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An image of bank of selected works from designers from each of the three design fields. This will continue to grow when more learning activities are produced.

Students and teachers can use this as a starting point for this outcome.

(Vrzovski, 2020)

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A good resource to help expand your ideas.
(Roberts, 2018)

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Divergent thinking. It uses strategies to enable a flow of new ideas. Is not critical nor evaluating. Seeks as many, varied approaches to solving a problem. Uses thinking routines.

The VCAA design process is a clear representation of the design process used in visual communication. It does not take into consideration the many different ways studios and their designers work, but rather sets a model process to support students. The stages of the design process are a guide both for the conception and realisation of design ideas and for discussion of the process of design in written analysis tasks.

As you can see, the diagram is formed around a circle. This is to indicate that the process is not linear but is cyclical and iterative. The word iterative means that students may work forwards and backwards in the process, re-visiting previous steps if required, as they develop and refine their designs. This is supported by the dashed lines between each stage. In fact once a design is finished and evaluated, it's often time to start again.

Underpinning the radial arrows around the diagram is the term Design Thinking. These kinds of thinking processes including Creative, Critical and Reflective routines are both enabling and metacognitive and are intended to occur at any stage of the design process.

This page will demonstrate C reative design Thinking at the earlier stages of the design process. These will include thinking routines used for;

Research

Generation of ideas

Development of concepts.

Click the image at right to visit my full page on the Design Process.

VCAA, 2018, Visual Communication Design Study Design, Figure 1: A process for creating visual communication. (p 11). VCAA, Melbourne.

Click the image above to visit my page on the Design Process.

Developing effective creative thinking is not such an easy task. In fact thinking divergently is kind of counter intuitive to the students' needs to get work done and finish the job.

Creative thinking may involve games and can be enhanced and made visible using thinking routines. The take-away from the idea of thinking routines is that they are routines. Not so much that they are a framework for creativity which they are, but that they should become routine in the class room. Students need to become used to the routine of thinking. Thinking new things, thinking differently, thinking about thinking.

Creating innovative designs requires buy-in from students. I am referring to minimising the convention practised frequently in class rooms where students want to design something that will be recognisable and will award them praise from their peers as their design is recognised as a nice, familiar product. Breaking, or leading students beyond this approach is essential if any of the following creative thinking techniques are to have a positive effect on innovation.

For creative thinking routines to inspire experimentation effectively students and teachers will need to agree to a Code of Creativity.

The Code of Creativity may include some of the following ideas;

a commitment to design new. Post 'We will make original ideas' on the wall

letting go of preconceived ideas no matter how slight they might seem

focus on the physical and conceptual articulation of a problem (not a description of a solution)

the freedom to move ourselves to a new time and place to think differently

setting of rules to direct the formation of new ideas - ideas you didn't know you had

a commitment to play - free play without the need for an anticipated outcome

To understand the lineage of objects. An informed designer is one who builds on the past.

Research widely using a range of on and off line resources. Collect pictures of the most significant designs in the category of your object at different points in history. Find out how designs are linked to stylistic or artistic movements. Find out what social or technological motivations there were for the designs. Why were they made like they were made, then?

Sort your images to reveal trends. These might be in the use of colour, materials, forms or details.

To create a visual outline the type of person that use products one is researching.

The consumer profile is a simple representation of the characteristics of the target audience including;

what they look like,

audience characteristics (demographics and psychographics), interests,

their purchasing preferences, lifestyles, past times, holidays they go on, brands they buy.

Slade-Brooking, K 2016, Creating a Brand Identity. A guide for designers, Laurence King Publishing, London.

A tiny group of photos from my recent trip to The States. Could be your home town.

Collect everything, where ever you go. Never stop collecting.

For inspiration of course! But this time it's real.

Of course blind collecting does not amount to authentic research for a folio for assessment. Students must keep in mind that only research material that relates to their investigation guided by their brief is to be included in their visual diary.

Get out from behind your desk. So many books discuss the need for 'real' research experiences, yet so few of us do it.

Take a walk around your home. Give yourself one hour to take fifty photos on your phone. Look up, down. Find the details in buildings, footpaths and shop windows.

Collect bits of paper everywhere you go. Free newspapers and post cards. Put them in a box. Put them in folders. Keep track of the years you collect them. Buy old magazines for 20c at the opp shop. Wait till you hold them. Forget about pixel pictures on your computer. Real is real and that's inspirational.

If you're collecting for research for a folio, make it relevant.

This one's my idea.

Forced associations is a broad creative technique that involves creating empathy and perspective taking. There are several ways to approach forced association creative thinking techniques. Each involves combining a pair or more different elements in innovative ways.

Innovation is frequently achieved by combining two or more products rather than by conceiving of a totally original one. It's like making a pun, totally funny, yet useful. You will not be aware but so many 'new' products are born this way. You just need to know the back story, make the associations.

Consider the function of a design you want to create. Park that idea. Now take the form or aesthetics of another totally unrelated design. Fuse them and see what happens. Here's a totally new idea, automatically.

Well, to be honest, if I'm jealous of designs other people make, why don't I simply become someone else?! Ok, seriously then the purpose of this strategy is to consider a problem from another person's perspective. Other perspectives act as different 'lenses' through which we can view a problem. Their knowledge, age, experiences, cultural backgrounds, etc., will colour the different ways we approach the problem, what we consider important in it, and less important, preferred forms, aesthetics and materials, and ultimately lead to vastly different design ideas. Design ideas I simply couldn't have imagined myself!

Consider the communication need defined in your brief. Choose (or your teacher will allocate you) a person to pretend to be. (See a range of people from which to choose below)

Then gather a little information about the experiences the person may have had. Anything we know about their personality, gender and when and where they lived will help you get inside their head.

From that information determine what aesthetic (what something looks like) and functional (how something is made and works) preferences you think they may have had. Would they have liked things simple, complex, traditional, avant-garde, strong, or light, portable, for example.

Finally, pick up your pencil and see what comes. It's entirely up to you. Or should I say, them...

Suggestions for personalities to assume are:

A Geisha

Albert Einstein

Buddha

Isaac Newton

Wonder Woman

Aristotle

Martin Luther

William Shakespeare

Mary Quant

Sigmund Freud

Winston Churchill

Queen Elizabeth

Marie Curie

Barbie

Anne Boleyn

Frida Khalo

Madonna

Ivanka Trump

Oprah Winfrey

Your teacher

Your best friend

Cornell, A (Editor) 2012, Break Through! 90 Proven Strategies to Overcome Creative Block & Spark your Imagination, Princeton Architectural Press, New York.

Action verbs is a creative thinking strategy where individual actions are applied to an initial idea. Having a list of actions one can do to a design takes the pressure off thinking, 'What else can I do? and shifts focus to solving smaller bite sized problems.

Like all creative thinking techniques, using action verbs requires an open mind. Let it flow without criticising your ideas. Remember, divergent thinking is about producing more concepts, more variations.

SCAMPER is a set of rules designed to guide divergent thinking. It can be used at the Generation of Ideas stage to help form new ideas from existing ones or at the Development stage to help re-forming existing ideas.

You may choose to use they whole set of actions or focus on those that are more relevant for your design.

Begin with one initial drawn idea.

Research the SCAMPER technique to find elaborations on the key questions proposed by each letter of the acronym.

Sketch at least one new design using each letter of SCAMPER as a guide for developing your existing design.

Keep an eye on your brief. New and wacky ideas are good but if you are trying to fulfil a need, try to direct your ideas towards the need described in your brief.

SCAMPER developed by Bob Eberle in 1971 in his book; SCAMPER: Games for Imagination Development. Cited in Wikipedia page (https://en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/S.C.A.M.P.E.R)

The set of verbs shown here are intended to stimulate experimentation with spatial and volumetric form. Each represents a simple concept, pure and without any connotations. Although they apply chiefly to environmental design they could be easily applied to industrial and even communication design examples to extend thinking and generate endless possibilities.

Extremely simple from the outset. One should just take an existing form or motif, then apply an action to it. No second guessing in the process, see where it leads.

To extend these actions, apply them in more than one way to each form. Alternatively, apply more than one action to each instance of your form. Furthermore, apply several actions in sequence. For example, one could merge, branch then grade a form.

Don't limit yourself to these operative actions. Test some more;

duplicate

separate

make transparent

etc.

Di Mari, A, Yoo N, 2012, Operative Design: A Catalogue of Spatial Verbs, BIS Publishers, Amsterdam.

At the heart of creative thinking techniques is the arbitrary rule! This means, in order to think differently we need to behave differently. The following creative thinking techniques use rules to direct innovation in different ways. Squeeze your mind here and ideas pop out there...

This is the big refresh. The intention of this creative thinking technique is for you to abandon all rules and try working in a totally different way. I can't tell you how you are going to do that, or what it might look like. That's up to you. In the sketch at left, I drew the iron gate at the Dachau Concentration Camp, Germany, some students and some of the landscape in one line.

The actual way you will work differently is up to you. Here are some suggestions;

draw with one line

paint with a scrubbing brush

draw with your wrong hand

draw with the paper upside down

draw with two pencils

tear paper for a collage

walk around someone as you draw them

paint the tires of your bike with black paint and ride around a big piece of paper!

Cornell, A (Editor) 2012, Break Through! 90 Proven Strategies to Overcome Creative Block & Spark your Imagination, Princeton Architectural Press, New York.

Development of concepts by experimentation with design elements and principles can be done by selecting and emphasising individual or combinations of design elements and/ or principles in a given design idea or single concept. This experimentation is usually accompanied by one varying the number, proportions, format or arrangement of given visual components found in a design idea.

The techniques shown below do not enable the creation of new design ideas but provide inspiration for how existing ideas can be extended and ultimately improved to hopefully meet the requirements of a brief, the target audience, the context and purpose required.

Development of concepts by experimentation with materials, methods, media, techniques and processes leads to changes in aesthetics and form of each concept. Every different art-making process brings a different look.

Now that we have computers for tight professional work, let's use hand techniques for rustic and retro effects.

The use of different tools and processes will enable growth in ideas as each technique forces your ideas to work in unique ways. These will be ways you never anticipated but will come naturally with the use of different media and techniques.

You may have to suspend preconceived ideas relating to the audience, purpose and context in your brief to let your creativity flow but don't stress, you can bring it all back soon with critical and reflective thinking.

From David Carson Design (http://davidcarsondesign.com/) Accessed 23 September 2019.

To enable you to break free of all constraints.

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Creative thinking within design thinking for VCD

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Divergent thinking. It uses strategies to enable a flow of new ideas. Is not critical nor evaluating. Seeks as many, varied approaches to solving a problem. Uses thinking routines. The VCAA design process is a clear representation of the design process used in visual communication.

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(Roberts, 2018)

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Creative thinking is an investigative, exploratory approach to design. If you think about an explorer they didn't know what exciting lands they were going to find. Scary really. We never know where our path will lead. It requires a curious, open-minded approach where we focus on the problem to be solved - and not on previous solutions.

Never be critical evaluate ideas when you are drawing. If you don't like a sketch you have made, make a new one. Remember keep all of your work, you need it as part of your Generation of Ideas stage of the design process.

Click on the image at right to visit my full page on Creative Thinking.

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Design thinking for students of VCE VCD Visual communication design

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Creative thinking is an investigative, exploratory approach to design. If you think about an explorer they didn't know what exciting lands they were going to find. Scary really. We never know where our path will lead. It requires a curious, open-minded approach where we focus on the problem to be solved - and not on previous solutions.

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The National Copyright Guidelines provide an overview on copyright issues affecting schools and TAFE. They are a reference guide only and are not intended to provide legal advice. For further information on specific copyright issues, please contact your local copyright manager.

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The National Copyright Guidelines provide an overview on copyright issues affecting schools and TAFE. They are a reference guide only and are not intended to provide legal advice. For further information on specific copyright issues, please contact your local copyright manager.

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VCAA, 2020

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The VCE Visual Communication and Design Study Design points out the concepts and practical knowledge relating to copyright and intellectual property which teachers need to explore with students in this study.

Unit 1 introduces students to the importance of copyright and intellectual property obligations when using the work of others in visual communication and the conventions for acknowledging sources of inspiration.

Unit 2 requires students to apply the knowledge acquired in Unit 1 relating to the concepts of copyright, intellectual property (IP) and the legal obligations faced by designers as they create their own visual communications, particularly where these draw upon or use typefaces, logos and images created by others.

In Units 3 and 4 students continue to develop their understanding of how ethical and legal issues shape the design process through analysing the works of actual contemporary designers from the communication, environmental and industrial design professions. They demonstrate their understanding of how to manage copyright and intellectual property aspects within the design process, undertaking extensive research of designs across a broad range of works and media in order to respond to a specific brief and producing their own final visual communication presentations.

Teachers need to explore with students the concepts of copyright and intellectual property and how designers manage copyright and Intellectual property obligations in practice.

Teachers also need to assist students to understand and address copyright and other legal obligations in relation to the works they create for the successful completion of this study.

Teaching the concepts of copyright and Intellectual property

Within the conceptual discussion, teachers can address aspects such as the:

concepts of copyright and intellectual property as legal protection and usage regimes, set out in legislation (the Copyright Act, the Trademarks Act, the Designs Act, the Patents Act) which aim to balance the exclusive rights of creators, inventors and owners against the broader needs of society to have benefits from creations, designs and inventions

different types of Intellectual property and which legislation provides protections and rights for each type

kinds of protection provided under copyright or other Intellectual property laws, the limitations of that protection (e.g. time limited) and the different practical and business processes involved in securing protection under the law (e.g. whether registration is required or not)

obligations of end-users as set out under law, and as imposed by industry conventions and practices, which determine how a designer might make use of another's design work or creation

way in which actual practices and methods used by designers (e.g. 'appropriation') can also be in tension with legal requirements or contractual obligations, and can raise legal risks for the designer or their employer

way in which the rights set out in copyright and intellectual property legislation can be altered by contractual business arrangements (e.g. commissioning contracts) and how these can determine how a design or works are accessed and used in the design process, or who owns a finished work.

The following organisations provide a good starting point for exploring copyright and intellectual property concepts for artists and designers:

ArtsLaw provide information and general advice for artists and designers, offering various resources includinginformation sheets on a wide range of topics. These are written by professional legal advisers and cover a wide range of legal issues (not just copyright but also other important legal issues such as defamation).

IP Australia (https://www.ipaustralia.gov.au/) is the Australian federal government agency that administers intellectual property rights and legislation relating to patents, trademarks, designs and plant breeders' rights. The IP Australia website includes searchable registers for existing trademarks and registered designs, as well as a range of information and advisory resources aimed at industry professionals and educators.

The Australian Copyright Council (ACC) specialises in the provision of a range of advice and information resources specifically about copyright law. The ACC's information sheets provide a good starting point for exploring copyright issues. Search topics via the ACC website'sFind and Answer facility.

The National Association for the Visual Arts (NAVA) has an Information Hub for members, providing a wide variety of resources to assist educators and professionals in the visual arts sector. In addition to a specific set of information sheets covering copyright, designs and intellectual property, NAVA's resources for artists and designers include other relevant topics such as business skills (contracts and agreements), organising public exhibitions and working with Indigenous art. Note that accessing the detailed resources on the NAVA site may require students or teachers to set up a member account with NAVA (see also theTerms and Conditions for use).

Teachers assisting students to understand copyright and other legal obligations in their work

The educational allowances within the Copyright Act permit students and teachers with broad scope to use 'third-party' copyright content (all manner of works created recorded or written by others) in the context of giving and receiving educational instruction. This extends to use of third-party copyright works in a student's work undertaken as part of a course and destined for assessment.

However, where students will be using their coursework for purposes beyond assessment (e.g. inclusion in a personal/professional portfolio 'post-school', or submission to external competitions or exhibitions) teachers will need to assist students to understand the legal implications of this shift from the classroom to more public forums and uses.

Teachers should not attempt to provide legal advice to students. In some cases, students may need to consult with an independent legal professional about their design work, depending on what that work entails and their intended purpose for it, aside from coursework and assessment.

For information and advice about how to manage copyright in the classroom context as a part of the teaching and learning process, teachers should access the information and guidelines provided by the National Copyright Unit (responsible for copyright policy and administration for the Australian schools and TAFE sectors) on their Smartcopying website. They should also seek specific advice from the relevant school sector Copyright Advisers as indicated at that site (Contacts section).

Though aimed primarily at educators and teachers, students may also find the Smartcopying site informative as a reference for what they may do in class when using third-party copyright materials in the development of their own body of design work.

For students seeking to submit their designs for exhibition in the VCAA's Top Designs exhibition, detailed copyright guidelines are available on the main Season of Excellence webpage.

Teachers should work through these guidelines with the participating students and may seek further clarification on copyright issues relevant to the Top Designs submission and exhibition, directly from the VCAA, according to the contact details provided in the guidelines.

The following websites provide up-to-date information on copyright, intellectual property and moral rights:​

Business Victoria Copyright information

A full reference for Copyright in the graphic design industry, including moral rights.

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Advice for teachers - Visual Communication Design

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The VCE Visual Communication and Design Study Design points out the concepts and practical knowledge relating to copyright and intellectual property which teachers need to explore with students in this study. Unit 1 introduces students to the importance of copyright and intellectual property obligations when using the work of others in visual communication and the conventions for acknowledging sources of inspiration.

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Recap from VCAA, (2020).

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Ways of drawing

Manual freehand drawing

This refers to any drawing that is executed by hand (manual) and without the assistance of instruments such as rulers, set squares or templates. These drawings will be done using a range of manual media such as pencils, fine liners, charcoals, pastels and chalks. Manual freehand drawing is predominantly used for Observational Drawing and Visualisation Drawing.

Digital freehand drawing

This refers to any drawing that is generated on a digital device within a software program that allows a 'freehand' style of creation with a stylus or the 'pen' or 'brush' tools. While this technique for drawing could be used for Observational and Visualisation drawing, it is more often seen at the later stages of development of concepts and used in Presentation Drawings, especially with concept renderings.

Manual instrumental drawing

These drawings are constructed with the assistance of drawing instruments such as rulers, set squares, t-squares, drawing boards and templates. These drawings will be drawn to a specific drawing system and will follow the standards, rules and conventions outlined in the technical drawing specifications (pdf - 5.88mb) located on the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority website.

Instrumental Drawings are not used for Observational Drawing and while they may appear in later stages of ' generation of ideas' they are more specifically relevant in the ' development of concepts', ' refinement' and ' final presentation ' stages of the design process.

Digital instrumental drawing

These drawings are undertaken using a digital device and software that allow accurate, detailed drawings to be constructed using measurement dialogue boxes and tools that permit the entry of specific data such as dimensions and angles. These drawings must still reflect a specific drawing system and must follow the standards, rules and conventions outlined in the technical drawing specifications (pdf - 5.88mb) located on the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority website.

Instrumental Drawings are not used for Observational Drawing and while they may appear in later stages of ' generation of ideas' they are more specifically relevant in the ' development of concepts', ' refinement' and ' final presentation ' stages of the design process.

Drawing systems

Two-dimensional drawing

Third-angle orthogonal drawings

Each view of an object (front, top and sides) is drawn separately showing only two dimensions, but is kept aligned and to the same scale. Combining a view from the top, the front and sides, allows all three dimensions to be considered. Third-angle projection refers to the layout of views.

Floor plans and elevations

Scaled two-dimensional drawings used in the design and construction of structures, involving a set of conventions regarding line types, dimensioning and symbols. Floor plans are views from above, while elevations refer to views of the side or facade.

Packaging net

A drawing of a flat two-dimensional shape that becomes a three-dimensional form when it is folded. It can also be referred to as a development net. Often a packaging net will include tabs for stability and fastening. The drawings are to 1:1 scale and involve the use of line conventions that indicate fold lines (broken lines) and cutting edge (solid outline).

Three-dimensional drawing

Paraline

Objects are drawn with the set of lines for each plane (width, depth and height) remaining parallel (hence the term 'para-line'). A form of Paraline drawing is axonometric and for this study the focus is on the Isometric and Planometric drawing systems.

Isometric:

Constructed from a corner view, with both sides of the object (width and depth) receding from the corner edge at 30 degrees; height remains vertical. The isometric drawing provides a comprehensive overall view of the object using true measurements and retaining true proportion.

Planometric:

This projection is based on a plan view (or floor plan) of a structure when rotated by 45 degrees to the horizontal so that the angle between left and right sides of a rectangular structure remain at 90 degrees. (It may also be rotated by 30 degrees where the other side is at 60 degrees and where the internal angle will remain at 90 degrees). Height is then added to objects or walls on the plan, taking the dimensions from the elevations and depicting these on the vertical axis.

Perspective Drawing

Perspective is a pictorial system where objects and structures are drawn in a manner so that their size reduces further from the position of the observer. Perspective uses either one or two sets of receding lines to depict depth, originating on a plane or a 'closest vertical' which converge towards a point or points situated on a horizon line (eye level). The vertical placement of the horizon line and the distance between vanishing points determine the relationship between the viewer and the subject and provide capacity for different views of an object or structure or the relationship of parts to each other.

One-point perspective:

Objects or structures are drawn front on, with depth depicted by receding lines converging to one vanishing point on the horizon line. The horizon line represents the eye level of the viewer. The vanishing point may be situated inside, above, below or to the left or right side of the object.

Two-point perspective:

Objects or structures are drawn with a corner closest to the viewer (closest vertical). Width and depth are depicted by groups of receding lines converging to two vanishing points on the horizon line. The horizon represents the eye level of the viewer and may be situated running through, above or below the object or structure. The vanishing points are situated to the left and right side of the closest vertical. The scale of an object or structure can be depicted in a realistic or exaggerated manner through the manipulation of the relationship between the object or structure, the vanishing points (cone of vision) and the horizon line (eye level).

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Advice for teachers - Visual Communication Design

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This refers to any drawing that is executed by hand (manual) and without the assistance of instruments such as rulers, set squares or templates. These drawings will be done using a range of manual media such as pencils, fine liners, charcoals, pastels and chalks. Manual freehand drawing is predominantly used for Observational Drawing and Visualisation Drawing.

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(Roberts, 2018)

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On completion of this unit the student should be able to;

This task is from the field of environmental design. (According to the VCAA study design it may also be done in industrial design).

In this task you will learn how to transcribe information recorded from real spaces into technical drawings made to Australian Standards. Our task will focus on architectural plans and elevations, but can equally well focus on 3rd angle orthogonal drawing used in industrial design.

You will research the ways drawings are prepared for your target audience and the specific purpose for which they are made.

Following your two dimensional drawings you will learn and implement the three dimensional drawing methods of 2 point perspective and planometric.

This task does not focus on the whole design process. Nor does it require students to write their own brief. It is a technical and pictorial drawing skill and knowledge building task with emphasis on development and refinement of presentation drawings for the target audience.

This task has been informed by the detailed example shown in the VCAA VCD Advice for Teachers 2018.

Read through the content on this page. Discuss what you think could be learnt and form them into three 'learning intentions'. Use sentences like, 'I will learn about making 3d drawings', or I will learn about 'media codes'.

Write your three learning intentions.

For advanced learning intentions, go with 3 different levels.

1 - What you will learn. (For example, the media code of camera describes the techniques camera operators use to record a scene)

2 - How what you will learn can be used to create meaning or structure. (For example, camera techniques are combined with sound and/ or editing to create suspense).

3 - How could your understanding of the learning be extended or related to other learnings. (For example, the use of camera has changed over the years and the invention of digital formats have allowed anyone to become cinema photographers)

Now that you are familiar with what you will learn in this task, it's time to lock in how you will be able to demonstrate that you know it, or can do it.

Write three success criteria, using sentences like the examples in the next column.

I will demonstrate that I have mastered the learning by;

1 - I Can identify all of the camera techniques used in the selected clip.

2 - I can use a camera to film clips in the ways I have identified.

3 - I can explain how camera is combined with other codes to create meaning in a narrative.

Depict a kitchen and breakfast space with plans and elevations to Australian Standards and to an appropriate scale and with 3 dimensional pictorial drawing methods.

The target audience is young adult males and females living in inner urban areas with sufficient funds to make them prospective apartment purchasers.

The purpose is for depiction of and advertising the apartment space.

Architects and environmental designers use 2 dimensional drawings for their projects. These drawings are know as 'Plans and Elevations'.

Each project will require many drawings. They will be at different scales and have different amounts of details, depending on the purpose.

You can find more information about environmental drawing for Visual Communication Design by accessing the VCAA Technical Drawing Specifications 2018. Press the image at right to download a copy.

Conduct some broad research collecting images that depict kitchen and living spaces in new homes. You might find this is real estate sites, apartment sites, magazines, newspapers and on the internet.

You will then be asked to describe the features you need to include in your drawing to ensure that you create drawings that suite your audience and purpose.

Collect examples of two and three dimensional drawings that have been used for advertising and promotional purposes.

Collect examples from at least three different countries, if you are using the internet. Don't forget to reference your images.

If possible, visit a display home, real estate agent or apartment display centre.

Create 2 or 3 A3 pages of research and investigation.

Annotate your images to identify the purpose of each and explain how the designers have met that purpose.

Annotate your images to identify the context of each drawing and explain how the designers have designed for it.

Make an illustrated A3 page that describes the target audience for your promotional pictures. In your page include:

Pictures of audience members,

Describe them with at least 3 audience characteristics

Pictures of clothing, brands, magazines they like, or other items that describe their interests and lifestyles.

Make an illustrated A3 page that describes the target audience for your promotional pictures. In your page include:

Pictures of audience members,

Describe them with at least 3 audience characteristics

Pictures of clothing, brands, magazines they like, or other items that describe their interests and lifestyles.

In your research pages, pin point the features included in plans, elevations and three dimensional images that you believe are necessary to meet the needs of both the audience and the purpose. Make sure you identify and describe at least 5 - 10 different features. These will become the guiding principles for your own drawings.

Examples of the features required may include:

Clear thick continuous lines for exterior walls,

Realistic eye level for interior views.

Often architects working in an office work collaboratively. This may entail different people working on different aspects of a project. Jobs like doing a measure up during a site visit may be done by someone other than the designing or drafting specialist. We will simulate this working environment.

Working in partners, we will create the information required for each student to depict a kitchen and/ or breakfast space.

Work at home to measure up your kitchen and breakfast space. See task below for details on what kind of information will be required. As you go, try to be mindful that someone else will need to be able to 'read' your drawings. Include as much information, as clearly as you can.

I will give you examples of my kitchen space.

Start sketching before you add any measurements. Try to get things in proportion.

Make a series of sketch plans and elevations of your kitchen and/ or breakfast space that your partner will be able to use to draw it accurately.

Take a series of photos to help them interpret the drawings.

Record appropriate dimensions for later interpretation of space and form.

Gather your information together. Photocopy it (you will need to retain your work for your assessment) and print your pictures so your partner can work on the task.

Referring to the 'Environmental design' section of the 'Technical Drawing Specifications Resource' you will use the information supplied to you by your partner to produce a set of plans and elevations to describe their kitchen and/ or breakfast space.

You must choose and use an appropriate scale (as defined in the resource) and dimension your drawings as also shown.

Next it's time to work on the elevations. I construct mine underneath a plan. The one on the left is in the natural orientation. To make the one on the right, I rotated the plan through 90 degrees. I also use heaps of guides to help me to align every detail properly.

Beginning with manual drawings, create a set of detailed plans and elevations of your partner's kitchen and/ or breakfast space.

