Illustrator Resources


 

  1. Week 1
  2. Week 2
  3. Week 3
  4. Week 4
  5. Week 5
  6. Week 6
  7. Week 7
  8. Week 8
  9. Week 9
  10. Week 10
  11. Freebies!
  12. Buying Illustrator

 

Week 1

 

Topics covered this week include: 

 

 

Lab 1

 

Title: Building an online portfolio

 

Introduction: This assignment will allow you to set up an online portfolio that you will use to submit your assignments this quarter. In the long-term, your portfolio will serve as a repository for your best work to show potential employers.

 

Tasks: Go to coroflot.com and sign up for a free online portfolio. In the Edit Profile section, specify your Personal URL and submit this name to your instructor. Fill in all personal information in this section. Specify additional information as "Print."  In the Overview section, talk a little bit about what you currently do and what you are aspiring to do in the future. Keep it short and sweet. Have a close friend or family member proof your portfolio for proper spelling, grammar and punctuation.

 

While building your portfolio you will be working in the following parts of Coroflot:

 

 

Your homework for Lab 2 must be uploaded into the VC100-Week 1 set (folder) by next week.

 

Due Date: Next week.

 

 

Lab 2

 

Title: Illustrated Wall-E

 

Introduction: This assignment will help you to apply the basic Illustrator drawing fundamentals as discussed in lab. These include: basic shape construction, copy and pasting, anchor point manipulation, basic transformations (moving, scaling, and rotation), geometry stacking and stroke and fill color manipulation.

 

Tasks: Your assignment is to trace the front view of the iconic Pixar character Wall-E using the file linked here. In this file I have provided a base image from which you will construct your illustration. When it is time to save this image to view on the Internet you should turn the bottom layer (the one containing the picture of Wall-E) off by clicking on the eye-ball to the left of the layer name in the Layer Palette (F7). I have provided addition research imagery here for you to get some additional information about what this character looks like. NOTE: You will not be drawing the arms in the same position as they are in the base image as they are depicted three-dimensionally instead of two-dimensionally. Look at the research images to get a sense of what the arms would look like at Wall-E's side or held upright. The ability to interpret a 3D image and convert it to a 2D image (or vice versa) is a very important skill that all artists and designers must develop. I have already drawn the eye-mount portion of Wall-E's head as this is a shape that is not possible to construction from simple geometric shapes. I used the Pen Tool to draw this shape (which we will learn how to use in a few weeks). As this will be an illustration, your version of Wall-E will look more cartoony than realistic (as depicted below).

 

NOTE: By the end of the week I will have a rendition of Wall-E constructed in Illustrator for you to look at.

 

Requirements: This illustration will be constructed from BASIC GEOMETRIC SHAPES AND LINES as discussed in class this week. While the use of the Pen Tool is permitted, you can only use it for constructing shapes comprised of straight lines. Early in your education it is imperative to understand that all artists and designers must learn to work within constraints. Planning what tools you are going to use is very important when using digital imaging software. As you can see, most of this drawing can be completed from overlapping rectangles, rounded-corner rectangles, shapes comprised of straight lines and circles. This planning (or lack thereof) will prove to be the most challenging part of this assignment.

 

I have compiled some helpful tips below to aid in the construction of Wall-E:

 

 

Extra Credit: Some ideas for extra credit include: drawing his arms in 3D (as depicted in the image above), adding in landscape and scenery, drawing Eva besides Wall-E.

 

Saving: When your robot is complete save your Illustrator file (File > Save) as well as a .JPG (File > Save For Web and Devices). You should then upload your .JPG version of your robot to your Coroflot portfolio as demonstrated in class. As a general rule you should be saving your Illustrator file every 15 minutes (don't write over the previous version, but append the file name with an incremented letter or number e.g. robot1, robot2, robot3... etc.). Be sure to make a backup copy of all your work. DO NOT SAVE YOUR ONLY COPY OF YOUR WORK ON THE SCHOOL COMPUTER AS THESE PROFILES WILL BE PERIODICALLY DELETED TO IMPROVE SYSTEM PERFORMANCE AND TO REIMAGE OUR LAB. THIS MAY HAPPEN WITHOUT WARNING.

