Presentation with Graph

I had a really difficult time with the graph in Illustrator.  I am very used to using Excel for graphing.  I think I might use Illustrator for a very broad overview, as I tried to do in the presentation.  But since I usually make very technical presentations, the graphing tool in Excel is much more powerful.

I made a few slides using information available on my company's website: www.ssloral.com

This slide shows the quantity of SS/L (Space Systems Loral) Satellite launches between 2005-2011.

This slide shows the orbit locations, relative to Earth, of all SS/L satellites launched.  This is one of my favorite Illustrations from my company (I did not create the image on this) and I think the person that did the artwork for this made this image very exciting and applicable to the company.

This shows what a sample slide would look like.

This blog post is in no way affiliated with Space Systems/Loral business or that of Loral Communications and only uses information found on the company website at www.ssloral.com

Lesson 6 Children's Illustration

I had a fun time with this assignment.  I used my pirate flag from Assignment #1 on the sail.

Left Side Spread

Right Side Spread.

Final Project: Society of Women Engineers (SWE) Brochure

I have made many brochures, fliers, and newsletters for both college and professional SWE sections.  The information for this yearly event isn't available yet, so I made up the date and the details; however, this can easily be filled in with the correct information later.  This was quite a challenge for me, as I would normally make brochures and other text heavy documents using InDesign, rather than Illustrator.

Brochure Outside

Brochure Inside

Lesson 10 Google Logo

I was very excited to make this Google logo.  I found the actual typeface that Google uses (Catull).  This logo is for National Pie Day, which is January 23.  I used the wood grain pattern from the background assignment to make the rolling pin.

Lesson 7 Icon Design

This 3D icon could be used on my art blog.  The letters are for my initials.  I had a really hard time getting the brushes to look how I wanted them.  I'm used to working with solid modeling software and this is just not the same and wasn't as intuitive to work with.

Assignment #4 Backgrounds

I'm ready for ski season so my backgrounds are ski and snow themed.
Blend Tool: I used a snowflake!

Artistic Effects: I used the sponge tool on both the background and the snowflake.

Background using text: I imagine this being used for a ski resort ad by adding the resort name and logo in the lower portion of the page.

Monocolor background:

Wood Grain Background:  This can also be used to color objects with a wood grain by adding it to the swatches.

Assignment #5: Wired Postcard

Landscape Assignment Part 2: Martis Valley at Dawn

Inspiration Photo

Landscape Assignment Part 1: Tokyo City Scape

I was inspired by a photo of the Tokyo Skyline.  My focus is on the Tokyo Tower.  I kept the lines of the background and foreground buildings at 90 degree angles in order to make the Tower stand out more.  The skyline of Tokyo often looks very flat because of the clouds, fog, and rain; especially during the winter.  I always enjoy seeing the bright red lights on the tower shining through the blue gray fog.

Illustrator Assignment #2- Animal Drawing

Next assignment was to draw another animal.  This time I drew a bird.

I based my drawing from the one below.

Illustrator Flag

I decided to practice some more with the blend tool.  The heart is a symbol and I found out that Illustrator would not let me replace the spine with an object that started out as a symbol or compound path.  I had to redraw the heart outline using the pen tool.  I'm not sure why the heart spacing doesn't look quite right; it may be because the shape is not symmetrical.

Assignment #1 Flag

The first assignment for Illustrator Advanced class: the European Union Flag.

Portrait Final

This is Ryan.  I chose a tilted head pose, instead of straight on.  This took an incredibly long time.  I tried to use some gradient mesh in the face, but it just wasn't turning out right.  I couldn't get it to look not splotchy, so I went with the regular gradient.  The colors were very challenging to work with since there are so many different flesh colors.  I also cut myself out of the original photo, so there was some guess work in some of the shapes.  Overall, I am happy with this.  This is definitely the most difficult illustration to date.

Movie Poster

I chose the movie up for my poster.  It was hard to beat the posters that Disney put out, but in typical Disney fashion, I think this poster creates interest and mystery as to what the movie could be about.

I took a shot from the movie of the man with his house and balloons and put text over it.  I tried to make it so the man was easily seen.  At first I had made the words progressively smaller, to give it perspective, but it was too difficult to read.

Logo Assignment

I made this logo for my friend, whose last name is Gearhart.  He may use it for his engineering consulting.  His daughters requested the pink and purple... but I also made him a black and white one.

