Vector Illustration: Portfolio

Posted on August 29, 2016 by Sarah E. Brown

Folks, I am DONE with my Elementary Education degree! I just completed my last class (Vector Illustration, ARTS 332).

As the title of this post suggests, my final project was to create a portfolio of all my work throughout the class. The instructions said, “The portfolio must be designed with an appropriate level of aesthetic. Create a unique look for the portfolio, but do not allow your design to overwhelm the content.”

I decided to showcase my work like it’s on a work table, or an arts and crafts table. It was really fun, and I think it turned out really good. There’s similarity on each page, but also variety. It took me forever to make though–I think I’ve spent a total of about 15 hours just on this project (not counting the preliminary sketches, etc.).

Here is the cover page – I combined all the crafting supplies from the other pages around the edge of the page title. I organized all my work into 4 categories: 1) Icons, 2) Infographics, 3) Stationery, and 4) Wall Décor. These categories helped to shape the theme that I used on each page.

Page 1: Icons – What better way to showcase icons than to put them on an iPad and iPod?

Page 2: Infographics – Infographics are like posters. Why not “paste” them onto matching poster paper and “cut out” cool designs around the edges?

Page 3: Stationery – They stood alone, but I added the titles of the work right on the letterhead, and laid a pen (I love how the pen turned out) over the top.

Page 4: Wall Décor – Wall décor belongs in picture frames (didn’t they turn out soooo pretty! That’s the power and beauty of using gradients!), with pretty gold placards with the pieces’ names engraved on them.

“That’s not how I remember Project 1 looking!” You probably remember it looking something like this:

You’ll also remember that neither my professor nor I were quite happy with how it turned out. So, I redid it for this final project. I am much happier with Version 2 (ok, it’s a little grim, but I still like the overall look better).

Over all, I am SO happy with how my Portfolio turned out. I think it has been my best work of this whole class. And what a great way to end my years of college!!

Vector Illustration: Infographic

Posted on August 24, 2016 by Sarah E. Brown

This project took me forever to do, but I really like the finished product. The idea was to create an “infographic” showing how to complete a process of 5 or more steps–something that we are good at. Here were a few of my ideas.

I decided to go with the How to Organize a Bedroom infographic, and came up with a few different layout ideas:

Up until the last minute, I was designing this project according to Layout 1. If it hadn’t been for the second opinions of my family, I probably would have submitted my original idea. Just about all of them who looked at the completed version, found it difficult to read, as each row starts with the same picture in the last column of the previous row. I didn’t think it was hard to understand, but that is probably because I was the creator of the design, so I knew how it was supposed to be read.

But, on the “testimony of 2 or 3 witnesses,” I went with Layout 3 instead. Once I completed the new design, I did see the wisdom of having fewer icons and more simplicity in layout.

This time I went wild with gradients and textures, instead of leaving the pieces flat with black strokes around everything. It added an amazing element of realism to the finished product that made it totally worth all the time and effort. So, are you better equipped now to handle the clutter in your bedroom?

Vector Illustration: Pattern Collection

Posted on August 16, 2016 by Sarah E. Brown

This assignment asked us to create a pattern collection–a main print (contains all elements of the pattern), secondary print (contains same colors/style, but has fewer elements), and blender print (complementary print using only one or two elements/colors).

I started by putting a couple ideas onto paper.

You can see that I played with two types of patterns: Organic and geometric. While I liked both ideas, I ended choosing to do the organic design. The resulting pattern collection I have labeled “Viney Hearts.”

My first goal was to create a design that reflects me as a person. I was able to accomplish this to my perfect satisfaction! Vines have always been something that I love to draw, as well as hearts. The vines with little curlicue tendrills, branching leaves, and curvy flowers are practically my trademark, as are hearts with curvy edging. Below is a pattern that I drew a couple years ago for a drawing class at a different school so you can see how “me” this style of vines and hearts is.

There were a couple of things that I did that helped to make my “Viney Hearts” pattern collection so visually attractive. First, as I already mentioned, I chose an organic design. This gave the design an allusion of spring–a feel of fluidity, grace, and beauty. Secondly, I utilized a spring-toned color palette of several corresponding colors which are very pleasing to the eyes. Lastly, I used transparency to add a subtle illusion of depth. So, if you look closely at my main and secondary prints, you can see that I copied and pasted a transparent, rotated layer of white vines, leaves, and flowers under the main graphic layers.

What I like best about this pattern collection is how each of the prints manages to have its own unique style, while still adhering to the overall theme and design. Did you know that you can actually have the patterns you create printed on cloth which you can have made into clothes, or even made into wrapping paper or wallpaper? SpoonFlower (www.spoonflower.com) makes all of the latter, while Zazzle (www.zazzle.com) can put your patterns on ties, iPhone cases, bags, and more! You can even sell your designs on Zazzle! I just might try to sell this pattern there! What do you think? Is it something you would buy?

