On the left is the original photograph. On the right is my digital illustration.
I was asked to create a photo-realistic digital illustration of a timepiece from scratch, using only Adobe Illustrator.
I started with basic shapes (red rectangles, orange squares) and by adding gradients and more detail, I was able to simulate a photo-realistic-looking image.
You can see a comparison of the original photo image and my illustration below. More details about my process can be found here: http://vectorpaths.com/never-settle-always-subtle/
Digital illustration with all individual layer paths visible.