 

NOTE: If you are struggling with this assignment contact a classmate and ask them if they have some time to sit down and help you. Don't have them do the assignment for you! It is always best to have classmates help you first as they will be your lifeline throughout your education. Additional tutoring can be obtained by contacting my lab assistant. You instructor is available to help you if you have exhausted the first two resources.

 

Important hotkeys for this week:

 

 

Featured student work:

 

 

Basic Drawing resources:

 

Week 2

 

Topics covered this week include: 

 

 

Lab 1

 

Title: Foundations of a Monopoly board

 

Introduction: This assignment will help you learn precision drawing and transformation techniques with a basic introduction to using type in Illustrator. The symbols (e.g. chest, faucet, train etc.) will be added during another week. Other things not drawn this week include: the pieces, the community chest and chance cards (though you will draw the spot for these cards) and the dice. As precision drawing and transforming is the theme of this project AT NO TIME SHOULD YOU EVER BE EYEBALLING THE SIZE OR PLACEMENT OF AN ELEMENT OF THIS PROJECT! A little arrow key nudging is permissible for locating type objects as type doesn't work well with snapping using Smart Guides.

 

Tasks:

PLEASE NOTE: This Monopoly board image is not a top quality image. Your property boxes will not line up with the original image. You should notice that the property boxes deviate from the original around the 'INCOME TAX' property rectangle. This is ok! You have likely not made any mistakes.

 

 

Next week, you'll have the opportunity to construct the symbols on the board.

 

Important hotkeys for this week:

 

 

Featured student work:

 

 

 

Week 3

 

Topics covered this week include: 

 

 

Lab 1

 

Title: Drawing pictograms

 

Introduction: A pictogram is a symbol representing a concept, object, activity, place or event by illustration. You will be using your knowledge of the Pathfinder to recreate (as accurately as possible) EIGHTEEN of the pictographs show below.

 

NOTE: Some of the pictograms below are FAR more difficult to draw than others. The ones with the water and organic shapes (gas pump hose) are going to be your more difficult ones. Challenge yourself.

 

 

 

Tasks: Learning how to draw compound shapes is often a very experimental process. You should spend considerable time experimenting with the affects of the adding, subtracting and intersecting geometric shapes with the Pathfinder Palette. A basic tutorial for the Pathfinder Palette can be found at http://www.vectorials.com/tutorials/Adobe-Illustrator-the-Pathfinder-Palette-65671.html.

 

Your limitations are as follows:

 

 

Presentation: At the conclusion of this assignment, all nine of these objects will be scaled down to like sizes and organized in 3 rows and 3 columns on an 8.5" x 11" page. As always, upload your image to Corflot.

 

Extra Credit Lab:

 

This week's extra credit is to develop new symbols that are stylistically similar. Each symbol should be the same size. Try to simplify the symbol as much as possible.

 

Office symbols:

 

 

Pathfinder resources:

 

 

Due Date: Next week.

 

Important hotkeys for this week:

 

 

Featured student work:

 

Week 4

 

Topics covered this week include: 

 

 

Lab 1 (do not submit to coroflot)

 

Title: Pen tool fundamentals

 

Introduction: Using the Pen Tool effectively requires mastering a few basic techniques that, when chained together, allow you to create the most intricate of shapes. This tutorial will allow you to master these fundamental concepts for Pen Tool shape (path) construction.

 

Tasks: Go to http://vector.tutsplus.com/tools-tips/illustrators-pen-tool-the-comprehensive-guide/ and scroll to the bottom of the page (but above the comments). Here you will find a link to a file called Pen Tool Exercises. Download this file and open it in Illustrator. Your assignment is to use the Pen Tool to construct the word "VECTOR" use the step-by-step instructions of the tutorial. The following symbols are used in the tutorial:

 

 

It is not necessary to label your final construction. Upload the completed project to Coroflot.

 

 

 

Lab 2

 

Title: Logos

 

Introduction: This assignment will help you learn basic Pen Tool mastery through the tracing of logos for fictitious fantasy football teams as seen below. It is strongly recommended that you read the Illustrator packet entitled Drawing Paths before proceeding with this assignment. The Pen Tool is, by far, the most complicated (and frustrating to learn) feature of Illustrator. I also recommend the PDF reference I provided in the Pen Tool Resources section at the end of this week.

