stubbles:It's pretty simple, guys. You can't have a "similar" workflow - this is the ONLY workflow. You build images using the shapes you are given, it's that simple.
Working on my own design, I do it slightly different from Oni. I "subtract" or "carve" rather than add.
For example: I'm making an Afro Samurai themed car, and I have a huge Afro Samurai graphic on the front of my car. He currently consiststs of over 500 layers with each of the headband strands at about 200. What I do is: first lay out the mold or "clay" and then use really small pieces to carve out a shape from the original "block" of clay.
This method allows for very fine detail, but it's painstakingly tiresome. While it's technically "adding" (because I need to add a layer that "hides" the layer below) I still think of it as carving.
I've spent upwards of 15 hours on the face, and about 3 hours on the first of two headbands. When all is said and done, I think Afro and his headbands will take about 25 hours. The rest of the car will probably take another 10-15.
Oni's method and his tutorials are excellent. I just wanted to point out that there is definitely at least one other way to do it that allows such detail.
Much respect on Oni's 300 car. Definitely among my top 2 or 3 so far.
I hope to be finished by this weekend, and I may do a tutorial of my own just to show the alternate method. What I'm most interested in now is perfect curved lines. I currently use the kidney shape and the swoosh shape with a ton of skew and resizing. While it definitely works, it's part of the reason my method takes so long. To get equal thickness lines, I have to piece them together in very tiny sections.
- ben