I tried to made the heart logo 3D, but I kept getting a memory error.  So, I settled on just the letter being 3D.  I may give it another go and try some simpler shapes to make the graphic 3D.

Type Assigment

Once again, most of these effects are easier to do in InDesign, but it is good practice using Illustrator.  These were not difficult to do in Illustrator, so I would be comfortable using either program.

Calendar Icon

This was harder to make than I thought it would be.  I think it was because the instructions could be better.

Artist Assignment

This assignment was to choose an artist and create a work of art in their style and also include some of their art.  I chose Salvador Dali.  My work is meant to be a magazine spread, 4 pages.  The art on the front is not necessarily Dali's style, but uses his common colors and the theme of "photographed dreams".  Dali used a lot of blues, browns, and yellows and lots of gradients in his early surreal work.  I decided to highlight the areas opposite of the expected, to play on a surreal feel.  I found it much more difficult to use Illustrator for this instead of InDesign.  It would be best to create the art using Illustrator then place into InDesign to manipulate the text and overall layout.

"A true artist is not one who is inspired, but one who inspires others."

Lime and Coconut!

I have completed the coconut and limes.

Fruit Part 1

My next assignment is to create fruit.  Here is part 1: a whole lime and a sliced lime.
COMING SOON: COCONUT!

Typography Assignment

I decided to "draw" a tree using the parts of the tree.  I based it off an existing sketch, otherwise it would look like a blob.  It was easier than I thought it would be, but much harder than it looks.

Illustrator Assignment #3 Animal and Landscape

My next assignment is to put my animal from the last lesson (take a look at my lizard) and put it into a landscape.

I took inspiration from Ryan's photo from Death Valley.

Numbers Assignment

The numbers were more difficult to draw than they look.  The curves were pretty challenging to get to look just right and not like a first grader wrote them.  I should practice making them the same size; although, I suppose I can always just resize them instead.  They almost look better than my regular printing!  They are more legible, anyways.  I drew some of them with the track pad on my laptop and some of them using a mouse.  The trackpad seems easier to use, but I'm probably just more used to it.

Updated Lizard Drawing

Revised

This is the same lizard as before but I cleaned up the lines some.  I used an arc tool and joined paths to create the smooth lines in the tail and under belly.  It looks much more like a continuous line now, instead of a bunch of straight little sections.   I also changed the color of the background to darker so you can see the outline of the belly a little easier.

Original

Illustrator Assignment #1- Symbol Collage

The first assignment was a symbol collage.  This is the last collage I made. I used symbols built into Illustrator and also found the swirl at iheartvector.com.  I used the symbol sprayer for the hearts and grass.  I used the polar grid to make the spiral with snowflakes in the upper left corner.  The atom graphic is a symbol from illustrator, but behind it is a star on the end of a stick that I rotated and duplicated 360 degrees.  I had a hard time actually getting the color I wanted in swirl gradient at first, but I eventually figured it out.

This is the second collage I made:

I knew I wanted to have something pirate themed for my blog and art site, so this was a decent first attempt.  I couldn't find a free skull and cross bones symbol, so I made up my own logo for the flag. I used the symbol sprayer for the clouds and the paint brush for the waves on the boat.  Those could use some work.  The shark fin is an Illustrator symbol that is partially behind the water.

This is my first document in Illustrator.

The trees, flowers, grass, were all sprayed symbols.  The rocks I placed near the pond.  I made the pond using ellipses that I merged into one shape using the shape builder tool.  I placed the grass in the lower right in front of the pond and used the draw behind feature to make sure the grass and flowers were behind the pond, not floating in it.  The trees are a little out of proportion, but are ok for a first shot.  I edited the flowers in the symbol editor to make them much much smaller.  I didn't see any fish symbols I wanted to put in the pond (they all looked very tropical), so I put a shark instead.

 These were great practice.

Illustrator Assignment #2- Animal Drawing

I just finished my first Illustrator Drawing.  I'm going to clean up some of the lines tomorrow so they are smoother.  I'm posting this first go around now, so I can take a look at the before and after.

To do this, I used the sketch shown above. I outlined the main body and the legs for one layer.  I outlined the "underbody" portions of the body, tail, and neck.  Next I outlined the spots to put on their own layer.  Last, I outlined the eye.  I then used a fill color for each of the new layers and arranged the layers from front to back.