In this workshop, the second focusing on Illustrator, we
were taught how to cut down on the layers you require within a vector and also
how to create realistic looking gradients.
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| Artboard Setup |
Before starting our creations we needed to create a new
artboard within illustrator. In this instance it was to be print profile set at
A4 portrait with the colour on CMYK with the raster effects set to “High” or 300ppi.
This needs to be set to high as it varies and dictates how the software renders
certain blends, transparency and drop shadows, which in these example we want
it at its best. It is set to CMYK as to allow for printing, though the version
you will see displayed here will be at RGB values as to display the colour accurately
on screen.
Simplified Rocket
This part of the lesson involved using a mixture of tools
and effects including create a pattern option, the shape tool, the direct
selection tool and the standard selection tool. The aim of the techniques used
is to cut down on the amount of layers required within your layers window,
therefore creating a cleaner and easier workspace, especially useful for if you
were to create something similar but on a much more detailed or accurate level.
I like how using the path offset tool can allow for some precise yet agile
creations.
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| Finished rocket, while drop shadow is seen being applied. |
I found the workshop to be really useful and I plan on
creating a further experimental piece in my spare time on Illustrator using the
techniques that I have learnt today.
Realistic Grade Pear
Within this section of the lesson we were to learn the
techniques of mesh’s and how they can be used to create photorealistic vectors
through the use of more precise gradients. The technique is pretty simple once
you know how to do so, the most time consuming element to creating the pear
vector was manually inputting each colour into the anchor points. The main
tools we used for these techniques were the direct selection tool, eyedropper,
livetrace, clipping path and the mesh tool. Also to start off we did a brief Google search for pears, to use as a reference image to work from.
I found this interesting to know, as I didn’t realise there
was a way to get such photorealistic looking gradients within Illustrator.
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| Final Photorealistic Pear |
Credit to “DivsM-stock” on DeviantArt for the textured image
I used to create the speckled effect of the pear. Their work can be found in
the link below:
