What is Vector Art?

How do we say that an artwork is a vector? What is the difference between a vector and vexel? A couple of minutes ago I browsed my acquaintance's facebook account where he posted his "vector art". He traced the photos of his friends using photoshop and it looked like comic versions of the photos. In the image he traced a thick black lines for the outlines and blurred or smudged out the skin. I kinda looked like this self-portait that I made years ago.

He also used brushes to create smokey eyes and shadows for the lighting. I just want to clarify to all digital art the misuse of the term vector. Even I myself have misconceptions on vectors. Here is another so-called vector art. Most of the elements are created using photoshop brushes.


Quoted from a forum in dA,

Vector is made using mathematical equations instead of pixels so no matter how far you zoom in it recalculates and and looks perfect instead of a pixel based system. That's the technical definition however it has a specific style attached to it. It is usually either super simplistic or hyper realistic. As for vexel it is technically pixel based art that looks like vector but this too is know for hyper realism.

Therefore, what we see above are not vector art. If it is created using brushes and several tools such as blur or smudge, it is not vector. Vectors are created using the pen tool and shape tools alone. It means when we interpolate (increase the resolution of) a vector image, the line will still look smooth. Usually the file format of vectors are .ai and .eps. On the other hand, we have vexels. Vexels are rasterized versions of vectors. They are usually the jpegs or gifs that looks like vectors but the quality will be lost when we interpolate it. This is one of my favorite and the only vexel art that i made using adobe illustrator and then edited it in photoshop.

On Chowder and Paisleys

Have you seen Chowder? Oh that cute stupid thing in Cartoon Network? Well, Chowder it the next cutest thing in TV. He is a squeezy toy inspired character who is an apprentice of a chef named Mung Daal. What I like about the show is the style of animation that they used. They used patterns on the characters' clothing or skin, when a character moves, their patterns do not follow, but display as a "static" background.

I also love how they used stop motion and puppets at the end of the show. Anyways, I made this character while practicing drawing in Flash. I used one type of brush and created variations of thickness by zooming in and out while drawing. I created the bold outlines first and then zoomed it to created dots and dashes for the details. The design is inspired by paisley patterns. I colored and textured it in photoshop using this amazing victorian textures [link], of course inspired by the show "Chowder". I named it "Ambao" coined by my sister's goddaughter, Mica, which means daga or mouse. (she is afraid of tiny fury creatures.) Click on the image for larger view.

Ambao the Paisley

First Strokes year 2

The Center for Performing and Visual Arts and the Gallery of the Peninsula and the Archipelago of Ateneo de Zamboanga University will be having its culminating activity for its Summer Art Classes which started last April 23, 2009. The event, dubbed as "First Strokes", will be held at the Gallery of the Peninsula and the Archipelago where the outputs of the students will be exhibited including drawings, sketches, oil paintings, watercolors and digital art. The program will be on May 16, 2009, 10 o'clock in the morning. Father President Antonio Moreno, S.J. will be there to give an inspirational message as well as the instructors including Mr. Rameer Tawasil, Ms. Jean Christine Cadano and I.

Here are some of the outputs of my digital art class:





Visit my Multiply Gallery for more of their works. [link]

P.S.:I want to extend my sincerest thanks to Ma'am Trish and Ma'am Eunice for giving me this great opportunity. Hope you'll come tomorrow!

America's Next Top Model Cycle 12 Winner is Teyona Anderson

It's official! Tenyona of Woodstown, New Jersey won the title as America's Next Top Model, while Allison Harvard and Aminat Ayinde became runners up, respectively. Teyona has been labelled as the girl with the "wind in the face" and was recognized for winning three straight weeks.

Making a Planet

Last tuesday, May 5, 2009, i gave my photoshop class an exercise on using the basic tools, effects and filters of photoshop. We made our own version of our planets with the guide of this wonderful tutorial by Greg Martin. Some made beautiful world of their own and some looked flat like a pizza. Afterwards, we also created a starfield with the help of this tutorial. If you want to create your own planet, just click on the link and follow the simple tutorial. Here are some of the outputs including mine.

My planet! Blue as usual!


Ira Jandel's Planet. Green!


by Keighley. Looks like mars eh!


Ayami's version of earth...

Visit my multiply site for more...

12 Principles of Animation

I want to share this slide that i used during my Flash seminar last April 27-30, 2009 at WMSU. Since my topic is about flash animation and interactivity, I started off with the 12 principles of animation. The 12 principles are a set of principles of animation introduced by the Disney animators Ollie Johnston and Frank Thomas in their 1981 book The Illusion of Life: Disney Animation. It is considered the 'bible of animation' because it can be applied in both traditional and digital animation.

Publish at Scribd

El Consejo Atenista

For 3 years, i have been part of the school's student publication, the Beacon Newsmag. Now that i'm in my last year as a student, i have decided to give my best in serving the school and my college. I ran last election as the El Consejo Atenista(ADZU student government)'s first CSIT governor. I know its a bigger responsibility serving both the whole student body and my college at the same time but I am trying my best now to cope up with it. As of now, I haven't established yet my own set of officers in the academic org but i hope sooner i will find the right people to be part of my team. For the next few weeks, i'll be busy organizing, planning and doing stuffs for the Consejo. Watch out for the OrSem and College Assembly this June! The best of luck to me and my fellow officers!