Creating Complex Style Illustrations: A Process

Learn the process of making a tribal-style illustration using only some fundamental techniques in Adobe Illustrator. This is more of a process overview than a play-by-play tutorial and thus, some basic skills in the program are needed in order to follow along. The main goal here is to show a workflow process, and from there, it’s up to you to add your own style and aesthetic preferences to your piece.

• Step 1: Setting Up and Preparing Your Work Area
• Step 2: Tracing the Image
• Step 3: Adding Details to Eyes
• Step 4: Complete the Tracing
• Step 5: Closing the Gaps
• Step 6: Fill the Illustration with White Color
• Step 7: Adding Additional Outlines
• Step 8: Starting the "Middle" Layer
• Step 9: Adding a Circular Pattern
• Step 10: Starting the "Bottom" Layer
• Step 11: Create the Background Pattern
• Step 12: Duplicate, Duplicate, Duplicate
• Step 13: Create the Border
• Step 14: The Finale