Week 7

Assignment:

Digital illustration of two people on a beach setting.

Craft:

Process- I created this project in the Adobe Illustrator program using many different layers, tools and effects for each section of the illustration. There are four main sections of this illustration: sky, water, sand, and people. I used a different approach to complete each section of the illustration. I used brush strokes on the sky and the water, and I also used different effects on the water and the sand as well in order to give it a more realistic feel. The people were created mostly with different layers, in addition to using some brush strokes as well.

Technique- I was able to improve this draft of the illustration by adding different effects to the water to make it look like the sun was glistening off of the ocean. I also changed the sky from a simple gradient to several brush strokes to make it look like a mixture of sky and clouds above the water. I added a solid line between the water and the sky to distinguish the separation between these two sections of the illustration.

Composition:

I chose this photo because of its personal meaning to me. I chose to use the colors that I did because they all served to give this illustration more of a realistic appearance. From the bottom of the picture the sand is light and moves to a darker color to show where the waves come up on the sand and make it wet. I arranged the contents in this way because I wanted the two people to be the only ones in the scene looking out at the water, admiring it's beauty. The people are the focus of this illustration, and that is why I placed them in the middle of the image. I created two variations of this draft of the illustration because I was not sure how to effectively display the message of the "tranquility" of the beach. One version of the illustration shows the word written in the sand by the two people in the illustration, and the other version shows the word written in the clouds that the two people are looking out at.

Concept:
The overall message of this illustration is to show how tranquil the beach is. The two people are the focus of this illustration because the viewer is seeing how peaceful this scene is to the two people in the illustration. This is why there are not any other people on the beach, and that is why I chose to use the word tranquility in this illustration.

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LINCOLN ILLUSTRATION SUMMARY

Assignment:

To create a digital illustration of Abraham Lincoln.

Craft:

Process- I began this project by using the Adobe Illustrator program to begin creating the layers of Lincoln's jacket and face, starting with the layers that appeared to be towards the back of the photograph. I then continued to add layers on top of the previously created layers. I then added graphics to the background of the illustration, which include the waving American flag and the white house as well. I inserted a microphone into the image to show that Lincoln was giving a speech in this setting. I also added three signs towards the bottom of the illustration, to add to the concept of this piece.

Technique- At the beginning of this process I was easily able to delete or adjust the layers of the illustration that i was not completely satisfied with, without altering the other layers of the illustration. I used several different tools during the process of creating this illustration, such as the gradient tool for his eyes, the text tool for the words on the signs, and the paintbrush tool for Lincoln's hair and the American flag on the white house.

Composition:

I chose this photograph to use because I wanted to work with one that showed some of his body, rather than just his face. I added the images of the American flag and the white house in order to symbolize Lincoln's patriotism for his country. I decided to change the colors of his jacket to be different tones of blues and whites, in order to make Lincoln look more patriotic in the illustration. I decided to tone down the reds and blues in the American flag in the background to focus more of the attention onto Lincoln himself, rather than the background images. The white house was placed in the illustration to add to the patriotic effect of the image. The picketing sings were placed near the bottom of the illustration, to give an idea of where Lincoln was in this setting. I placed only the picketing signs, rather than adding the actual picketers as well because I wanted Lincoln to be the only person in this image.

Concept:

In this illustration Lincoln is giving a speech to the nation about freeing the slaves of our country. This is why the microphone and picketing signs were placed into the illustration. I wanted this speech to take place in front of the white house with the American flag in the background to display other aspects of Lincoln's patriotism. The overall message of this illustration is to display an image of a "patriotic Lincoln." All of the images and details of this piece add to this message of Lincoln's patriotism towards his country.