Black Pearl: 2011

PDF saving

When i went to save my files into PDF..I was a bit worried about the front and second last page (of my final illustrations) that they were going to be pixalated but after i show Amy and she looked at my link files, she said that it should be ok..I hope it is! I mean it is perfectly fine at 100% but when i zoom into 125% i think it is a little bit pixalated... but oh well. I think it is ok, i hope it is ok!

Pretty excited to see the end product all professionally printed and bounded but then also a little nervous about the margins lines :( hopefully it will ok!

Finished!!! and new cover

This is my new cover, I just added in the basic how-to and also I didn't change the font as when I tried to they didn't give the same clean effect that this font has, so I decided to stick with it. I also added in the 5 mm margin as seen with the blue line mark and move and adjusted my pages accordingly. I am overall very happy with my effort of this assignment and enjoy particularly working with the lace flowers symbols for the skirt to create the illustration.

I think that my booklet has a pretty good flow through. It goes over what symbols are and why it is useful for fashion illustrations, the basics and how to individually use each symbol tools in the pack. I think that it is very clear and would probably be helpful for those who are just starting to use symbols in illustrator. I think what I included is enough to teach someone to create an artwork using symbols. I also like the way I made the star symbol as all my examples as I think that it makes the booklet looks cohesive aswell as it links back to the colours of the front and cover background. :)

I am also so relieve that we didn't have to print this as it would had been a nightmare!!!

symbol manual booklet

These are screenshots of my symbol manual booklet...for the actual booklet, I hope I increase the size of the screenshot in photoshop right..I put the screenshot in photoshop, changed the colour mode to CMYK and image size resolution to 150-300. I hope when it prints out it is ok!!! I think i need to change the fonts for the booklet though..and centre everything a bit. But right now, I'm pretty happy with the result and hard work!

I think I also need to leave extra bleed for the booklet bind!

process of how i did the lace

I dragged in the pdf file of the lace flower i got rid of the white background in photoshop into illustrator

I then rasterize the image as symbols cannot contain linked files

Always, make sure that the background is transparent, otherwise all the work you had just done in photoshop is useless

Now, drag the symbol into the symbol panel and name the symbol, making sure that it is graphic

Do the rest for all your desired symbols and now you have your very own symbol panel to use!

I slowly layer all the different types of lace flowers over the top of each other. I did not use the symbol sprayer tool in this illustration as there are a combinations of lace flowers not just one. I also adjusted the flowers by arranging them by 'bringing to the front' or 'sending to the back' option (object>arrange>)

Final..i think

I stained the sequin flowers to be a bit whiter using the symbol stainer tool and added shadow and lines in, i think this is my final but i will probably find something else to add knowing me.

symbol illustration

process of the symbol illustration, all the lace flowers are symbols. I do like it but i think the sequins looks a bit weird..not as shiny so i might just make it all lace..not sure

progress - outline of the dress and hair

So now i have done the basic outline of everything, it is time to work on the lace flowers on the dress!

progress so far

So what i have done so far is to outline the body by basic blocking of shapes by the pen tool and filling in the colours. My main focus with the use of the symbol technique is in the clothes so i wanted to get the body out of the way first. I think i need to soften her expression though, her eyes are a bit wide and not as demure as in the picture..perhaps its the bright white in the eyes that i should tone down.

Assessment 3: symbol technique reference picture

This is my reference picture for assessment 3, i chose this picture because my technique is symbols and i think that the detailing on the dress could be made up using symbols, with the spray tool etc... I think it would make for an interesting example.

Poster research

This is my layout for the poster research document. My title page links back to my posters in the form of the geometric shapes i used for each poster's background.

FINAL POSTERS - HOORAY

I really like all of my posters! Although at first I thought that my for the better for the best but once I've fixed up the faces of the figures in Full Bloom and For Fun to be more realistic, that was all they needed :)

I think my posters works really well as a collective group as I have worked on them in the same ways even though they all have different moods to them. The garments are filled in with real fabrics, the hair is kept simple by just blocking the lines, the background are made up of the same geometric shapes (different for all three) layered over each other in complimentary shades. I really like the font I used, I think that it is simple but still have enough detail in the way that it is designed to not make it look boring and i think it works really well with my geometric and colour blocking design.

At the start of the project, i was hoping to achieve a modern, streamlined look in my design (as inspired by the poster research) and i think i did. The crisp outline of the figure, geometric shapes and the simple use of text i thought really made the design modern. I also think that the information on the posters are places quite well as the eyes of the audience are drawn to them through the vectors (full bloom: ribbon on the wrist and legs, for fun: hands and elbows, for the better: the hair).

Overall, i am super happy with my posters, it is an extension on the techniques i used in my first assessment plus a few more skills i happened to learn along the way :)

(In the end, i settled for the block colour bracelets as i think that the sequins were taking away the focus from the figure)

ps. when I printed the for the better poster, a tiny white line came up across the jeans denim and whatever i did, i couldn't get rid of it...but you can only see it if you put your face right up to the poster because the denim already have white lines weaving through it as the nature of the fabric (i guess i can see it because i've been working on it for a long time)

for fun - more update

Since i think that my for the better poster is looking much better than all my other posters, I have slowly gone back to fix them all. I have re-done the face and changed the fill in of the clothes to be actual fabric instead (since for the better had denim filled in) and i made the jewellery pop more by using clipping mask to cut out sequins in bracelets shapes. I have also put more details into the band on the dress and added a bow on her shoulder. However, i don't know what looks better now since i have 2 options for the band.

Which looks better? hmm..

for the better - process

The face was done the same way as my other posters, just simply blocking the areas and filling in contrasting colours to create depth and shadows.

I outlined the shape of the jeans and the shirt and made a clipping mask to fill in the outline for the shirt while defining pattern for the dark denim then filling it in as colour.

Close-up of the heels

Adding some jewellery to add some bright colours.

Details, details, details!!

This took so long to outline and fill in but i am incredibly happy with how it turned out! To make the fill in colours for shadowing blend in with the denim more, i decrease the transparency to make it feel like it is really a part of the garment.

I used a dashed brush for the stitching lines and some ink splashes as the bleach on the denim.

For the better - inspiration pic

I think that this image really captures the theme for the better well with the washed jeans and comfortable travelling look.I really like how her styling is very minimum.