Category Archives: Computer Graphic Design

Computer Graphic Design Assignments and Information

Adobe Illustrator Week 4: Sub Battle Project

Objective:

To learn and demonstrate an understanding of the use of drawing tools, layers and symbols in Adobe Illustrator.

Student-Friendly Learning Target: 
I can use the drawing tools in Illustrator to produce a submarine battle image.
 
Video Link:

Review the video links in the Illustrator Week 1 and 3 lessons to refresh your memory on the use of the Shape tools, the Brush and Blob Brush tools and the Pen tool.
Topics Discussed:
  • Select Tool (Black Arrow)
  • Direct Select Tool (White Arrow)
  • Shape Tool
  • Line Tool
  • Brush Tool
  • Blob Brush Tool
  • Pen Tool
  • Anchor Points
  • Convert Anchor Point Tool
  • Pathfinder
  • Shape Builder Tool
  • Layers Palette
  • Symbols Palette
  • Arrange Documents

Assignment:

Create a new Illustrator Web landscape-oriented document with all the default settings and one artboard. Call it “YOUR NAME – Sub Battle”. Using the two-up Arrange Documents method we first learned in Photoshop (it works here, too), copy the yellow submarine you drew in the previous assignment to the new artboard. Then, using the tools and techniques demonstrated in the videos and discussed in class, draw an underwater battle scene that contains all of the following elements:

  • A Hero Sub (your original sub drawing)
  • Three “Bad Guy” subs (you may alter the original sub’s symbol to create these, but they must look different from the Hero!)
  • One Animal (any kind of undersea life: a fish, a starfish, a shark, a whale, a squirrel in a diving suit…)
  • One Vegetable (any kind of undersea plant: seaweed, kelp, coral (which is actually dead animal matter, but this is Graphic Design, not Marine Biology), a pineapple under the sea…)
  • One Mineral (any kind of underwater rock or rock formation: a boulder, a mountain, an undersea volcano, a mysterious cave, a stone Moai head statue…)
  • One Symbol Set, created using the Symbol Sprayer Tool. (spray some bubbles, or fish, or jellyfish?)
  • At least one gradient fill applied to a shape (gradient fills make lovely undersea backgrounds…)

All of the above mentioned elements must be hand-drawn (no professionally-drawn symbols). Use the Shape Tools with the Pathfinder palette and Shape Builder tool to draw your elements, and use the Live Paint Bucket tool to color them in! Each element must be converted to symbols and I would recommend you put each item on a separate named layer. Good luck and happy drawing!

Assigned: February 5th, 2018
Due Date: February 9th, 2018

Illustrator Week 3, Day 4 – Live Trace / Live Paint

Objective:

To demonstrate the use of the Live Trace and Live Paint functions for importing and recoloring hand-drawn art in Illustrator.
Student-Friendly Learning Target: 
I can use Live Trace and Live Paint to color hand-drawn artwork that was converted to digital artwork using a scanner.

Video Links:

Topics Discussed:
  • File > Place
  • Live Trace
  • Live Paint
  • Gap Options
  • Swatches Panel
  • Starting a new document in Illustrator CS4 using the Welcome screen.
  • Adjusting settings in the New Document dialog box.
  • Establishing multiple artboards.

Assignment:

Use the fourth artboard of our current document to complete this activity. We will turn this document in tomorrow.

Follow along with the in-class tutorial to learn a new method for converting imported raster graphics to vector graphics called Live Trace, as well as a technique for recoloring vector graphics called Live Paint.

  1. After you have watched the tutorial, import the Robot Sketch 01.psd file below on to your first artboard using File > Place.
  2. Follow the steps in the tutorial to apply Live Trace to the artwork (converting it to vector graphics).
  3. Next, follow the steps in the tutorial to activate Live Paint, and use Live Paint to color in the robot.
  4. DO NOT use the Paint Brush, the Blob Brush or any other drawing tool to color in the robot. Use Live Paint only.
  5. Be sure to pay attention to the Gap Options mentioned in the tutorial, so your Live Paint doesn’t bleed out all over your artboard.
  6. When the robot is successfully colored in, save your document. We will finish this document and turn it in on Friday.


Sample Image File Link:
Robot Sketch 01.psd

Assigned: January 31st, 2018
Teacher Pacing Due Date: February 2nd, 2018