If you look at my header, you'll see that the fairy is a handdrawn sketch that I scanned in and slapped some Paint Shop effects on.

The fairy at the top of this post is a completely computer-drawn vector image! I spent a few good hours learning the basics of Adobe Illustrator and coming up with this fairy illustration.

Click to enlarge.

1. Here you can see what I started out with-- some basic "flow lines" and shapes to guide me. These got erased as I continued working. 
2. In this second shot, you can start to see the buildup of shapes that replaced the line drawing. Notice how much different the head shape is-- I had to fix each line and curve! Behind the head are some squiggly lines that, when shrunk, became curls.
3. We're getting somewhere, finally! I built up the main body shape and turned everything black. I added more detail and fixed the wing shape.
4. The original silhouette. Notie the curls, book, feather, and FEET. Oh my, drawing feet on the computer is just as hard as drawing feet in real life. I shall never be able to escape the terribleness of drawing feet. :( The feather was very easy-- I just took the feather I built for my Masquerade Graphic and edited it a bit.
5. Mom said that the fairy's bottom looked big... lol... so I changed the skirt's flow. Voila!