Greetings from- Illustrator work

Today I wanted to translate my designs into vectors, and learn how to add texture to them.

 To start with I read some tutorials on how to add a 'screen print texture' to illustrator work, and experimented with how to create these irregular shapes.

Created using photoshop brushes

Ink splatters scanned in (used for final designs)

I learnt how to transfer photoshop files into illustrator through Live Trace (and how to alter the settings to be customised)- Expand- Ungroup- then altered the colour and transparency and dropped them over my design.

I think this has worked quite well to ad some interest to my otherwise flat colour and has made my very simple designs seem a bit more 'grounded' on the page and slightly more complex.

Do I want the texture over the background too? I tried using pathfinder to expand the texture shapes over the main shape, but it kept coming up with an error, I might read some more on this subject so that I can compare the two and see which I prefer.


ILLUSTRATOR WORK

I then started looking at how to actually construct my designs.
My initial idea of using lines the same colour as the background to break up the main shape, I really didn't like the overall effect, I think it looks far too basic and the lines command too much attention.

Trialling line as negative space

I then tried making all of the shapes separately, which took a lot longer, but I really liked how the shapes seemed slightly more natural, which echoes the nature of the shells I am studying. I also like how the white space in the centre ties together the whole shape and the city, as well as functioning more as a screen print with the colours not overlapping. However, I would like to include some shade, so maybe experiment with using the grey and altering the transparency to add tone to they city, which will hopefully make the image more stimulating.

After trying individual shapes for the shell rather than line
on top

Creating separate shapes using the pen tool and tracing
yesterdays sketches

Midway through

Beginning to add tone and windows

To do:
- Experiment with colour, maybe using adobe colour to create a contrasting but cohesive colour palette.
- Does texture need randomising more?
- Do I need a background colour? Or simply different colour stock?