Refer to the 'Technical Drawing Specifications Resource' for scales, symbols and methods to set out your drawings. Take care to include all the features including;

correct line strengths and types,

wall thicknesses at scale

door and window symbols

symbols

scale

northpoint

other details as required.

Complete digital presentation drawings including plans and elevations from your manual interpretations.

Refer to the 'Technical Drawing Specifications Resource' for scales, symbols and methods to set out your drawings. Take care to include all the features including;

correct line strengths and types,

wall thicknesses at scale

door and window symbols

symbols

scale

northpoint

other details as required.

Print and check your work.

Often architects working in an office work collaboratively. This may entail different people working on different aspects of a project. Jobs like doing a measure up during a site visit may be done by someone other than the designing or drafting specialist. We will simulate this working environment.

Often architects working in an office work collaboratively. This may entail different people working on different aspects of a project. Jobs like doing a measure up during a site visit may be done by someone other than the designing or drafting specialist. We will simulate this working environment.

The last step is to completely trace the drawing on a new layer! Trace it with shapes not lines. These will be used to fill in the rendering. The completed Planometric is a line drawing. Use white fills to fill areas that hide background details. Send them to the front to tidy up the drawing.

Complete a manual Planometric drawing of the interior space described in your Plans and Elevations.

Follow the directions shown above.

Complete a presentation drawing of your partner's space using Adobe Illustrator.

Keep in it line work. You will use it for a rendering later.

Often architects working in an office work collaboratively. This may entail different people working on different aspects of a project. Jobs like doing a measure up during a site visit may be done by someone other than the designing or drafting specialist. We will simulate this working environment.

The following images demonstrate how to use the perspective grid in Adobe Illustrator to assist in making a 1 point perspective. You don't have to use it, or even work digitally. This drawing can be done manually. I have just used it to show you the relationship between the plan, the elevations and the grid.

The nice thing about a 1 point is you can measure heights of objects from elevations kept to scale with the plan. Note the way I found the height of the main kitchen bench off the elevation on the right.

Make a 1 Point Perspective drawing of your space. Choose one of these following methods;

Manual = construct a horizon line and vanishing point and visualise the plan onto a constructed floor space.

Digital + manual = use an Adobe Illustrator file as a base for the Illustrator Perspective grid. Copy your PLAN and ELEVATION into the file, distort them using the free transform tool, print then construct the perspective manually.

Digital = use an Adobe Illustrator file as a base for the Illustrator Perspective grid. Copy your PLAN and ELEVATION into the file, distort them using the free transform tool, then construct the perspective with the line and pen tool.

Depending on your abilities and facilities a choice can be made.

Often architects working in an office work collaboratively. This may entail different people working on different aspects of a project. Jobs like doing a measure up during a site visit may be done by someone other than the designing or drafting specialist. We will simulate this working environment.

Creating 'fill's for each shape in Adobe Illustrator.

I first copy in the base drawing onto a new layer in Adobe Photoshop. This helps me align all the shapes first. Then copy and paste every single shape into a separate new layer in Photoshop.

I copy each layer that I want to shade and select it with the magic wand tool to define the area to shade. Finish off with a layer of white highlights and another of dark grey lines. Remember to name every layer. It really helps keep track of everything.

The completed rendering should show off all the colour and form of the original space.

The purpose of the rendering task is to enhance form, represent cast shadows and surface materials. This exercise may be done manually or digitally - the only catch is that the assessment criteria does call for manual and digital work. The two ways to complete this task are;

Manual = Work from a line print of your Planometric drawing. Use colour pencils to render light shade and materials textures.

Digital = (As shown above) Continue on from the Planometric drawing done in the previous task. On a new layer, trace all line work to shapes, fill the shapes with nearest colours or tones. Import (copy and paste to pixels) all the shapes, to separate layers in Adobe Photoshop. Continue to render light and shade. Use masks to import textures.

Create your final presentation drawing with appropriate layout techniques and type to inform meet the requirements of your audience, purpose and context.

Answer the following questions (on paper or computer);

1. What skills and understandings have you developed most in this task?

2. Why do you think renderings can be used in preference to photos to promote homes to members of a target audience?

3. What does the 'horizon line' actually mean in perspective drawing?

4. What computer programs have you used in this task?

5. What methods have you used?

Find where you wrote up what you thought the success criteria might be. Check that you have done something for all of the steps you wrote down.

Print final and organise your folio for submission.

Check the assessment criteria below to see if you have prepared your folio for each criteria. If not, take the time to complete each section.
Hand up your work on the due date as instructed.

Complete the evaluation, deeper learning and rating tasks as shown above.

[cbratingsystem form_id="2"]

Below is shown a broad indication of the evidence a student should show.
Click here to download a complete assessment rubric for this task
The extent to which the student:

Identify drawings, target audience, purpose and context of drawings for environmental design,

Describe space and form in annotated two-dimensional sketches,

Describe form with appropriate proportions and scale in draft and presentation plans and elevations,

Applies conventions associated with plans and elevations including use of scale, dimensions, symbols, title box

Describes form with paraline drawing methods - planometric drawing,

Describes form with perspective drawing method - 1 point perspective drawing,

Selects and applies methods for rendering to enhance form, shade and surface materials in three dimensional drawings,

Use manual and digital methods to create presentation drawings.

Please note: To achieve good marks in criteria based assessment you must remember to include some work for each part of the task required. Spread your time evenly across the task.

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VCD Unit 2 Area of study 1 Technical Drawing in Context

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On completion of this unit the student should be able to; This task is from the field of environmental design. (According to the VCAA study design it may also be done in industrial design). In this task you will learn how to transcribe information recorded from real spaces into technical drawings made to Australian Standards.

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Design for Life. A Melbourne-based interdisciplinary studio working across Architecture, Brand, Interiors and Product Design.

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News and reviews from the worlds of architecture, design, interiors and landscape, by magazine publisher Architecture Media.

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Handy resource to have.

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Stay up to date with the design industry. Click here for a mecca of resources to help you stay connected!

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DESIGN BY THEM

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DesignByThem - Australian Designed Furniture, Lighting & Accessories

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Original Australian designed furniture, lighting and homewares. DesignByThem showcases Australian Designer works in a playful and timeless collection. Available for commercial contract furniture projects. Enjoyed since 2007. Buy online.

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For teachers and students to use and update accordingly.

It is designed to keep adding to whenever you find great resources for this area of study.

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Choosing a typeface can be tricky. The beauty and complexity of type, combined with an inexhaustible supply of options to evaluate, can make your head spin. But don't be baffled - and don't despair. While there are no easy-to-follow rules on how best to choose a typeface, there are many tried-and-true principles you can quickly learn and apply to make an appropriate typeface choice. If you work systematically through the options below, you'll have a winning typeface choice in no time. Let's get started.

Choosing a font can be tricky. The beauty and complexity of type, combined with an inexhaustible supply of options to evaluate, can make your head spin. But don't be baffled - and don't despair. While there are no easy-to-follow rules on how best to choose a typeface, there are many tried-and-true principles you can quickly learn and apply to make an appropriate typeface choice.

If you work systematically through the options below, you'll have a winning font choice in no time. Let's get started.

Further Reading on SmashingMag:

What Is Your Goal?

The first thing you have to do in order to choose a typeface is form a strong impression in your mind about how you want your audience to react to the text. This is your goal, and it will guide the process. You might provide this impression, or it might be dictated to you by your client, or it may be determined by your audience. Whatever the case, your choice of typeface needs to strike a good combination of both legibility and readability, while remaining appropriate for the audience and the message. Each of these characteristics requires some degree of independent consideration. As you may already know from experience, it's easy to go about this the wrong way and get overwhelmed. This problem can be compounded as a design evolves.

Perhaps the hardest part of breaking down the font selection process is understanding which parts are more subjective and which parts are more objective. After reading and digesting your client's text, it is easier to start with the objective aspects of typeface selection because they - by default - make subjective decisions for us. There are no fixed positions on the spectrum from subjective to objective. However, we know that legibility is more easily quantifiable than a mood. Let's start with the two most objective attributes - legibility and readability.

Legibility

It may seem at first glance that legibility and readability are the same thing, but they are not. Legibility refers to the design of the typeface, as in the width of the strokes, whether or not it has serifs, the presence of novel type design elements etc. It is easy to tell one letterform from another in a legible typeface. For instance, decorative typefaces have low legibility because they are primarily meant to be seen at a glance, rather than read at length. Conversely, typefaces designed for novels or newspapers have very high legibility. You need to design a specific, overall legibility based on the function of the text.

Consider this example where the left block of text is set in Tobin Tax, a decorative serif typeface. Compare it to the same text set in Sabon, a classic and highly-legible serif typeface. Where does your typeface choice fall between these two extremes?
Quick tips for great legibility:

Choose typefaces with conventional letterforms. Letterforms composed of unique shapes, artistic deformations, excessive ornamentation or other novel design elements cause the reader to have to process what they are looking at first, instead of just taking in the message. Novelty always comes at the cost of immediate comprehension.

Choose typefaces with generous spacing. Tight tracking causes the eye to fill in visual gaps between the various shapes that make up different letterforms, thus slowing down the time it takes to both recognize letterforms and word and sentence structures. Generous spacing allows the eyes to proceed as fast as the cognitive skills of the reader will permit.

Choose typefaces with a tall x-height. A "short" x-height decreases legibility of certain letters. The apertures, or openings, of similar lowercase letters like "c" and "e" are distinguished with greater ease if the x-height is generous.Please notice: The x-height shouldn't be "high". The font size, weight and width must just be chosen according to the x-height of the font. Sure, at first glance one typeface with a larger x-height might look more legible than another, but the the latter is just set too small (or too bold or too condended). In addition, a large x-height only helps a few letters like e, s, a (with double-storey shape). Other characters (with descenders, diacritical marks) suffer from a larger x-height. (Thanks to Ralf Herrmann for clarification!)

Readability

How your typeface is set, combined with the basic legibility of the typeface, yields a certain level of readability. Readability is the dynamic interaction of the type style, size, tracking, leading, color and other properties all combined into one overall impression. They add up to a certain typographic style which has a quantifiable degree of readability. For instance, you could use a style that has an intentionally low readability that is part of the message. Or you could focus on designing a high readability because your message is complicated, and you don't want your type style to hinder the audiences' understanding in any way. In most cases, communication comes before style, so resolve readability first.

Let's take our previous example of Sabon and alter the readability. On the left, we have taken the text and decreased the font size, altered the tracking and leading, lightened the color, and set the block to full justification. It's now a mess with unattractive text rivers. On the right, we've left the unaltered for an obvious comparison. Changing several independent factors, as you can see, can add up to quite a difference.
Quick tips for great readability:

Choose typefaces that were designed for the purpose you are using them for (display fonts for headlines, body copy typefaces for body copy, etc.). Choosing a font designed for display purposes, like headlines or posters, means that it will not function very well as a body text typeface where larger quantities of text will be read. Conversely, a typeface designed for extended reading loses its impact in relation to how large it is blown up.

Align text to "right ragged" for comfortable word spacing online to avoid "rivers". "Force-justified" text, or hyphenless justification, always creates ugly rivers and awkward spacing which causes the reader to lose the natural flow of the text as the eye has to make various leaps and jumps to complete words and sentences. Currently, there is no proper native support for hyphenation in CSS, but you could use Hyphenator.js for a proper client-side hyphenation online.

Make sure your line height is greater than the point size of your typeface for multi-line texts. It's difficult for the eye to track across a line of text and stay "on track" if the lines above and below it are too close to it. Our eyes are easily confused especially when wrapping from the end of one line of text to another. How many times have you read the same line of text twice on generously-spaced lines of text? Probably once - of course if the content is easy to understand as well. Don't make your readers work harder than they have to.

With the two most subjective factors out of the way, let's move on to appropriateness.

Aspects of Appropriateness

Some typefaces are more suitable for a design task than others. Appropriateness is something you can learn by both experience with a typeface, and by other attributes of the typeface, including its history and original purpose. Here are four attributes of a typeface you can consider.

Design Intent

It's very helpful to consider the design intent of the typeface. Many popular typefaces have detailed write-ups and reviews, so it's really inexcusable to not know at least something about your choice. If a typeface was designed for signage, like Cooper Black, it probably isn't going to work well set as the body copy of a book. That might be an obvious example, but don't miss the subtleties in your own choices. Again, it only takes a few seconds to look something up, or flip open a decent typography book to get some basic facts, and you'll be wiser for it.

Aesthetics

Your typeface should conform to the aesthetics expected by the audience for which the design is intended. For instance, if you are designing a piece for a bank, setting their logo or the text for an ad campaign in Souvenir might be a little too light hearted and free-spirited - not qualities one would want to associate with people who manage your money. However, the stately and stable-minded Bembo might be a better choice for this situation. The more you match the gist of the typeface to the gist of your topic, the easier success will come.

In this example, we've created two combinations of typefaces. The first one, Lithos and Souvenir, create an aesthetic more suited to a children's museum than a bank. The second combination is composed of Clarendon and Bembo, which fits the topic like a well-tailored banker's suit.
Quick tip for judging aesthetics:
Look at a typeface and write down several words the typeface "says" to you about itself, and then compare that to what your design objective for the typeface is. Do they correlate? Be convinced, after this analysis, that you have the right typeface choice. If you are not sure, it would be best to not proceed.

Mood

As you read through these factors, you'll realize that they overlap a little. Mood, for instance is a dynamic synthesis of what you get when you consider the aesthetics of a typeface together with the readability you've designed into your piece, along with, of course, the perceived meaning of the text itself. For instance, with one typeface and one text you can evoke a mood of excitement or panic. The typeface itself first evokes a strong reaction, but the readability of the design and the text itself can take communication to another level.

On the example below, notice how the implied meaning of the phrase "kick back and relax" is dramatically changed by altering the typeface and readability. Mood is very powerful, and it's a good idea to have a second set of eyes reviewing your work to make sure you don't send the wrong message. This demonstrates that matching the basic personality of the typeface, and its readability, to the intended emotional response of the message is a sure-fire recipe for success.
Quick tip for pinpointing mood:
Think of the exact opposite of the mood you want to create and look at your work on a given design thus far. If you can't come up with an opposite mood, it might mean you have not created a strong impression of the right mood. Remember, the opposite of neutral is neutral.

Personal Choice

Many times, a typeface just strikes you for some reason as appropriate. Your right brain knows it but your left brain can't understand why. If you can make it work based on that alone, go for it. You would of course do well to get informed about the typefaces in your arsenal, especially if you keep using them over and over. You may discover that your use of a typeface has nothing to do with its original intent, but it can still look great.

For instance, you might like OCR-A on the cover an album design, though OCR-A was designed specifically for optical scanners so that computers can recognize the words through software. So what if computers are supposed to read it? If it fits the design intent of your project and you can pull it off, do it. Just do it well or choose another typeface.
Quick tip about personal choice

Trust your gut but make sure you can quantify, in typographic terms, aspects of your choice so that you can defend your design decisions armed with intelligent answers. You may also find that a defense of even your most subjective choice goes a long way if it's clear you did think it out and have a reasonable rationale.

Come up with your type selection quality scale. You might want to consider creating your personal checklist with type selection details which you can then consider and apply in your typographic choices. This would help quantify your decisions and make them comparable.

A Few Technical Considerations

Don't overlook the obvious. For instance, if your design job is going to include work using a lot of numbers, you'll want to make sure you choose a typeface that has the kinds of numbers you want to use. Some typefaces use Old Style, or lowercase numbers. Other typefaces use Lining, or uppercase numbers.

You might be persuaded that large spreadsheets of numbers for technical work are easier to read with lining style numbers because they don't use the lowercase descenders and are more even on the eye when used in large quantities. But if your design features a lot of up-and-close with over-sized numbers, the Old Style numbers might be infinitely more pleasant. Again, the mood you want to convey plays a role in this choice: Old Style numbers look... old. That could be good in the right context but not so good in the wrong one.

To add to this list, you might consider if a typeface has a full set of ligatures and if it contains true small cap characters. Missing ligatures can look unattractive at large sizes. Fake small caps usually look odd because stroke widths aren't compensated for. In short, it's best to choose a typeface that is as complete as possible. And if you choose a free typeface, you'll find that it is often these critical "extras" that are missing. Make sure that the free typefaces have exactly the features you need for your design and that they are licenced for the work you are doing.

Tips for Choosing a Typeface

Let's pull it all together with some pragmatic ways to get your typeface choice made. You might want to try these tips, which many designers use to their advantage in one way or another. Be the beneficiary of their wisdom and experience.

1. Plan Your Hierarchy

First, make sure you have a good grasp of the content and typographic hierarchy your design job will dictate. You may realize, after a thorough analysis, you need five fonts (not typefaces) to cover your various heading, sub-headings and call-outs. Can your typeface provide enough variation with bolds, italics and small caps? Or do you need two typefaces to create more distinction in the hierarchy? Three? Use a mind-mapping tool or make a traditional outline to see as much as you can before you start choosing typefaces. Consider this example of a bad and a good hierarchy using the same text. Notice the role white space plays in the hierarchy, too. Use as many levels as you need as long as there is distinction and clear purpose in your choices.

2. Consider What Others Have Done Already

You'll find that the designers before you have already figured out ways to use the typefaces you are considering, so you don't need to reinvent the wheel. Look around, and carefully consider what others have done already. The site Fonts In Use, for example, features typographic choices made by professional designers in various industries. And don't dismiss familiarity when you come across it in other designers' work. Often times "boring" and "familiar" are your best friends when it comes to choosing type. There are good reasons some typefaces get used a lot for certain purposes - they just work, and work really well.

3. Experiment the Easy Way

Here are some tips to help you experiment quickly and thoughtfully with your typeface choices:

Set up style sheets whether you are designing for the Web or print, which speeds up the flow of ideas because they are easy to swap out. You could also use Web Font Specimen for this purpose.

Play with the hierarchy by changing the size of different elements to create and release tension.

Judge the results and change something, but only change one thing at a time.

Get a second or third opinion. You might have missed the obvious.

4. Avoid Anachronisms

For instance, if you don't know the particular history of typeface, you could end up using it in a way that makes you look a little silly. What if you picked Trajan to illustrate the title graphics of an article about ancient Greece? That would be an unintended anachronism since Greece pre-dates Rome, and Trajan was a Roman emperor. The typeface Trajan is taken from "Trajan's Column", which is a monument to a military victory around the year 100 A.D. Just having to answer "Trajan" to the question "What font did you set the cover of this book about Ancient Greece in?" will make you squirm just a little. It pays to double check. And sometimes it pays to be neutral by choosing something safe for an academic topic, like Arno.

5. Avoid Trite Correlations

If you apply this rule rigorously, you are unequivocally guaranteed to retire from your design career as Typographer Emeritus. Let's just examine this principle by example and let the lessons teach themselves:

Don't use Papyrus just because your topic is "ancient" in some way, especially if it's about Ancient Egypt. (Better yet, don't use Papyrus at all)

Don't use Comic Sans just because your topic is humorous. (Better yet, don't use Comic Sans at all)

Don't use Lithos just because your topic is about Greek restaurants.

Don't use Futura just because your topic deals with "the future".

Does this leave room for typefaces with built-in "effects"? Yes, indeed. Just don't do something so blatantly obvious it took you less than one second to think of it. The tell tale sign you are making a trite correlation is that you have a collection of decorative fonts you frequently peruse in your font manager while pining away for a topic to shoehorn them into. If you have not avoided these kinds of trite correlations in the past, it's OK. Don't live in the past, but don't do it again.

6. Consider an Extended Type Family

If your project is ongoing and diverse, it would be wise to consider investing in a quality extended type family upfront. Why not kill all the birds you can find with one stone? When you choose an extended type family, you get the benefits of having had the type designer do more use-case scenarios than you will likely ever be faced with. Extended type families usually have serif and sans serif versions, along with multiple weights, full sets of special characters and ligatures etc., which ensure that you'll be able to find the right solution for just about every typographic challenge you could imagine. An extended type family will also give you a very uniform, orderly mood and aesthetic, which may or may not be what you want.

7. Stick With the Classic Combinations

When you are stuck, go with the tried and true, especially if your deadline is tight. If you choose a neutral serif and sans serif combination, you might lose a little "edge", but at least the integrity of your design and message won't suffer. When is the last time you called on Caslon or Univers and regretted it? Face it: you'll never get ITC Avant Garde Gothic and Trebuchet MS to cooperate. Instead, consult well respected typography-related resources. See what professional designers agree on. It's likely you already have some of the classics you'll find referenced. Perhaps those same fonts are complete and are of high quality, which makes choosing them in a pinch that much easier. You will fail them before they fail you.

8. Use a Limited Palette

You'll find many opinions on this, but it's also not a bad idea to consider a limited palette of typefaces you like best from lists of the most popular type of all time. They are the most popular for a reason. Some designers have gone a whole career using less than twenty typefaces most of the time. For instance, you could use the FontShop's 100 Best Typefaces (in German, also available as a PDF) as a reference. To that list, you should try to add a few newer, and not just classic, typefaces. While you are at it, consider adding one or two unique but highly-versatile modern typefaces from independent foundries, and not just the larger established ones that might be more familiar.

In this example, we've combined Bembo with various fonts from Haptic Pro, a typeface family originally designed 2008 by Henning Hartmut Skibbe. Something old and something new, and you can go a long way with a style all your own:

Final Tip: Break The Rules

Break the rules but only after you can name some of them. Knowing the basics described in this article will help you make intelligent choices about what rules to break and how to break them. You might have to go through ninety-nine bad ideas to get to that one great idea, but the process is fun. Remember: knowledge of type gives you the power to express yourself more creatively with it. To "push the envelope", as the cliché goes, you first need to know what and where the edges are.

Further Resources

You may be interested in the following related articles and resources:

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How To Choose A Font - A Step-By-Step Guide! - Smashing Magazine

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Choosing a typeface can be tricky. The beauty and complexity of type, combined with an inexhaustible supply of options to evaluate, can make your head spin. But don’t be baffled - and don’t despair. While there are no easy-to-follow rules on how best to choose a typeface, there are many tried-and-true principles you can quickly learn and apply to make an appropriate typeface choice.

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Understand colour further.

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Additional examination preparation.

(Roberts, 2018)

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Target Learning began as an online learning resource known as helveticamediuma.com. It specialises in VCE Visual Communication Design and VCE Art Creative Practice and Making & Exhibiting. From writing our first course, the resources and support for teachers and students grew. These include classroom posters illustrating key concepts from Study Design Areas of Study and terms, personalised VCE examination revision and teacher planning support.

Launched in 2010, thousands of people have used this online student and teacher support in Victoria and worldwide. Team Principal Richard Roberts is a secondary school teacher, visual arts/ design author, and consultant. He has a depth of experience with VCAA as a visitation reviewer, examination assessor, author, and study design expert panel member. In addition, Richard served as vice president of Visual Communication Victoria for four years, where he led a team presenting teacher unit planning seminars and creating study-specific resources. Richard's teaching experience includes VCE (Years 11 and 12) Art, Studio Arts, Media and VCD. Richard has also led Visual Arts faculties at independent and Catholic colleges. Richard's students' academic successes include study scores 50 in Media, VCD and VET IDM, representation at the VCAA Seasons of Excellence 'Top Designs' and 'Top Arts' and at Premier's Awards. Richard understands the needs of current, connected and independent students and engages with them as they learn.

Target Learning began as a Visual Arts resource and support site and is growing to include a more diverse range of subjects as collaboration with expert teachers and assessors continues.

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Visual Arts Communication Design - VCD - Target Learning

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Target Learning is your learning support site for VCE Art Creative Practice, Making and Exhibiting and Visual Communication Design.

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The secret to any good design lies in the way its visual elements are organized and positioned in relation to each other. This is exactly what layout design is all about.

Layout gives meaning to your design and makes it look visually appealing. It helps maintain balance from page to page or slide to slide.

An important component of layout design are grids. Grids are the backbone of all layouts, infographics and presentations. When you are designing on an online editor like , you are using grids without even knowing it. Our in-house designers use grids to create the templates you love.

Layout design involves using one grid or a group of grids, depending on what needs to be achieved. Believe it or not, grids also exist to help you break the rules.
Here's a short selection of 8 grids to use when you edit, share and download your marketing content with Visme. View more below:
Let's look at all the kinds of grids that exist in the layout design toolkit, starting with the anatomy of grids so you can better understand them.

Layout Design: The Parts of a Grid

The anatomy of a grid is made up of several parts. Not every part is present in every grid; it depends on the sort of grid. Here we will look at the most important parts of a grid.

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You might recognize many of these terms from document creation programs like Microsoft Word, Google Docs or Pages. The way your document looks is defined by these sections of a grid, including the margins, the header, the footer and page numbers.

Format

The format is the full area where the final design will be laid out. In print design, the format is the page and in web design the format is the browser window.

Margin

Margins are the empty spaces between the edges of the format and the content. The size of the margins is what gives the content a general shape, usually a rectangle.

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Flowlines

Flowlines are horizontal lines that separate the different sections of a grid into parallel bands. They help the reader follow the content of the layout. Flowlines also create stopping points, or edges for the elements to be placed on. Some flowlines are called hang lines and others are called baselines.

Modules

Modules are the building blocks of any grid. They are the spaces created between the flowlines and vertical lines. Vertical groups of modules together create columns. Horizontal groups create rows.

Spatial Zones or Regions

Groups of adjacent modules in vertical and horizontal areas create spatial zones or regions. A vertical region can hold a block of text, a horizontal region can hold a video. Regions can be organized proportionally or used to create overlapping zones.

Columns

Columns are vertical spatial zones or regions that fit fully from the top to the bottom margin.

Rows

Rows are horizontal spatial zones that fit fully from the left to right margin.

Gutters

The spaces between rows and columns are called gutters. These should always be equal between columns or rows, in order to maintain a visual balance.

Markers

Markers are areas inside the running header or footer that mark the exact place where repeating information is placed from page to page.

Types of Grids

Layout grids are used for design projects that have as little as one page or as many as hundreds. These are the kind of grids that organize elements inside a space. Word documents, for example, have a grid, they just aren't always visible. Layout grids help designers position text and images in a way that looks coherent and easy to follow.

Most layout editors, online or otherwise, have a tool called "snap to grid." These are blue or red lines that show up when elements are being moved inside the design. They let the designers know when the edges are lining up according to the grid or when it's centered. More complex layout editors will show the distance between elements so that they can be positioned proportionately.

All layout grids can be designed in two ways: symmetric or asymmetric. Symmetric grids follow a center line. The vertical margins are equal to each other, as are the horizontal ones. Columns in a symmetric layout are also the same width. In an asymmetric layout, both margins and columns can be different from one another. It is important to always look for balance when using an asymmetric layout.

Let's look at five kinds of layout grids; manuscript, column, baseline, modular and hierarchical.

Manuscript Grids are used in documents, ebooks, pdfs and presentations with lots of text.

Column Grids are used for magazines to organize content in columns so it is easier to read.

Baseline Grids are a bit more technical and are defined by the line in which the text sits. This grid creates a good reading rhythm for any design with lots of text.

Modular grids are like a checkerboard that can display many things for easy access.

Hierarchical grids are mostly used on websites, organizing content according to their importance.

Manuscript Grid

A Word document or a presentation template will always have a manuscript grid. Sometimes these grids are invisible, although they can be toggled to show up on documents editors like Word. Manuscript grids in a text document separate the header, the footer and the space on the edges (margins). The manuscript layout creates a rectangle inside the page (format), like a bounding box for text.

