I'm not a professional graphic artist. I took art classes in school, but my drawings are very basic. I got into making Vector portraits after seeing an Adobe Illustrator ad a few years ago: [How to Make a Minimal Vector Portrait in Adobe Illustrator](https://creativecloud.adobe.com/cc/discover/article/how-to-make-a-minimal-vector-portrait-in-adobe-illustrator?locale=en) At the time when I saw this ad I was working at a college so I had access to the entire Adobe Creative Cloud suite for free. That was the best perk of the job. I thought it was really fascinating so I gave it a shot. This is how my first one turned out! ![[20-07-18 PG-1.png]] Not too bad. I really enjoyed the process, then I tried to make a version of [[Dr. Martin Luther King]], because he's the logo of my Improv Show [[Drunk Black History]]. ![[20-07-20 PG-2.1.png]] Dope! Right? Then I took a shot at making Amara La Negra, because she's foine as hell. ![[20-07-28 PG-3.png]] I didn't get very far on this one hahahaha. It was hard. Then I didn't make any vector portraits for years. But when [[Onward Theatre]] started planning it's [[Comedy, Art, and Beer]] night, after we chose the lineup of Stand Up comedians I figured it was a good opportunity to try making some for the promos. You can do the same thing in other apps besides Illustrator. I’m using [Pixelmator Pro](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/pixelmator-pro/id1289583905?mt=12) on the Mac [Inkscape](https://inkscape.org) is free! ## Get a good picture Choose a subject. It can really be anything but if you're just starting out I'd recommend just focusing on upper body / facial features. I don't know how to draw so making hands and other detailed things are difficult for me. If you're more comfortable with those then go for it. ## Trace major elements Conceptually, you can think of Vector Art (or, maybe *all* visual art?) as a series of interwoven / layered shapes. You just need to get the shapes in place. Start very simply, even with just circles or ellipses. It won't look pretty off the bat so don't even bother trying. Just lay it out. - Head - Ears - Hair - Torso - Facial Features - Accessories ## Refine Shapes - 1st Pass Major Shapes - 2nd Pass Refine Element - Teeth ## Color Shapes ## Draw Shading ## Draw Highlights ## BLEND ## Create gradient background ## PUBLISH