Look at me. Already not following instructions... Yeah, not an ad. I love all of the clean and graphic ads chosen by other class members and am hoping to garner instruction from the process they will be following as well as get some instruction on how to create a softer, more painterly blend between colors. I'm assuming this can be done...  The image I've chosen is a print called, "Friends of the Forest," by Eva Juliet. You can buy the print here in her etsy shop. 

Here's phase one. I didn't quite get it all in, but that's okay. It's all about the learning process and I'm making real headway with the pen tool and familiarizing myself with Illustrator's capabilities. I considered not doing the flowers at all, but I wanted to see if making just one and manipulating it would turn out okay or if it would look too cookie-cutter. It's so exciting to finally feel like I'm getting a grasp on the program. I do a little happy dance everytime I sit down to work. 

I'm calling this project done. I ended up doing the textures and small details in Photoshop with brushes. I just couldn't get it to look the way I wanted with the bitmaps in Illustrator. I think I'll continue on with Brads Communicating with Color/Pattern/Texture class. I'd love to learn how to achieve a project like this entirely in Illustrator.