The Manuscript Grid is the foundation for all magazine, newspaper, ebook and all text-based design. The manuscript grid layout design is set up on the first page. The rest of the pages will follow the same measurements. It's good practice to keep the manuscript grid consistent inside one document design. Even if there are elements bleeding off the edge, like a shape or a photograph, the grid will still be there to help keep a good balance for the entire design.

Use the snap-to-grid feature in this DIY visual content tool. Try It for Free

Column Grid

Column grids are used to organize elements into columns. Magazines use column grids to place the text in easy-to-read sections. Some academic textbooks also use them. Column grids are used inside websites as well, like in online newspapers or blogs.

Column grids can have as little as two columns or as many as six or more, but that is not very common.

Text and images in a column grid are placed following the vertical lines and flowlines that make up the columns. Images can be placed inside one column, or across two or more to create a different visual layout. The spacing between columns (gutters) should be proportional and consistent throughout the entire document.

A symmetric column grid has all columns the same width, while an asymmetric grid will have some columns proportionally thinner or wider than others.

Printed newspapers usually use a symmetric column grid to organize their stories.

A great example of an asymmetric column grid is the general layout of a blog post (beneath the header). If you look at a this example blog post below, you can easily see that it is made up of two columns of different widths: the blog post content and the sidebar.

The magazine example below uses a three column grid with proportional widths. The title and subtitle take up the space of all three columns while some highlighted text takes up the space of two columns.

Modular Grid

A modular grid is similar to a column grid in that it has columns, but it also has rows. This kind of grid is used when there are more elements to organize and a column grid isn't enough. Newspapers use column and modular grids to organize the stories comfortably and easy to read. Modular grids have equal size modules. This makes it easier to "break the rules" and use the spatial zones in different ways.

Modular grids are also great for laying out forms, charts and schedules. They are also used a lot in e-commerce websites. Your phone homepage that shows all the apps, has a modular grid. Instagram also uses a modular grid to show your feed.

Baseline Grid

A baseline is the line where text sits. Leading is the spacing between baselines. A baseline grid can be applied to any of the grids mentioned above. Using a baseline grid will give a flowing rhythm to the text. It will also give the headings and subheadings a proportional space in relation to the body text, making them more pleasing to the reader.

There is a baseline grid in something you used a lot during school and might still be using now. Lined notebooks have a baseline grid. It's no wonder teachers always wanted us to write on notebook paper instead of white paper. It kept a good rhythm in our written assignments. Unless of course our handwriting was really tiny or really huge, and then the rhythm went out the door.

If you look closely at this piece of written notebook paper you will see that it also has a document grid that creates margins. Grids are pretty much everywhere that text and images are laid out on. Why not challenge yourself to find them?

Hierarchical Grids

Hierarchical grids are mostly used in web design. The purpose of a hierarchical grid design is to organize elements in order of importance. It is still called a grid because the modules are still set up inside a measured manuscript grid.

A hierarchical grid can be set up freestyle, or with a modular grid as a guide. Having the knowledge to set up a balanced hierarchical grid without a guiding modular grid, takes years of practice. This is why designers create website templates for non-designers to simply place their information in. Even seasoned designers use already built templates to save precious time.

In their move to digital platforms, newspapers moved from the usual symmetric column grids to hierarchy grids with columns inside the spatial zones.

A Little Design History Trivia

Before the age of computers, layout grids were drawn on mockups with blue pen. Every single line of the grid had to be measured and drawn by hand with T-rulers. If designers wanted to use a standard grid, they could use grid templates printed in blue ink that were placed underneath thick tracing paper.

The designer then set up their layout on top. Images were drawn as rectangles or squares with two criss-cross lines from corner to corner. Computer based layout editors mirror the layout grid design practices from years ago. Blue ink was used because it didn't show up on the pre-print films.

How Do Designers Use Hierarchy in Web Design?

Hierarchy is a condition in which elements are set up in order of importance. The word comes from the concept of royalty: the king and queen are first, then the prince and princess, then the dukes and so forth. Web designers use hierarchy to make sure the most important information is seen first. Call to actions and special notices are the first to stand out.

It depends on the kind of website that is being designed. For example, an online magazine or blog might use an hierarchical design on its homepage, showcasing articles in different sizes. Using headlines in different font sizes as well. E-commerce websites use landing pages that have one or two calls to action and those need to be the most noticeable.

Hierarchical grids are the most unnoticed of all the grids. Their purpose is to call attention to specific elements and they do that without the viewer knowing that that it has been done on purpose. A good hierarchical layout can get you better conversions!

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Composition Grids

The Rule of Thirds

This is a composition grid that separates any space into a grid of nine equal spaces. This grid system can be vertical or horizontal but all the nine spaces always have to be the exact same size. The elements in the design are positioned in two ways. Focus points are placed according to where the lines cross from top left, top right, bottom left and then bottom right. Other important elements, usually body text, is placed inside the spaces created by the intersecting lines.

The Rule of Thirds is believed to create a pleasing composition for the viewer. By following the Rule of Thirds grid, you are making sure that your design is balanced and proportional. It is used in graphic design and also in photography.

The Golden Ratio

The Golden Ratio is also called the Golden Spiral or Golden Mean. It is a phenomenon of composition found in nature that is also applied to design. Many famous logos were created using the Golden Ratio and it is very commonly used in photography as well.

The Golden Ratio is closely related to the Fibonacci sequence. This mathematical equation rules the measurement of the Golden Rectangle, a shape that is perfectly balanced. Using the Golden Ratio or a group of Golden Rectangles in your designs will follow the ancient composition of nature.

Composite Grids

When designers use grids they do not always stick to the basics. Mixing grids is a common way of making layout design more creative and appealing. A multi page document will follow the same measurements of the manuscript grid but will have different grids for different parts of the formats.

Take a look at what a magazine layout looks like when the pages are opened and set up side by side. Notice the spaces that maintain the same proportion from page to page and the others that are different on every page. Using composite grids in a creative way will make your designs more pleasant. This mastery takes a lot of practice!

This example of the page by page layout of an entire magazine template from graphic river is a great example of a composite grid. Every page is different yet every page keeps a basic grid. You can notice it in the footer and page number and the centering of the columns and elements.

Choosing the Right Grid for Layout Design

Choosing the best grid will depend on what kind of design will you be working on. Designs with lots of text, need layout grids. Designs with lots of abstract color and shape compositions do better with the rule of thirds or golden mean. If you are hiring a designer, trust your designer!

Templates exist to save you (and your designer) precious grid-building time. You can be sure that most of the templates inside the Visme editor were created on a grid. The ones that were not, were created by designers who have grids ingrained in their vision after years of practice. You can toggle the "snap to grid" option in the view options of the Visme editor.

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Layout Design: Types of Grids for Creating Professional-Looking Designs

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The secret to any good design lies in the way its visual elements are organized and positioned in relation to each other. This is exactly what layout design is all about. Layout gives meaning to your design and makes it look visually appealing. It helps maintain balance from page to page or slide to slide.

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(Patterson & Saville, 2017)

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FINAL STAGES OF THE DESIGN PROCESS HANDOUT

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FINAL STAGES OF THE DESIGN PROCESS HANDOUT

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(Patterson & Saville, 2017)

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(Patterson & Saville, 2017)

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APPLYING THE DESIGN PROCESS TO DEVELOPMENT AND REFINEMENT HANDOUT

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APPLYING THE DESIGN PROCESS TO DEVELOPMENT AND REFINEMENT HANDOUT

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(Patterson & Saville, 2017)

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In this unit students gain an understanding of the process designers employ to structure their thinking and communicate ideas with clients, target audiences, other designers and specialists. Through practical investigation and analysis of existing visual communications, students gain insight into how the selection of methods, media and

materials, and the application of design elements and design principles, can create effective visual communications for specific audiences and purposes.

(VCAA Study Design, VCAA)

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Pentagram — The world’s largest independent design consultancy

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Pentagram is the world’s largest independent design consultancy. The firm is owned and run by 24 partners, each of whom are leaders in their individual fields.

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This  feedback/checklist sheet enables teachers to formatively assess where the student are at upon completion of their zine.

Students please use this as a checklist to ensure you have covered all basis.

(Vrzovski, 2020)

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Finding inspiration - Finding inspiration - GCSE Art and Design Revision - BBC Bitesize

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Consider starting points for GCSE Art and Design and explore the work of artists and designers for inspiration.

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Analysing and evaluating - Revision 1 - GCSE Art and Design - BBC Bitesize

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GCSE Art and Design learn how analyse and evaluate work effectively to produce evaluations for the Expressive unit, Design unit and portfolios

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After your initial response to a stimulus it is important that you don't just keep producing analytical drawings or market research . This isn't development.

Development is about selecting ideas, visual elements, compositions and techniques from this initial work and using them in new ways.

It is important that you don't become too attached to your first idea.

Don't worry if the work you produce seems unresolved and isn't perfect. It is an important part of the creative process to try out new things and to make creative decisions based on what works and what doesn't.

And don't worry if you try something that doesn't work. Showing creativity is more important at this stage. Remember you can refine your work and produce a more finished result for the sustained project in your portfolio and your assignment.

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Developing ideas - Developing ideas - GCSE Art and Design Revision - BBC Bitesize

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After your initial response to a stimulus it is important that you don't just keep producing analytical drawings or market research . This isn't development. Development is about selecting ideas, visual elements, compositions and techniques from this initial work and using them in new ways.

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Christina Antonia — 2019

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VINI DESIGN — 2019

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A+ Visual Communication and Design (VCD/Viscomm) Folio

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DESIGNED BY:  ART CLASS CURATOR

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Guides to annotating your design work.

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There are several reasons annotation may be used, for example to:

analyse the work of an inspirational artist or designer

record a technique

record ideas

explain the thinking behind an idea

analyse the success of a technique, idea or composition

explain how a particular artist or designer's style or technique has influenced your work

Annotations can be used for your own reference, eg to make a note of how you achieved a technique, or to record an idea you might like to try later.

They can also be used to communicate information to the examiner that will help explain your thoughts and decision-making processes.

Using annotations can demonstrate evidence of planning, decision-making and problem-solving ability, which will all contribute towards your assessment.

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Using annotation - Annotating your work - GCSE Art and Design Revision - BBC Bitesize

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There are several reasons annotation may be used, for example to: analyse the work of an inspirational artist or designer record a technique record ideas explain the thinking behind an idea analyse the success of a technique, idea or composition explain how a particular artist or designer's style or technique has influenced your work Annotations can be used for your own reference, eg to make a note of how you achieved a technique, or to record an idea you might like to try later.

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Reminders (VCAA, 2020).

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The design elements and design principles detailed in the Cross study specifications on page 9 must be studied.

Design Elements

Point is the smallest element of a visual communication. It can be a dot but it is not necessarily circular. Point can be repeated to create shade, tone or texture. Examples of application include half-tone printing, pixilation and dot rendering. Point is also used as a position marker on a map. Point is also used to draw attention to information as 'dot points' in text. Point in multiples can create textured surfaces in industrial design and it can exist as a negative in a perforated aluminium sheet used in environmental design.

Line is a continuous mark on a surface. It can be straight, curvy, precise, of consistent weight, broken, dotted or rough and textured. Lines can be made by any manual or digital method. Lines in multiples are used to create shade, tone and texture. This 'hatching' can be regular or loose. Line is also used to denote direction or boundaries in compositions. Lines exist in perspectives and in grid layouts. Line is also the component in technical drawing where thickness is carefully controlled to represent outlines, cutting edges, folds, hidden details, symbols or dimensions. Examples of application include instructional diagrams and illustration, sketching and technical drawing.

Shape is an enclosure. It can be simply an outline, a 'stroke' in digital media or an area of colour, shade or texture, a 'fill' in digital media. It can be organic, geometric, hard-edged or feathered, abstract or symbolic and can be used in conjunction with other elements to create form or pattern. It can be used to simplify complex objects for effective communication. Examples of application include logo, symbols, print layouts, plans and elevations.

Form is a three-dimensional entity in visual communication. It can be real as in a construction, or illustrated as seen in an illustration. Form in illustrations may be created by point, line or shape and can be enhanced in tone, texture and colour. Examples of application include any three-dimensional design, construction, 3D print or CAD article in environmental design or creation of depth in illustration, concept drawings or sketch.

Tone is light or dark variation of any colour. In communication design tone is used to describe the three-dimensional nature of form in terms of its shadows and highlights, created by a light source. A variation in tone is a 'gradient' in digital media. It can be smooth and gradual or created by point or line (dot rendering and cross hatching), subtle or dramatic, depending on its intended use. Examples of application include drawing, rendering and photography.

Texture communicates a tactile aspect. It can be real or implied. It may be achieved using a combination of elements such as point and line, and applied in a realistic or an abstract style to create a pattern or to simulate the finish of a material. Texture can be conveyed through media and materials and can be combined with tone. Texture in industrial and environmental design may be for aesthetic or functional reasons. Texture in communication design can create a natural feel in drawing and rendering.

Colour is light in different wavelengths as they appear to the eye. We use and discuss colour by considering relationships between them by referencing the 'colour wheel' and terms such as hue, complimentary, contrasting, harmonious and high/ low key colours. In addition, colour is used to enhance form, attract attention and create hierarchy. Colour is also used emotionally and symbolically because colours have historical and cultural meanings and associations with feelings. There are two 'models' for producing colour. 'Additive' colour refers to three coloured pixels red, green and blue (RGB) that when illuminated in various strengths create colours from black to white. The additive colour model applies to TV and computer screens. 'Subtractive' colour refers to surfaces or pigments that when increased in saturation filter light, creating all colours from white to black. This model is used for painting and print media and is created by primary colours or cyan, magenta, yellow and black (CMYK). In the design industry, exact colour mixes can be referenced by Pantone, RGB, CMYK and/ or Hexadecimal libraries.

Type is the visual representation of word, number and character. It communicates through literal meaning of words and through visual quality of the type form. Sets of 'typefaces' belong to families and can be serif, sans serif or decorative. In addition, type forms can be extended, condensed, bold, italic or 3D. Setting out or positioning letters, lines or paragraphs can be adjusted in many expressive ways. Type can be sourced from wood and metal blocks, digital libraries or be hand generated. Examples of application include in logos, film credits, books, websites and in magazine production.

Design Principles

Figure and ground work together to establish the importance of visual information within a picture plane. 'Figure' refers to components that are more visually dominant than the ground on which they are placed. Figure may also be known as 'positive space' or 'form'. Ground can be known as 'background', 'negative space' or 'counter form'.

Balance refers to the arrangement of components of a visual communication in relation to a real or implied central axis. It may be 'symmetrical' where components are mirrored along the axis to create a centred and stable composition, or 'asymmetrical' where components of varying size and weight are placed off-centre to create a dynamic composition. Components are said to have more/less visual 'weight' according to their shape, colour, tone, size or proximity to the central axis. Balance is visual in communication design and can be both visual and physical in environmental and industrial design.

Contrast refers to opposite aesthetic qualities in any design element or component present in a visual communication. Contrast is used to create emphasis, focal point, visual tension, separate parts, interest, and assists with building hierarchy.

Cropping refers to the cutting, framing or masking of a component of a visual communication. The component is often oversized and therefore trimmed by a layout module, margins or the edge of the format. Cropping is a compositional technique related to 'open' and 'closed' composition and was influenced by the advent of photography in the mid-19th century. The two main purposes of cropping are to create impact by showing a component larger than possible in scale and to imply that a component extends beyond the field of the format.

Hierarchy refers to the 'reading order' of a design. To establish a reading order enables a designer to first attract a viewer's attention and then communicate ideas and information in a progressively diminishing manner. Hierarchy is created by design elements or other design principles. Factors determining hierarchy may be the scale, contrast, colour or the positioning of the visual components. Examples of application include print media layout such as posters, newspapers and magazines, website layouts, book covers and posters. Environmental and industrial designers will also create hierarchy with elements and principles including form, contrast, position, and scale.

Scale refers to the relative size of two or more components in a visual communication. These may be similar but different components, including shapes, forms, images and/or type. Variation in size between two or more components of the same kind is used to create depth in compositions. Scale is used to create hierarchy. Scale may also be expressed as a ratio when discussing or producing maps, diagrams, illustrations, technical drawings, models or mock-ups.

Proportion refers to the ratio between at least two dimensions of a component in a visual communication. For example, two rectangles with the same heights but different widths are of different proportion to each other. Proportion is used in this way when discussing the formats and may be considered when adapting print communication design to web. Examples of proportion in environmental and industrial design can be seen in relationships of components within an object such as the wheels to the frame of a bicycle, or the windows or columns to the walls in buildings. Fibonacci's Golden ratio and the principles of Palladio's architecture are also examples of proportion in design.

Pattern is the repetition or alternation of one or more components to create a visual unit. Any visual element can be used to create a pattern. Repetition can be very powerful in creating a sense of order in a composition. Alternation can create more complex patterns than those created by repetition alone. Examples of application include architecture facades and interior decoration; textile and wallpaper design.

Visual language

Visual language in Visual Communication Design is the means by which people communicate ideas, information and concepts using the elements and principles of design, methods, materials and media, images, typography, signs and symbols. When communicating using visual language the designer may gain inspiration from specific styles, representations and imagery. Ideas and concepts are communicated through the context, placement, and juxtaposition of images, typography and symbols.

Strategies to gain attention and maintain audience engagement

Visual communications, objects and structures are made from a combination of components such as symbols, signs and visual language. Through the conventions of visual language, including the use of design elements and design principles, methods and media, meaning can be created and is used to gain attention and maintain engagement of audiences.

Considerations when designing with colour

In colour theory discussions there is a view that black is not a colour, while white is a colour. This is based on the 'Colour as Light' or 'Additive Colour Theory'. This theory is appropriate for digital design where imagery is generated in the RGB colour model. It is here that black has no value (0 red, 0 green, 0 blue), whereas white does (255 red, 255 green, 255 blue). The 'Subtractive Colour Theory' or the 'Theory of Colour' as a 'Pigment or Molecular Colouring Agent' suggests that black is a colour and white is not. For example, this is applicable to print-based design fields, CMYK printing and fabric dyeing in fashion. These printing processes often use 'Pantone Colours'.

In the Visual Communication context both white and black are broadly and consistently applied to communications, objects and structures with the consideration of colour models such as RGB (screen/digital) CMYK (print) or HEX (web).

If the use of black and/or white involves a production process, then those components of the design must be considered. For example, if the task has asked for a two-colour logo on a sticker, then the student would need to consider which two colours to print. If they use two specific Pantone colours, they could not then include black because this would be a third colour in the production process. They could, however, have the ground (sticker material) showing through in their design as white, in which case white would be used as a colour in this task. Conversely, if the student were asked to design a festival t-shirt and chose the base t-shirt material in the colour black, then the requirement to print the colour white would become part of the production process.

Further information relating to colour theory see 'Color and design' on the Colormatters webpage.

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Advice for teachers - Visual Communication Design

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The design elements and design principles detailed in the Cross study specifications on page 9 must be studied. Point is the smallest element of a visual communication. It can be a dot but it is not necessarily circular. Point can be repeated to create shade, tone or texture.

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TERMINOLOGY

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Terminology: Principles and Elements of Design

Space - A two or three-dimensional coordinate system. In design 3D space (a.k.a, Cartesian Space) is created by using the rules of linear perspective. Space can also be implied by overlapping planes, relative position, isometric and oblique perspective. Space can also be described in terms of positive or negative, filled or empty, closed or opened.

Spatial dimensions progress from the most primitive element. It is the most minimal of the visual elements used in visual design. The "point" (a.k.a. a vector or an axis.), is a dimensionless entity, which can be used to determine and define a location in space. In design, a point is positioned in relationship to either a 2D or 3D coordinate system. A point that extends in one direction becomes a one-dimensional line. In nature, it is the most common formations. In symbology, it is the period that marks the silence at the end of a sentence.

Line - is a moving point that has both a position and a direction in space, having only one dimension: "length." The variables that define the quality of lines are: size, weight, shape, position, movement and direction, number, pattern, color, shading, interval and density. Points create lines, lines create shapes, planes and volume. Because we generally experience the world horizontally and vertically, lines of this kind can help to stabilize and balance the visual weight in a composition.

Contour - The outline of an object.

Shape - A closed two-dimensional area which defines the contour of an object, form, etc. Shape falls into two general categories: Geometric and Organic (a.k.a. Free-form shapes)

Plane - Conceptually a two-dimensional expression of length and width. A plane is a line stretched in two-dimensional space in a direction other than that of it's length.

Form - Is the complete state of work including all of the elements of design combining to form a structure.

Figure - Outline or contour of an object, shape, form, image etc.

Light and Color - typically known as hue. Color has a primary emotional response on any audience.This word represents a specific color or light wavelength found in the color spectrum, ranging circularly from red to yellow, green, blue and back to red. Color is defined by the variables: hue, value, and chroma (a.k.a. purity or saturation.)

Volume and Mass - is a three-dimensional form comprising length, width, and depth. Volumetric forms contain points (vertices), lines (edges), and planes (surfaces). A mass is the two-dimensional appearance of a three-dimensional form. Here, mass is interchangeable with volume. A mass is a solid body or a grouping of visual elements (line, color, texture, etc.) that compose a solid form.

Surface and Texture - Actual or implied, texture refers to the surface quality of an object. Qualities like smooth and roughness are used to describe texture. Texture is usually associated with the sense of touch.

Type - Also known as typography, and it is considered an element in graphic design. Although it consists of elements of design, it is - in itself - often an element in the form of visual communication.

Tone/Value - Another word for the lightness or darkness of an area, a color, or black and white. Both tone and value are interchangeable terms that refer to the relative lightness or darkness create as light reflects off the surface of an object. Brightness is measured in relationship to a graded scale from white to black. The contrast of values is used to give the illusion of space and three-dimensionally on a two-dimensional surface.

Pattern - The emphasis of a visual form relationship through the repetition of tone or more visual elements. Many textures have or create a specific pattern. Pattern is related to the principles of Repetition, Rhythm and Consistency.

Density - (Opaque/Transparent)

Ground - That which is behind a figure, without dominant form.

White Space - The space between objects in a composition. Sometimes referred to as "positive/negative space."

The Elements of Design are used by these Principles listed below to create Emphasis (Tension) and Balance (Release).

Concept - An idea, thought, theory, or notion conceived in the mind.

Structure - Mode of building, construction or organization of parts, elements or constituents.

Content, Subject and Character - The specific theme or innovation in addressing a visual problem.

Sketch (Rough) - The drawing of an concept where only those basic elements of design are used to describe an object or form are used.

- The elements of design converge to create a design or arrangement of parts that appear to be a whole with equilibrium (a.k.a. ). It is the balancing of the "visual weight" of elements in a design. Balance is related symmetry, asymmetry and radial balance. Symmetrical balance (a.k.a. formal balance) is the even placement of visual weight in a design, where the correspondence between opposite halves of a figure, or form on either side of an axis or set of axes in a design. Asymmetrical compositions (a.k.a. informal balance) are created by uneven spaces and therefore create "tension" in a design. gives motion to a composition that wants to be resolved into a balance. Radial symmetry relates to images emitting from a single point like the ripples from a stone thrown into a pond. The symmetry we experience as bilaterally symmetrical beings (two eyes, two ear, two arms etc.) is at the basis of the idea in a "classical" sense of design with an focus toward balance, stability, order and harmony.

Unity, Proximity and Variety - "Gestalt" meaning oneness, harmony, is a condition of completeness with the use of all visual elements within a format. It is a principle focused toward creating a sense of continuity in a design. This is closely related to creating a "rhythm" in a design. Proximity or the closeness of objects creates a bond between those elements in a composition. The relationship of distance between those objects implies their relationship to one another. Unity is commonly achieved by using a "grid" as an underlying foundation throughout a design.

Similarity - The condition of elements being visually grouped according to like features, contours or symmetries.

Contrast - The "automatic principle." Whenever an element is placed within a format, contrast is created in the various elements. Contrast can be emphasized by size, shape, color, texture, etc. Contrast is closely related to the principle of "Emphasis."

Emphasis - Also known as dominance. It is the focal point in a design. This condition exists when an element or elements within a visual format contain a hierarchy of visual importance. It is a condition achieved through distinct principles of optical perception, especially through emphasizing the minority.

Time, Motion and Direction - (Continuous/Discontinuous) Utilizing movement to create the visual illusion of displacement. This principle portrays the act or process of changing place or direction, orientation, and or position through the visual illustration of starting or stopping points, blurring of action, etc. Animation is an end product of movement. In 2D design, motion is created through the repetition of elements in a composition.

Position - The location at which compositional elements are placed within the visual field or format. Position is commonly described as relative to other compositional elements within the boundary of the visual field or format.

Orientation - The position of a compositional element relative to a format or other objects in the composition. Orientation is the placement of the figure or form within a given space described as "facing forward", "upside down" etc.

Scale - Size and dimension of figures and forms relative to a given unit of measurement. Scale is often described in terms of a notation of dimension of an object as compared to it's actual dimension in the physical world.

Size - A relative term used for comparing figures. The relative terms of "larger" and "smaller" than another are used in describing size. Size aids the viewer to determine scale, depth, and distance in the visual field.

Proportion - A two-dimensional or three-dimensional element defined by it's relationship to other elements in a design. In human terms, scale is strongly related in relation to the human body and it's relationship to the space around it. Proportion is seen in terms of the relationship between parts in a given design. Proportion is often described in terms of ratios (i.e. 3:4, 9:16, 1:2 etc.)

Repetition and Rhythm - The recurrences or repetition of one or more elements within a visual format, creating consistency and stability. In visual design, rhythm is achieved by the repetition of visual elements such as type, shape, image and layout (grid)in a given design.

Alignment - Alignment brings order to chaos. It is closely associated with the use of grids (a.k.a, Matrixes) in structuring a design.

Format - A 2 or 3 dimensional field or space in which art forms, visual messages, designs, and environments are created (a.k.a. "Composition"). 2-dimensional formats have width and length. 3-dimensional formats have width, length and depth.

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Space - A two or three-dimensional coordinate system. In design 3D space (a.k.a, Cartesian Space) is created by using the rules of linear perspective. Space can also be implied by overlapping planes, relative position, isometric and oblique perspective. Space can also be described in terms of positive or negative, filled or empty, closed or opened.

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The examination will be set by a panel appointed by the VCAA. All the key knowledge and key skills that underpin the outcomes in Units 3 and 4 are examinable.

CONDITIONS:

The examination will be completed under the following conditions:

• Duration: one and half hours.

Date: end-of-year, on a date to be published annually by the VCAA.

VCAA examination rules will apply. Details of these rules are published annually in the VCE and VCAA Administrative Handbook.

The examination will be marked by assessors appointed by the VCAA.

(VCAA Study Design, VCAA)

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On completion of this unit the student should be able to develop distinctly different concepts for each communication need and devise a pitch to present concepts to an audience, evaluating the extent to which these concepts meet the requirements of the brief.

(VCAA Study Design, VCAA)

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Worth a read!

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FREE PHOTOSHOP TEMPLATES FOR CREATIVE COLLAGES

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FREE PHOTOSHOP TEMPLATES FOR CREATIVE COLLAGES

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Sign into Adobe Creative Cloud to access your favorite Creative Cloud apps, services, file management, and more. Log in to start creating.