 

This week you are tasked with tracing six of the nine silhouettes for the fantasy football teams shown below. Each path should be as accurately as possible with the FEWEST number of anchor points. By silhouettes I'm referring to the white boundary line surrounding each logo (the red line in the case of the ram and the blue line in the case of the polar bear). You are encouraged to draw all nine silhouettes. Next week we will fill in the interior details and add color. 

 

 

 

 

Tasks:

 

 

Pen Tool Resources:

 

 

Important hotkeys for this week:

 

 

Featured student work:

 

 

Week 5

 

Topics covered this week include: 

 

 

Lab 1

 

 

Title: Logos

 

Duration: 2 weeks

 

Introduction: This week you will be completing the logos you outlined last week. All interior shapes will be created and eyedropped with their appropriate color. It is recommended that you complete all nine logos.

 

Tasks: This week is pretty straight forward as you will be drawing the interior features of each logo by stacking shapes on top of shapes. It is recommended that you use Object > Path > Offset Path to duplicate the silhouettes for each logo (use a negative offset value to offset inward). This will help maintain a uniform distance around the shapes. You can still add in or remove extra detail after you offset the path. NOTE: If you have reflect a symmetrical shape you will have to join BOTH sets of anchors before you offset path as it will produce undesirable results if you don't.

 

One thing you want to avoid is drawing one shape on top of another while tracing along a shared edge. By doing this, you will get uncomfortable overlaps. A better way to do this is with the divide pathfinder (bottom left tool in the pathfinder palette). For example, let’s take a look at the polar bear. Notice how the white and blue interior shapes rest on top of the black silhouette of the polar bear. If you draw the white shape on top of the blue shape or the blue shape on top of the white shape you will find that the shared edges between the white and blue shapes don’t properly align.

 

 

 

Instead, after you track the third silhouette from the outside (the one that follows the contours of the mouth), draw the pink path as seen below. 

 

 

 

 

Next, create a dissecting line by drawing the pink path that appears below. Notice that the path you are drawing shares a border between both the white shape and the blue shape. You must extend the current path you are drawing outside of the shape you created in the previous step.

 

 

 

 

Next, select both the pink path and the orange path. Press the divide pathfinder icon and the lines extending outside of the orange shape will disappear.

 

 

 

 

You can now use the Group Selection tool (under the Direct Select tool) and fill the two new shapes in separately. As you can see, both shapes now share a common edge like two pieces of a jigsaw fitting together.

 

 

 

 

NOTE: The other place you should use this technique is on the white highlights on each of the horns of the ram.

 

 

Lab 2 - Extra Credit

 

Title: Fantasy football logo creation

 

Duration: 1 week

 

Introduction: As an extension to the fantasy football tracing exercise you are to create your own logo for a ficticious fantasy football team based on the animal of your choosing.

 

Steps:

 

  1. Identify an animal.
  2. Select a view. Some animals will be more recognizable for the front while others will be more recognizable from the profile (side). For example, a rhino will be more recognizable from the side while a guinea pig will be more recognizable from the front.
  3. Use google or bing image search to find a strong image from the view you have selected. 
  4. Print that image out on the color printer.
  5. Use a pencil to delinate areas of color or value change.
  6. Use the scanner to scan the sketch. Save the sketch as a .JPG using the scanning software.
  7. Copy and paste or File > Place the image into Illustrator.
  8. Trace the sketched areas using the pen tool. Select a color palette eye-dropped from the imported image and apply to the final illustration. If the logo is symmetrical using the Reflect Tool to create the mirror image (as discussed in class). 

 

 

Credit to Tracey Bowen.

 

Lab 3 - Extra Credit

 

Title: Combination marks

 

Duration: 1 week

 

Introduction: Logos comprised strictly of type, or logos that combine type and symbols (combination marks) are common in logo design. Furthermore, there is not always a typeface appropriate for the tone of a logo, or you might need to trace a logotype from a sketch. This makes it necessary to be able to trace letterforms using the Pen Tool.

