Project #2 Objective: Complete a set of drawn studies of a simplified object using traditional drawing tools followed by vector production tools. Create a final study of 3 abstracted views of your object on a single page or composition.
Project 2, Part B… okay, this is where it gets good! This is what I came to do! My first crack at Illustrator, or any vector graphics program for that matter. My closest interaction with this type of software, was back in the day when I was singing with a band, and we decided to put out a CD. That was my first fun with logo design, and I got to be the backseat driver for the graphic designer we hired to ‘pretty up’ the insert and get it printer ready. I’m sure he loved it ~ “hmm, that’s a nice idea, but, um – no… okay, slide that over there… no, more purple and make it gradient… oOoh, and marbly!… hey, what does that do?”… yeah, good times…
I diligently watched the tutorials, getting more and more excited about the possibilities. Ideas were flowing out of my head on how it could be incorporated as an invaluable, production multiplying, time saving tool! I couldn’t wait to download the application!!!… All set up, I started with what seemed to be the easiest image to trace, placed it on the artboard, cut the opacity so I wouldn’t confuse the new black traced lines with the original image, locked the layer and opened a new layer to get started. Hmmm… where do I start? Elliptical tool, line tool, pen tool… *!@#!!!… CMD+Z, CMD+Z, CMD+Z… okay, we’ll go back to that later… fill… polygon tool… pen tool… anchor points… handle… Why isn’t this working???… This doesn’t make sense!!! Maaaarrrrk (that’s my husband)… look at what this crazy thing is doing, have you ever seen anything so ridiculous? (rant, rant, rant)… I mean, you would think for the actual price of this software it would be functional! (he sits down, click, click, click) “Is that what you were trying to select?” Okay, psh… well, YOU didn’t watch the tutorials, so they must have confused me somehow from the obvious common sensical approach you just mustered there, whatever… okay, fine, I can do this… I CAN’T DO THIS!!! What was I thinking?… Going back to school… and don’t even get me started on how to make a living as an artist!… Suddenly, I imagine Tom Hanks in a baseball cap yelling, “There’s no crying in Illustrator!!!” No time for tears, project is due tomorrow… push through the pain… After, a few more hours & just past pumpkin time, I collapsed into bed feeling completely defeated from my first and most simplified image.
I did not get a lot of sleep. In fact, I tossed and turned most of the night. The next morning, and for some unexplained reason, the image of Richard Simmon’s face danced around in my mind, while he beamed, “Come on, Honey!!! Hop out of bed and get this day started!!!” I moaned. Then something snapped and a determination swept over me to figure this out. I got dressed, dropped the kids off at school, poured my coffee (THAT”S a given!), grabbed a CD of Celine Dion to have at the ready… yeah, the FRENCH Album… Okay, let’s DO this!!!
It wasn’t pretty at first, but time was of the essence, and I needed to get creative to get the effects I wanted. I’m not proud of it, but I became one with the blob brush and the warp tool. I still manipulated the paths and formed a few compound shapes, but I focused on cleaning up the lines and maintaining the integrity of the original images.
Save… Attach… POST… done!
Fitztopia 