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The Visual Vocabulary of Hussain AlMoosawi | Create

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In these photos, architectural design elements form the alphabet of a new language we speak with our eyes.

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Have a listen!

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There’s no single formula for a great talk, but there is a secret ingredient that all the best ones have in common. TED curator Chris Anderson shares this secret -- along with four ways to make it work for you. Do you have what it takes to share an idea worth spreading?

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How to Set Up and Light a Home Studio | Create

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Create pro-looking shots from a DIY photography studio setup.

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Get inspired by mixtapes, then try tutorials for album covers and festival posters.

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Using Illustrator

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How to deconstruct type in Adobe Illustrator. | Create

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Slice, dice, and duplicate text to create trendy typography.

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Creative Briefs at Creative Boom, a UK-based online magazine for the creative industries, offering inspiration and ideas for creatives worldwide

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Creativity, style and efficiency to vector art!

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2. Intro and Gathering References: - welcome to my class, - creativity, - style and efficiency in Adobe Illustrator. - I'm sure everyone's really eager to jump right on the computer and get to work in - Illustrator. - But before we do that, - let's think through the process a little bit and try to build as solid a foundation as - possible for the artwork that we're going to be creating. - If you remember from the Project Guide, - we're going to be creating a story seen so it can either be from your own imagination or - from a story that you really love. - We're going to basically start by gathering ideas, - so there's lots of great ways to gather ideas. - You can look through books. - You can watch movies, - read stories. - You can also look for visual references. - One of my favorite things to do is go on Google images and get some visual references. - Other things I like to do or go out in the world and explore and take things in. - I'll take pictures and bring a lot of stuff back home with me. - I think one of the mistakes a lot of artists make is that they don't spend enough time - really thinking through the reference material portion of the process. - It doesn't have to be a long, - drawn out research project. - It's just a matter of going out seeking some reference materials, - not just for poses and different textures or something you might want to draw from the real - world, - but just for ideas and inspiration. 3. Getting First Ideas on Paper: - when I'm illustrating story seen are one of the first things I like to do is start doing - some really simple sketching and getting fast ideas out of my head. - Keep it really loose and simple. - I don't spend any time really at this point on refinements. - So what I'm doing right now is I'm drawing the concept that I came up with and the concept - that I came up with was a bear who was kind of wearing a television as a helmet. - And now it's a little strange, - but this is how my mind works. - So again you can tell him I'm keeping it really loose, - really simple. - And I like to take notes while I'm working on things like this as well. - So I was thinking this through as I was walking around, - just going during my day to day business and this this idea popped into my head. - So I'm trying to get as many ideas down on paper, - just in as notes as possible, - because sometimes I can refine things a little better with notes than I can with just a - simple sketch. - So I've got that down. - I'm gonna start drawing a little bit of the background now, - Um, - so I had this idea that it was the barrel to kind of be roaming through this man made - wasteland, - but that the wasteland would kind of resemble, - in some ways, - a forest. - So it's not. - It's not a forest in the conventional sense. - Um, - it's these broken pieces. - So it's just like broken metallic sort of world. - And in what made me think of that was I originally thought of him roaming through the - forest. - But I like the idea of flipping it and making it, - making the force made out of this, - like grey dull metal instead of a nice, - lively forest to kind of put him in a pinch. - So the bear himself I'm going to use I want to use bright, - warm colors to symbolize nature. - So I'm making a note of that. - So I don't forget that when I start moving into, - you know, - moving into to the major pre creation process, - um, - and that TV I want, - I want it to be a wood green TV, - and I thought there would be nice if some other animals from nature kind of followed the - bear. - So I want to put some birds in here, - so he's kind of got these these ah seekers with him. - So they're looking for refuge as well. 4. Breaking Your Routine: - Okay, - so we've made a pretty good foundation for the arts we're going to be creating in this - project. - But let's take a break now and kind of break our routine, - get away from our workspace and think a little bit about a little bit more about what we're - going to be creating. - I personally find it to be incredibly important to get away from the work area and get away - from the computer. - Get away from people, - for that matter, - kind of isolate your thoughts. - Give yourself some time to mull over what you're going to be creating, - because I feel like some of the best ideas come during that period. - So you laid out some ideas. - You have an idea where you want to go and you walk away. - Give yourself a break. - Think about stuff a little bit more, - and it's amazing the great ideas that will come into your mind. - So what I personally like to do is get out of the house. - I like to be outside. - I like to be in nature, - so a lot of times I'll go on a hike or I'll just run or walk around the neighborhood. - All often see things that inspire me or something will trigger thought that will be fed - back into my final product. - It's good to bring a very along, - like a sketch patch, - something little or camera or something that you can record some reference images if you - need to. - Sometimes it's good to go to a place like a museum. - You can get some ideas and inspiration from art in the museum. - Another thing I've done before that's been really great for me is I like to go to parts of - town that are a little different horse. - They're not necessarily text of places ever normally go, - so I might take a break and take a trip to Chinatown and walk around some shops. - It's pretty amazing. - Some of the things you'll see and what will kind of be fed back into your final product. - So I think right now put your pencil down, - shut your computer off, - take a break. - Think about what you're going to be creating and see if you can come up with any great - ideas that can be fed back into the reference sketch will be creating in the next step 5. Reference Sketch Part 1: - Okay, - so now it's time to start the reference sketch. - Um, - you can't see it, - obviously, - because we're focused on one piece of paper, - but around me, - I've got all of my materials that I've gathered already. - Um, - and I've got a big picture of one of the bears that I downloaded on the screen so I can see - it really big in front of me while I draw. - Uhm I'm going to start by kind of drawing in just really quickly. - Uh, - my bear And, - uh, - I'm gonna I had a little detail along the way, - and I'm just trying to I'm drawing it really in light pencil right now is I'm gonna go over - this again in just a few minutes. - So my goal right now is just to kind of set the initial composition, - and I'll probably be brushing this up and fixing it as we move along. - And I could see that bears face a little better now and get a better sense for what a - bear's snout might look like. - Um, - because I'm looking at right of my screen, - okay? - And, - uh, - he's kind of got a little whiter for around his now. - Probably have to breathe this a little bit here. - Anyway, - there it is. - That's basically what I'm looking for. - And I'm gonna box that in with kind of this idea have for almost, - like, - uh, - helmet made out of a television set. - I'm gonna refine all this in just a minute. - Uh, - but right now I'm just trying to get this done quickly. - As you can see, - I'm not really taking too much care. - Teoh iron out all the details, - so I'll refine it a little. - But generally speaking, - I don't spend a lot of time on these sketches. - Um, - I'm just doing this for ideas. - Put some Dial's at the bottom. - Always liked when TV's had these dial's at the bottom to kind of control different levels - like tint in contrast and stuff like that. - As a kid, - I always played with that stuff. - I always like the way it looked, - and I'll put these knobs here A little power button. - Maybe I could put like a little speaker grill. - I don't know. - I could play around with that again. - I I'll do more of this when ah, - again to vector. - But right now I'm just trying to get these ideas down and get a little more of a refined - composition before I start creating the vector art. - All right, - so draw the back of this television set, - and I'm gonna add a little instead just having dropped straight back at a little kind of - contour or, - you know, - a little extra element there on the back because I always like when those when objects like - this aren't just flat rectangles and at a little ventilation grills just for decorative - purposes, - you know, - just kind of to make it look a little more interesting. - Maybe some dots, - whatever I want to do. - Okay. - Anyway, - um, - now that I've got that, - I'm gonna look at another image. - I'm gonna quickly switch images on my computer, - and I'm going to move into doing a body now for him. - I'm kind of a kind of one. - Um, - I want him to have its head turned a little bit. - So what I'm going to do here is I'm going to have his body kind of twisted. - So his head, - he's kind of looking behind his shoulder a little, - um, - and give him a big old belly. - I'm gonna want to refine this anyway. - Um, - have his arm and here, - and one of the things I thought is that he could be carrying something important. - Uh, - arm needs to be fatter anyway, - Refined this a little bit. - Like I said, - his arm needs to be fatter. - Fattened it up. - But I want him to be holding something that kind of symbolizes this idea that he's, - um he's, - like, - kind of symbolizing nature and in this wasteland of mechanical kind of decay, - and so he's going to be holding something special. - I haven't have to think about this a little bit, - and I'll probably in the next step of my more refined sketch will probably add that in. - So for now, - I'm just putting some little magical kind of dust. - And now add Ian some hills. - So I want these hills to be kind of nice and sloping, - um, - so compositionally it wraps him and focuses attention in on the bear. - So then I'll add in these kind of weird metal structures. - So in my story, - this bear, - it's kind of going on a journey to reestablished the nature that he he lived in, - um, - the world around him is kind of crumbled a little into this kind of, - uh, - metallic man made wasteland. - So there's gonna be some objects that kind of resemble trees, - But they're not trees there, - these pipes and metal parts. - So I'm gonna draw more of these weird kind of objects in. - And these are gonna be pretty simple in the final rendered piece on when I ticket in the - Illustrator. - These aren't gonna be anything crazy is going to be pretty, - pretty straightforward. - Simple pieces. - Like I said, - they're going to kind of look similar to trees, - but not necessarily exactly like trees, - But they're gonna look a lot more spare and kind of broken. - Ah, - I may add some clouds into the sky a little bit. - Um, - but I'm definitely going to be adding a few birds. - I love drawing birds. - Um, - I think they're ridiculous animals. - They're absolutely insane looking. - If you really look at them, - these little tiny dinosaurs flying around, - um, - and there a lot of fun. - Two draw. - So I love whenever I can tow work birds into a piece, - I'll do it. - And I usually make them look pretty insane. - E think that's even more fun. - All right, - so I'm gonna refine all that I may have one more, - but, - you know, - I'm probably not going to go too far because I don't want to spend a lot of time when I'm - trying to demonstrate stuff a lot of time on trying to refine my details. 6. Reference Sketch Part 2: - Okay, - so I've gone in a little bit here, - and I've started to refine my sketch a little. - And what I'm doing is I'm going in with a darker gray pencil, - and I'm going over my lines and refining as I go along. - One thing I didn't mention before that I probably should mention is that I wouldn't suggest - using giant paper for this. - I actually suggest using pretty small paper. - I'm just using a normal letter sides us letter sized piece of paper 8.5 by 11. - And the reason for that is because, - remember, - this is just a reference sketch, - you know, - it might notice. - I'm I'm adding a little for in here. - So this is just a reference sketch. - This isn't going to be a final peace. - And this isn't going to be scanned in by me. - I'm I just don't like to work that way. - Um, - sometimes clients will ask for that from, - I guess, - other artists. - I've actually never been forced to follow that process where you, - you know, - create artwork on paper, - a really tight pencil sketch, - and then scan it and trace it in. - Um, - that's never happened to me. - Uh, - I've always kind of told clients how I work, - and they're okay with it. - So, - you know, - explore your options. - But if you have to scan it in, - then do it. - You know, - do whatever the client needs. - If you're working on a job, - I'm not going to say Don't do it. - Absolutely. - I just think that it kind of stifles the creature the creation process a little bit. - Personally, - I'm not a big fan of working that way anyway, - so I'm not looking to create something that's really tight or really finished, - but I want to get enough in there that I can be comfortable and have a nice foundation. - Um, - moving into illustrator. - So I like to darken it. - It just kind of makes me feel like this is a little more solid and it's relaxing. - I like L a sketching. - It's fun. - So I'm gonna kind of refine this a little more. - Um, - and I'll make these birds look a little more finished, - so kind of how it usually draw them an illustrator. - I'm gonna give his eyes a different look. - I like this upward glance because it be speaks wisdom. - I like to put a humor in my in my work here. - So, - uh, - if you've ever noticed it looked at my stuff, - you've probably seen it's a little strange. - Um, - but generally, - just like things that kind of make me laugh. - Sometimes I'll just put in little facial expressions or whatnot toe that make me laugh a - little bit. - Or sometimes I'll give the birds strange hairdos. - I have given them bald heads before with that little little Tufts on the side. - I like that. - It's fun. - Anyway, - um, - so trying to get them a little more refined and ah, - a little more in line with direction. - We're going probably wanna brush that up there. - But I can fix that. - An illustrator to Because, - like I said, - this isn't final. - Um, - I'm gonna get my quickly get my landscape here a little more solidified. - Probably gonna be adding some rocks or other metallic kind of objects once I get into - illustrator. - Um, - I'll draw few in here quickly, - but this stuff in the background for me for what I'm trying to achieve Not as important, - um, - these air atmospheric elements I'm gonna create one. - Get it down. - I'll mimic it. - I'm not going to copy and paste it and like, - warp it or anything like that, - I'm actually just going to mimic the pieces. - So I'll probably put something in the foreground like a little bit larger version of one of - those broken things. - Give it a little volume, - you know? - Anyway, - you get the idea so you can kind of give myself an idea of what this might end up looking - like. - And in some a little rivets. - Rivets are fun. - Anyway, - um, - I'll do the same thing, - flesh this out a little more and then here I've thought about this some more. - I think I just want it to be a little plant. - You know, - I think that would be fine. - It would be kind of nice. - So the bear is walking through. - Let's give him a little fair on that arm and that are back a little, - All right? - And then I billy out a little more. - And so well, - anyway, - so make this a little plant and will draw attention to it. - An illustrator with some contrast in colors and effects. - So he's kind of transporting this in my story. - He's finding refugees trying to find a place to rebuild nature in my story anyway. - Um, - so there it is. - I'll probably brushed this up a little more, - and then I'll jump in the illustrator. 7. Critiquing and Annotating the Sketch: - Okay, - so I went in and we did a few more refinements here, - Drew in a couple quick things, - Um, - added a few more rocks made of another foreground object. - Before I move on, - I'm going to do one other step before I movinto to Adobe Illustrator. - I'm gonna look at this and kind of do a little self critique and try to think through some - things that I feel like I could make better once I take it into illustrator, - I guess. - One of the things I feel like I could make this tree antenna idea. - Um, - I feel like it could make these branches better, - so I'd say, - uh, - work on branches. - I just feel like I can refine those a little bit more. - Once I get into illustrator, - I make some leaf shapes and probably work through that a little bit and make that a little - better. - Other things I'm going to do here is I know I want wood grain for the TV, - so I'm going to be adding wood green here, - so I'm what I'm doing right now is I'm not only self critiquing, - I'm going to annotate this a little bit as well. - Um I noticed that this is probably going to need to be bigger. - So let's say make larger. - Okay, - so I know that moving in. - So I'm kind of just trying Teoh like, - tighten things up a little bit just with notes. - I feel like this is a little bulky back here to it almost looks like the weight of it would - be pulling the bear over a little bit. - So maybe I want to say, - um Ah, - play with angle on this part here so I'll play with the angle and lessen the weight of that - a little. - Try to bring it in a little bit and tighten that up. - Once I get into illustrator, - I'll be adding a little shine in here to make that look a little more. - So maybe I should say that so ad shine to the glass, - so I need add shine to the glass. - I'm also going to make sure that of the colors I want this to kind of be a dead blue gray - all throughout here and in the sky. - So I want to make this kind of this dead bluish gray color to kind of give this illusion of - coldness. - I definitely want to annotate that because I like Teoh kind of get an idea how I want to - play with color once I jump into illustrator, - which is where I really do most of my color thinking, - Um, - one other thing I definitely want to make a note of is that the colors on the bear are warm - , - natural colors. - So on the bear and on the TV. - Okay, - uh, - gonna really focused on making it look as organic as possible. - Even though this is a television, - I'm going to try to play with it and make it look like something from the natural world. - So it has would grains almost. - I'm probably gonna add some more leafy elements make it look almost like a living thing - instead of a mechanical thing again trying to play with that contrast of this mechanical - world versus this natural thing that's happening here. - And I feel like I can do that by kind of playing with the idea of this TV. - And this TV kind of becomes a symbol. - Instead of the machine world, - it becomes a symbol of the natural world. - So it's gonna be kind of a weird juxtaposition. - There hopefully that works out, - we'll see how it is. - But I kind of think it's gonna work, - and I'm feeling pretty good about this. - So I'm gonna stop doing this, - and I'm gonna get ready to put it into illustrator. 8. Setting up Your Document: - Okay, - Now that we've finished our reference sketch, - it's time jump into illustrator and start creating vector art. - This is where the majority of our artwork is going to be produced. - So I'm gonna press file an illustrator and new, - by the way, - I'm using Illustrator CC Creative Cloud. - The newest version that's out right now. - First thing I'm gonna do here in the new document box is I'm going to type a name. - I'll type Baehr V one because I'm drawing a bear. - And that's my descriptive title of my personal peace and V one for version one. - I like to version out my files just in case there any major changes, - then I can go back and and and revert to a previous version. - So maybe I'll make a major change later on in the artwork. - I might give it a new version name, - so I might see it as Baehr v two. - And maybe I don't like it's all revert back to bear V one and work from that again. - It's just my way of kind of keeping track of things and moving forward in a safe way. - All right, - moving on. - We're gonna talk a little bit about size very quickly. - One of the really cool things about illustrators, - pretty much any box where you can type a number. - It will do automatic conversions for you, - so you'll notice that I have the documents set up in points right now, - and that's how I want it. - I am going. - Teoh set this to 10 inches wide. - Now you notice I didn't type it in points. - I typed in inches. - That's perfectly fine and illustrated by press tab. - It will automatically convert it to points. - Pretty cool. - Same thing. - For the height, - I'll type eight I m for inches Tab automatically converts two points. - It's really, - really a nice feature. - It tends a 10 inch wide by eight inch high. - Canvas isn't really that big, - but the reason I'm choosing to do that is because keeping your your actual physical - dimensions of your image smaller helps with pushing raster effects through illustrator, - and we're going to be working with raster effects, - so we want to keep our files fairly small. - What you want to do is think about you know the ratio of your final document and then try - toe shrink it down using math. - So in this case, - Maybe I'm making a 20 inch wide by 16 inch high document, - and I'm going to cut that in half to 10 inches by eight inches, - which is gonna work really well for me, - and it's gonna help with that. - You know, - kind of kind of the processing power of the computer will overwhelm the computer. - All right, - if you need to set a bleed, - go ahead and do that. - I'm not doing that for this piece, - but if you do, - there it is. - It will set. - If you set one, - it'll be reflected throughout the whole thing. - So maybe if I had 1/2 inch bleed, - you'll notice that it's all locked in because of this. - Little, - uh, - setting is clicked in right now, - but I'm gonna go back to zero. - All right. - Finally in advanced. - This has collapsed a lot of times, - but I'm going to open it up in the advance settings here. - We're going to make sure that our color mode is set correctly. - If you're printing said it to see him like a RGB for screen raster effects, - make sure it's at 300 especially we're printing, - which we are in this case 300 is gonna keep things safe. - Keep things easy. - You can actually change that again later, - so you accidentally don't set it in the beginning. - It's pretty easy to change. - Once you get into the process, - I'm gonna press OK, - and I've got a new blank canvas or blank art board. - You'll notice. - On the right hand side, - I've got a whole bunch of panels opened up. - This is how I like to work some of these panels. - We're going to be really important pretty much every panel I talk about today. - In fact, - all of the panels I talked about today can be accessed up here. - If you go up to the window menu, - you'll see there's a whole list of them. - So if you can't find one or one's not open, - I always feel free to reference that as we're working through today one window you'll - definitely want open for one panel you'll want open. - Is the appearance panel really important? - The layers one is probably another one you're going to want to have open the whole time 9. Blocking In Shapes: - Okay, - now that our document is ready to go, - um, - gonna jump into illustrator, - and I'm going to start blocking in the composition. - And what I mean by that is I'm going to be creating kind of just basic shapes that ripped - represent all the main elements within the composition. - Um, - I'm gonna start just by drawing in the background, - adding a background color. - So what I'll do is just rename layer one hate having layers just called layer one and layer - two and stuff like that. - So I'll call it BG for background. - So that's going to be my sky. - I'll select the rectangle tool, - and I'm gonna come up here to the color panel. - I keep my panels, - opens for easy access and all mix a color that I like That kind of goes along the lines of - what I'm looking for. - That dead it dead blue grey kind of color. - All right, - so you notice this is kind of it's a little bit on the light side right now. - As we move along, - other colors will work with it to make it look a little bit gray er and more mechanical. - All right, - so this is just a foundation. - You'll also notice that I've worked. - I'm working outside the bounds of the art board. - Uh, - for what we're doing, - it's inconsequential. - You don't need to be within the art board. - The art board will actually crop the art for you on export, - so don't worry about it. - Uh, - some people might consider it sloppy work, - but to me, - it makes sense because it gives me extra art to work with. - When I have are kind of on the edges of that art board, - you'll see what I mean. - A little later, - um, - I'm going to now add another layer, - and this is for the ground. - So I'll add in my ground and going to make that a little darker. - So you notice I d selected my sky shape. - I can lock that layer too, - if I'd like. - So I'm making this a little darker, - and I'm looking at my reference sketch. - You can't see that, - of course, - but I've got it next to me, - and I'm kind of going to rough this in just similar to what I have on my reference sketch. - And probably I just hit the key. - The use direct to change my pen tool to direct select, - And I'll kind of smooth this out a little bit. - And I want this kind of depression here in the ground that's gonna be drop focus towards my - bear in the composition. - So get that right. - So I'm adjusting that using the direct select tool. - Okay, - now that I've got that, - I'm gonna lock that layer and I'll move onto the bear. - I'm gonna do the bears body. - I work with the pencil and illustrator almost almost exclusively when I'm drawing object. - I personally don't like to use the pencil or brush tool for art creation. - I use it for more like effects and smoothing and things like that. - Now, - remember, - I'm making this bear the color of this bear a little warmer. - I'm adjusting my colors. - Okay, - so I'm gonna come in here with the pencil and draw in my bare. - Now. - Now, - something about the pencil. - I want to just discuss really quickly while I'm working here. - Uh, - it takes some practice. - This is not a tool that most people pick up right away. - It infuriates some people. - Zoom in just a touch so I can get some for details in here while I'm moving along. - Um, - it's it takes some practice to get used to, - and I'm not going to lie. - For most people, - it feels pretty technical. - I and used to it at this point, - I actually enjoy working with the pencil. - I may be a freak of nature in that regard. - I don't know, - but to me, - it's fine. - Um, - I like the process. - I love the control of the pen tool. - It is pretty much, - in my opinion, - unrivaled in that regard. - So I'm looking at my reference sketch and trying to kind of come up with the basic shape - I'm going for, - all right. - And I'm gonna move on to my other side here again, - working outside the art board at the bottom that keeps things kind of flowing. - It keeps things moving fast. - I'm gonna undo that. - I want to make this barrel fatter, - so I'm going to bring this up. - I'm actually going to add in some of the for detail. - A little later, - you'll notice that I'm hitting. - I'm kind of toddling between the pen and direct select. - I'm doing that by holding the command key on the keyboard, - and that allows me to reposition points on the fly. - So there you go. - If you're not used to the pencil and you want to use it and you want to feel the control of - it practice, - it'll come to you. - Anyone? - Absolutely. - Anyone can learn the pencil. - No exceptions. - I never met a single person who is incapable of learning something like this. - Just takes practice. - So I'm gonna finish this bear, - shape up a little bit here and make some minor adjustments. - But zoom out here to get a look at the composition, - but I mean, - essentially, - it's it's shaping up the way I want it to its. - The shapes are similar to what I've drawn on paper, - and it's moving in the direction I wanted to move. - So there it is. - I'm going to continue blocking in this. - I'm not going to bore you, - but having you watch me block everything in So I'll Bloxham more stuff in and we'll come - back for the next step. 10. Appearnce Panel Overview: - Let's take a really quick break from blocking our composition to discuss the appearance - panel. - I have the appearance panel open on the right side of my screen. - I keep select panels open on the right just for easy access. - While I'm working now, - the appearance panel, - I'd have to say, - if it's not the most important panel in Illustrator, - it's one of the most. - Without a doubt, - it gives you lots of different options and controls in one easy place. - So if you select any object, - it will show the attributes of that object. - The appearance attributes. - It will show you the stroke color, - and you can see the opacity settings for that and any effects that are applied directly to - the stroke. - It'll say it do the same thing for the fill so you can adjust capacity independently for - each one. - You can turn them on and off the visibility. - That is, - um, - you can adjust global opacity for that whole path or object right down here, - and then you've got some more stuff you can. - You can apply effects. - You can add a new stroke. - You can add a new Phil. - All appearance attributes will appear here in the appearance panel. - You can clear the appearance now. - One thing before we move on, - we are going to be using this a lot. - While we're going through this process, - we're going to be coming back to this. - So I'd highly suggest you keep it open one thing before we move on in the fly out menu on - the right upper right hand side. - Let's go through and make sure this setting new art has basic appearance is turned off That - is going to be crucial. - It's going to allow us to use any object within the composition as a um, - basically as a reference for what? - How you want to create the next object. - So all you'll have to do is select an object, - and whatever appearance attributes that object had the new one you will draw afterwards - will basically retained those same attributes. - It's a really useful thing. - It allows you to create quickly if you want to kind of use stuff. - You've already built appearances you've already built, - but I highly suggest you keep this open and definitely turn that off. - It might be a little tricky to get used to it first, - and you'll see why as we move along, - but it's really helpful 11. Pen Tool Tips and Blocking Adjustments: - Okay, - so we're moving ahead and blocking things in. - You'll notice that I've stepped forward a little bit in the process here. - I've added some new objects in, - and I've added a new layer over in my layers panel called Pipes to I want to talk about - this really quickly because it kind of addresses organization. - We're going to be talking a little more in depth about organizing things, - but right now I just want to talk really quickly about it when we're building our - composition. - What you want to try to do, - if you can, - is organize things and keep objects basically like grouped in layers by like object. - So I could group all all the pipes together in one layer, - but it would get really messy. - So I'm doing it by low levels of depth, - the farthest level in depth, - like back receding back into the composition I labeled pipes. - That was my 1st 1 So those are going to be small. - They're going to be in the distance kind of in the mid ground, - have this new layer called pipes to and then in the foreground will have one more called - pipes three, - which will be a lot closer to us, - and therefore the objects will be bigger. - The colors will be more, - I guess, - saturated and and such So anyway, - with that out of the way, - I want to do one more thing before we move into our next part of this unit. - And that's I want to discuss really quickly some more ins and outs of the pen tool on. - I'm going to do that. - I'm going to draw another one of these pipe trees, - so I'll draw it really quickly. - Try to not spend too much time on this, - okay, - so I like this interplay between, - um between hard angles and curved lines for making spooky forms. - I think it kind of gives a funky and spooky feel to things. - So that's what I'm going for here because I want this to look like I said, - like, - sort of a wasteland. - Help pop this guy up here and then we'll swing this in here. - There we go. - Now I want to edit this a little bit. - So what I'll do is I want to move this point. - For instance, - I'm holding command. - I get direct select that shows up when I hold command and I'm able to move that really - quickly and easily, - right? - If I want a curve, - say the bottom of this form. - I want a curve that I'm keeping. - My pen tool is still selected. - I haven't switched tools. - Okay, - What I can do is I could hold the option key down and you'll notice I get this black arrow - with a little curved line. - You can drag that down or up. - Whatever. - And now have curved, - curved, - that little path segment. - Just Teoh. - In case you're wondering which version of illustrator I'm on, - I'm on the most recent version of Adobe Illustrator Creative Cloud. - The one that came out in January 2014. - So, - um, - if you're working on an older version of illustrated, - the tools might be slightly different, - but it's not gonna be so different that it wouldn't make sense. - Okay, - So other things I can do if I want a curve like an angled line. - So here I've got this angled point. - It terminates here. - There's no curve on