Illustrator to make hedgehog

Question

I would like to make a hedgehog using the gradient mesh tool, working from a photo of course.
I just wonder if anyone has any suggestions on how I should go about the quills. If anyone wants
to see what I mean, here is a general photo of a hedgehog.
http://www.thriftyfun.com/images/articles38/roxy300x263.jpg
Thanks!

Answer 1

tacotac,
I just wonder if anyone has any suggestions on how I should go about the quills.
You may use an Art Brush based upon a triangle, and you may create it in this way:
1) Create an equilateral triangle with the (quill) point to the right; the height should correspond to the thickness, the length should give roughly the right proportions;
2) Colour the triangle, preferably not symmetrically but with a slightly skew angle; you may use just two colours, but that will make it conspicuously striped, it is better to use a blend with a few step;
3) When the colours look right, create a number of Art Brushes with suitable names, for each click the New Brush button in the Brushes palette/panel and select Art Brush; you may either use Width 100% or Proportional (the former will give the same thickness and different proportions for different lengths, the latter will give proportional thicknesses);
4) Reflect the triangle horizontally and create a mirrored Art Brush;
5) You may create slightly different additional quill Art Brushes until you have all desired appearances covered;
6) Create short, slightly bent, paths with the different lengths of the quills and apply the quill brushes; you may bend them differently and in either direction, give them different lengths, and apply the different quill brushes, to get the right overall appearance.