In this project we were instructed to create a grid of four pictures of our choice. In class we created an outline of an original image of a koala bear, and outside of class I create one of a fox, a pug, and a black lab. How we traced these images was using the pen tool and making the design appear on a different layer than the original. Along with the images themselves, I decided to create a background color in all of them to make sure each one had a different element in it.
To start this project off we had to create one pear design. After that we had to add more to the picture, so I decided to add a second pear, a banana, an apple, a bowl, and a table and background. When making this project it was slightly difficult because it was my first time using the pen tool and it was tricky. But now after doing this project I feel much more comfortable with the tool.
In this project we were instructed to find an online tutorial that we wanted to follow and create our own of. When I was looking at some tutorials I found one that interested me and it was the creation of the Marvel Comics character, Wolverine. I started off by creating his head and forming all of the curves. Then I was create two rectangles one for the neck and one for the collar of the jacket, and then a third for the body. For the beard I drew with the pencil tool what it should look like and then used a circle to cut out the mouth area. After I used the pencil tool again in order to make his hair. Now again with the circle tool, I was able make his ears and the X-Men logo in the center. Overall the tutorial was not too difficult to follow, but some tools were confusing since it was the first time I had used them.
During this project, the main goal was to get used to the swatches panel, the gradient panel, and also the different patterns that are in Adobe Illustrator. For each box I had to place something different, for some of the rows I placed different shades of the same color, or I used different patterns, or I used different gradients. For the gradients I was able to use one of three types, one straight up and down, one that focused toward the center, and the last a free form one with a different color in each corner.
At the start of this project, we were given the task of creating more parts to the original image of the forest background. The first animal I used was the bear, I had to use a layer mask for it, place, and rotate it to make it seem like it is sitting on the chair. After the bear, I had to do at least one other addition, so I decided to place the squirrel climbing the tree and place the fox staring at him. For all three animals, I used the paintbrush tool and turned the opacity down in order to make it seem like there was a shadow for them.
In this project, we had to combine two images, one of the stars and one of the mountains. Originally I had a layer mask for the mountains so after I was able to put the image of the stars with no issue. After I put on a slight color gradient for the stars. From left to right the stars go from a red tint to a blue tint and then a purple tint.
In this project the goal was to create a color wheel based off of one we were showed as a class. Along with creating a color wheel we were told to add something of our own. What I added was a picture of a Pug to go around by each of the colors. I did this because I have a pug named Guinness at home and I wanted to create something that incorporated him in it. Along with the pugs I decided to change the background from white to black, and also decided to get rid of the guidelines that were originally between each of the blocks. This project helped me get used to the ellipse tool and the color picking tool. Along with those I also was able to use the text box, and I learned how to curve the lettering inside them. Next, I was able to change an image of a normal pug and create into a color that match what I wanted it to be. And lastly, I was able to get the pug image to line up perfectly because I placed it were it was intended to go on the red color, and then rotated and copied it 11 times so it matched up with each color.
This pencil and scenery I created was the first project that I made in the Illustrator application. Since this was the first, I was not used to many of the tools and also didn’t know how to use some. In class we created the pencil which was not too hard since all of the shapes were rectangles that we altered. And the scenery was all rectangles too, just some with rounded corners, others with regular corners. Using the rectangle tool I was able to create the paper, wall, door, window, window frame, the table, and the cup. For the shadow what I did was I duplicated both the pencil and the cup and then moved that duplication, lowered the opacity, and took away any color. The last thing I did was created a fake paper I was writing by putting a text box in the corner of the paper. Overall this assignment was a lot of fun since it was my first time in Illustrator and I was able to create a scene of whatever I wanted.