this particular point. - If I hold down the option key, - I get this carrot. - OK, - I drag it now. - I've curved just that point. - Now that's only directly on that point now. - I don't want that curved. - I actually want an angle there. - So that's that's that. - I'm going to draw another shape on here, - add it in, - Okay, - And then I'll be adding some more stuff in. - But those are just some quick ins and outs of the pen tool, - and it just shows you how easy it is to actually go in and edit things. - You don't have to go and redraw the whole thing. - You don't have to command Z or undo whole bunch of stuff. - You can actually go in and do some really quick and easy at it. - Okay, - so I'm pretty far along and blocking my composition in. - I'm feeling pretty good about it. - I'm feeling like it can start moving into details pretty soon here. - I just want to sit back first and assess the entire composition and see if there are any - changes I want to make before I go into that. - So I don't know if you remember, - but in the sketch process, - I mentioned that I thought that plant this plant here could be a little bigger. - I also feel like this arm can be a little bigger, - So I've already made sure of unlocked both of those layers in the layers panel I've layer - called plant and layer called Bear, - and I'm going to hit the V key on my keyboard to you to switch to the regular selection - tool, - and I'm going to select both of those items. - I'm going to de select the bear's body. - It's now I've just got these two objects selected, - and I'm going to resize that holding shift toe lock in proportions. - Hopefully, - you know that by now kind of important are any way. - I think that's about the size I want it. - So it's a pretty big arm. - It's a pretty big plant. - Gonna be adding in some more detail, - some other things I want to change. - I'm not feeling like these pipes in the foreground are exactly what I want, - um, - in in terms of size and placement. - So I'm gonna change them very slightly in the layer panel. - A quick thing you can do, - you can hold the option key down and click this little area next to the right of the eye - and that if you if you hold option down, - it will basically lock everything except for the layer that you want to be unlocked. - It's great thing to do. - Makes it so you don't make any mistakes. - Gonna resize this minute Make it a little smaller, - Just gonna rotator to touch. - So my goal with this composition is two draws much attention inward towards the bare assed - possible. - So you might notice that these all of these objects, - these tree type things, - are all kind of pointing inward. - They're all pointing toward the bear. - So, - compositionally speaking, - I'm trying to draw as much attention to that center as possible. - Um And then I'm using really kind of hot colors for only very small objects. - I try to limit the use of really bright colors and crazy colors to just pops of color. - Um, - and you'll see how effective that is later. - Right now, - it's very effective because there's not a lot going on. - So these red birds, - um, - unlock that layer quickly to show you that these red birds really stand out. - Um, - as does the red plant in the middle here. - One thing I'm not really happy with is the color have chosen for the leaves and the stems - on the plant. - Something to change that quickly. - I'm just gonna tone it down a bit, - actually. - Gonna bring the magenta up and I think I'm going to hold. - I'm holding command and I'm dragging one of these down. - And what that does is it takes all of them down together in unison, - so proportionally changes them. - So I'll probably tinker with this a little bit later on as well, - to get it where I want it to be. - But it's getting closer. - I just don't want it to be so hot that green was really, - really vibrating against the red and against some of the other elements. - It was just a little too much. - I'm gonna be at ingredients to these as well later. - So they'll all kind of toned down a bit. - And they're all going to get a little more subtle and nuanced as we move forward. - But I'm feeling pretty good about this. - I may make some more adjustments to the composition, - but for the most part, - this is the direction I'm heading 12. Layering in Illustrator: - So before we start detail, - ING are illustration. - Let's take a quick moment to talk about organization a little bit. - First, - we're going to talk about layers. - An illustrator. - Um, - I actually know a lot of illustrators I've spoken to who don't really use layers. - Even with complicated artwork, - I personally feel like this is a mistake, - especially when you go back to edit. - It just makes it so easy to go into edit things and quickly understand what's going on with - the structure of a document. - When you have layers organized and labeled really well, - if you're ever handing your are off to someone, - it's really great toe layer for them. - So they have an idea of what's going on now. - Illustrators and objects based method of creating our It's a little different than photo - shop in that way. - So Photoshopped works specifically with layers all the time. - You're manipulating layers, - but but illustrators layers are basically objects or groups of objects. - So the main levels of these layers that I've created so if you know you notice on my layers - panel, - I've got a whole bunch that I've created, - um, - inside of each of these. - So if I go up to birds. - For instance. - If I look down here, - it shows sub I'm going, - going to call them sub layers. - You can think of them that way. - But all they are are individual objects within that layer. - So every single one of these is a path or an object Within that layer, - I don't go unnamed Those personally, - you could if you really wanted to, - if you're completely O c D. - But for the most part, - you don't really need to worry about that. - So I'm just going to close that up and we'll look at it this way. - So each of these layers is kind of an important section of our composition. - So what I like to do is when I'm creating my artwork, - I'll label it as I'm going along. - I've pretty much created all of the the layers I'm going to use. - I might add a few more, - but just for the sake of teaching, - I'm gonna add one more right now, - while I'm adding this layer, - I'm holding the option key on the keyboard. - I'm holding the option key, - and I'm pressing this new layer button at the bottom of the panel. - And what that does is it brings up this layers option. - Ah, - window. - And then I can name the layer. - So we'll just call this, - um, - tests later. - One other thing you'll notice is that the color is down here. - This is the color of the ah, - the points. - And you know that you're drawing when you draw path on that layer. - Brown is the best color to draw with. - And there's some really awful ones in here. - Black and yellow are absolutely horrible to draw with. - Gray is not so hot either. - The best ones are actually at the top of the list. - Light blue light red, - green, - medium blue, - magenta science are all pretty good sans a little bit on the light side. - But usually it works out for me. - I kind of cycle through those. - So with this one Brown, - I would probably just switch it to light blue. - It's gonna work for me that way. - Uh, - don't worry about any of these settings. - We're not dealing with these right now. - If you do have other needs, - you can, - you know, - switch these honor off. - But right now, - let's just keep them at the default settings. - We don't need to change them. - I'm just going to press. - OK, - so now I have this new layer. - It's called test layers in my layers panel. - Um, - one thing I like to do I like to make sure I use practical names for my layers. - I've seen people name their layers. - Ridiculous things. - They think they're comedians. - I think I can be pretty funny occasionally. - This is not the place for it. - Try to keep your layers as simple and practical in naming in terms of naming as possible, - you want it to be easy. - You don't want to name a layer Kevin and then come back and wonder what the hell Kevin is. - So just, - you know, - be easy on yourself. - Name the practical things. - Don't be clever. - Another important thing is to try to isolate important objects on their own layers. - I'm gonna actually ditch this test later now, - because I don't need it anymore. - I'll throw in the trash, - but let's look at these other layers and see how we group things. - So my most important part of my composition is the bear. - I put the bear on its own layer. - There's gonna be a lot of detail in that bear, - so I want to have it separated from the other things. - Now, - on the other hand, - the birds are going have a lot less detail, - and so I'm grouping them on one layer together, - the two birds air on one layer together. - Um, - the TV is on its own layer because it's going to have a fair amount of detail. - The plant mostly because it's the only plant, - Um, - and so on. - I already talked about how I've grouped the pipes in different layers, - and and I think that makes a lot of sense. - So everything is kind of groups and separated to make it really easy for me to go in and - add it, - Um, - I if I open this file up three years from now, - I'm going to know exactly what I was doing, - and it's really helpful 13. Setting Swatches and Graphic Styles: - another great way to keep your artwork organized and to keep your workflow going. - Moving in a sort of a faster way is to, - ah, - populate your swatches panel. - Now you'll notice. - Right now, - mine is empty. - I haven't been populating my swatches panel because I've been trying to just move through - the art quickly. - I'm gonna take some time right now to do that, - and it's really simple process. - For instance, - if I want to grab this red for this bird, - I'm just going to click the bird. - I'm going to come up here into my swatches panel, - shows my field color and just drag it in its that simple. - Same with the TV. - Same thing. - Just drag it in and I can keep doing that. - It's really fast, - really easy. - I usually keep mine organized as I'm moving through, - so that similar colors air kind of next to each other, - and you can always slide them around and reorganize them as you see fit. - It's pretty easy to dio, - so I'm just adding those in, - um, - get the sky color. - Put that here and you'll notice it's got a nice array of almost creating greedy int there. - I'll bring this brown that I used for the branch, - and I also used that for the back of the television. - We'll bring this green in next to my read, - and I'll get the color that I used for my bear kind of separate my cool colors from my - warmer colors by nature colors from my more Matar, - I guess you know, - man made sort of great blues shades, - and, - um, - I think I've got almost all of them. - Just get the arm color, - even though that's just there for contrast. - Okay, - so I think that's it. - I've got those all in. - It was pretty fast. - Another thing you can do with colors that's really helpful is you can create color groups. - There's a couple cool ways to do this. - One way you can do it is just by selecting a series of colors, - and we can go here new color group. - You can name it if I want. - I can also press that down there. - I can call these nature, - and it groups them together in a folder. - Could do the same thing with my man made ones. - I'll do it from down here this time, - and I'll call these metal perfect there they are all group together. - These groups are really helpful. - There's another really cool way to make them. - What you can do is say I select an object. - I can actually press that, - and it will create a little color group just from that object. - That's pretty cool. - Way to do stuff, - too. - It's really fast, - really easy now. - I don't need those, - so I'm just going to command Z and undo that really quickly to finish up this - organizational unit. - One thing I want to talk about really quickly. - Our graphic styles Graphic styles are quick and easy way to apply, - uh, - and objects visual attributes to another object. - So you could basically save the attributes of one object and apply them to another. - So let's just quickly pan our screen over. - I'm just holding the space bar down and panning over and let go. - I want to work off the art board because I don't want to use this. - Are that I'm going to be using as a demonstration in my final piece. - So I'm just gonna quickly draw a shape. - Okay, - so there it is now, - but I want to make a radiant for this. - So I'm going to go to my greedy it panel and just apply this black and white radiant. - That's fine for demonstration purposes. - And I'm going to show you how you can do. - Ah, - quick diagonal ingredient because I used the eggnog radiance a lot and we will be using - them in later unit here. - So I hit the G key on my keyboard toe. - Go into the greedy and tool and you'll notice I have this line across that's basically - showing a visual representation of how my ingredient is applied on this object. - We're gonna drag a diagonal line with that. - Now I have a nice Diagne ingredient. - It's applied in a different way. - I'm gonna add one more thing to this. - Uhm, - I'm going to feather this object. - So in my appearance panel over here I am going to go down to effects for stylized feather - click preview and you'll notice Now I have this nice soft edge. - So with that in mind, - if I had a new object or different objects somewhere in the same image, - maybe have a few of them just gonna drop a few different things and I want them all to have - that same. - The same attributes. - Easiest way I could do that. - Select this object and I'm going to create a new graphic style in my graphic styles panel. - You'll notice that shows up right here. - Now all I have to do select both of these objects. - I'm simply using the regular selection tool saw Hit V and I will hold shift. - So I've got both those objects selected. - Click that, - and now they all have the same, - uh, - same attributes. - The same appearance attributes I select them all you'll notice in the appearance panel. - It's all the same stuff, - and that's how you do that. - That could be really helpful. - And you'll see why, - in a little bit, - we're going to be creating some shadows using some effects and will be using some - directional Grady INTs. - And if we can apply that those settings Teoh those appearance attributes to a whole bunch - of objects in Mass, - it's a lot easier than doing one at a time 14. Drawing Inside Objects: - We've laid a nice solid foundation for artwork and we've gone over organization. - So now we're ready to jump into details. - Well, - I guess almost ready. - One thing I want to cover really quickly is masking. - Masking to me is the easiest way to make illustrator feel faster and make the workflow and - illustrator feel a little bit more realistic and looser and less technical. - Um, - I I like to use masking too. - Add details to my objects without having to do any of the technically precise movements - that happen a lot of times with things like Path finding an illustrator and, - uh, - and just trying to match the edges of paths against each other. - So we're gonna go over that really quickly. - There's a few different types of masking, - but I want to focus mostly on something called drawing side mood, - which, - to me, - is one of the best tools in Illustrator Hands Down. - It is so, - so useful. - Almost everybody who I have known who have talked to about this and if they didn't know - about it at first once I've told them about it a little bit, - it's kind of been one of those life altering moments So I really think this is gonna be - super beneficial for you, - especially if you have kind of, - Ah, - a little bit of trepidation about approaching illustrator and you're a little bit cautious - or, - you know, - you feel like it's a little too technical for you. - Think this might take a little bit of that out? - I'm going to start right now with the bear here, - this bear shape, - and I'm going to just demonstrate a little bit about how draw inside mode works with this - bear shape. - So what I'm going to be doing is my goal is going to be to create some, - um, - some furry sort of shading along the left edge of this, - this object to trigger drawn side mode. - There's a couple different ways you can do it. - There's one way that slow, - and there's one way that's fast. - Almost always the way that's fast is the best way to go, - in this case, - the fast ways to use the keyboard. - First, - let's talk about the slow way, - just in case you need a visual on the tool bar on the left side of my screen. - Here at the bottom, - there's a little button that allows us to shift drawing modes. - You'll notice it says Press shift D, - and that's what we're going to be doing. - But right now, - I just want to show you where it's hidden. - If you hold this down, - you can switch it. - Switch to right here, - says Draw inside. - I'm not going to do that to me. - That's a waste of time. - If I hold shift and press D two times on my keyboard shifty twice, - you'll notice I get this nice line around my object. - Okay, - this dotted line around the corners. - I d selected my object because I want to draw inside of it. - I don't want to use manipulate the object, - so I've d selected it. - I'm going to press P to trigger my pen tool to get my pencil to come back up, - and I'm going to use a method for drawing inside that I find to be really fast and easy - when it go over to my appearance panel press change my opacity, - transparency blend mode to multiply, - and I'm going to change the opacity. - Knock it down to about 40% since I have in my appearance panel since I have new art has - basic appearance turned off it just what this has done is that just inherited the same - color values as and the same appearance attributes as you know, - as I already had set for the Bears body. - So all I just did was take that bears basic base color. - And now I've created Multiply 40% version of that. - I'm going to start drawing inside my object now to demonstrate this a little bit. - Hopefully that wasn't too daunting or technical. - Right? - So here we go. - So I'm gonna make this kind of jagged to make it appear as if it's for and I don't know if - you noticed or not, - but I started outside the bounds of the bear, - sort of like starting outside the bounds of the other outside of the boundaries of things. - I think you may have become aware of that already. - So now I'm really quickly closing that path and de selecting it, - and there it is really fast. - Okay, - if I want to alter that or edit it, - I'm going to hit the a key to toggle the direct select, - maybe drag some of these in a little bit so I could edit that quickly I'm only editing it - because I didn't really like the curves of it. - It's kind of not contouring the way I want it to. - All right? - Really fast. - Easy. - There. - There it is. - Now I want to add another one. - I'm just gonna show you one more time how this works. - I'm needs the exact same in image attributes. - I'm not changing anything, - and I'm going to go over top that other one. - This kind of feeds into what will be talking about when we do detail ing a little later, - quickly going through here, - making this jagged sort of for shading and closing the path really fast. - Back to the beginning. - Done. - So there it is. - That's how drawn side works so easy so fast. - You know, - your pencil, - you can move. - Justus fast, - as I just did is really quick. - Really easy. - Really great way to do quick detail work and not worry about 15. Dealing with Draw Inside Mode's Funky Behavior: - Okay, - So I'm trying to sell you pretty hard on this draw inside thing, - and I personally think it's terrific. - But I have to admit, - and I have to warn you, - there are are some strange behaviors that go along with it that you kind of have to get - used to. - So to make sure that it doesn't get frustrating, - I'm gonna go over those really fast. - Um, - 1st 1st thing I want to talk about is this kind of weird behavior that occurs after - something becomes a draw inside object for lack of a better term. - So I made this bear shape a draw inside object. - In other words, - it's masking out these objects that I drew inside of it. - All right, - Normally, - any object I click if I use I'm using the directs electoral. - If I click that object anywhere on the object, - it will select it like this arm. - Now I'm going to click this bear object. - I'm gonna click it right in the middle. - I'm clicking it right now. - Nothing is happening. - This is weird. - Okay, - so this could be really confusing. - What happens when you create this direct, - select object is I'm sorry. - Draw inside object is that it kind of almost behaves as if it's hollow, - as if there's no Phil, - um, - to to mitigate that, - to make sure I can select it. - All I have to do is click the edge, - so I click the edge and it selects the object. - That's it. - So just make sure you do that. - Then you'll be able to do any editing. - You'll need to dio also to jump back into draw inside mode once you select that edge. - So I'll select the edge. - And all I have to do is hold shift and press D two times. - And there I am back in now. - I can redraw, - can re edit. - I could. - I can always edit things inside, - But now I can draw more stuff inside this this object. - Okay. - All right. - So that's not too bad. - Here's the tricky one. - I'm going to switch to this TV now. - Now I'm I created this TV and I have this cut out in the middle. - So what happened is when I made this, - it formed a compound path which you can see over here in the appearance panel. - Also added some rounded corners. - Actually, - I'm going toe quickly expand those so that that appearance attribute goes away. - So now I just have a compound path drawn side. - Moon really doesn't work that terrific, - Lee with compound paths. - I'm gonna demonstrate really quickly some of the issues and some of the frustrations that - come up with it. - It could be pretty annoying. - This is the most annoying thing that draw inside does the other one, - I think, - is pretty simple. - So I'm gonna hold shift, - impressed d a couple times, - get my dotted lines. - I'm going to create a quick, - um, - would wood grain pattern in here. - So I'm going to use the same method I used before. - We're using the same color as the television. - I'm just switching the opacity, - the blend mode to multiply. - And I'm gonna turn the capacity to 50% and I'll draw really quick. - What Green. - So I'm just drawing this detail and really fast, - and I'm going to de select that now. - Now I'm going to try to select it with direct select again, - and it is not happening clicking it and it's not happening. - So it's it's just selecting the entire clip group. - I don't want that to happen. - One really cool thing. - That illustrator added. - I think I think when Creative Cloud came out was they added this This thing in the layers - panel called Locate object. - It's a little magnifying glass at the bottom. - If you have an object selected and you press that, - it'll zoom right to that object super helpful, - especially in this case, - because in this case, - to make it so that we can edit this object that's clipped inside of this compound path. - One of the easiest ways to do it is to lock the compound path. - There we go. - Now I can edit it. - Okay, - It's now I can move the points and edit it. - But this is honestly, - this is a little frustrating. - This gets annoying, - Um, - not the best way to work. - But I think it's a decent compromise, - given the other, - you know, - the other ways you could work. - So I'm gonna unlock that, - and I'm going to re initiate my drawn side, - and then I would probably, - you know, - continue toe work inside of there. 16. More Masking!: - in addition to drawn side mode, - there are a couple other types of masking the illustrator has to offer, - and we're going to quickly go over those. - We're not going to spend as much time on them because I don't think they're quite as useful - in the long run, - especially for the process we're using. - Ah, - as drawn side mode is. - But you should still know about them. - Uh, - one of them is called a passive. - The mask opacity masks are located in the transparency panel in Adobe Illustrator, - I'm going to shift over some holding space. - I'm shifting over to a place off my our board to demonstrate this really quickly. - All right, - So really fast. - I'm going to make a box, - all right? - And now let's say we want to cut out part of this box or include it in some way. - What I'm going to do is I am going to create a black object so I'll press the l key to make - it a lips, - and I'll put this black circle over top of my box. - I'm going to now hit the wiki selectable and select both objects. - I'm going to go to my transparency panel and I'm going to press make mask and oh, - no, - they've disappeared. - Well, - we have to tell Tell illustrator what type of behavior we want this to have. - So I'm going to turn off clip and you'll notice it now has the behavior that I actually was - looking for, - which what I was looking for is I wanted to have that black object mask out what was behind - it. - Okay, - so this black object, - that circle now becomes a mask and you'll notice here when I have them both selected but - down in the transparency panel, - it shows the object, - and then it shows a link to the mask. - Kind of a weird behavior here. - This is a little bit different than how illustrator normally works. - This kind of works in a similar way to the way Photoshopped works with masks. - Is that here? - We've got the object selected. - And if you want to edit the actual mask object, - you have to click this this button right here or this area, - this thumbnail and that will allow you to alter the actual mask case. - Now, - I've altered the mask and then I have to click back on the object to enter back into normal - illustrator world. - It's kind of like you're in this this black hole when you're over here. - So that's that Capacity masks. - Not too difficult. - I like to think of when I'm working with masks. - I just like to make it simple and think anything that I draw in black Will will hide an - object or hide something. - Anything I draw in white will show. - So just keep that in mind when you're working. - All right? - So I'm gonna race this really quickly now, - Um, - really fast. - Let's talk about one more type of masking. - We're gonna talk about clipping masks. - I like clipping masks. - They could be really useful. - Sometimes. - I'm going to draw to make a few read circles. - Okay. - Almost like dots ends. - We want to mask these within a certain shape. - Let's say we want to put all of these in a box, - but we want the box to clip out the edges. - So we want this kind of weird, - funky pattern to show up in a box. - Whoops. - Una de select that object. - I'm gonna click a different color, - and I am going to draw a box over these. - All right? - I'm gonna select all of these objects and I'm going to hit command seven. - Now, - this is also in the object menu under clipping mask and make. - I pressed the keyboard shortcut because I think it's about 1000 times easier up to you. - There you go. - Now they're all trapped in there. - They're all in the mask, - massed in that object, - these air really helpful, - Really useful. - You'll notice one different thing. - One different behavior that this takes on that draw inside doesn't when you use the - clipping mask, - it basically zeros out all of the appearance attributes for that mask object so that that - rectangle that was green is now just clear, - has no parents attributes, - so it just shows the clips everything out and becomes kind of invisible. - So that's one way. - It's a little different from the drawn side mode, - so this is a really useful type of masking for certain applications. - But I think most for the most part, - when we're doing our artwork today, - we're going to stick withdrawn side mood. - We might use a passage e masks a little bit. - It's up to you in my piece. - I'm not sure haven't gotten there yet, - so we're going to get there, - and that's what we're gonna move into now. - We're going to move into the detail in portion. 17. Drawing Basic Details: - Okay, - We've got our composition all blocked in. - Things were looking good. - It's time to start detail ing. - This is one of the most fun parts of the whole process. - Because you get to see things really start to come to life in a big way. - Um, - one tip I'm going to give before I start is that you don't focus in on any one section too - hard. - Instead, - you'll want to try to kind of jump around the composition and work from piece to piece to - work detail, - like, - kind of work holistically. - Try to get all of the pieces working together. - It'll make things come to life in a better way. - You'll see what I mean is we work here. - I'm gonna start with the bear. - So I unlocked the layer for the bear. - I have already created a drawing side mask for this, - so I'm just selecting the edge and I'm using direct select to do that. - I'm gonna hit shifty couple times, - and I'm going to start drawing in some details in the spare. - So what I'm gonna do is I'm going to use ah version of this color. - I'm gonna go a little lighter. - So in the color panel here. - I'm gonna mix a color that's a little lighter, - and I'm going to start with the ears, - zoom in a little bit, - so try to make them kind of like a little fuzzy to mimic the rest of the look. - I'm going for here and I'm glancing at my reference sketch as I'm doing this just to get an - idea of where you know what, - my initial thoughts on this war and I'll make adjustments as I go along because I'm not - like I've said before. - I'm not using that reference sketch as a hard and fast final, - a piece of art. - It's just a suggestion of where I want to go. - It's a reference. - So here I go get my years in. - Alright, - so I've got that part in, - and now I have my bare set up where he's got kind of this instead of eyes that he's got - hair covering his eyes. - So I'm gonna de select quickly and I'm going to hold shift and press X. - If you'll notice up in the color panel that switched our color, - our stroke, - the filled color went into the stroke. - What I'm going to do is I'm going to switch that now to this darker brown that I have in my - swatches panel. - And I'm actually going to do a little trick with stroke. - So in my appearance panel, - I'm going to press the word stroke. - It brings up the stroke panel, - which is one of the cool things about the appearance panel is. - A lot of stuff gets nested within that. - So it's really quick and easy access. - I'm going, - Teoh make the weight of that stroke a little bigger and down at the bottom for profile. - I'm going to choose this one that's tapered on both edges. - Both ends rather. - And I'm going to just quickly draw something that mimics this look of this kind of flap of - hair going over the Bears face. - I'm just using the pen told do that. - And for this one, - I'm probably gonna put in very little, - very few curves. - I'll put in a few here just toe just for posterity. - Um, - there I go. - All right. - I'm gonna switch the opacity mode on this quickly to multiply. - Probably gonna turn the opacity down a trick. - An illustrator. - You could hold, - shift and press up or down and it will go in 10 in increments of 10. - So I like 40. - Let's stick with 50. - That sounds good. - Alright, - so I've got that and I will de select that. - Now I've got this nice, - really simple tapered path. - I like the way it looks. - I'm gonna go and quickly draw in the snout area. - So what I did just there is I clicked on one of these ears. - These you're interiors that I created. - And because I have the appearance panel set to Newark to turn off new art has basic - appearance. - It inherited the appearance attributes of that, - which is what I wanted to dio. - Because I want that the snout to kind of match that for my color palette so dry and a quick - snout here, - muzzle wherever you wanna call it. - And just like everywhere else, - I'm kind of keeping with this whole training meat. - Really? - Um, - suggest suggestion of for its Not necessarily for per se. - I'm not gonna go in do crazy detail on this, - but this is how I create a suggestion for is what I like to do. - Now I'm gonna overlap this a little bit and you'll see why in a moment. - Alright, - So I've overlap that I'm going to send this behind the little line. - That kind of shows the flap of hair. - So what I'm gonna do is I'm going to hold command, - and then I'm going to press the left bracket one time, - and it will go behind that. - Now, - there's a little problem. - This isn't really behaving the way I wanted to, - so I'm gonna have to make a change. - So what I've done here is I had made this line semi transparent, - and it's not really working with, - you know, - now that it's going over a light area, - so I'm actually gonna make it fully opaque. - And then, - um, - turn off that multiply mode so we'll change it back to normal. - And, - uh, - I'll just shift the color to get where I want it to be instead, - There we go. - So that's kind of similar. - What? - What I had before. - Maybe not dead on, - but that's okay. - All right, - moving on. - I'm gonna create a nose, - so I'm just drawing in Quick beast. - Basic details. - Um, - not going to crazy here. - I made sure to d. - C. - To select the image attributes of the muzzle again because I didn't wanna have the stroke - attributes that were attached to the last object I had. - Which was this This line here. - All right. - Kind of at this a little bit. - Might lighten that a little, - even hold command and drag one of these points in the color panel one of these, - that Here we go. - All right. - And we do one more thing here, - grab the click on my flap of hair again to grab the attributes from that minute. - Go into my appearance panel, - turn the stroke down to two points, - and I'm going to create my mouth. - There we go. - Gotta face. - All right, - So I'm gonna zoom out a little bit. - Kind of got what? - I'm looking for their and I'll move into another section and detail that. - So maybe I'll jump up to one of the birds quickly. - So over my layers panel unlocked just that layer and I'll start detailing this bird, - so I'm gonna give it a little belly. - Mina, - click it. - Press shift D twice to go into a drawn side. - Moved. - Give it a belly. - I'm going to create a derivative of this red color by command dragging this down. - I think I might make it a little more yellow kind of orange is. - And I will create this kind of jagged belly, - every girl. - Okay, - so I've got it for that one. - Um, - maybe now I'll set some eyes in here to really quickly. - So I'm going to use this dark brown again. - I like to use a lot of the same colors. - Drag that one over a little touch. - Getting him up pretty high here slumps. - If you ever make a mistaking Just Kip commands he really quick. - I hope everybody knows that one. - All right, - so there's that and I think I'll give it a beak really quickly, - too. - So for the beak, - I'm gonna go with a version of the red that's really dark. - And I'm just gonna make a really easy beak like that. - I'll go in and add some more details and probably work it out a little