vectors stay crisp.

4. After my colour pass is complete, I'll throw some Effects on there if needed, mainly lighting or special effects like sparkles or patterns needed...polishing items like that.

5. Finalizing. This is where I create some adjustment layers for colour balancing, brightness and contrast, as well as sizing and plotting the image to the dimensions needed on your cabinet surface.

I hope this helps you.
Creating artwork is an iterative process, and having "passes" will help you further increase the quality of the image, as well as keeping you organized and on track for the progression of the image.

[GreenBoy]

Thankyou for such a detailed answer.  I think you answered all my questions.   

I guess I better get stuck into actually doing it now.

[sharpfork]

Here's how I approach my art commissions for various members here:

I hope this helps you...

Thanks opt2not!  This is exactly what I was looking for.
 

I really appreciate your sharing info about something you provide as a paid service.