 

Tasks: Trace the Sunoco logo shown below. A few things to keep in mind as you draw:

 

 

 

Logo resources:

 

 

Important hotkeys for this week:

 

 

Featured student work:

 

 

Week 6

 

Topics covered this week include: 

 

 

Lab 1

 

Title: Fashion illustration

 

Duration: 2 weeks

 

Introduction:  The ability of visual designers to illustrate people is important for a variety of reasons, namely: storyboarding and original artwork for advertisement. Reference material for fashion illustration can be taken from: scans of sketches, existing raster/vector illustration, photographs, or 3d models created in software such as Poser or Daz Studio. Furthermore, there is a lot of flexibility in terms of the “style” of illustration used, which makes this a very forgiving process. This week you will be tracing the outlines of the person or video game character using the Pen Tool. No color, gradients, patterns, brushes or backgrounds. These details will be added in next week.

 

Tasks: Select and scan (if necessary) a tasteful, full-length illustration of a male or female model from a source of your choice. This can be a fashion illustration from a stock photography website such as gettyimages.com or a video game character you have found off the Internet. THESE IMAGES MUST BE HIGH-RESOLUTION AND MUST BE APPROVED BY YOUR INSTRUCTOR OR LAB ASSISTANT BEFORE PROCEEDING. As this assignment requires the use of the Divide Pathfinder, it will be necessary to find an image that has regions of shadow or detail along the edges of the form.

 

Notice that most of the lines and shapes on her clothing fall within the form but not up to the edge (necessitating the Divide Pathfinder). NOTE: Fingers and facial features are very difficult to draw without some reference photographs to trace from, because when you zoom in they will be a mush of pixels. The dark blue lines on the edge of the clothing and along the front arm could very well be done with a brush stroke instead of the Divide Pathfinder.

 

I like this image because there are multiple places to use the Divide Pathfinder: In her hair, on her scarf, her fingers, the crook of her arm, her underarm shadow, her bags, and the handles on the bags. There is also an opportunity to do a pattern fill as we will discuss next week (on her dress).

 

When illustrating humans, I often find it helpful to find a zoomed photo of a difficult to draw feature (such as eyes, nose, lips, fingers etc) at the perspective of the character I'm illustrating (obviously, this eye wouldn't work for the illustrations above). I'll trace the major details of the eye then scale it down to fit in my illustration. Finding the right photographic perspective is key. I also find that looking at other illustrated character will help me see how artists have learned to abstract (simplify) features.

 

A good tutorial for illustrating eyes can be found here.

 

In this video game character illustration there is a lot of three-dimensional form. While it is possible to imitate this style with the Mesh Tool, I would prefer that you flatten the image and make it look more two-dimensional. Therefore, shadows under his cap, arms, belly and shoes could be created using the Divide Pathfinder.

 

To search for fashion illustration on gettyimages.com, click on the "More Search Options" link to the right of the search field. In the Advanced Search page check the box titled "Creative Images."  Scroll to the bottom of the left sect and uncheck "Photography." Scroll back up to the top and type "Fashion Illustration" into the search filed and press "Go."

 

Once you have an approved image, copy and paste or use the File > Place command in Illustrator to import the bitmap image. Put this illustration on its own layer and lock it. This layer will serve as the underlay for subsequent traces. Next, create new layers and sublayers (as discussed in class) for each body part, clothing part and accessory: the deepest layers toward the bottom of the layer stack and the surface layers at the top. If you composition has multiple people in it, create a parent layer for each person and all other layers should be sublayers of these two main layers.

 

Starting with the bottom most layers (the skin layers); use the Pen Tool to trace around each body part. If a portion of a body part it obscured by another body part, item of clothing etc. do NOT draw up to the edge, but past it (e.g. don't draw someone's exposed arm up to the edge of the shirt. Instead, position the arm layer under the shirt layer and draw the arm under the shirt). Accuracy is very important. While a lapse of accuracy will not affect features such as clothing, you should really put time into the more detailed features such as the head and hands.

 

 

Source Image

 

 

All paths should be drawn with the Pen Tool at the conclusion of the first week.

 

Image after coloring but prior to adding a background.

 

Character illustration tutorials:

 

 

Important hotkeys for this week:

 

 

Featured student work:

 

 

 

Week 7

 

Topics covered this week include: 

 

 

Lab 1

 

Title: Background variations

 

Duration: 1 week

 

Introduction: Backgrounds are used in graphic design to create visual interest and to create a sense of depth in a composition. In this week's assingment you will be creating multiple original geometric backgrounds that you will use in your fashion/character illustration from last week. Creating more than one background will allow you to weight the effectiveness of multiple solutions instead of falling into the typical neophyte-designer trap of implimenting the first idea. 