more A little later - . - One thing I'll do really fast is add some pupils in. - So for the pupils, - I'm going to use this tan kind of color that I use for the television. - And I think I remember I wanted to give it kind of an upward glance. - So I'm gonna actually click on the I object and do a draw inside on that really fast. - Just like that. - And I might I might change this later on. - We'll see. - I might change the color scheme a little bit, - but for now, - that works for me. - All right, - so I'm gonna work. - I'm gonna keep working, - moving around my my composition. - I'll move now to this other bird already. - Kind of have it set. - I know what I want to dio, - and my first bird is already set up for this. - So what I'm gonna do really quickly because I'm gonna hit the F key on the keyboard to - Philip all my screen space and then hit tab. - Now, - I've got just my image. - No panels. - I'm going to click the belly. - Gonna mimic that over here. - May maybe make it just a touch different. - But for the most part, - same. - My eyes. - You'll notice there's a little bit of red sticking in here. - And I'll tell you what that is in just a moment. - All right, - So that red is that part of the wing. - So what I can do is I can click that wing, - and I'm just going to hold command shift and left bracket. - And I'll press the left bracket once and that will send it to the back so it sends it to - the back of the order of arrangement. - So it's the back of the stack for that layer now, - all right, - and I'll create the same sort of beak that I created for the other guy and you'll notice - again. - I got a little overlap, - some to do the same thing. - Command shift, - left bracket. - Now that's behind in the order of everything. - And last but not least, - I'll do the same thing that I did with the other guys. - I. - So I select the object. - Hold shift Presti twice, - three times. - In that case, - switch from the other object. - Select the eye over here so that I'm using the same image attributes. - And there we go. - All right, - so I'm going to press tab, - bring my panel's back up, - and I'll move around the whole composition to work this up a little more 18. Adding Details Using Strokes and Custom Brushes: - for the pipes. - You may remember I wanted to put kind of a seem and some rivets along here. - I'm gonna do this with a really quick and simple trick. - I think one of them will be pretty obvious. - The other one might not be so obvious. - Gonna hold shift? - I'm gonna select my object here. - The layer, - of course, - is unlocked. - And I'm going to hold shift and press d two times to start drawn side mode. - Do you select my object when you go up to my color panel? - Okay. - I'm gonna hold shift and press X to drop my fill into my stroke. - Go into that stroke and alter the colors to make it tiny bit darker. - Change the opacity in the appearance panel. - Change the mode to multiply. - Okay, - um, - and I using the pencil, - I'm going to quickly draw a seam here. - That kind of follows the contour of this pipe. - You can see it's really dark right now. - That's not really the effect I want, - so I'll be altering the opacity of it toe kind of knock that back a little bit. - I'm also going to just quickly hold command and edit my path to get it a little more to my - liking. - I think I might holding option here to curve that out a little bit. - All right. - I think that's a little more what I'm looking for and how re select that. - And I'll drop the opacity down to 50. - I'm holding shift again. - Highlight this. - Hold shift. - Press the down arrow a few times, - drops it in there. - You can also just type it in. - You can slide it. - Whatever you want to dio, - it's really up to you. - Um, - sometimes this going on these stop points is really easy. - All right, - so there it is. - That's kind of what I'm looking for. - I'm gonna I've accidentally de selected or are gone out of draw inside mode. - So I'm gonna click the edge of this pipe Hold shift, - press d Do that two times. - And now I'm going to re select this line. - The stroke I created, - Then I'll de selected I re selected it just to get the appearance attributes to show up in - the appearance panel. - Now, - what I'm gonna do here is where it says stroke. - I'm going to change it to two to make it a little thicker. - But before I escape out of here, - I'm also going to mess with some of the other settings I'm going to Where it says, - Cap, - I'm gonna choose around, - Cap. - Okay. - And what's his dash line? - I'm going to turn that on for the dash. - I'm going to set it to zero for the gap, - going to set it to six or smells to eight. - And what this is going to dio, - you'll see in a moment it's going to create a dotted line that will kind of look like - rivets, - which is what I wanted. - I really like the look of rivets down along a scene so you can see here. - We'll zoom in just a touch, - so it's a little more evident. - There it is, - all right, - so I might want to sneak this closer to the seem to give it that look like it's holding. - It's holding things together, - sort of. - So I'm holding commands. - I just added a point there by just letting go command and letting the pence the pen tool - kind of at a point. - Right there we go, - just holding command to move to move these points. - I'm still in the pen tool. - When you're in the pencil, - command just toggles. - Whatever the last moving to our last selection tool was whether it's regular, - select or direct select, - I usually try to keep it on direct select because it's a little more useful. - These rivets. - I'm gonna want to make a little darker and I think a little bigger gonna change. - Go over to my appearance panel up the stroke. - Wait a touch. - And I'm also going to and make that gap a little wider because they're bigger now. - I'm also going to go and change the the, - uh, - capacity to help make this one set these 2 50 And I'm also going to darken it just a little - bit in the color panel. - I want those to kind of pop a little more. - There it is. - Nice way to get some really quick and easy rivets on this pipe. - You might remember that. - I said I wanted to add some leaves to these kind of twig ish antennas coming out of the TV - . - Ah, - that's what I'm to do right now. - I'm gonna pan my screen down just a little bit holding space bar to do that. - Um, - zero out. - My appearance attributes in the appearance panel by pressing that little clear appearance - button, - and I'm gonna come up to my color panel and shoes about a I know 60% gray, - maybe 50. - Now the 50 So 50% gray. - I'm gonna press p to turn my pen tool on and above my object. - I'm going to draw a little leaf. - I'm gonna show you a cool trick for how to make repeatable leaves. - Leaves aren't really something I want to redraw since there's such small details. - So there, - there we go. - Drawing kind of. - Ah, - move that point being a little stubborn. - All right, - so I've got that. - Now I'm gonna hold shift and press X to swap my fill color into my stroke. - A press the X key without shift to bring my stroke to the front. - Um, - so now that I've got that, - I'm going to change that color and make it a little darker. - I'm gonna go to about 70 and down in my appearance panel. - I am going to press stroke at the bottom. - I'm going to choose this nice, - double tapered profile, - okay. - And, - uh, - going to use the line tool illustrators lie until you can quickly toggle that on your - keyboard by pressing the backslash rate above return, - it will bring up the line tool and that just draws perfectly straight lines can always edit - that. - It's not points not coming together the way I wanted to. - So I'm just gonna draw these little like the little veins on the leaf really quickly, - and then I'm going to in my stroke panel Are I'm sorry? - My appearance panel. - I'm going to make one minor change up the weight to to and I'm going Teoh, - change my profile to the single taper and I'll make just a quick little stem on the end of - my leaf. - Really simple. - Alright, - so I've got that. - I'm going to select the entire object and go over to my brushes panel. - Have over here. - You can always open that through the windows menu at the top, - and I'm gonna drag this sucker right in there. - I'm going to create an art brush. - This one you will pop up. - It's telling me how this is going to operate showing me this arrow overlaying my my leaf, - pointing from the stem to the end of the leaf. - That's the direction of going to be drawing it in. - You'll see how it works in a minute at the top. - I'm just gonna call it Leaf. - Okay? - Leave all these other settings. - Well, - no, - actually, - I'm going to see stretch to fit stroke length. - I think I'm going to scale it proportionately to the size of the line I draw. - So that will make it. - How large the line I draw is it will apply this this brush stroke proportionally. - You'll see what I mean proportionately. - I should say you'll see what I mean. - In a moment for colorization method, - I am going to go down here and print press tints and shades. - You'll see what that does in a moment and you'll see why I chose Gray in a moment as well. - Press, - OK, - actually going delete the object I have in there that I originally created, - cause you'll notice in the brushes panel. - It's over here. - It's right here. - All right, - so up here now, - in color, - I'm going to choose a color, - so I'm gonna choose kind of Ah, - no. - A warm pink color for my leaves. - A pinkish Let's see. - Play with it a little bit. - I want these to stand out, - all right. - I think that's sort of where I'm going. - I'm gonna hit be on the keyboard to bring up the brush tool, - and I'm going to brush in some leaves and you'll see they just sprout right up. - Super easy, - really fun way to do this kind of thing. - And they because you can kind of curve them, - um, - they can look a little. - They don't all look identical. - I don't really use this kind of technique for larger objects, - but for small ones, - I think it works out terrific. - Lee really works out well, - fills it out really quickly. - Could make bigger ones if I want bigger ones, - smaller ones. - If I want smaller ones and you'll see that it takes on that that color instead of gray, - they're taking on that the pink color that I chose. - And that's because of the setting I chose inside here where I went and chosen. - Switch it from none to tints and shades. - I chose gray because then it doesn't have any tint already to kind of, - uh, - muddy up the waters of the color. - So if you choose grit, - something that's a derivative of black essentially so gray in this case, - it works perfectly. - Takes on the attributes of the color that you chose in the color panel. - Zoom out. - I've got these really nice leaves now. - Really cool, - easy trick. 19. Making Sure Composition and Color Tell a Story: - one quick little thing as I was working here and like I said, - I like to work holistically. - I I noticed that it seemed like the composition was getting really top heavy, - so I wanted to pull some visual interest down towards the bottom of the frame. - I What I did is I went into this pipe and I added some little color patches here, - and I'm going to do the same thing on the other pipe on the other side really quickly, - and that's gonna draw the I e mean suddenly towards away from that top a little bit. - So it'll kind of balance things out a little more clicking on that pipe and and doing my - normal shifty you notice. - I clicked over on these guys over here to pick up the image attributes the object - attributes rather and Ah, - and I'm just drawing these pieces in these little patches. - It's just a really simple little detail. - Super easy, - nothing crazy, - holding my option key down to curb those out a little bit, - so they follow the contours of the pipe a little better anyway, - So that's it, - and that will draw attention down a little farther. - I'm gonna keep working the details on this and I'm going to try to get some mawr just basic - details down. - And then we're going to shift into talking a little bit about color. - I've added a lot of the details I wanted to add in. - Um, - I approached the entire composition the way I wanted to approach it, - and I feel like I'm ready to move on to finer detail ing now. - But first I wanted to talk a little bit about color. - Wanted to have a quick, - quicker, - a quick but deeper discussion about color before we move on to detail, - Um, - one of the comments that people make about my artwork. - A lot of people comment on the colors, - and I often hear people say stuff like, - I really like the bright colors you use if you look at my work. - I don't actually use that many bright colors per se. - I kind of use color in a way to make bright colors pop off the page. - Um, - you'll notice, - for instance, - these red birds are probably the brightest thing on here. - All right, - um, - they wouldn't pop if the other colors were all really crazy. - Bright so you don't want to make all of your colors bright. - You might want a really lively palette. - But if you make everything bright and everything kind of lit up, - nothing's going to look lit up. - So you need to use a little restraint when you approach color. - So I've really given a lot of thought about color in this piece, - particularly what I've. - The approach that I took with this is I wanted it the color. - It kind of helped tell the story. - So I've created this gray kind of cool blueish gray, - a little bit of purple backdrop looks cold and mechanical to me. - That's the that was my goal. - I wanted to contrast with this warm looking natural palette that the bear has. - So the bear and the birds are kind of. - They signify warmth and nature, - so I wanted them to pop out. - I wanted to the color to tell that story, - and one of the nice things about it is this warm palette that the bear has really pops - against that cool blue. - It's not an overly bright palette. - It's not like a screaming break power. - But this, - uh, - this kind of oranges brown that I've used for the bear and this yellow here really kind of - pop against that blew it just It's a contrast very nicely. - So it works and you'll notice that in for the background. - I tried to use all tones that were kind of part of the same color family that didn't - contrast against each other. - They all lived together, - so they're all living together. - There's there's a harmony there. - Even if it's not a nice you know, - it's not a pleasant look I'm going for in the background. - There's there's harmony in those colors. - So I wanted to discuss that quickly. - One other thing might be doing is, - and and I think you saw what I was doing in one of my last steps is I was adding in these - little pink panels here, - these pinkish purple panels to these pipes. - Um, - there's a lot of deliberation in that sentence, - but up anyway, - what I was doing there was trying to draw more attention to those regions. - I may be adding some more stuff, - and I may be pulling color out a little bit more there and kind of ah, - bringing those colors up. - Just a touch to draw more attention there because I still feel like the composition is a - little bit heavy on the top. - But what I also could dio is I can zoom in here and tone down these birds. - They don't have to be this bright. - I mean that that red color the birds have right now is pretty pretty hot. - Probably will need to pull that back if I look at my c m y que Mixer here, - it's pretty, - pretty much pegged at the top so I can pull those colors back a little bit. - Even if I did that now, - you notice a difference almost right away. - So if I pulled those back, - it's not drawing quite as much attention. - You could see the contrast between the two birds here, - so I'll play around with it. - I'll probably do that in the later step. - Right now, - we're going to move away from color, - and we're going to shift into detail. - Last word about color. - Just make sure that color helps tell the story you're trying to tell. - Don't just use it as a superficial touch 20. Adding in Finer Detail 1: - our piece is really coming together. - Now it's time to go in, - do the really fine detail and have already started doing a little bit of it. - You'll notice on the bare here I've added some like, - sort of suggestions of for And like I mentioned before, - I didn't really want to make it. - They didn't want to go all out and render the for. - It's not really what I'm looking for. - Stylistically, - I want to just suggest this idea that there is for and another thing I've been doing is - while I'm working this through, - I've been keeping in mind my direction of light. - You'll notice that on the left side, - things or darker on the right side, - things were lighter. - I'm going to approach the entire composition that way, - so all my shading will be coming from that direction. - Uh, - starting to consider now is really helpful because then when I go in and start adding in - shading later, - I won't have to make any adjustments. - Things were kind of already moving in the right direction. - What I'm going to do now, - I'm gonna jump in and add some details on these birds. - Add some details on this TV. - I'm gonna start with the TV quickly. - So what I want to do is make thes dial's really pop. - Um, - I'm going to add some volume to it on the side, - and I'll add little center dial here. - So I'm just going to use the pen tool. - Many do it a little bit of draw inside, - shifty twice on that object, - and, - uh, - he select changed my opacity to multiply. - Gonna leave it at 100%. - I think I want a full full on, - uh, - strength for this. - It's really simple drawn side there. - I'm gonna hit the a key on the keyboard to switch to direct select because regular - selection tool was toggled there. - All right, - so I kind of have ah, - a little bit of a suggestion of depth. - Um, - what I'm also going to do is add similar detail inside, - sort of like this, - a little crescent, - and that gives this feel of a little depth there and all of its trapped inside this object - . - One of the great things about drawing side is that it groups everything together. - So anything you put in that object kind of is part of a group. - Now, - all right. - So I'm gonna draw that kind of the thing that you hold on the dial. - And I'm just going to say again, - just suggest it with some shading and lighting, - um, - going to dial back my capacity and, - um basically, - just play around with this to get this right, - get over a little bit. - And so I just clicked on the the original shade object I have appear getting pretty close - to what I want. - I'm going to click the outside of this to pick up the appearance attributes of that, - and I'm going to go up to my color panel and make a lighter version of that, - and I'll put that on the top of the dial here. - Now it's a little bit skewed. - I think I'm gonna have to fix this up, - salt tidy this up, - drag this in a little bit, - so it's not quite as exaggerated. - It's a little too exaggerated right now. - It looks like it's sticking to far too, - to the right, - and we don't want that. - It should look a little more like it's coming straight at us. - So I'm just gonna just this till I get it right There it is. - got my dial. - Okay, - you can tidy that up. - Um, - what I'll do quick is I'm gonna hit the cue key on the keyboard toe last. - So some stuff I've lasted all those points. - I'm gonna hit option command J for average and let it set to both that a link. - All of those points are not linked them. - It'll move them all into place. - So they're all together do the same thing down here. - So what it does is it puts them all in the same location, - essentially things around a little bit. - All right, - there's that mimic the same look on my other dial here. - One of the other things I'd like to do here is I'm I'm going to pull the the attributes - that appearance attributes from that object, - and I'll put them behind this dial. - So I'm going Teoh. - Now that I've drawn it over that object, - it's gonna cut it, - and then all will select using using regular selection tool hit veto toggle that I'm going - to select that and then I'm gonna paced behind command be to pace that cut object behind my - dial. - And the reason I did that is because I'm going Teoh actually going to change the color, - make it darker. - So now it has that kind of look that it's stuck into the television set instead of on top - of All right, - so here, - I'm going to create a quick ah, - little grill. - And to do that, - I'm going Going to use one of the tricks I showed you before. - So I'm going to change my color just to black in the color panel. - I'm gonna hit Shift X to move my fill into the stroke. - And I'm just going to use, - um, - some quick dotted lines again. - So I've got my weight set toe, - one cap. - I said it to a round cap, - turn, - dash line on. - And I'll probably want to make this a little smaller and tighter. - So I'm going to change my gap to matter. - No, - little will do. - Well, - try three and my dash at zero. - I'm going to press the back slash button right above the return key on my keyboard. - So those are a little small going to there. - We go change it in the appearance panel, - I upped the stroke weight and I'm going to make the gap a little bit bigger okay. - And this time I am going to duplicate this for little tiny details like this. - I don't mind if they look machine. - It's just the bigger stuff that I really don't like. - Looking that way can alter this. - Like I'm holding the option key to duplicate these lines. - By the way, - I'm not copying and pasting, - but I'm just holding the option key and dragging them, - and it duplicates them really quickly and easily. - I'm gonna sneak these down a little. - Looks like I have an extra one there. - I must have duplicated two by accident, - so I deleted one of them. - It's giving myself a little padding on the around the edges here. - All right. - Doesn't have to be lined up perfectly selecting all of those. - And I'm going to change my opacity mode to multiply during the opacity down there we go - zoom out to see how it looks. - Yeah, - I like that. - I think I might put a little border around this volume or that the speaker here, - just like I put around these guys. - So has a little edge around it. - I think that will look a little better. - Same thing I just selected it I pressed Command X to cut. - I'm selecting my my little speaker rectangle and I'm hitting command beat pace behind. - You could also draw behind. - But it's to me. - I just don't like to do that. - I, - like draw inside mode, - drop behind. - I think it's a little confusing and irritating to me, - so I don't use it very often. - Do the same thing around here. - The thing is, - this is going to be a little trickier because I have to paste it inside my draw inside - object. - Um, - and we talked about how that works with the clip groups when it's compound path. - There's another really kind of tricky way to get it in there. - What I'm going to do is I selected the corner of this and it grabs this object that's - inside already. - It's gonna click that, - and I'm going to paste in back of that command be. - We'll put it in back of that. - Inside that clipping mask are that compound path clipping this you'll notice again. - If I try to click on it, - I can't. - But if I kind of pulled down and last so I can 21. Adding in Finer Detail 2: - Okay, - so I zoomed into this bird. - I mean, - add some more details to this guy, - so, - uh, - first I'm going to start with the eyes. - I'm going to jump into that. - It was already a mask. - What I'm going to do is add some darkness into the center of the eye. - So I am going to use the same color as the outside and then just put it in, - sort of like this, - going to see what it looks like if I turn on multiply mode. - Yeah, - I like that. - Do the same thing on the other one. - And this is kind of the look. - I want this upward look. - Upward stare, - looking out and up and looking a little little selling a little sad, - uh, - but but still soldiering on. - So I'm gonna add some little I think I'm gonna add some eyebrow details to this guy to, - um to do that, - I'm going to use the same color I'm using for the beak. - So I selected that and he selected it. - That just picks up the appearance attributes. - There we go. - There's one. - And there's to just these little details. - Start picking things up. - It really starts changing the feel of everything. - Now for the for this bird, - I want to add some some kind of funky stripes to it. - So, - uh, - what I'm going to do is I'm going to just make my my color in the color panel White - capacity on that ill switch to I don't know, - 20%. - Let's see what happens. - I'll probably end up altering that, - but we'll see. - Maybe that'll work. - So I'm just doing a kind of ah zigzag. - And you can see I toggled the drawn side mode on this really quick and easy zigzag here, - and I'm gonna show you a quick trick because you'll notice that it's going in front of - everything. - It's not really what I'm going for. - I'm gonna want it to be behind things. - I wanted to kind of just be hand drawn pattern and not this prominent thing. - So I'm going to select one of these. - I'm gonna click the middle of one of these stripes. - It selects the entire object at the top of the screen. - I'm going to find this button that says select similar objects. - Gonna click the little down arrow next to it and I get a menu What I'm going to do is I'm - going to choose appearance. - It's select all objects with the same appearance, - and now I'm just simply going to send it all to the back of the stack by holding command - shift and left bracket. - Now, - if I d select, - you'll notice it's behind everything. - Okay? - I have to make some adjustments. - First of all, - I've got it. - Send these guys the wings to the back of the stack, - so they're not going over. - Secondly, - I don't really like the way it's intersecting or not. - You know how it's kind of messing with the top of the belly here. - So what I'll probably do is drop that down, - just a touch. - And then and then I'll edit this path so that there's no gaps there. - At another point here, - I like that better. - I don't like it, - kind of. - It was drawing too much strange attention to that weird space between. - So there's that I've got that going on, - and then maybe I want to add a pattern to the belly as well. - So what I'll do for the bellies? - I'll add some dots, - um, - some darker dots, - so I'll use the same color. - As I use for the belly, - I'll switch the opacity mode to multiply. - It's a very light color, - so I don't think I'll have toe do much might. - Actually, - I might end up turning that down. - Let's delete that was Try that one more time and I'm just training. - Create some visual interest here. - That's even though these are going to be small. - I want them to be kind of interesting. - So I'm just creating some hand drawn patterns to distinguish it. - Now I'm going to do the same thing I did before going to select one of these up objects. - Go up to my select similar objects. - I select all of those, - and I'm going to turn the opacity down to 50. - They're now, - I've got a nice, - subtle pattern. - Just adds a little extra visual texture. - And I'm getting pretty close to what I want with this bird. - I'm probably going to add in some things to the wings. - Um, - I'm gonna make a really quick, - you know, - I'll exit drawn side mode really quick. - Uh, - really quickly. - I'm going to draw there, - have this horseshoe shape. - I'm going, - Teoh, - drag it into my brush panel. - I'm going to create an art brush with that, - and I'm going to scale it proportionately change my my colorization motive tents. - I always like to start with the derivation of black. - It works better that way. - And I think I showed you how that works before, - So I deleted that object. - Now I'm going to choose my brush tool set a stroke color here, - and what I'll do is I'll set it to White, - and I think we did 20% for those stripes will do 20% for these guys. - And now I can just draw them in here, - kind of like the leaves. - So there it is. - Now, - I've got one bird fully detailed. - I'm gonna have to shave him and do some more stuff, - but he's getting pretty close. - I'll go and do the other one and add some more details, - and I think we're gonna move on, - then. - All right. - I'm feeling pretty happy with the level of detail I put into my my piece here, - and I'm just going to sit back for a second and think about what little changes to the - composition into the color palette I can make before I move into shading, - which is maybe my favorite part of the whole process. - So anyway, - one thing I know that's been bothering me up just a little bit. - Um, - and I have made some minor adjustments along the way, - but I think the bear is a little high in the composition. - So I have unlocked all the layers that that he belongs to or that make up the bear that - composed the bear. - And I'm gonna drop them down here. - I'm gonna drop this object down a little bit, - and I keep the navigator window open in the corner a lot of times, - um, - the little navigator panel to kind of give me a quick thumbnail view. - I feel like I can get a really quick, - easy assessment of the composition that way. - Um, - one other thing I'll change is I will move this bird in the upper rights over a touch. - These are just minor adjustments. - Nothing. - Huge. - All right, - so I'm feeling pretty good about that. - One thing you should keep in mind is that you can change any of this stuff as you move - along. - I mean, - it's great to get to build a really good plan in your reference sketch, - but don't feel locked into it. - Don't feel like you can't deviate from it. - That's one of the reasons I like the freedom of doing working this way so much is because I - feel like it. - It kind of gives me 1/3 clean draft of something where I don't have a guide underneath that - that's getting in my way and kind of taking over. - Sometimes I'm anyway. - Let's look at color quickly. - I've actually changed a few the colors a little bit. - I've I've kind of changed the side of the television over here. - You'll notice consuming on that. - But, - um, - I change this to this green sort of color because I wanted to pronounce the wood green a - little more. - I wanted to pop a little more, - and I wanted this to look a little more, - I guess a little more like the back of a television does where the whole thing isn't - necessarily made out of wood, - all right, - And, - um, - I can look at the colors, - and like I said before, - I think the major problem that I see is that the red the reds of these birds are a little - too hot. - So I'm probably going Teoh Teik, - knock this down a little bit. - But I'm going to do that when I start working with radiance and apply ingredients, - so I'm not going to do it right here. - I definitely feel pretty strongly about that, - that I want to change that up. - Other than that, - I'm actually pretty pretty satisfied with the color palette here. - But I think this is a great time to kind of try to get everything solidified and put to bed - in terms of color so that when you move to the next step, - you're ready to go and refine those colors and used radiance and start creating some really - nice tonal shifts. - So I'm feeling happy about this. - I'm gonna say I'm done with this this step of the process and I'm going to move into the - shading and volumizing process part of the process, - which again is to me where everything really jumps toe life 22. Suggesting Volume with Subtle Gradients: - now that we've added a good level of detail and we added some patterns and stuff like that - to our objects were going toe change some of the flat, - just basic colors that we've used into. - Grady INTs toe add a little volume. - It's a great, - great way to provide the illusion of volume really quickly and easily. - Uh, - I'm going to start with these with these red birds. - I'm gonna start in the upper right zoom into this guy, - going back one step. - So I've got my bird isolated here. - I'm going to make sure that layer is unlocked and I'm going to start by direct selecting - the wings and the body. - Remember, - these are all clip objects right now, - so I have to direct select the edges. - All right. - And now I'm going to make sure we start with the same base color. - So we have this this red that I've mentioned before. - I think it's a little too hot. - It's a little too loud. - I'm going to tone it down with the use of ingredient. - I'm going to bring up the Grady int panel, - which I have opened down here. - You can go toe window and pull it from here is well, - all right, - I'm going to click the stock greedy int that's already in there. - And it makes this black and white thing. - I don't like that. - Obviously, - that's not what I'm going for. - Um, - but you'll notice in the color panel, - there's something that says last color and it shows the last color we used. - I'm gonna grab that and I'm gonna drag it down into my Grady in into one of the stops and - I'll do the same thing again for the other stop. - So now we're back to the same color we started with. - We have two stops that are basically the exact same color, - so there's nothing that has changed, - but we're going to change it really quickly and easily. - So what we're going to dio is we're going to edit each stop. - We're gonna make a dark one and a light one, - and ah, - we're gonna start with the one on the left and so all dark in that by adding a little black - to it in the color panel mostly going to de saturated a little bit I'll take the yellow - down Just a touch they go keep the magenta a little higher like it is like that. - I think I'm pretty satisfied with that. - Maybe I'll make the black a little a little more pronounced and then for the one on the - right were gonna make that a light color or lighter color. - So that'll be the light side of our greedy int gonna drag that yellow down a little and - take magenta down as well. - Now, - I have a nice, - subtle Grady int, - all right? - Once one thing to note a lot of people, - when they start use ingredients, - they kind of make these really wild contrast ingredients. - I'll show you what I'm talking about something like this where we have to extremes. - So something really harsh We're not going for that. - Look, - at least in this, - if you're creating a really high contrast image, - it might work. - But generally speaking, - when people use really extreme Grady INTs, - it's a sign of amateurishness, - and it doesn't really look that great in the end. - So we're going to avoid that, - Um, - what I'm going to do now that I've got my ingredient. - I'm happy with the colors. - I'm gonna hit the g key. - You'll notice we have these three lines one for each object. - Each line represents the Grady int and how it's applied on that individual object. - I am going to alter this. - So what I'm going to do, - I'm gonna keep all three selected, - and I'm going to do one global kind of ingredient for all three. - So this will apply the greedy in the way I want it to across all three objects and you'll - notice it's very smooth and even blends right together from one to the next. - It's exactly what I want. - Now that I've finished this, - I know I'm going to reuse this Grady in some, - dragging it into my swatch panel, - and I can really quickly and easily now apply it to this guy. - So I'll do the same thing now that I've got all those things selected. - Drop that great in in and I'm going toe Teoh, - use the greedy int tool to apply it the way I want to apply. - I might alter this one. - Just a touch. - Something like There we go. - That's how I want it on this one. - Okay, - so now I have have these really simple, - very, - very basic illusions of volume. - We'll do it. - One more time here on the bear really quickly. - So I'm going to select the bear's body and I am going to go to my grade. - Ian Pannell. - I'm going to just pick the greedy in. - It's already selected their drop my last color in both sides, - and I'll make a darker version on one side, - lighter version on the other. - Because when even a little darker and richer you bring these guys up a little. - Maybe take that black down a little, - okay? - And I will apply the same thing to the arm because I have the arm is a separate object. - Whoops. - Try that again. - All right, - now I've got the arm and I've got the body. - They both have the same Grady in applied, - and I'm going to do the exact same thing I did before. - But this time I'm going to start it somewhere in the middle here. - So there's more dark over here and more light on this side. - These select everything's a smooth Grady in over. - Now, - I can enhance that a little bit. - If I want to mess with that, - I can I can go back and edit that a little bit, - so maybe I'd want to bring this darker or bring the magenta up. - I don't know. - You can play with them. - Obviously. - Make them a little more. - There we go. - So that's looking pretty good. - I'm pretty happy with that. - And, - ah, - I'm gonna go and apply ingredients to all the other objects. - And when we come back after that, - what we'll do is start shading. 