OUGD403 - Illustrator (Finals)

Self Evaluation

OUGD403 - Illustrator (3)

The typeface I decided to use is the one I created with the 'X' as it is quite simple but effective.

The typeface I based it originally on was Times New Roman so it will be an easy process to create the letters. 

By creating a layer with the original letter, dimmed to 50% I drew over the top using the pen tool and split the letter into the different sections. I moved them apart in different directions, having some overlapping and others completely apart from one another to create the shattered effect. 

I repeated this process for the twenty six letters and six glyphs - €, &, {, }, #, ?.

After I had done all thirty two letters I created a document on Illustrator with 32 different art boards so I would know roughly where each letter needed go to. I placed the letters and sized them all up to fit thew piece of paper.

I started to experiment with layout and colour. I moved all the letters towards the middle of the page so it wasn't as uniform and static. As I can only use CMYK, I looked at using Cyan as the colour. I like it, however I think it looks a lot better in the black.

After doing the whole upper case alphabet I decided to look at the lower case so I could get a wider range of the typeface. Aside from numbers and a few glyphs, I now have a full alphabet to work with.

OUGD403 - Alphabet Soup: Typeface (Finals)

Alphabet:

Original

Edited

Name Tag:

Original

Edited

Self Evaluation

OUGD403 - Alphabet Soup: Typeface (5)

After completing the alphabet set, there were 5 letters that I felt didn't fit in as well as the other 27: 

S, Y, G, X & N

Because of this I took those four and redesigned them so they had the same characteristics as the rest of them.

S: The ends are the only issue with this. In the others, all the ends are steps, this one has straight edges, and doesn't really suit the rest of the letters.

Original

Sketches

New Version

Y: I realised that for some reason I had done this letter in lowercase. Although it wasn't that noticeable, I put amends to it.

Original

Sketch

New Version

G: The G has been the main problem I've had with the alphabet. There isn't really any other letter with the same shape & joins as this one, so it made it very hard to create. I ended up just putting the rings on the join to solve the issue, but I still didn't think it looked right.

Original

New Version

X: Like the 'S', this letter was completely different to the rest of the set as it's edges are straight and not stepped, and the middle black cross doesn't even join the edges.

Original

New Version 

N: I like this one, but it didn't fit in with the rest of the set because of how the three lines are completely separate and not joined like the other letters. I put it back into Illustrator and joined up all the lines and it flows a lot better and looks a lot more like the other letters in the alphabet.

Original

New Version

 New Alphabet

Name Tag:

Original 

Edited Letters

Colour

Outline

OUGD403 - Illustrator (2)

Pathfinder

The pen tool is quite a time consuming process which can get quite tedious when it comes to larger shapes, so we leant about pathfinder in this second session.

Taking the 'g' again, we were told to make the basic shapes of it out of circles.

When we had done this we went into 'Window' and clicked 'Pathfinder'. This brought up the window below, which has four shape modes and six pathfinders. To create the 'g' we used two 'Unite' and 'Minus front'.

Minus Front is what I used to create the 'ear' and 'link' of the 'g'. By layering a smaller circle over the larger one, in the correct position, and clicking 'Minus Front', it gets rid of the smaller circle, and removes that section from the larger circle too, as shown below.

To add the smaller circle to the shape, I drew another circle, put it in place and clicked 'Unite'. This action joins the two shapes together, as shown below.

The  final image:

 I found this exercise to be quite easy as most letters are made up of shapes and it's very clear to see what shapes are where and what to use to cut sections out. I think it's a useful tool, however it is nowhere near as accurate as the pen tool. It is a lot simpler, and I personally wouldn't use it for letterforms. I prefer the pen tool, even if it is a lot more time consuming.

Width Tool:

We started looking at the lines, their thickness and different ways for them to be present on the page. The simplest way to change the line width/style is with the tool bar up at the top with the default six, each with a different outcome.

As this tool is very easy to use, but is pretty standard and boring. To be able to change the width of the lines, at any point to any width, we looked at the 'Width tool' - this allows you to change the width completely, at any point, to any width - as shown below.

This will make it a lot easier to create shapes instead of using the pen tool all the time. It means any shape is possible and will be with good curves instead of some uncertain ones that the pen tool could make when trying to draw the shape.

We also looked at the 'Stroke' toolbar which had a lot more different options for the lines, from the ends and corners to the overall style being dashed etc.

Blend:

I started this by creating two different shapes on the page. I then clicked 'Blend Tool' on the left hand side tool bar.

This brought up the page below. There are three options shown. We started with the 'Specified Steps' option. Then I had to choose the amount of steps to use.

When this was done, I had to click on an anchor point on each shape - the places which I wanted to join up. I chose the top left hand corner of the rectangle and right hand anchor point of the oval.

This was the outcome of this tool:

I think this tool could be very useful in creating images, and I will definitely use this in the future.

The second part of the 'Blend Tool' we used was the 'Smooth Colour'. I started by creating five different coloured and sized circles on the page.

Going back to the 'Blend Tool' I changed the Spacing to 'Smooth Colour' and clicked OK.

Like the skill above, I had to click on the anchor points for the start and finish. I clicked on the left hand side one of the purple one, as well as the left hand side one on the yellow circle to create the blend below.

 I clicked the bottom point on the yellow one and then the top one on the green. This created a sort of cross over effect, while blending the colour.

I continued until I had joined up all of the points to create this shape below.

Creating Outline:

When the Type took is used, you are unable to edit it apart from the colour, typeface etc, so we learnt how it can before possible to edit it further.

I typed a letter onto the page. When right clicking on it, a options bar comes up with a few options. By clicking 'Create Outlines' it changes the format from type to a shape.

 It gives the letterform anchor points in which I can now manipulate in any way I please.

Anchor Points:

I typed a letter on the page again, doing the steps from above to make it into a shape instead of text. A basic typeface so we could add serifs to them and learn how professionals do it so they don't have to pay huge licensing fees to use typefaces.

I started by changing the pen tool to the 'Add Anchor Point Tool', so I am now able to add anchor points to the shape. I added two. One where I want the edge of the serif, and one anywhere in between that and the edge.

 I then selected the line between the middle anchor point and the end one, pulling it up to how high I wanted the serif to be. This creates a slanted line connecting this to the third anchor point. To make a straight serif I then move the third point to be in line with the second.

I repeated this on the top as well, and the final image is shown below with the new serifs added.

After this session I feel a lot more confident in my ability to use the basic tools of Illustrator. I found it all relatively easy and know I would be able to use it again on my own. From these skills we must now create an alphabet of one of the letters we drew in the first part of this Alphabet soup project - the letters based on words.

From the ten letters above, I think I could confidently make over half of them on Illustrator. From the ten I decided to experiment with three of them. The 'E', the 'X' and the 'I'. From this, I will make a final decision onto which one I want to go forward with and create a whole alphabet for.