Vector Art - How to Spot Terrible Artists

Sup fools. Vectoring is fake art. I like doing vectoring. It's the only method I am capable of using to draw ponies for myself and others. Vectoring is tough to get right unless you do it a LOT, but even then making quality vectors is about the tools and methods you use rather than how familiar you are with it. As opposed to real art where you can draw amazing shit with just a pencil. So today I'm going to show you the few ways you can tell that a vector image is absolute shit. Here's my example: Looks decent, right? It looks fine at first glance. I uploaded this probably about an hour ago. It's an absolutely abhorrent vector that I did years ago. I'm going to point out the things that are shit about the image. Incorrect Layering This is an example of one of the layers not being set properly. In this example, the layer of the outline of the eye is above the layer for the nose. This causes the eye to appear above the nose, which is a big no-no. Usually issues like these are easy to work around, because objects that are behind the other in a 3d projection of the 2d plane will have their layers appear beneath the others. However, any vector artist can miss an issue like this simply because they do not do proper quality control after the fact. This area is also an example of our second issue: Rasterized layers If you don't know the difference between rasterized and vector - go to google. I'm not explaining it here. This is an example where the artist took a rasterized image, and used the paint bucket tool to change the colour it is. This leaves a faint outline of the changed colour that is still the original colour's hue. The higher the resolution of the image, the smaller this outline is. This makes it really hard to notice in high resolution images, but it'll always still be there. The other issue with rasterized images is the aliasing that happens on the edges of the strokes because it's not a vectored shape. Spotting these can be hard because each graphics program will handle aliasing differently - but it's pretty obvious here that the nose hole shape is actually rasterized then recoloured. Use of Raster Brush Tool Now, this is particularly pathetic. The use of the brush tool to repair the ends and edges of an image. Not ignoring the fact that this fix shouldn't have to be done in the first place (if done properly, the pen tool creates the ends of strokes itself and requires no manual input). A vector image should have no rasterized layers in it. Period. Unnecessary. You can apply gradients to vector objects in Photoshop. Variable Stroke Widths When you're making a vector, you have two choices when using the pen tool. You have the choice between making shapes, and making lines. When you make lines, you choose the width of the line and it stays uniform throughout. However, you do not choose what the points of the angles look like. Like on the ends of hair - the little V shape that it makes is done for you. You have no control over what it looks like other than changing the angle to get as close to what you want it to be. On the other hand, shapes allow you to create a polygon with an infinite number of edges that you can use to create the strokes of the characters with a more personal touch. However, making the lines uniform width is much harder using this method. It gives you a greater amount of control over the lines themselves - but you will never make as uniform a line as the computer can. This picture is an example of the user using the pen tool with shapes instead of using it with lines. These kinds of errors are very easy to spot - and are the sign of a shitty vector artist. Improper Placement of Shapes When you are forced to use shapes instead of lines for specific elements of the character, you need to make sure they're placed correctly so that there aren't spaces. In this example, the first eyelash is placed too high, and it doesn't hide the square end of the eye outline. Rookie mistake. The fix is obvious. Improper Stroke Ends People who look very closely at official art for MLP will be able to notice that this is no bueno. It has a null end, is not proportioned right, and is not the right shape for the kind of stroke that is being made. This is the result of using shapes instead of lines to draw the character. 2 For 1 This image has 2 issues. The first is the obvious rasterized outline from the quill. It's probably content the 'artist' has copied from another source, pasted in, and recoloured. The second is the improper stroke end at the bottom of the chin Resized Vector Shape without Maintaining Proportions You know how when you throw a midget into a pneumatic press, it gets really thin and expands along its other axis? No? Well... don't worry about how I know that. So anyways, this is an example of the 'artist' resizing a shape on a single edge. In this particular case, it's the top edge. The 'artist' has flattened the shape from the top to give it the impression of being thinner. However, since they are resizing the whole shape, the size of the strokes and the proportions of the hair ends betray that it was a hasty edit to try and look 'original'. Absolutely pathetic. Anyways, here's the image again with all the issues I've mentioned circled in red. Pathetic.