Intro

Hi I'm Matt! I'm a freelance designer and illustrator living in Rochester, NY. I do a lot of web illustrations, icons and logos, but have always wanted to break into making my own posters and art prints. I love drawing animals and working with geometry and I'm also a big fan of DKNG so I thought this would be a perfect class to take on.

For my illustration I wanted to create a Bighorn Sheep. I really like the twisting shape of the horns and features of this animal and thought it would be a nice challenge to reduce geometrically. I'm going for a symmetrical, frontal view as demonstrated by the example project. I'm planning to use mostly circles and ovals to create the shapes that make up the head and horns.

Research

Sketch

Here is my sketch before heading to Illustrator. I want this design to feel ornamental and decorative, so I looked for opportunities to add additional patterns and geometric shapes—something I hope to explore more on the computer.

Vector Progress

After placing the sketch in my artboard I drew my guides. I want this design to focus on three overlapping circles that make up the main part of the head and the horns. I've started to add some elements like the circles and triangles. The twisting shapes of the horns are tricky—I've placed some gradients and blurred shapes in clipping masks to create the depth.

Refinements

Got sucked into some of the details. Breaking from this peice for a bit. Would love some feedback for the vector art before before adding texture and halftoning. If anyone has any ideas for a better treatment of the horns I'd love to hear it!