Vector Illustration: Custom Typography

Posted on August 10, 2016 by Sarah E. Brown

For this assignment, my job was to create a pretty layout for a quote of 6-13 words, paying attention to hierarchy and style. I started by exploring 3 ideas.

Idea 1: I was going for emphasis of the main words, simplicity of design, and a focus on the text, rather than the background. I loved the inside border, but not quite the outer one. I loved the curly text, but didn’t think that it fit with the board-like font.

Idea 2: This time I was shooting to make the text out of something in the environment: vines. Unfortunately, they kind of took over, and I found it to be way too difficult to read and too messy. Not enough emphasis on the text.

Idea 3: This time I was shooting for text in the environment: writing with lipstick on the mirror. I loved the mirror idea, and the writing in lipstick, but thought the font too plain, and missed the emphasis on the main words.

So, for my final product, I decided to combine the first and third ideas:

Unfortunately, I only earned a grade of 87% for this work. My professor stated that my concept was ok, but my execution needed refinement. She said that the type is hard to read and doesn’t look good, and the drop shadow is a bit harsh. She recommended that I don’t outline my shapes, but instead to try using a different shade of the background color and maybe mute it a bit. I do agree with her that my design is lacking in something, though I’m not sure what. I do like the smeary text–that was kind of the point, as it is “writing with lipstick on the mirror.” Maybe it is the color scheme, though, that just is not cohesive…. Maybe it is that the mirror, dresser, and wall just don’t look real enough…. Any thoughts or ideas?

Vector Illustration Class: Icon Re-designs

Posted on August 1, 2016 by Sarah E. Brown

Second major project for my Vector Illustration Class (ARTS 332) at Liberty University: Completely redesign 3 Mac app desktop icons. I could choose from the following: 1) System Preferences, 2) Finder, 3) Photo Booth, 4) Trash, & 5) Calendar. I decided to do all 5!

I first had to do lots of research into different icon styles and ways to simplify designs and make unique designs that are all cohesive. You can view my Pinterest board of ideas here: https://www.pinterest.com/brownsarahellen/icon-ideas/.

I then had to sketch at least 10 ideas for each of the 3 icons that I choose to do–but since I decided to do all 5, that meant sketching 50 ideas! I did get burnt out on the last idea, and only sketched 6 ideas for it.

Ideas for the System Preferences icon:

Ideas for the Finder icon:

Ideas for the Photo Booth icon:

Ideas for the Trash icon:

Ideas for the Calendar icon:

And here is the final, vectorized results: I am really happy with how it turned out! It is very unique, very simple, and yet very cohesive.

Vector Illustration Class: Swirl Mania

Posted on July 21, 2016 by Sarah E. Brown

I’m done with my drawing class now, and on to my very last class for my Bachelor’s: Vector Illustration (ARTS 332 at Liberty). For the following assignment, I was to find an illustration that I liked online and recreate it in Adobe Illustrator. I was quite captivated by the following illustration:

It even had a tutorial to go with it. You can find it here: http://abduzeedo.com/swirl-mania-illustrator-photoshop. The tutorial is pretty useful for getting a feel of what to do in step-by-step order, but it did not have good explanations of how to use the different tools it employs (and some were available only in Photoshop).

I started with this free hand image (which is the only part of the illustration that is not a vector), and placed it in an Illustrator document, and then added the Vector “swirl mania” around it.

At first, I kept trying to follow each step of the tutorial, but finally gave up and just used trial and error (and a lot of referrals to the original illustration) to create the different shapes and get the right colors. Here is my final product:

It’s pretty close to the original, though you can see a number of subtle differences if you look closely. My, what a lot of blood, sweat, and tears it took to get this to come out right! It was only my second week of class, I only knew the basics of Adobe Illustrator, and suddenly I was forced to figure out all sorts of complicated tools like the Gradient and Mesh Tools (that was the most frustrating!). But that’s how I learn best: the hands-on, learn-as-you-go style.

I am so happy with the finished illustration, and I have a new confidence with how the program and different tools work.

Drawing Class II: Freestyle

Posted on July 8, 2016 by Sarah E. Brown

At first I didn’t know what I was going to do for this week’s drawing, since it was “freestyle” week (and my VERY LAST assignment!). That is, until I saw the black marker drawing by Doug Stahl in this week’s textbook reading (sorry, I don’t think I can show it to you on here due to copyright issues). That gave me inspiration! What I probably struggled with the most over the duration of this course was using dark enough values. I was hesitant to use too heavy of marks, so my values always ended up towards the mid-range of the scale. I figured that this would be the perfect way to give myself more practice and force myself to use deep, dark, black values. So, this is a drawing of our old, beat-up Pontiac Sunfire in the hot 4:00 sun, which was casting bright highlights and darker shadows off the white paint. I used a black marker for the darkest values, a black pen for the medium tones, and a whiteout pen for all my mistakes. I am really happy with the results, and I am really happy with the results! I’m not so afraid to use really dark values anymore, and I learned that squinting really does help define the shapes of the shadows and darker areas.