All Topics Pricing Sign In Free AccountFind tutorials, courses, and more... Free Tutorials Courses eBooks

Advertisement

Design & Illustration Expert HelpCategories Learning Guides New!

Advertisement

ILLUSTRATION

How to Create aGeometric, WPAP VectorPortrait in AdobeIllustratorby Wedha Abdul Rasyid 17 Sep 2013 113 Comments English

363 128 63

Advertisement

Suggested Tuts+ Course

Related Tutorials

Tuts+ has the honor to present to you a vector tutorial from a true legend, Wedha Abdul

Rasyid.

Wedha, originally from Indonesia, created his art work in traditional mediums early in

the 1990s, which later in early 2000, crossed over into the digital world. Vector being

the natural choice for such a colorful, geometric style.

Since then, it has gained major popularity in Indonesia, with several communities

dedicated to the creation and showcasing of portraits in a WPAP style, with members

in their thousands! With the resurgence of the geometric trend, it's fair to say that

WPAP may venture out of Indonesia and into more aspects of design.

The following is a tutorial on how to create a WPAP (Wedha's Pop Art Portrait) portrait

in Adobe Illustrator, by the WPAP master himself!

1. An Introduction to the WPAP Process

WPAP's main goal is to represent the faces that are already familiar to us, with a new

and different style, but it still must be easily recognizable. Different in a sense of being

more unique, more dynamic, more striking and of course, more visually pleasing to see,

I hope.

With that in mind, the WPAP creative process is based on two main processes; the

Difficulty:

Intermediate

Length:

Long

Categories:

Illustration Art Vector Geometric

Retro Graphic Design Adobe Illustrator

Global Influences

Translations:

PусскийBahasa Indonesia

Tuts+ tutorials are translated into other languages

by our community members—you can be involved

too!

Translate this post

Translations powered by

Download Attachment

About Wedha Abdul Rasyid

Creator of Wedha's Pop Art Portraits,

Native Indonesian Pop Art

Creative Vector Hair $15

Design a Hipster BarbershopFacebook Cover in CorelDRAW

Design & Illustration

How to Paint a Spring Lady FloralPortrait in Adobe Photoshop

Jobs

faceting process and the coloring process. I do these two processes simultaneously

when creating a new portrait.

The Faceting ProcessIn the faceting process, by tracing the image, I divide the human face into facets. Every

facet (plane) is formed based on the different degrees of dark and bright areas seen on

the original photo. Every facet is formed by straight lines, instead of curved lines. This is

because facets that are formed by straight lines will appear stronger than a facet

formed by curved lines.

Before we start the process, we should begin to see and assume the face of a human

being as a shape that consists of many flat surfaces on a sphere, just like the ball in the

below image. This is how best to describe the faceting process.

The Coloring ProcessIn coloring, to show something stronger, I only use flat colors, instead of a gradual

colors. Although the colors look as if they collide with each other, effort should be made

to make it look three-dimensional.

Creative experts will classify colors in groups. You have groups of hot colors, warm

colors, cold colors. Think of them in terms of dark and light colors, ignoring the actual

hue. Think more of colors in highlights, mid-tones and shadow. The differences in these

groups make it possible for us to make a dimensional composition. No matter what

color you choose, as long as you pick it from the right group, the result should work well

in this format. Therefore it is important to experiment with color.

2. Prepare Your Document

Step 1The faceting process is based on photo tracing. So the photo selection is important

because a good photo in quality, image sharpness, lighting and resolution, will help you

to create a good final rendering of a WPAP piece.

Aim for a photo that has even lighting and does not hit extremes, either in light or

shadow. Also make sure that the image is sharp and in focus. For this tutorial I'm going

to be creating a portrait of my beloved Grand Daughter, Ola.

Design & Illustration

Make a Trendy Double ExposureEffect in Adobe Photoshop

Design & Illustration

Support Staff

at Artbees in İstanbul, Turkey

Front-End WordPress Developer

at ThemeIsle in Bucharest, Romania

Step 2Open Adobe Illustrator and create a New document (File > New). Set the size and

other settings as shown below.

Step 3Go to File > Place and locate your reference image and place it on your artboard.

Lock the layer the photo is contained in and then Create New Layer above the photo.

This is where you'll be drawing your faceted shapes.

3. Create Your First Shapes

Step 1I usually start the tracing process by selecting an area with a definite boundary between

the dark and bright areas. This is so I can easily do the tracing. And the smallest part

usually becomes my first choice. In this case, the eyes and the surrounding areas.