This poster is one of the pieces of work that I am most proud of in this class. At the end it was a collaboration of everything that I have learned in class. For the first part of the project I got an image of Yankee Stadium to used as my background. Once I had finished putting the image where I wanted it to go, I started to place an image of each player and the logos on to the background. Once I placed the players image and the logo on the background, I used the quick selection tool and highlighted each of them. After that I placed a layer mask on all of them so their backgrounds disappeared. Then once all my images were in the project I resized and centered them to where I thought they fit best. After all the players were placed, I needed an aspect of the project that made it into an event poster. So that is why I put the text at the bottom. During the creation of this project is when the playoff series between the Yankees and the Twins started. October 4th was when Game 1 of the series was, so I decided to put that as they event. When writing the text, to show the importance of each line, I made the top headline the largest font size and also put spacing between the letters so it filled up the entire page. Each of the following lines were not as important so I put a smaller font size on them and also less spacing between them. Around each player I put a shadow underneath them to have them pop out of the page a little more than they originally did. Along with the shadows, I put I bright, white and blue gradient around the Yankee logo in the center. This helped the logo pop out a little more and in a different way than the players. Now since I am a Yankee fan, I wanted to make this poster as a celebration poster and an event poster. So that is why at the top of the page, I put that the Yankees were the American League East Champions for the 2019 season. Then underneath that I put two things, one is the facade that lines the top of Yankee Stadium, and the other was a blue to red gradient. For the facade, I had to again place the image on the poster and then use the quick selection tool and highlight everything that I wanted to keep in it. After that, I used another layer mask which got rid of the background. After I placed the image where I wanted to, I turned the opacity of the image down a little bit. I did not want the facade to be a focal point of the poster, but I wanted the inclusion to be noticed for people that either follow the Yankees avidly or for people that know the stadium well. For the gradient all I did was choose the two colors I wanted which was a dark blue and a red, which are two of the Yankees team colors, and put the gradient underneath the text and the facade. Overall I really enjoyed this project since I created it about something that I really love.
In the original picture, the image was very faded and yellowish. Once I had the chance to edit it, I used the auto-color and the auto-contrast. The auto color brought out the real color in the image which made it much easier to see, and the auto-contrast made the image clearer than the original one.
So in this picture I had to rotate it so it was perfectly vertical first off. Next, I did the auto-color and auto-contrast to make the picture easier to see. After that I was able to brighten the flowers and also darken the shadows under the flowers to get more contrast. After the work on the flowers, I changed the color of the wall from the dark blue, to a brighter red.
All I did in this picture was changed the color of the shirt for the person on the right. I highlighted his shirt and made sure not to get any part of the women next to him. After that I used the paint bucket tool twice to get the shirt entirely green with no blue left over.
In these images the first thing I did was change the layout of the images. In the first one you can tell that it is slanted, so I changed that so the waterline was horizontal. After that I used the healing brush tool to get rid of the white marks and scratches on the image. After the healing brush, I used the clone stamp tool to replicate the sky in both the top left and right corners so they looked like they were part of the image.
In the original image, you can see that there are holes, cracks, and graffiti marks on it. So using both the healing brush and the clone stamp to get rid of those and make the rocks look much smoother.
In this image the entire bottom left corner is missing. So in order to fix that area I had to use the clone stamp in order to get grass to appear. After the corner, I replaced the sprinkler heads on the sides of the statue with more grass.
In the first image the dog on the left is looking at the camera and smiling, and in the second image it is the dog on the right that is smiling at the camera. So in order to get a great picture of both of these dogs, I used a layer mask on one of the dogs and then combined the two images together so both dogs can be looking at the camera for a nice picture.
In the original version of this image the image itself is ripped and put into different pieces. But as a PSD file each rip is its own piece of the image, so I was able to match them together to make the image normal again. After the pieces were put back together like a puzzle, I had to use both the clone stamp and the healing brush to get make the borders flow with each other. After the borders were fixed, I had to get rid of the areas where the tape was covering the image, and after that the image look as good as new.
In this project I learned how to utilize layer masks. In this project I had four layer masks. The baseball, the Yankee Logo, the New York Skyline, and Yankee Middle Infielder Gleyber Torres. When putting the original images into the project I had to use the quick select tool and highlight each image. Once I individually highlighted each image I used a layer mask which then made everything that was not highlighted disappear. Once the layer image was in place if there was an area that was left out or an area that needs to be taken out the brush tool fixed that. If selected on the layer mask and the color of the brush is white and then paint, the areas not shown will appear. And vise versa, if the brush is black and then you color over an area that you want to get rid of paint it and it will disappear. The original image of the New York skyline had a brighter sky and I wanted a darker one so I used a layer mask to get rid of the old sky and then put a new layer of a darker starry background in its place. The reason for this was to get better contrast with all of the images placed in the sky.
Christian's Visual Design Portfolio