Nesting Dolls {illustration process}

Here is an example of the three main steps I use for completing an illustration:
1. Sketch it until you like it.
2. Trace the sketch in Adobe Illustrator and play with color.
3. Take the Illustrator art into Photoshop and texturize.

This illustration of nesting dolls ran with a story by Karla Peterson about the hidden gems in San Diego's big attractions. This shows that most people go to the zoo to see the pandas, but the fishing cats are something not to miss. I loved how this turned out, but I especially loved the concept I came up with. I avoided brainstorming until I absolutely had to because I knew it was a going to be hard to come up with an idea. The idea showed up at the very last second and saved my bleep. Then I spent a day extra working on it because I was enjoying myself too much. Needless to say I payed for it later and had to kill myself to meet my next deadline. Spending the extra time with the little fishing cat was so worth it!