Pencil Design

When it comes to graphic design, one of the many tools you come around to using is Adobe Illustrator. it's a vector-based program with a mean learning curve. So to start off we made  a step-by-step basic vector pencil. As soon as you understood what was going on in each step, it became easier to create and alter. One of the big things I learned from this first project was: That you can actually detach nested tool groups and transform them into a window. This was very helpful to me in this and the next project.

The next step was to elaborate on the skills that you learned the first time around, to create a more personal pencil. I went with purple, since it's a color I'm quite inclined to. The difference and learning this time around was in the use of gradients, joining, and the deceptions of the live paint bucket tool.

I was shown that the live paint bucket tool creates a separate fill layer instead of joining a fill to the actual lines, making moving these shapes hard. Instead, it was easier to join shapes with 'Command+J' and insert a fill beyond that. My biggest takeaway from this part was the use of gradient fill being more versatile than the paint bucket.

The third part was to create your own pair of complimentary objects, and it was there that I discovered the wonderful use of the option button with the scroll wheel. It allowed me free zoom and made this part a lot easier! I had to wrestle with the ship, however, a the triangles needed to be mad outside the group before they could be added, or the gradients wouldn't align right and try to cut off at the underlaying paths. The planet still isn't aligned right, but I do not know how to fix it.

So in summary: The biggest three things I learned were:

-The paint bucket tool is not as friendly to moving shapes as regular gradient fill used with the join tool.

-Free zoom scroll can be activated by holding 'Option'

-Nested docks can be detached and made into windows by clicking the bar on the right when expanded.

I hope to learn more about this program as I continue to use it!