Tag Archives: Spring 2024

Computer Graphic Design

Adobe Illustrator Typography: Type Tools

Welcome to our Typography unit!

Starting today, we are going to explore Typography and the use of type in Illustrator. We will discuss what Typography is and why it is so important to graphic design. We will explore the different ways that type can be created and modified within Illustrator, and we will use our knowledge of color and shape to explore new ways to communicate with letters and words.

Objective:

Students will be able to identify, explain and create Point Type, Area Type and Type on a Path in Illustrator.

Student Friendly Objective:

I can use the text tools in Illustrator to create Point Type, Area Type and Type on a Path.

Video Links:

Creating Text: https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/using/add-text-work-with-type-objects.html#creating_text

Creating Type on a Path: https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/using/creating-type-path.html#creating_type_on_a_path

Topics Discussed:

  • Type Tool
  • Point Type
  • Area Type
  • Overset Type
  • Type on a Path
  • Vertical Type
  • Vertical Area Type
  • Vertical Type on a Path

Instructions:

Create a new Illustrator Web document with four default-sized artboards. Save this document as “YOUR NAME – Type Week”. We will use this document throughout the week to practice with the Type tools in Illustrator.

Read the “Creating Text” tutorial video in the link provided above. Follow the tutorial to learn how to create point type and area type using the Type Tool.

  1. After you have watched the tutorial, go to the first (upper left) artboard in your new document.
  2. If you followed along with the tutorial, you should already have Point Type and Path Type created. If not, create an example of each now using the Type Tool.
  3. Read the “Creating Type on a Path” document at the link provided above. Follow the steps to learn how to create text that attaches to lines and shapes using the Type on a Path Tool.
  4. Hold the mouse button down on the Type Tool to reveal the other Type tools: the Area Type Tool, the Type on a Path Tool, the Vertical Type Tool, theVertical Area Type Tool and the Vertical Type on a Path Tool.
  5. Try each of these tools, and show an example of each on your artboard. Make sure all your examples fit on one artboard.
  6. Your artboard should include an example of each of the following:
    • Point Type
    • Area Type
    • Type on a Path
    • Area Type inside a Shape (use the Shape Tool to draw your shape, and click on the path with the regular Type Tool)
    • Overset Type (type that flows from one Type Area to another)
    • Vertical Point Type
    • Vertical Area Type
    • Vertical Type on a Path
  7. Save your document. We will continue to work with this document throughout the week.

Assigned: February 5th, 2024
Teacher Pacing Due Date: February 6th, 2024

Computer Graphic Design

ADOBE ILLUSTRATOR WEEK 4: SUB BATTLE PROJECT

Objective:

Students will be able to use the drawing tools in Illustrator to produce a submarine battle image so that they can demonstrate their knowledge of the appropriate use of the tools and techniques studied in class.

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 Art & Illustration Letter-sized, 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 or any art that you did not draw yourself). 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: January 30th, 2024
Due Date: February 2nd, 2024