 

Tasks: This week's project is heavily research slanted. That is, to increase the effectiveness of your background designs, you should study as many examples of illustrated composition as you can. There are a couple of different forms of research you can perform:

 

 

Implementation: This week you must provide three to five variations of backgrounds behind your character illustration created last week. Each solution must set the foreground image (in this case your character) apart from the background in a unique way. Experiment with different positions of the character in the composition as well as different size and shapes of the visual field. Good background solutions will be those that are not only creative but demonstrate that you have utilized techniques taught in lab today (e.g. blending, symbol spraying, warping, pattern construction) as well as techniques learned throughout the quarter (e.g. pen tool, gradients, pathfinding, repetition of shapes by rotation and copy transforms).

 

Background Styles: There are many ways that background can be implemented. These include:

 

 

Setting the foreground element apart from the background: One of the problems with backgrounds is that they often compete with foreground elements for attention. There are various techniques that you can use to make your foreground element pop out from your background element. These include:

 

 

Important hotkeys for this week:

 

 

Featured student work:

 

 

 

Week 8

 

Topics covered this week include: 

 

 

Lab 1

 

Title: Object Poster

 

Duration: 1 week

 

Introduction:  "The Priester Match poster (1906, shown below), by Lucian Bernhard, is a watershed document of modern graphic design. Its composition is so stark and its colors so startling that it captures the viewer's eye in an instant. When the poster first appeared on the streets of Berlin, persuasive simplicity was a rare thing in most advertising. Posters especially tended to be wordy and ornate. No one had yet heard of its young creator, who, thanks to this poster, was to influence the genre of advertising know as the Sachplakat, or object poster." This week you will be using a combination of Illustrator and Photoshop to create THREE modern day renditions of the Bernhard inspired object poster. That is, you will select three modern products from real modern day companies and create three posters for these products in the spirit of the "Object Poster" also known as the "Sachplakat". Instead of drawing the object using the Pen Tool, you will be vectorizing a photographic image using Illustrator's Live Trace tool.

 

It is required that you read the full-text about Lucian Bernhard here.

 

 

More examples of object posters can be found below.

 

Each of the three posters will be Letter Size (8.5 x 11), oriented either landscape or portrait depending on the product you feature.

 

Tasks:

 

  1. Obviously, your first choice is to decide what modern day products you want to feature in your object posters. Think about iconic, everyday objects such as: kitchenware, hardware, electronics equipment, tools, appliances, furnishings. Next, consider the companies that make such things: Kohler (faucets), Price Pfister (faucets), Krups (coffee & espresso machines), OXO (kitchenware), Fiskars (craft and garden tools), Swiss Army (knives), Yamaha (musical instruments), Schilke (musical instruments), Fender (guitars), Wilson (sporting equipment), Cuisinart (kitchen appliances). This is just a small sampling of the companies that make products you might find in your home. A hunt around your home will easily reveal other possibilities.
  2. Once you have selected the object and the company that makes the product it is time to perform a Google Image search for compelling imagery for your composition. Be sure to include the brand and object name in your search (e.g. "OXO, corkscrew). The major considerations for selecting the right image include: a high resolution image (preferable 500x500 pixels or above thought smaller sizes may suffice), and, an image that presents the object in a flattering way (this will require you to consider how you will present the object in the composition), As the process we will be using is fast, it will benefit you to collect as many images as possible. You can go directly to the website of the manufacturer; however, in my experience the images they display are often too small.
  3. Repeat step two except for the company logo (e.g. "Krups, logo"). You will be doing a pen tool trace of the company logo. Be sure to find the largest size logo possible to make it easier to trace.

 

         

               This logo will be easier to trace because of the high resolution.