23. Creating Interior Shading: - I've added a few more, - Grady. - And since my scene, - and now I'm going to start shading. - So there are two types of shading. - I'm going to go over one that I'm going to call hard Shading and another that I'll call - soft shading. - So most people, - when they're doing vector, - are pretty much stick to hard shading hard edges. - Very solid. - We'll start with that. - All right, - So I'm going to select this pipe in the lower right to demonstrate that process. - Let me, - uh, - isolate those pipes, - lock everything else off. - So I'm not moving anything by accident. - All right, - so I got this selected. - I'm going Teoh press shifty, - twice drawn side mode. - You know the drill. - And I am going Teoh. - She was one of my purples for my color pent up panel. - Here. - Multiply mood. - Go 50%. - It seems like a quick and easy thing to do and drop it on. - There's one so it doesn't interfere with that object. - I'm going to drag it over a little bit, - maybe drag this object in here. - There we go, - and then I'll draw another one on top of it. - I'm going to have to use the eyedropper grab the attributes accidentally clicked on another - object. - So I did that really quickly. - I just pressed I on the keyboard and I dropped that other object. - And, - ah, - if I want to, - I can add another one here to the edge, - really up to me and, - ah, - a lot of times where I'll do. - We'll add some underneath things like this, - like this pipe fitting and maybe for that one, - I'll make it darker, - so I'll go all the way up to 100% on that one, - and you'll notice a lot for almost all my shading. - I'm basing it on the color that I'm starting with. - It really depends on the type of artwork you're doing, - but for me, - that usually generally works. - So there have got that, - and I'll put some really light highlights in there too quickly. - Using the same technique. - I'll just switch my blend mode to screen, - and I'll knock it down to about I'm not 20%. - So we put some nice, - really quick highlights in there and there we go. - So that's hard shading just gives. - It gives a really hard look very solid. - Let's talk about soft shading we'll zoom out. - We can kind of get a look at that. - See how it looks? - Looks pretty good. - Now. - I want that to look metallic. - I wanted to look hard. - That's the look I'm going for on the Bear. - On the other hand, - I wanted to look soft going to in the layer panel. - I just isolated that bear, - locked everything else out. - I'm going to select edge using the direct selectable. - I've got my pen tool selected, - as I almost always do, - and I am going to use one of these lips. - Don't want to do that. - Go. - It's like that again. - So I'm Inter drawn side. - Motive de selected. - Now I'm coming over and picking that color, - and what I'm going to do is I'm going to make it mix in a little Scion to give it a little - bit of darkness. - I might want to take that back later. - We'll see. - It makes my color together here quick or my appearance rather setting my appearance mode, - my blend mode to multiply. - I'm going to set my capacity to 40% and I am going to add a blur effect, - so we're going to be creating soft shading using blurring said that blurt around? - I don't know. - Just guessing 13.4 sounds terrific. - I can't see it yet, - but when I start drawing, - you're going to see the effect pretty quickly. - All right, - So and you can see I got this nice soft shading sitting in here. - I think I can probably darken it a little. - I'm gonna shoot the opacity up a little, - go up to 70% and I also think I can adjust the blur. - I'm gonna hit preview here, - and I just grabbed that for my, - uh, - appearance panel. - I just went into my pick appearance panel quickly. - I'm gonna just that to get it to where I want it to be. - So I put it around 30 and I was nice. - Soft shade object. - I'm gonna click that and delete it so you can see the difference that's without, - and that's with. - And I'm going to add another one quickly, - right on top of that one to make the edge even darker. - Sort of like I did with the pipe. - But these air softer. - So I'm going to go back into my appearance panel and I'm gonna hard on the edge of this one - just a little. - So it's not quite a soft is that 1st 1? - And I've got this nice contour here coming in. - I'm going to keep working through these objects, - doing more on the other ones. - I'll dio we'll do one more example really quickly on one of these birds just to give you - one more quick look how that works. - So I'll go unlock my bird layer, - select the edge of one of the wings, - and I'm going to use whoops to get inter drawn side mode, - picking the red color that I originally based everything on and making it a little darker - by adding and some black and maybe a little site. - And and this time I'll just draw the shading in quickly, - accidentally linked up with that path Undid that because it took on the attributes of that - path. - I don't want that to happen, - so I press command Z to undo that quickly. - All right, - so I've got this. - I'm going to select just that shade object. - Come over here, - multiply it effects style. - I wrote Blur, - Goshen, - Blur Preview. - Take that down. - So this is another way you can do it. - Probably good right there. - Yeah, - that's good. - Like that. - All right. - Another thing you can do with these is you can create graphics styles based on these shade - objects so that you can just quickly pick them up. - And I could go over to that other bird and apply it there. - I'm going to keep shading. - I'm gonna work through my image. - Probably refined some of the colors as I'm doing that because of the shading, - sometimes muddies things up a little bit, - but I'll work through, - and when we come back, - we'll talk a little bit about some lighting. 24. Creating Cast Shadows: - Okay, - so we've finished up these nice highlights, - and we're going to zoom in and create some cast shadows to complement them. - So you'll notice that these pipes and this metal debris and I added this metal debris and a - little later, - uh, - just to kind of fill out the the compositional or more. - But the pipes in this metal debris kind of just looked like they're stuck to the surface to - this plane, - but they're not really grounded with shading. - So we're going to change that now by adding a little shading. - And, - ah, - I'm going to create a new layer above the ground layer in my layers panel holding option - and pressing the create nuclear button. - You call this shadows gonna change my color here from Violet to read. - I'm just a little afraid with all the purple that violets going to be hard to see. - All right, - I'm going to go to my appearance panel and zero everything out, - and I am going Teoh, - actually, - just start with basic black and using my pen tool. - I'm going to draw a quick sort of disc around the base of this, - so I'm creating a little based shadow now because my light because of the direction of my - light, - you'll notice that it's a little it cinched a little closer on the right hand side and a - little bit farther on the left. - Just trained. - It kind of keep a consistent illusion of light and shadow. - I am going, - Teoh change the opacity mode for this to multiply. - And I'm just going to turned down ever so slightly. - There you. - So I wanted to be darker, - but not necessarily hard Black. - All right, - so that gives a little bit of help, - and I'll go and duplicate that throughout. - But first, - I'm going to show you how to create a really cool shading effect. - I'm actually going to turn the visibility off on the front pipes later so we can see how - this turns out. - All right, - so for now, - I'm going to keep the same attributes. - Just for the moment, - I'm going to draw this nice cast shadow following the base of this pipe that this is not my - goal in doing this isn't to make this a perfect representation of what the shadow would - look like. - I think you've noticed I've taken a lot of liberty is here and I'm not going to stop now. - So I'm just kind of coming close, - a close approximation of what this shadow would look like. - And you'll see why we have some room and some liberty to play with this in a moment. - Sometimes these points, - for some reason, - if a point is underneath another object when I'm using the pencil, - I can't close the path as I'd like to. - So I just have to de select it. - There's ways to get around this, - but basically you have to move the points, - so I'm not gonna mess with it right now. - It's just not worth my time anyway. - You can see it just it gets a little messy so I could just de select it. - It's fine if you really are compelled to join the points, - you can zoom in and join them by selecting both end points and hitting command J on your - keyboard. - Alright, - so I've got this nice cast shadow. - But it's not exactly what I'm looking for. - It's a little too hard. - It's also, - um, - I probably need to change the angle of this a little bit. - I'm just gonna, - you know, - use it just the basic selection tool and change the angle, - angle it down, - just a touch there and move into place. - There's you can use the rotation tool as well. - I'll edit this path quickly to get it a little more in line without should look, - they're better. - All right, - so I've got this in place now. - What I'm going to do is I'm going to apply a Grady in. - I'm going to use a normal radiant on this. - All right? - There's already something interesting going on. - You can see it kind of fades out. - I have a technique that I like to use for this, - where I use the same color for both radiant stops and then for one of them, - for my final end, - part of the Grady in all shifted to zero. - Then I'll hit the G key on the keyboard, - and I will skew that radiant whips. - It's backwards right now from the way I want it. - I can quickly change that by reversing the Grady in the radiant panel. - Super fast. - All right, - so this kind of peters out a little too quickly and I could change that always great thing - about illustrator. - You can change things really quickly there we go. - And probably what I would do is turn the opacity down on this guy a little bit. - And if I wanted to, - I could soften this. - Make it a soft shadow instead of a hard shadow, - and I could bend and warp it a little bit. - Teoh, - Get it. - You know, - to follow the contour of the hill a little here a little better, - but overall, - it's the look I'm going for really quickly. - I'm gonna show you that rotation tool minute are on the keyboard place by rotation point - here, - and I'll rotate that down just in case. - People are wondering how to do that quickly. - I tend to just go to that, - hit the wiki and hit selection and do everything there. - It just it's a reflex. - I think I've built up over the years, - and it's hard to break occasionally out. - Go to the rotate tool, - but it doesn't really matter. - Whatever gets you the results is what matters, - all right, - so I still think this might be a little too dark. - I'm gonna just turn that down a touch so I'll go down to 35 and that's probably about where - I want it to be. - So I am going to select that eminent hold command and shift and left bracket. - Send it all the way that back. - You didn't notice anything, - But now it's behind this disc here, - the base shadow. - And I'm going to quickly just repeat this to show you the whole process again. - So drawing a base shadow and I like I have been all along I selected this object first to - suck up the appearance attributes going to do the same thing with this one. - What you might want to do with your cast shadows to be safe, - create a new graphic style me redo that So I could name it. - Call it Cast shadow that will ensure that you have the proper direction for the Grady in. - Okay, - uh, - so I've got those appearance attributes for cast shadow now in my appearance panel, - and I'll start drawing another object here, - and you'll notice here again, - it's not gonna link up now if I Here's what I was saying before I could move this out of - the way. - Now it will close the path Really weird behavior. - Some. - There's some strange behaviors, - and illustrator, - you just kind of have to get used to, - um, - so I'll rotate this a little and getting in the place. - And if I zoom out, - it's pretty much where I wanted to be. - So I'm going to continue moving around my, - my, - um, - composition, - and I'll continue adding in shading. - One tip about shading like this is that probably if you're doing depth layers of depth like - I am as you go back farther in depth, - you should turn the opacity of your shadows down. - It will give the illusion of depth. - It'll heighten the illusion of depth. - Okay, - so when we come back, - we're gonna add some textures in to make this really pop. 25. Homespun Vector Textures Part 1: - All right, - We're done with sheeting. - Got some really nice looking cast shadows here. - I've added some detail into my rocks. - Now I'm ready to add some texture. - I'm going to let illustrator do a lot of the heavy lifting here. - I'm going to create some, - uh, - textures completely with an illustrator. - I'm not going to be bringing in image is gonna be drawing and creating my own textures. - Brushes are going to do scatter brush in this case is going to do the heavy lifting for me - . - So I'm going to be creating some texture inside this ground. - Uh, - layer here. - So what I'm going to do is I'm gonna start by drawing a black box. - It's pretty small, - and I'm purposely making a little bit, - you know, - it's not perfect. - Gonna drag that into my brushes panel, - Get my option window in my option window. - I'm selecting scatter brush, - and I'm just going to press okay, - right now. - So there it is. - I'm going to delete this object I drew and I am going to hit Shift X. - Now my black is set to stroke instead of Phil going Teoh. - Oh, - you know what? - One quick thing. - Let's going to drawn side mode on the ground, - and then I'm going toe restore that black color to the strip. - All right, - now that I'm in drawn side mode inside of my ground layer, - here I am going to click my brush that I created, - and I'm going to draw a path, - and it is going to look hideous, - but I promise it's gonna be worth it in the end, - because we're going to make some changes to this. - Okay, - so we've got this ugly, - ugly black path Marring are nice artwork. - Adjust it, - bring it down a little bit. - Here. - You might be wondering what the heck I'm doing. - Well, - we're gonna edit this the look of this in just a moment. - So we're gonna come back over here. - I'm gonna zoom in one level, - gonna come back over here to my brushes panel, - and I'm going to double click that scatter brush that I created can drag it out of the way - a little bit. - You know what? - I'm gonna cancel that. - Drag this up so we can see a better preview. - What's going to happen? - Double click this again there. - Make sure preview in the lower left hand corner is turned on. - You can name it if you want. - I think this one's going to be pretty easy to distinguish So first thing I'm going to do - size. - I'm going to change it too random, - right? - I've got to controls gonna make both of these smaller. - So the one on the left is my smallest size. - The one of my right is my largest size. - Both of them are adjusting to be smaller. - Make that left one even smaller. - Okay. - Spacing gonna randomize this as well. - So I'm adjusting me the spacing here to make it a little bit haphazard. - All right, - scatter scatter with that. - Does spacing by the way spaces the it changes the the amount of space in between each - scattered object scatter changes the the basically the vertical space so you'll see in a - moment Scatter in the press, - random. - I'm going to make this and so you can see what's happening now And what my goal here is is - I want to create sort of this look of strewn rubble, - a field of stuff kind of rubble here. - Now, - one thing you could you might notice if you look closely, - is that these little all of these. - Ah, - these boxes that I created, - they're all kind of following their all the rotation of the boxes is relative to the page. - And if you notice there's a a box down here a combo box that we can choose dropped down and - choose path, - I switch it to path. - Now all of my objects are the way I want them to their rotating according to the path. - So as the path bends, - so so do the objects rotate. - I'm going to change the rotation of the objects to random, - and I'm only going to very slightly randomize this Don't want to make it a big shift, - but I want to give a little bit of play to those objects so they're not all straight up and - down. - And 01 last thing colorization mode going to change two tents and this is asking me if I - want to make it saying, - Hey, - do you want to apply this where you've already used it? - And I do impressing Apply two strokes and move this down so you can see what's happened - here. - We've got this kind of strewn rubble. - Look, - switch to my swatches. - I'm going to bring one of these couple colors up here. - I'm gonna change my capacity to multiply. - And now I've got something that's kind of in line with everything else I created. - I am going to duplicate that by making another pass a little more into the foreground, - and it's giving a similar randomized results, - and I like it. - I'm going to go to my stroke here, - turn the stroke up to 1.25 So it's slightly bigger, - giving the illusion of depth the one in the back here. - We're going to select it again, - and I'm going to turn the opacity down a touch. - 50%. - We'll turn this one in the middle, - 75 at one more sort of in the front. - Change the stroke weights to 1.5. - Change the opacity to 100. - Now I've got a nice illusion of depth, - so I'm making that that ground is getting where I wanted to be. - Now I can add that to my back Hill to, - and I probably will. - But before we do that, - I'm going to make one more texture. - This one's going to be a little different. - Choose Black. - My color panel hit Shift X to switch that black into my fill. - I like shift X. - You don't have to do it that way, - but that's a personal just a habit of mine. - I drew this little circle. - I'm actually going to make it a little smaller. - Go to my brushes panel. - I'm gonna drag this this circle in here and we're going to create another scatter brush. - All right, - press. - Okay. - Again. - Delete this. - Now this one is going to be entirely different. - And the goal of this one is going to be entirely different. - You'll see in a moment what we're trying to achieve. - So the last one was a pretty sparse texture. - With this one, - we're going to create something a little denser. - What? - I'm going to dio I am going. - Teoh, - use the brush tool and brush a quick line in. - Let's try that again. - With the new brush, - you're going to see a series of dots again. - Not so cool. - Right now. - Double click. - And I am going to change this colorization motew tents. - We'll do the path rotation relevant relative to path this time our rotation and I'm going - backwards here, - but doesn't matter what order you going? - This time, - we're going to make the rotation a little wild. - So the rotation is going to go from one minus 1 80 all the way up to 1 80 so it could be - anywhere on the spectrum. - You'll notice that this object is the rotation really isn't affecting it all that much, - but it will give a little play to it. - Andi again like before. - I've kind of gone with a more organic shape instead of a perfect circle because I'm going - for an organic looking texture. - All right, - scatter again. - I'm going to make this a little more wild this time, - so I'm really going to heighten the scatter effect. - You know, - I might even adjust that spacing. - The spacing I want to randomize again. - This time I'm going to keep it. - Well, - actually, - tighten this up instead of keeping it that far will tighten it again. - You're gonna see why in a few moments now, - size where the magics really going to happen here. - So I'm gonna drag the size down. - They don't want the size of this to be too great there. - That's looking pretty good. - I'm gonna change the spacing and tighten that up a little more. - It's getting pretty close to what I want. - Okay. - Gonna press, - OK, - Going to apply to strokes. - I'm gonna actually delete this line I created. - And I am going to go back to my swatches, - pick up one of these purples again, - sent my mode to multiply down here in the appearance panel. - But I'm going to really turn down the opacity, - and I'm probably going to turn it down even more. - And with that, - I'm going to start drawing in this texture. - You'll see it gives a nice tipple. - Look, - not exactly a conventional stippled, - but, - you know, - it's getting these little dots. - Um, - and I'm going going to start with kind of foreground stuff because again, - I don't want that texture to it. - I want to keep my illusion of depth, - all right. - And then what I'll do is I will turn my opacity down to 10. - And let's change the stroke as well. - So go 2.5 on the stroke and I'll fill in my back a little bit. - Here, - you'll notice that I'm not in drawn side mode anymore. - I'll show you how to rectify that in just a moment, - because I don't. - I want this stuff to be captured within. - It's pretty easy to get it jammed in there. - So I'm just brushing this texture on now. - You can always go in and pull in a visual like a photo texture. - This is just a technique that I personally find really appealing. - And I like the finished look of it. - I think it gives a really nice look, - and it kind of feels nice to be able to create these on your own. - All right, - So I will do one more where my opacity is turned up to about 35 I'll put that all the way - in the foreground here when it turned my wait back up a little too. - All right. - Now, - I'm kind of getting in line with what I want. - Um, - so since all of this, - this ground is basically inside of the since everything on this layer is pretty much inside - of the ground object. - If I just select all by hitting, - I'll do that one more time. - I hit command a to select all, - and then I'm holding shift and I'm de selecting the ground object. - I've selected all of these things all of this. - This texture that I've created, - the texture of that airbrushed in I'm going to hit Command X to cut it. - And then I'm going to click the edge of my ground. - Object will shift impressed e a couple times got my drawn side more initiated. - Now I'm going to hit command shift V to Paste in place. - And now everything stuck inside there. - Um, - I'm gonna undo that one time and redo it. - And the reason I'm doing that is just have everything that I put in there just now selected - . - I'm going to group all of that and I'm actually going Teoh and I grouped it, - by the way, - by holding command and pressing G. - It's one of those things you take for granted as you work. - You just remember all these things and you forget to say we're doing so. - Apologies for that. - But command G groups. - So I'm going to change the opacity of this entire group because I think it's a little too - strong. - So drop it down to 75. - Let's see, - maybe even 50. - I don't like the personally. - I don't like the textures to be to in your face. - Okay, - so that's that. - I'm going to go in and add some texture to my back hill here and when we're going to stop - for we're gonna take a break for a second. - When we come back from that, - um, - I'm going to show you how toe adds some texture to the sky using bristle brush that we will - also create custom. 26. Homespun Vector Textures Part 2: - all right. - The last thing we're going to do here is we're going to add in, - um, - a sky texture off using a bristle brush. - So we're going to create a custom bristle, - bristle, - brush and illustrator. - And when I say bristle brush, - it's a brush that mimics the look of a regular riel world brush. - It doesn't do a perfect job, - but for the purposes of what we're going to be using for using it for, - it actually works out really well. - So here I've got bristle brush options. - What I'm going to dio is I'm going to take one of these and alter it a bit. - So what I like to do is I like to use these flat fan brushes or round fan brushes. - In this case, - I'll use a flat fan, - and it gives a nice Here we go. - So I'm adjusting this so it gives this nice like multi. - It gives you a series of multiple lines, - sort of bristle length. - You could mess with these settings. - That's probably where I like density higher density ago. - The smoother the texture is, - the lowered is. - It's kind of like you only have a couple bristles, - so do somewhere in between Bristle thickness Course. - They'll be fat. - Fine. - They'll be thin somewhere towards fine. - You got turned my density up a little bit and make it a little finer. - Um, - I the opacity you could mess with as well. - Think I'm gonna keep it where it is. - You can always come back and adjust this. - I like to set the flexibility of mind toe be more rigid for what I'm doing because I'm - creating. - I'm going to be creating a texture. - I'm not looking to mimic, - um, - real world painting as much here. - I'm kind of just trying to create a new, - interesting visual texture. - So I think somewhere around there is probably good again. - I'm messing with the density and the thickness, - making the lines thinner by changing the bristle thickness and making their giving, - adding more lines by upping the bristle density press. - Ok, - All right. - Now I in my layers panel, - I am going to lock out all of the layers. - I'm going to create one new layer above the background layer and this one will be called - sky texture. - All right, - I'm going to use my bristle breast. - Someone hit the be key to initiate my brush tool. - You can see this funky looking brush on the screen. - We're going to use white from my brush and I'm gonna brush it in. - So what I'm going to do is create some funky contours. - That one didn't show up all that great because the opacity is knocked down really far. - I'll turn the opacity up so we can see this also multiplies turned on from my last - operation. - So I turned both of those offer liquid. - Now you can see what I'm doing here. - So I am going to draw these in quickly. - And now adjust them in just a moment. - I personally like, - Look, - I'm getting right now, - so I'm probably not going to adjust the brush settings, - but I'll show you how to do it, - Just in case you'd like to, - Um, - you'll notice at this point, - if you're doing what I'm doing, - you very well may notice a performance hit. - So your performance of your machine make of town. - When you start getting a lot of these illustrator based textures in with brushes and stuff - , - it's basically creating lots of really small shapes, - really small vectors and stuff. - And so it's gonna it can cause problems being completely straightforward with you, - it can really bogged down your machine. - This is one of the reasons I wait until the end to do this. - So you'll see right now, - like I'm trying to draw some some stuff in, - and it's starting to affect my machine. - Um, - so I kind of have to hang for a second and then pull out the stroke and it's catching up - with me as I go along, - but I'm getting the effect I want, - which is what's important. - All right, - so I've got that. - If you want to alter your brush, - you can always double click it just like we did with scattered brushes and change things. - What I am going to dio I'm going to select one of these and up at the top here. - So I selected one of those strokes, - those brush strokes, - and then I'm up with the top, - impressing this select similar button, - and I'm going to press appearance. - I've got all of these objects selected now, - and I'm going to turn their capacity down cause it's a little too in your face for my taste - . - Personally, - I don't like things to be I don't like the textures to be the forefront. - And there we go. - That's pretty much what I'm looking for with this image again. - I probably personally, - if this was something I was working on, - probably let this sit for a little while. - Come back to it, - look at it again and maybe make some adjustments. - But for the sake of this class, - it's finished. - So there it is. - We'll come back with one more lesson about prepping your files for export. 27. Exporting and Parting Words: - depending on what you have to do with your file, - you're probably going to have to think about ways to export and ways to get this into a - final format that you would like it to be in. - Of course, - there's one thing you can do. - You can always save it for Web. - So if you're saving it for Web, - you can always go to file safer Web or hit command option shift s, - which is what I usually do. - And you can save it for Web and get it prepped for the Web there. - Another thing you can do is export your file. - I will tell you that I'll give you a little caution on this when you create exports in - illustrator, - especially files of this size. - I'm going to use the art board in this case because I wanted to be cropped to the art board - . - So when you create one like let's say where we want to print this and maybe we'll do a jape - Eggert. - If in this case I'll just do a J. - Paige all right, - so I'm using our boards so that will crop it to the art board. - I've already created a folder called exports. - Press this and I'll get some options here. - Color mode. - Pretty common. - I think you'll know what to do with that. - So if we're printing this C M I K. - Unless your printer requires you to do RGB, - which I have some printers who have asked me for the for RGB files before you can change - your quality, - I always put it at maximum. - So, - Jack that all the way to the to the right so you get as larger file and as, - uh, - hi rez. - A file is possible. - I don't really mess with the compression method. - The methods that often one thing that's sorely missing an illustrator for file export is a - destination size. - Sometimes you have to kind of cheated by changing the resolution so occasionally say, - I want to. - This file is set up to be eight inches high or 10 inches wide by eight inches high. - Let's say I want it to be double that 16 by 20. - Sometimes I'll go in here and actually just put in 600 peopie I. - It's a cheat. - It's not a good cheese. - It's kind of a hacky thing to dio, - but sometimes you have to do that. - If you're exporting from illustrator, - keep that in mind. - That's the 11 of the drawbacks of working an illustrator is the size Export doesn't work - out so well. - Now, - you can always hand off your file as an illustrator file or as a PdF, - in which case it would work fine, - especially if you do it is pdf. - It's gonna be hard for somebody to bumper layer message object up or anything like that. - But if you do need to export it as an image like a J peg, - you can always bring into photo shop. - So I am going to open open it in photo shop, - and I will my latest version and press. - OK, - okay, - so here we are. - I've got options here in port PdF so you can change the name. - But most importantly, - you can change the dimensions. - So if I do want a 300 DP i or P P I image and I want to set the dimensions to let's say I - want the with to be 30 inches, - I could type that in, - and that's an option in photo shop. - So if you need to, - basically if you need to Rast, - arise your image and you need to make a much larger than your source. - This is the way to go, - so Photoshopped will do it, - so it's kind of it kind of stinks that you can't do that in Illustrator. - I'm hoping that in the future they introduce that into the export, - um, - options, - but at the moment, - it's just not there. - So keep that in mind as you're exporting. - When if you send a file off like this with lots of masks and things like that, - just warn your printer as to what's going on most most places. - This isn't going to be a problem. - Sometimes you will have to flatten transparencies, - which you can do pretty pretty easily. - I usually do it layer by layer. - So, - like, - for instance, - let's say we're just doing the bird layer were flattening transparencies on the bird layer - . - Ah, - select all and you can go to option our I'm sorry object flattened transparency changes to - high resolution, - and you can basically, - you know, - set all whatever you want to set here and press okay, - and it'll kind of chopped things up, - but it's it's set to go. - It'll be safe to print I. - Honestly, - the safest way is just to rast. - Arise if you're sending it out somebody, - unless they need to alter the image in, - in which case, - just duck and cover. - I don't like it when people alter my images personally, - but sometimes it has to happen. - A lot of times, - I'll just ask them to move a layer. - By practicing and refining your vector art skills and organizing your workflow, - you'll be able to start looking at Adobe Illustrator in a whole new light. - You'll start seeing it. - Maura's an agile creation tool unless, - as a cold technical experience, - I can't wait to see what work you put together. - So please post it in the project section of this class. - And if you have any questions at all regarding anything we discussed in the class, - feel free to post those as well. - I'll be happy to answer. - Uh, - if you found the class useful, - please leave a nice review and let your friends and colleagues no hope to see you again - soon and thanks a lot for taking the class

