Illustrator Phoenix

[replacementparts]

Phoenix has been a powerful symbol for me since high school, though honestly its been since high school that I’ve used them in my art much. They pop up every now and then, though, and I generally don’t complain. This was done in Adobe Illustrator- which I hadn’t messed with in years. The last chapter in my InDesign textbook talked about ID’s pen tool/vector functionality, which reminded me that Illustrator’s pen worked much the same. So with that review, I was able to do this. I think in the past I didn’t like Illustrator much because it ALLOWS for so much precision, instead of just having fun with the tools, I focused on getting every bit of it PERFECT OMG and that just takes every ounce of fun out of it, you know? So this time I just tried to focus on letting the shapes kind of do what they wanted, acting more as a guide than a strict commander.

(I have this problem when I draw spread wings like that. The perspective never quite feels right. Anyone have any tips?)