Sphere

Last week, we started working with spheres. We started out with a good, old, hand drawn sphere on paper. With a template, we went over values and shading that go into a sphere, creating the beloved optical illusion of depth on paper. here, we have my copy of the sphere page. I tried to stay away from pure white, and the effect made the sphere seem more muted in color, which is't bad, but not quite my aim for this one. I've always loved shiny things.

After our initiation to the sphere that i was, for the most part, VERY familiar with, We moved to the computer, and opened up Illustrator. Creating a sphere in illustrator isn't hard, and there are many simple ways to do it, but the red to black gradient we used just looks gross to me here. In hindsight, I should've gone with a darker read rather than flat out black. This would eliminate the muddy color and make it more appealing. Working with this newly made sphere is easy in Illustrator, with it's re-sizing capabilities, and makes for a versatile object.

On the other hand, we have Photoshop. I liked the look of this red sphere much more, a softer aesthetic and a gentle gradient. The shadow, however, I wish I had been able to use tricks I've only recently acquired on. It doesn't blur like I would wish it to. The difference in Photoshop, is that instead of manipulating a circle, you have a space filled with colored pixels that you cut off and them fill with a gradient. This makes the Photoshop sphere much less editable and versatile in almost any respect. Re-sizing such a sphere will make it pixel-y if the size is increased.


When it comes to preference, it's a tough choice. both methods are very different, and give similar results. I have found that, if I would like to have a sphere template, to which I can edit the color and glossiness with ease, then illustrator would be best, with it's gradient editor and paths. I like the look of the Photoshop sphere, and enjoyed making it more, but the uses are less outside of Photoshop itself.

It's a bit of a mental hoop to jump through to understand both Vector and Pixel graphics, but understanding both is a nice harmony and gives me a wider range of versatility.