 

 

  1. Next you will be opening your object images in Adobe Photoshop. One of the most common tasks that Photoshop is used for is extracting part of an image from its background. In this case, you will be extracting the object from its surroundings then dragging and dropping the image into Illustrator where we will be converting the image from a raster (pixel) styling to a vector (shapes) styling. When you have opened the image in Photoshop, use the Polygonal Lasso Tool (found under the lasso tool in the tool bar) to create a selection around the object (as demonstrated in class). The Polygonal Lasso tool allows you to define a selection using small straight lines. You can easily trace around intricate shapes using this tool by using smaller straight lines around curves and areas of detail. If you mess up during the process you can press the backspace key. If you inadvertently close your selection by mistake you will have to start over so be careful. When you close your selection you will see "marching ants" around your object. At this juncture you can drag your selection between open Photoshop and Illustrator windows or simply press Ctrl+C (in Photoshop) then Ctrl+V (in Illustrator). You should now see your raster image in Illustrator.
  2. For safety purposes I would create a new layer and duplicate your object onto this new layer. If you make any mistakes in the subsequent steps, you'll still have a pristine copy to work from.
  3. Next, you'll be using the Live Trace Tool (Object > Live Trace) to vectorize your object. To do this, select your object and on the tool bar at the top you will see a "Live Trace" button. Click on the Live Trace button and your image will now take on a cartoonish styling. Part of the "object poster" styling is reducing the information to the lowest common denominator. For some images that may be reducing the object to a black silhouette, in others reducing the color palette to three to six colors. Live Trace gives you the ability to reduce the number of colors AND detail to your liking. I strongly encourage you to watch THIS video to learn more about Live Tracing sketches and raster graphics. Be sure to play around with Object > Live Trace > Tracing Options to explore the full capabilities of the Live Trace tool. By experimenting with the Threshold and Presets you'll be able to explore many variations for the appearance of your object.

 

         NOTE: When you Live Trace an image that was imported from Photoshop it will appear with a white background. In order to remove the white background you will need to Expand (on the Live Trace toolbar) and right-click Ungroup. Now you'll be able to delete the white background.

 

  1. Now it is time to trace your logo type (not the logo symbol). You may be thinking...can't I live trace my logo also? Well, that depends on the quality of your logo. If you use a high quality logo such as the Krups logo shown above then you will get good results. Otherwise, you will need to use the Pen Tool and everyone needs more practice with the Pen Tool! One of the problems with Live Tracing type is that you can potentially get a very rough look and far too many anchor points to make editing the Live Trace realistic.
  2. Now it is time to put your composition together. Study the examples of Object Posters shown below. Notice the compositional techniques utilized by the designers: large size, overlap, extending the object off the page, use of drop shadows, angling the object. This is the most challenging part of the assignment because you want to draw attention to the object while maintaining asymmetrical balance (i.e. the visual weight of the right side of the composition is in balance with the left side). 
  3. You will want to choose a background color that compliments yet does not compete with the color of the logo or object. Solving this problem will be easier when we discuss color next week. Until then consider neutral colors such as blacks or grays, or consider the dominant color of the object and use the color opposite of it on the color wheel (do a "color wheel" search on Google to find a color's compliment). A subtle gradient in the background might also be an elegant solution.
  4. The same is true for the color of your logo. Be sure to select a color that will create contrast with the background, yet will still be subordinate to the object. In the Object Poster, the object should dominate, not the brand. Consider using the Appearance Palette in Illustrator, as demonstrated in class, to add multiple strokes and fills to your typeface to make it stand out.
  5. You may consider additional elements beyond the logo and object as seen in some of the examples below. For example: the box around the type abstracting a desk for the Adler poster, the spark at the tip of the spark plug in the Bosch poster. Notice how in the Stiller shoe poster, the shoe itself was reduced to black, yet color was added in a few key regions to draw attention to the eye. Notice the use of the green line to divide space in the Steinway poster. Several posters utilized drop shadows to set the object apart from its background. A few posters subtly placed the symbol of the company (independent of its logo type) in the background.
  6. If you add any type beyond the name of the company do so sparingly and consider how that type might impact the balance of the composition.

 

 

Sachplakat examples:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Project 2: (Extra Credit)

 

Coming soon!

 

Important hotkeys for this week:

 

 

Featured student work:

 

 

Week 9

 

Topics covered this week include: 

 

 

Lab 1

 

Title: Game Informer Magazine

 

Duration: 1 Week

 

Introduction: A good way to learn how to control typography is to reverse engineer how type has been used professionally. This week you will be reverse engineering the cover of a recent issue of Game Informer magazine.

