SEB check out this tutorial, I think it’s exactly what you’re looking for.

http://vectortuts.com/illustration/create-a-sketchy-hand-drawn-camera-illustration-in-illustrator/

I chanced upon this site while searching for illustrator tutorials, thanks for the effort in putting up an awesome collections of good tutorials!!

I’m in particular looking for a tutorial that shows how to create a coloring effect like this http://img241.imageshack.us/my.php?image=96681000ym3.jpg but have been searching for 2 whole days fruitlessly. I’m not a design student and am clueless the right tech description for such effect, I’ll appreciate someone out there who knows can point me to the right direction.

I like the crayon, smudge, splatter, faded, spray style of coloring and want to learn how to do this digitally using illustrator if this is possible? If you know of a tutorial that teach this, please let me know. Thanks!!

I find that vectors this detailed tend to have a very large file size, too, and don’t run well in Illustrator. I guess if you’re using a program like InDesign to lay out a billboard or other large format ad, it wouldn’t be so taxing on the system, but then, large format requires lower resolution, so you wouldn’t need something that fine anyway. Heh, and you have a good point that if no one can tell the difference between photo and illustration, what’s the point of spending 50+ hours creating the illustration (probably from a photo anyway).

It would be interesting to hear from one of these artists on how/why clients request photo-realistic illustrations. Thanks for your point of view, too, Ryan!

I have never received any requests for ultra-realistic vectors and don’t really see the point other than showing off your skills. I guess you can say that the artwork is vector so it will scale better than a real photograph for printing purposes, but you can usually get quality photos in pretty high resolution for print anyways. It would be most cost effective to buy a hi-res photo then create one of these realistic vectors (at least for me, it would take to long to create the vector) especially if you are so good, no one could tell the difference.

Still, the artwork is interesting to look at from a Illustrator point of view.

Thanks for mentioning Esben’s article on Creative Curio, too!