(✎) (✉) Vector Art Pen Assignment

The purpose of this assignment is to develop our skills on the “Pen Tool” in Adobe Illustrator. Our goal is to create a realistic object by using a real photograph as a reference. 

 The original Image and Supporting Image:

Vectored Results:

       



*Angkutan Kota means City Transportation
For more infos about Indonesia's Public Transport click here


      The images that shown above are vector graphics. But I saved them as .png formats. I saved them as .png formats, because based on this website and this website that I read, the format .png is more stable for the web, it has more colours compared to the others, it could remove jagged edges with the Anti-Aliasing option and it produces better quality rasterized images.

     The procedure about how I created this artwork is first of all I went to a website which is Google, and I searched for the images that I wanted. By the way, the first object that I chose was a traditional instrument. But I decided to cancel it, because the instrument is kinda small. So I decided to choose a car as my object. Anyway, then, I opened Adobe Illustrator and create a document with the option of 400 x 400 pixel and RGB colour mode, I opened the picture and resize it with the “Selection Tool”, and then I started to create the shapes for the car such as the body, the bumper, wheels, windows, and the doors. But, before I began creating things, the first thing that I had to do is create the layers. Because they will help keep the document organized and easy to modify. After that, I created the shapes of them on their layers by using the “Pen Tool”. The techniques were beginning by placing the anchor points on the paths that I wanted. For example, let's say I want to create the shape of its body. So first of all, all I need is to go to its layer and create the path, which is by following the body's shape and place the points around it and remember don't place to much points or you will end up having a complicated and an odd result. After I did that, then I filled the paths with colours and strokes which is by going to the bottom left sidebar and pick the colours. For the wheels, to get the 3D effects, all I need was just use the "Blend Tool", The procedure was first of all I created the shape of the wheel and duplicated it by going to Edit->Copy and pasted it behind the first shape. After that, gave them colours, but the first shape must have a brighter colour than the second shape because it will help them to have a realistic light values. After that select both of them and click the "Blend Tool" (it is on the left sidebar) and bum! The shapes will join together and it will create the effect. For the interior, it was the hardest part for me, because I couldn't get the perspective of it but at last I got it. How I created it?.. Basically, all I did were just the same things, but to get the effect, I used the colours value to help it look 3D. For example, if see you see clearly, the outer part is more brighter than the inside because if I used the same value it will look flat and won't have the effect and also, if you notice there is a line in front of the seat that helps lead your eyes to go inside. For the other parts/shapes, all I did were just the same thing because the purpose of this assignment is only to learn more about the "Pen Tool". But for the last step, I tweaked everything, organized the layers, and created some shadows for some parts. By the way, I created the shadows by using the "Pen Tool" too. I created the shadows by creating random shapes first and apply the blur effect to them, because the effect would help them look like real shadows, I applied the by effect by went to Effect->Blur->Gaussian Blur... and I just played with the Pop Up-Menu.

      The challenges that came across my way was the perspective illusions. It was so hard to understand the perspective because I had to deal with a lot of things like creating the details, matching the colours, etc. The hardest parts were the interior and the rims. Like what I said before, I couldn't figured out how I would be able to create the illusions for the interior and the 3D effects for the rims since they are 2D shapes, but at last I figured it out which is by playing with the hue values, opacity and create some shadows.

     I am pleased with my result because I have never done any of this project for a long time and this is also my first time I created a vector graphics using a perspective illusions. I learned a lot of things from this project, I wish I could do more.

(✎) (✉) Pixel Portrait Assignment

Hello.Welcome Back, to our new assigment. This assignment is about a Pixel Portrait. The purpose of this is to create a Pixel Portrait of ourselves, so check it out. 

                         

        Hey, Those two are the same, don't they? Well, if you try to enlarge it, you will see the difference. The left one is on a .gif format and the other one is on a .png format. What is the difference? So, basically GIF stands for Graphics Interchange Format. It is a bitmap/raster image format. So far from what I've known,  .gif format is usually used by people to create animations but for 'still image' i don't know yet. For PNG, it stands for Portable Network Graphics. It is also a raster image format. So far, I found .png format is more better than others, it often produces better quality images. But in this case, both format for me.... first of all they look the same. So far from what I've seen, the quality of the .png (in this case) is much better than the .gif. The .png is much more smoother and the colours look more balanced and contrasted. The .gif, for overall, it almost has the same quality as .png format, but it just loses some values and colours (some of the parts are kinda dark a bit, like the hair and the details). Anyway, The features and characteristics that I was attempting to accentuate is my looks. The first feature that I found interesting is my sweater. Because, i don't know why but so far everytime I go outside, I usually wear my sweater and my jacket. I rarely wear only a shirt. The second feature is my glasses. I always wear my glasses everyday. The colours that I chose for this artwork are all based on the actual colours. Like the sweater. jacket, glasses, and my shirt (inside).

         How I created those?....hmm.. First of all, I opened Photoshop, create a new document with the options of 100 x 150 pixels, RGB colours, white background, and 72 resolution. And then, I searched for some photos of myself on my computer and find a good one. Then, I opened it on Photoshop. I cropped it to 100 x 150 pixels to match the actual document's size and resolution. I added a new layer above the photo's layer and I picked the colour of my skin by using the "Eyedropper Tool" and began tracing my face over the photo by using the "Pencil Tool" with 1 pixel-size option (but in some cases I changed the size to somewhere around 4-10, because it makes me easier to fill big parts). I traced the face by following its shape... After I got its shape, then I added the other things. Such as the mouth, teeth, eyes, eyebrows and nose. For this section I worked on separate layers, so each part have their own layers and I also worked under the photo's layer (before, I was working over the photo's layer) and just turned the "Visibility" On and Off to see what was going on. And basically, all I did was just trace the parts of the photo that I want.... For the glasses and the hair I just drew what they supposed to look because if I had to trace them, it wouldn't look nice because those parts in the photo were kinda dark and pixelated. Anyway, I picked the proper colours by using the "Eyedropper Tool" again, and drew them by using the "Pencil Tool" with 1 to 4 or 6 pixel-size option. For the glasses' lens I turned the opacity down to somewhere around 37 (by right-clicking the glasses' lens layer and then click the Blending Option... and turn the Opacity down). Because, it helps the glasses look realistic. For the last step, I just tweaked everything and added some highlights or details to each parts/corners to help them look like "8 bit" or "Pixelated". Like in the old video game, like Super Mario Bros. Anyway, thank you and sorry for mistakes.