Why I Still Trace By Hand | On the Spot
Magdiel is back to finish the split portrait he started last week. He printed the piece out, sketched flowers and shapes over it by hand, and now he has to build all of that for real.
The plan is a lot of pen tool work in Illustrator, tracing each shape off the sketch. From there he'll take them into Firefly Boards a few at a time, run them through a prompt he built for turning flat vectors into gradient renders with some depth to them, and bring the results back into Photoshop to mask, blend, and light.
Things he'll get into:
- Why he still traces by hand when Illustrator will auto-vector a sketch for you
Simplify and Smooth for cleaning up messy paths
- Building a square so your reference image and your export are the same shape
- Puppet warp for getting an asset to tuck behind something it wasn't drawn to fit
- Pulling shadow color from the darkest tone already in the image instead of using black
- Field Blur instead of Gaussian, so a shadow softens as it gets further from the object
- Duplicating a layer, warping it onto the face, and blacking it out to fake a cast shadow
Expect some tangents too. Client work, what corporations are actually paying for, and why a clear process matters more than a cool style.
Join the Adobe Live Discord: https://discord.gg/p48UBK3nX2
Magdiel is a Cuban-born Art Director, digital artist, and founder of inHaus Design and co-founder of Artists Uprising. Through his studios, he helps brands around the world create compelling visual identities, campaigns, and immersive art-driven experiences across both digital and physical spaces. Known for blending bold storytelling with innovative design workflows, Magdiel works across branding, campaign key art, environmental design, and creative direction for global companies in technology, entertainment, hospitality, and culture. Through Artists Uprising, he also collaborates with artists and brands to bring meaningful art into commercial spaces, helping transform environments through creativity, storytelling, and human connection. Passionate about the future of design, Magdiel regularly shares insights on creativity, emerging technologies, and innovative visual workflows with creative communities and teams around the world: https://www.instagram.com/magdiellop | https://www.behance.net/magdiellopez | www.magdiellopez.com www.inhaus.design
Subscribe to the Adobe Live YT Channel: https://bit.ly/adobeliveyoutube
Try out Adobe Express NOW: https://adobe.ly/tryAdobeExpress
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Join us LIVE on Behance: https://www.behance.net/adobelive
Music by Chillhop Music: https://chillhop.ffm.to/creatorcred
00:00 Start
02:27 Last week’s poster
05:05 sketch
24:34 Pen tool
27:09 Vector - 3D
34:00 Firefly
38:00 back to photoshop
44:55 new prompt in boards
The plan is a lot of pen tool work in Illustrator, tracing each shape off the sketch. From there he'll take them into Firefly Boards a few at a time, run them through a prompt he built for turning flat vectors into gradient renders with some depth to them, and bring the results back into Photoshop to mask, blend, and light.
Things he'll get into:
- Why he still traces by hand when Illustrator will auto-vector a sketch for you
Simplify and Smooth for cleaning up messy paths
- Building a square so your reference image and your export are the same shape
- Puppet warp for getting an asset to tuck behind something it wasn't drawn to fit
- Pulling shadow color from the darkest tone already in the image instead of using black
- Field Blur instead of Gaussian, so a shadow softens as it gets further from the object
- Duplicating a layer, warping it onto the face, and blacking it out to fake a cast shadow
Expect some tangents too. Client work, what corporations are actually paying for, and why a clear process matters more than a cool style.
Join the Adobe Live Discord: https://discord.gg/p48UBK3nX2
Magdiel is a Cuban-born Art Director, digital artist, and founder of inHaus Design and co-founder of Artists Uprising. Through his studios, he helps brands around the world create compelling visual identities, campaigns, and immersive art-driven experiences across both digital and physical spaces. Known for blending bold storytelling with innovative design workflows, Magdiel works across branding, campaign key art, environmental design, and creative direction for global companies in technology, entertainment, hospitality, and culture. Through Artists Uprising, he also collaborates with artists and brands to bring meaningful art into commercial spaces, helping transform environments through creativity, storytelling, and human connection. Passionate about the future of design, Magdiel regularly shares insights on creativity, emerging technologies, and innovative visual workflows with creative communities and teams around the world: https://www.instagram.com/magdiellop | https://www.behance.net/magdiellopez | www.magdiellopez.com www.inhaus.design
Subscribe to the Adobe Live YT Channel: https://bit.ly/adobeliveyoutube
Try out Adobe Express NOW: https://adobe.ly/tryAdobeExpress
-----
Join us LIVE on Behance: https://www.behance.net/adobelive
Music by Chillhop Music: https://chillhop.ffm.to/creatorcred
00:00 Start
02:27 Last week’s poster
05:05 sketch
24:34 Pen tool
27:09 Vector - 3D
34:00 Firefly
38:00 back to photoshop
44:55 new prompt in boards