 

You will start off by opening Illustrator and using the File > Place command to import the background art here and the sample cover here.

 

 

 

This project will be broken into several parts. First, we need to go into Photoshop and use the Polygonal Lasso tool (like last week) and turn the background image into two images so that we create the illusion of his head being in front of the image. There are multiple ways to do this. The easier would be to cut around the portion of his head that overlaps the letters as seen in the original then complete the selection horizontally somewhere across his face. Copy and paste this selection onto a new layer, turn off the rest of the image, then right click on this layer and convert it to a Smart Object (allowing us to preserve the transparency in Illustrator). Save the Photoshop file as head.psd. It is important that once you place this file in Illustrator, that you scale the head and the rest of the background equally so that you get proper registration of the image. Scale the original cover art also to match the size of the art board and place this on a locked layer at the bottom of the stack.

 

Once you have the background and head imported, it is now time to scale them to fit the dimensions of the magazine (dimension to be provided in this space). It is okay to have part of the background image to extend past the edge of the art board as this can be cropped out later.

 

I would suggest that you use the Pen Tool in conjunction with a lot of guides and smart guides to trace the Game Informer logo. One you have completed these letters; make a copy of all of the letters behind the existing letters. Use the stroke on these letters to create the red double stroke effect. Of course, the black stroke is applied to the outside (not center default) of the letters on top. You can set the stroke orientation in the Stroke Palette (F10).

 

The Assassin's Creed 2 logo is created with the Trajan Pro typeface. Start off by getting the height of the lower case letters first.  Adjust the tracking as necessary until the letters are all equally spaced. After adding the initial and ending caps, find the correct height, then use a different negative baseline shift on each letter until you get the size correct. It will most like be necessary to negative kern both letters to pull them inward toward the lower case letters. Repeat this process for the second line of type "Creed II".

 

The phrases "World Exclusive" and "A New Hero for a New Time" are difficult typefaces to match due to the distinctive box shaped O. The closest typeface I could find was Agency FB. Adjust the height and tracking as necessary to match.

 

For the remaining type up top and above the bar code, I used Myriad Pro. For the bolder red letters I used the bolder font of the Myriad Pro typeface. As before, match the height and tracking as necessary.

 

Images for the corners can be found by performing a Google Search for the featured games. While you might not be able to find the actual images used on the magazine you should be able to come close. Cut these out in Photoshop. Since they will reside on a white background you will most likely not have to convert the layers to a smart object before placing them in Illustrator. NOTE: The reason we are converting the images to Smart Objects prior to saving them as .PSD files and placing them in Illustrator is because we want to the transparency to be preserved. 

 

You can grab a bar code from just about anywhere.

 

A copyright symbol should be found in the Glyphs Palette.

 

Important hotkeys for this week:

 

 

Featured student work:

 

 

Week 10

 

Lab 1

 

Title: Final Project 

 

Duration: 1.5 weeks

 

Introduction: This week you will get to start a final project of your choosing. This project should allow you to build on an existing skill set but created something you haven't yet created this quarter. Projects must be approved by your instructor. A final project can be: a reproduction, an original work or a hybrid reproduction/original. NOTE: Reproductions aren't as strong in a portfolio as they tend to focus on your technical, not creative skills. If you have done a lot of reproduction work this quarter then now is a good time to try an original work.

 

Project ideas will require some research to get an idea of the types of projects that Illustrator is typically used for. I would recommend looking at vector art sites to get inspiration. Such sites include:

 

 

Here is a list of project ideas for you to consider.

 

 

Brushes Resources:

 

 

Important hotkeys for this week:

 

 

Featured student work:

 

 

Freebies!

 

Scatter brushes from neyricardo.com - 137_Ornaments_brushes_by_buburu.abr.zip

 

 

Buying Illustrator

 

I highly recommend software bundles instead of individual licenses as you will spend one-third to one-half of the overall cost.  As students you will want to buy student editions of the software. Some vendors require proof that you are student.

 

Bundles include:

 

 

Free 30-day trial:

 

From adobe.com

 

Online resources: (copy and paste the bundle names above into the search fields)

 

Studica.com

 

Journeyed.com

 

Academicsuperstore.com

 

Local resources:

 

Salt Lake Community College Bookstore