Using the Rectangle Tool (M), I trace the highlight in the iris, that still seems vague in

the photo. This shape has a fill with no stroke. All shapes created will be in this style.

Step 2In the original photograph, the iris, purple and eyelid edges have a dark color and it's

clear to where you can define the edges of this shape. I will trace this section, this time I

will use the Pen Tool (P).

Step 3Of course, the highlight you've drawn in the first step will now be hidden by the new

layer. To make it visible, while the iris and eyelid still active, you will need to rearrange

your shapes by going to Object > Arrange > Send to Back. At this stage, the "white"

of the eye has a clear edge, so you can go ahead and create this shape to complete

the eye. As easy as this is, it's about to get more difficult.

4. Create More Complex Shapes

Step 1We will now trace the closest area next to the previous objects. Unfortunately, we have

here no vivid and clear boundary between the dark and bright area. This makes it more

difficult in creating the shapes for the portrait.

Facing such a case, intuitively, you have to be confident enough to determine the

boundary for the shape. A solid grasp of the human face and a good image to work

from can help a great deal here.

Create your straight edged shape along the corner of the eyelid, making sure you

overlap the shapes for the eye so it doesn't leave any gaps between the shapes. Then

as before, rearrange the shapes by going to Object > Arrange > Send to Back.

Step 2We come to the same problem for the next shape; no visible boundary for the shape.

Again, with confidence you will need to create the shape. Notice how I've created a not-

so-square shape and distorted the shape so it shows the darker shadow cast from the

eyelashes. You will find similar shapes throughout which use this same method.

Step 3This is a problem you will come across over and over again. It may be a boring and

tedious process, however it is the only way to create a proper WPAP composition. You

may think of using Posterizing or Live Trace, but no, I don't use those facilities as they

do not create the same style.

Step 4We are still going to find the unclear and even invisible boundaries for each potential

shape. The best way to overcome this problem is through the experience of repeatedly

creating artwork in this style.

The process is duplicated throughout:

Draw the shape with the Pen Tool (P) using only straight lines.

Fill with the appropriate color given it's exposure to light.

Select the shape and rearrange it by going to Object > Arrange > Send to

Back.

All portraits will use a different series of shapes, so I can only show you the shapes I've

drawn for Ola's portrait. I start by drawing further shapes around the eye area.

Step 5Then I work on the shapes for the other eye and nose. I then connect these areas with

shapes and add white shapes for areas under extreme light.

Step 6I use larger shapes in the less detailed areas, such as the cheeks and neck.

Step 7The hair starts with thinner, parallel sided shapes on diagonals. Remember to avoid

using curves at all costs.

As you can see, I love to make facets with vertical or horizontal sides. This will

strengthen the overall composition and style. My priority is always facial resemblance,

this is the most important element of the portrait.

5. Play with Color

After going through several revisions, this is my final artwork. Choosing the right color is

the most difficult part in the process of WPAP. This can be a hard element to grasp

when working with the style as a beginner.

Step 1If you're starting out, it will be easier if you paint it from the beginning with the grayscale

tones, as you can clearly see which areas use dark and bright shapes. From there, you

can build up the number of colors you introduce to the process, however it's not until you

use a full color spectrum that you'll create a more striking portrait.

Advertisement

Step 2We can try to play with colors to create a different aesthetic. Try using Illustrator's

Recolor Artwork feature to experiment with different combinations of colors.

Awesome Work, Wedha!

We'd like to thank Wedha for his wonderful tutorial and insight into his unique style of

rendering portraits. He's a great example of how a great traditional style of art can

cross over perfectly to vector and have such an impact in our respective vector

communities. We're left inspired!

Have you created a portrait in this style? If so, please share with us your

creation!

19,725 Tutorials 546 Video Courses

Advertisement

Teaching skills to millions worldwide.

Custom digital services like logo

design, WordPress installation, video

production and more.

Check out Envato Studio

Choose from over 5 million royalty-

free photos and images priced from

$1. No subscription required.

Browse Photos on PhotoDune

Follow Us

Help and Support

FAQ

Terms of Use

Contact Support

About Tuts+

Advertise

Teach at Tuts+

Translate for Tuts+

Meetups

Email Newsletters

Get Tuts+ updates, news, surveys &

offers.

Email Address

Subscribe

Privacy Policy

© 2015 Envato Pty Ltd. Trademarks and brands are the property of their respective owners.