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Digital Illustration: Creativity, Style and Efficiency in Adobe Illustrator | Chris Leavens | Skillshare

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2. Intro and Gathering References: - welcome to my class, - creativity, - style and efficiency in Adobe Illustrator. - I'm sure everyone's really eager to jump right on the computer and get to work in - Illustrator.

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Angel, 2020 © Rance Jones, Courtesy of Forum Gallery, New York, NY

In his latest series of watercolour paintings, The Lingering Revolution, American artist Rance Jones explores the children, farmers, workers, shoppers and tradespeople of Cuba against its remarkable backdrop of history.

Jones first visited Cuba in 2018 and was immediately inspired to begin his paintings of the current reality of life there. Making more visits from his native Texas, he fixed his eye on its local people and the music and culture that informs their daily lives.

Focusing on Havana, Jones explores the homes, workplaces and vistas that play such a large part in defining Cuba. But his subject is human life, and the persistent hope, ambition and devotion that inspire the lives of the Cuban people. A child walking through the vegetable market has the bright gleam of anticipation in her eye; a labourer hauls his shouldered burden with strength and resolve; a woman reads the newspaper and is absorbed. All are painted with meticulous detail and vibrant colour, revealing a deep sense of human emotion.

"A world apart, Cuba is a vibrant and visceral country on the edge of great change," Jones tells us. "The people who live here are survivors and dreamers in a land where nothing goes to waste, and everything is celebrated. This series of watercolour paintings explores the interlocking fibres that weave Cubans into their social, political and physical environment."

"In these paintings, I wanted to depict this range of attitudes and emotions through the expressions, body language and surroundings of these remarkable people," he adds.

Born in Lubbock, Texas, Rance Jones moved to New York City in 1991 to attend the School of Visual Arts and pursue an MFA degree in Illustration. After a decade of work for publications, including The New York Times and National Review, Jones moved back to Texas to concentrate on his own artistic endeavours.

The Lingering Revolution by Rance Jones runs from 1 October until 7 November 2020 at the Forum Gallery on Park Avenue at 57th Street, New York.

Anthem, 2018 © Rance Jones, Courtesy of Forum Gallery, New York, NY

At the Edge, 2018 © Rance Jones, Courtesy of Forum Gallery, New York, NY

Fall Forward, 2020 © Rance Jones, Courtesy of Forum Gallery, New York, NY

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Vibrant watercolour paintings by Rance Jones of Cuba and its 'survivors and dreamers'

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In his latest series of watercolour paintings, The Lingering Revolution, American artist Rance Jones explores the children, farmers, workers, shoppers and tradespeople of Cuba against its remarkable backdrop of history. Jones first visited Cuba in 2018 and was immediately inspired to begin his paintings of the current reality of life there.

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Something to get you started,

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Creative Boom is a leading UK art and design platform that delivers creative industry news, inspiration, insight and advice to six million creative professionals each year.

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3D video and design is the future. Stay on top of it so you don't get left behind.

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In recent years, Adobe Illustrator CC 's position as the go-to tool for vector graphics has come under increasing pressure, with new competition from the likes of Affinity Designer and Sketch.

But it remains the industry standard, and the web is packed full of tips, advice and tutorials to help you get to grips with it. So in this post, we bring together the best Illustrator tutorials in one handy place.

Whether you're a beginner, intermediate or advanced user, you're sure to find what you're looking for here. Make sure you bookmark this page right now.

What can I do with Illustrator?

The best answer to that is pretty much anything you put your creative mind to. A vector graphics app, Adobe Illustrator allows the creation of logos, icons, typography and complex illustrations for any medium. Use shapes, colour and effects to bring your creative projects to life - these handy Illustrator tutorials will show you how...

The basics

This beginner-level tutorial will teach you how to set up a new document in Illustrator. You'll discover how to set up the various options to configure variables such as width, height and colour mode.

This tutorial introduces you to the process for creating and editing shapes in Adobe Illustrator CC using the Shape tools. Learn how to draw, combine, and trace shapes using the sample files provided.

In this tutorial you're walked through the basics of transforming and editing artwork in Adobe Illustrator CC. Learn how to resize artwork, use groups, align objects and more using the Selection tool, Transform panel, and other transform tools in the software.

Here's a great introduction to how to work with colours in Illustrator CC. Discover how to apply colours to your artwork, change an object's colour, create swatches, recolour artwork, and more.

This tutorial walks you through the concepts of Paths and Curves in Illustration and introduces the tools you need to create and edit them, including the Pencil and Curvature tools.

Here's a great beginner-level introduction to layers in Adobe Illustrator CC. You'll discover how they work, what they're for and how to use them to create, edit, and organise content.

This introduction to working with gradients in Illustrator explains how to create different types of gradients and modify options such as colours, position, and opacity to get the look you're aiming for.

The Properties panel in Illustrator CC allows you to customise your workspace, allowing you to find and use the right controls when you need them. This tutorial explains how to use it.

This tutorial explains the function of artboards in Illustrator CC, which are similar to pages in InDesign CC or Microsoft Word. Watch the three videos and you'll soon learn how to create multiple artboards and edit them.
Next page: Tools and features

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In recent years, Adobe Illustrator CC 's position as the go-to tool for vector graphics has come under increasing pressure, with new competition from the likes of Affinity Designer and Sketch. But it remains the industry standard, and the web is packed full of tips, advice and tutorials to help you get to grips with it.

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Make your work stand out!

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Learn the stuff they don't teach you in school. Inspiration and tutorials on design, business, film, photography, and more -- from your friends at Adobe.

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STEP UP YOUR ILLUSTRATOR GAME — CREATIVE CHALLENGE TO ENHANCE YOUR IDEAS AND SKILLS.

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STEP UP YOUR ILLUSTRATOR GAME — CREATIVE CHALLENGE TO ENHANCE YOUR IDEAS AND SKILLS.

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GET INSPIRED BY WHAT OTHER STUDENTS ARE DESIGNING.

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GET INSPIRED BY WHAT OTHER STUDENTS ARE DESIGNING.

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This gallery showcases the top creative work from the world's next generation of creative talent. To join this network, you must be a current student. As a member, your work may be featured, "appreciated," followed by fellow creatives, and noticed by recruiters.

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Photoshop, now available on your iPad; Adobe Fresco available on your iPad and Windows devices; the Creative Cloud Desktop app; Adobe Aero; the new cloud documents system; and a major update to Photoshop on your desktop.
By Pam Clark

I am thrilled to invite you to join us at the beginning of something new. The official debut of Photoshop on the iPad and the cloud documents system, a major new release of Photoshop, a new AR app called Adobe Aero; Adobe Fresco on Windows; and quite a lot more.

Today marks a significant evolution of Photoshop. This includes:

Photoshop on the desktop- We are shipping a major update to Photoshop today with many fabulous performance improvements, new Sensei AI and machine learning magic, new industry-leading editing capabilities, and an integrated cloud documents system to seamlessly save your PSDs across all your devices with Photoshop, with no importing or exporting required. This is the same world class Photoshop that powers your creative work, with lots of new added goodness. Download .

Photoshop on the iPad- Version 1.0 launches today. This is just the beginning of our journey to expand Photoshop to devices, increasing your choices on how to work using Photoshop. We are launching the first version on the iPad, starting with Photoshop's top workflows, compositing, masking and retouching, with more to come. Over time, we'll add more capabilities and workflows as we learn more about how customers use Photoshop on a mobile device. With Photoshop on the iPad, you can open and edit your PSDs anytime, anywhere. You can see and edit your layered documents and create with many of your favorite Photoshop features using mobile and touch. It is reimagined with a new user experience completely redesigned for the iPad with touch and mobility top of mind. Photoshop on your iPad seamlessly connects to Photoshop on your desktop through the new integrated cloud documents system. More info .

Cloud documents- Cloud documents undergoes a major expansion today to support the PSD format. This is a new system that first launched in Adobe XD last year. Today's evolution enables you to seamlessly save your PSDs among your Photoshop apps and Adobe Fresco, and adds support for Adobe Aero, the new Creative Cloud desktop app and Assets.Adobe.com. For Photoshop, you can access and edit the same document across surfaces without unnecessary imports, conversions, quality loss or exports- no pixel destruction!Also shipping today and connected to Photoshop via cloud documents:

Adobe Fresco- the new painting and drawing app for the iPad that also uses PSDs and links to Photoshop and the cloud documents system. Today it also launches on Windows.

Adobe Aero- a new mobile iOS app for designers to create, share and view interactive, immersive experiences set in Augmented Reality. Make your layered PSDs interactive starting today! Whaaaaat? Try it out! Download .

Creative Cloud Desktop- the new desktop application that is a portal to your Creative Cloud world of apps, services, collaboration and more. Download .

For the product team, shipping our first version of Photoshop on the iPad and the cloud documents system is a huge milestone that comes after more than a year of intense work. It is a great burst of energy for us into the world. For you, the customer, this first 1.0 version is just the starting line. We plan to shape this new experience together with you, our customers.

Here's more about the Photoshops, the cloud document system, and the associated apps that we are releasing today:

The journey begins with Photoshop on the iPad

When we started this project, it was hard for me to envision how we would reimagine the Photoshop desktop interface into a beautiful, performant experience optimized for pencil and touch on a smaller screen, while also retaining the power, depth and flexibility of Photoshop.

Today, here it is!

Photoshop on the iPad is built using the same code base as Photoshop on the desktop. This means you can open and edit the same PSD in Photoshop on your desktop or iPad without worrying about conversions, compressions, imports or exports. Photoshop on the iPad supports large files and many, many layers, just like Photoshop on your desktop, preserving your data across devices. The edits you make, whether making layer adjustments, masking, or spot healing, will produce the same results across devices because the app is powered by the same desktop engine.

One very important thing to note: This is the beginning. The first version of Photoshop on iPad is focused on compositing, basic retouching, and masking, common tasks and workflows that we know will be useful for most Photoshop users. Over time, we'll add more capabilities and workflows as we learn more about how customers use Photoshop on a mobile device.

We plan to add new capabilities as quickly as possible on a regular cadence of releases, which will begin after MAX 2019. We're releasing with a set of features we know all Photoshop users will need and plan to add capabilities as we see how customers use Ps on the iPad. While leveraging the same code base helps accelerate development, we're also deeply committed to rethinking every experience for the pencil and touch screen to give you the best Photoshop experience possible no matter what environment you work in. We know we have more work to do and we encourage you to share what's important to you after you've tried the product.

Join our community forums:

To orient you, the standard Photoshop toolbar is on the left, modernized for touch. Layers are on the right, modernized for a smaller screen to maximize canvas space. You can also see a detailed layers panel, just like desktop if that's your preference.

All your work is automatically saved to the cloud using a new system we are also introducing today that we call cloud documents (details on that below). All your cloud documents are PSDs and are automatically saved across all your Photoshops and available to edit everywhere Photoshop is. So whether you flip over to check your email, head back to the home screen, or walk away from your iPad, you won't lose your work.

We have some in-app tours and video tutorials to get you started and a new home button that takes you to where you can continue existing projects or start new ones. Currently you can export to PNG, JPEG, PSD, TIFF.

Existing Photoshop subscribers: Simply download Photoshop on your iPad from the iOS app store (also on your iPad), log in with your Adobe ID and take it for a whirl. It is included in your subscription.

If you do not have a subscription to Photoshop: please visit our Photoshop page to learn more and get started .

Share like crazy using #PhotoshopOniPad and #Photoshop
Cloud documents

Cloud documents provide a streamlined method to work, share and manage creative documents across devices. This system is deeply integrated into Photoshop on the desktop and iPad, Adobe Fresco and Adobe Aero. Cloud documents enable you to work on your projects seamlessly across apps. Instead of exporting and importing files, simply connect to the internet, open your PSD from the app Home Screen and pick up where you left off. If you've been using Adobe XD, this workflow will be familiar as we use the same system for XD files. We are thrilled to integrate the cloud document capabilities into Photoshop and expand our support to PSDs today. (When a PSD is in the cloud, we've changed the extension to PSDC, "C" for cloud. It retains all the same characteristics and capabilities of an offline PSD.)

Saving your creative work as cloud documents will enable exclusive benefits:

Work from anywhere and access your creative work across devices like Photoshop on your desktop, iPad and Adobe Fresco and Adobe Aero

Work on one PSD file on Photoshop on your desktop, on Photoshop on your iPad and Fresco on your iPad, with all your edits seamlessly saved to that file from these apps via autosave

Easily find creative files directly from within your application's Home

Peace of mind. Your documents are automatically saved and you are using the most up-to-date version

Home is easy to navigate to in Photoshop on the desktop, iPad and Fresco with similar tools and capabilities in all the apps.

Some key details about cloud documents:

You can also choose to save your Photoshop desktop PSDs on your computer or in a different cloud storage location, exactly the same as in prior versions of Photoshop .

You can use Photoshop on your desktop or iPad while . For Photoshop on the desktop, working offline is exactly the same as in prior versions of Photoshop .

Cloud documents in Photoshop desktop and Photoshop on the iPad and Fresco are auto-saved.

All documents in Photoshop on your iPad and Fresco are default cloud documents and default auto-saved to the cloud. You can export them to your device or other storage locations any time.

Cloud documents, like libraries and synced files, are part of the Creative Cloud services  included with your membership and count toward your Creative Cloud storage allocation.

Photoshop
On February 19, we will celebrate Photoshop's 30th birthday. We now have many customers who were born after Photoshop and have never been without it. I'm so incredibly proud to be part of a product that continues to be the tool used by millions of creative people worldwide to bring their imaginations to life. Today that tool gets even better.

First, you will be thrilled with some of the improvements we've added using our Sensei technology of artificial intelligence and machine learning- particularly new capabilities in the Object Selection Tool and Content-Aware-Fill.

Many aspects of the user experience and engine have been re-architected for speed including places like the Home screen where you can see and open your PSDs; and the File > New dialog, which now launches almost instantaneously. Non-polling trackers, Manta canvas all work faster. Opening files on the Mac is also speedier now.

The home screen looks different because we've added things like access to cloud documents. We also have a "What's new" tour so you can very easily see what we've added to each release as we are now constantly shipping new capabilities.
Properties Panel
We've cut out steps to navigate through multiple panels and dialogs by repackaging top tasks into a central location. These properties are shown contextually for the given content selected. This includes:

We've also added new quick action buttons to accelerate common tasks. For example you can now one-click to remove background or select subject while in the pixel layer properties panel or quickly convert text layers into a frame or shape.
Preset Panels: Swatches, Gradients, Patterns, Shapes and Styles
Preset workflows have received a complete overhaul. These improvements make up some of the all-time top requests across all customer types. You get:

New beautiful, modern default content like gradients and patterns (we know you'll miss the old ones).

New, dedicated panels for gradients, patterns and shapes.

Manage your presets by organizing them into groups. Drag and move to rearrange and re-order.

New behaviors, like drag and drop gradients, patterns and swatches onto the canvas.

Quickly try different looks by clicking through your presets to see a live preview on canvas.

Don't like the changes? The familiar legacy presets can still be accessed and loaded via the contextual panel menu item "Legacy presets."

For more info

Object Selection Tool

This tool has been promoted to the top spot under the magic selections tool icon. We use Sensei AI machine learning to enable you to automatically select single, multiple or parts of objects in an image; speeding up complex selections.

Select subject

Select Subject gets better edges, is faster on a Mac and we've reduced the size of the Sensei AI machine learning model on disk without reducing quality so we can also run it on Photoshop on iPad and achieve identical results on both platforms (this feature coming to iPad soon) .

Content-Aware-Fill Enhancements

We've added three ways to identify where in your image you want it to look for source pixels as fill content.

Smart Object Convert to Layers

Image: https://theblog.adobe.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/image2-4.png

Convert a Smart Object back into its component layers to fine-tune your designs-and do it all in one place, without having to switch between document windows. Right-click any existing Smart Object and use the menu item 'Convert to Layers' to unpack the layers.

This is a specific response to requests from some of our power users and we worked very closely with them to get it right.

For more info, click here.

Lens Blur

Now you can take better advantage of the depth maps coming out of your camera. You can set a focal point to choose what to blur and keep in focus (foreground, background, etc). We've also made it speedier with GPU improvements.

Transform Warp Enhancements

We've added much more flexibility and control to transform warp with the ability to drag with bezier curves. We've added preset grids: 3×3, 4×4, 5×5 defaults. You can also create your own custom-sized grids (20×4 for example) and add and move your own new gridlines and anchor points.

There's also a new keyboard shortcut (option/alt). This supports multiple undos to remove gridlines as you add them. And you can shift/drag to select multiple points for more control over creative warping.

32-Bit HDR Images

We've added adjustment layers for curves and brightness / contrast for 32-bit images.

Consistent Transform Behavior

You spoke. We listened. Proportionally transform multiple layers, regardless of the type, without using Shift. However, if you prefer the legacy behavior, simply click the link in the transform option bar to revert back to legacy behavior (all layers free transform by default). With a single click, you can set up Photoshop to your preferred transform behavior.

Smart Object and Layer Comp Tracking

Now save the variation of a Layer Comp within a Smart Object to save time from manually setting each variation.

New Shortcuts

And So Much More

...Document tab improvements, native animated GIF support, better handling of scratch disks out of space...

Share like crazy using #Photoshop

More New Apps Connected to Cloud Documents and Photoshop

Adobe Fresco

I love the new Adobe Fresco app we launched on iPad in September. Today we are also bringing it to Windows 10. For the first version of Fresco on Windows, we're targeting dedicated drawing devices like the Microsoft Surface Pro and the Wacom Mobile StudioPro, which deliver the most realistic experience for artists.

What's Fresco? It's a new drawing and painting app from Adobe, optimized for the latest pen and touch devices. It's incredible to see what the team has done with the amazing Sensei AI and machine learning tech our researchers are pumping out.

First, we've brought raster and vector drawing together, and reimagined features like selection and masking to streamline your illustration process. Tools and features are powerful enough for professionals to do real work, but simple enough for anyone to use.

It has the world's most beautiful brushes, including the exclusive Live Sensei-powered brushes with blossoming watercolors and creamy oils. Infinitely scalable vector brushes create crisp lines, ready to print at any size. And all your favorites from Photoshop import flawlessly, along with thousands of brushes created by Kyle T. Webster.

Learn what Kyle has to say about these amazing brushes here.

With Photoshop integration and your art auto-saved to the cloud, brushes and projects follow you wherever inspiration strikes.

Fresco also supports cloud documents and uses the PSD format. All your Fresco artwork is also saved with all your Photoshops across desktop and iPad for seamless workflows without importing or exporting. Libraries sync brushes and color swatches from Photoshop on your desktop to Adobe Fresco, and back. (This is coming in future to Photoshop on iPad too!)
Share like crazy using #adobefresco
Link to Fresco Max blog

Link to Fresco forum

Adobe Aero

Artists, designers ...join us at the beginning of a new era, to define the intersection of augmented reality and art. Liberate your work from the limited, boring 2D world of your device and create an immersive AR experience with our new app, Adobe Aero. Until now, AR creation has only been available to developers who can code. But with Aero, all that changes for you ... today.

Today we release Aero, the new iOS phone app for artists and designers that makes it possible to create and share interactive, immersive AR experiences. What I love about Aero is that you can do this immediately, using the content you already have in your collection . Even I can do it!

Visualize how your latest creation will look hanging on a wall. Or show an installation to clients in the room where it will actually live. Or just play around and turn your 2D world into AR. Simply import your image files like .jpg, .png or .psd into Aero and visualize for yourself or stakeholders what it would look like in the real world.

Aero also takes you beyond just pure visualization to turn layered .psd files into engaging AR experiences. Add depth between layers using intuitive touch controls. Enhance your scene by adding triggers and actions to your content so that viewers can interact and play with the objects in your scene. Aero also enables you to combine 2D and 3D assets together to compose a scene. Choose from hundreds of 3D starter assets or import 3D models you find on Adobe Stock or other 3D marketplaces.

Just like Photoshop and Fresco, Aero lets you create with ease by auto-saving your work as a cloud document. For now, you will still need to import creations made in Photoshop and Fresco as a .psd file into Aero to use them as an asset in your scene. But since all of these apps are connected via cloud documents, in the future you will be able to seamlessly work between apps and platforms no matter where you are.

Experiences made in Aero are .real files and available in the cloud documents organizer inside the application. You can share the AR experiences you create:

Let's get started!
Creative Cloud Desktop
The application experience has been completely redesigned to:

For Photoshop customers, I'm most excited about how we've unlocked Libraries management and collaboration for you. You now have full screen management of your Libraries elements.

If you're new to Libraries, it's the perfect tool to capture, organize and share the creative ingredients you need at your fingertips inside your favorite Creative Cloud applications. Libraries can include colors, character styles, images, logos, templates, brushes and more.

With this release, we've improved the ability to manage and collaborate using Libraries content. Plus, we've built Library packs for you, which can be used to familiarize yourself with Libraries, as inspiration, or in your work. You can find them behind the plus button in the top of the left panel by choosing "follow public libraries."

The new full-screen Library view in the desktop app makes managing and organizing your Library a breeze. Whether you want inspiration for a new project or to create and gather together the brand assets for clients, it's all possible in the app.

We launched it to customers in October. You may notice it for the first time as you download all the product updates we are shipping today.

And that brings us to the culmination of another incredible year for the Photoshop team and all our extended collaborators, supporters and friends and family at Adobe.

For inside info about Photoshop, sneak peeks, other stuff, follow me on Twitter: @mapclark .

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Creativity is Everywhere. Now Photoshop is Too. Begin the Journey of Photoshop Reimagined for the iPad | Creative blog by Adobe

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Today is the beginning of something new. We're thrilled to debut Photoshop on the iPad and the cloud documents system, a major new release of Photoshop, a new AR app called Adobe Aero; Adobe Fresco on Windows; and a lot more.

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Look at the way they design.

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"At Nike, we believe in the unlimited potential of athletes. We have an obligation to consider the complete design solution, inclusive of how we source it, make it, use it, return it, and, ultimately, how we reimagine it.

Inspired by Global Fashion Agenda, we have created Circularity: Guiding the Future of Design. The guide and its related workbook share principles that support a universal call to action for our industry: We must all come together and have a more positive impact on our planet.

Design has the opportunity to take on a powerful role in making the world a better place. Circularity puts us on a journey that focuses on achieving progress hour by hour, day by day, week by week, year by year.

By focusing on progress and not perfection and by making better choices, we embrace the chance to reconsider our craft in hope that it forms a ground swell of change." - John Hoke, Chief Design Officer Nike

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Check this out!

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Since 1949, Danish firm LEGO has inspired the creativity of kids, as well as quite a few adults. Even after nearly seven decades in business, the fondness for the bright and colorful interlocking bricks continues to endure and is synonymous with ingenuity and fun.

When applied to the iconic Adidas ZX 8000, the results are a playful sneaker that adds a touch of style and vibrant whimsy.

Part of Adidas' A-ZX series of collaborations and reissues of longtime favorites, the classic ZX 8000 silhouette is given little LEGO details throughout, including lace jewels styled after the iconic bricks, and the signature dimples get used around the heel, laces, and sole. The tongue tag swaps out the shoe maker's logo for LEGO, and the colorway finds inspiration with the classic LEGO palette.

The influencer kits come packed in a giant 6x2 LEGO-like brick outer cover in Adidas' signature blue and sporting the brand's tri-stripes. Inside, a box made of LEGO houses a pair of sneakers. However, if you aren't an influencer, the packaging will be much more sparse - a plain white box. If the conventional packaging is a disappointment, now might be the time to start buying more Instagram followers before the next drop.

This isn't LEGO's first foray into footwear; five years ago, the toymaker partnered with Agency Brand Station to create a limited number of functional slides that featured brick-proof soles.

As with most hyped-up sneaks, of course, they've already sold out, but you can secure a pair through the usual secondary markets.

Rudy Sanchez

Rudy Sanchez is a product marketing consultant based in Southern California. Once described by a friend as her "technology life coach," he is a techie and avid lifelong gamer. When he's not writing or helping clients improve their products, he's either watching comedies on Netflix, playing the latest shooter or battle royale game or out exploring the world via Ingress and Pokémon Go.

More posts from Rudy Sanchez

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Adidas And LEGO Collaborate On Brick-Themed ZX 8000

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Since 1949, Danish firm LEGO has inspired the creativity of kids, as well as quite a few adults. Even after nearly seven decades in business, the fondness for the bright and colorful interlocking bricks continues to endure and is synonymous with ingenuity and fun.

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Color symbolism is the use of color to represent traditional, cultural or religious ideas, concepts or feelings or to evoke physical reactions. In graphic design and publishing, choosing a color based on its symbolism applies to print and electronic projects from logos to website backgrounds. Colors are non-verbal communication. They have meanings that go beyond ink.

As you design brochures, logos and websites, keep in mind how the eye and the mind perceive certain colors and the symbolism associated with each one.

Cool colors tend to have a calming effect. At one end of the spectrum, they are cold, impersonal, antiseptic colors. At the other end, the cool colors are comforting and nurturing. Blue, green and the neutrals white, gray, and silver are examples of cool colors.

In nature, blue is water and the sky while green is grass, trees and other plant life-a natural life-sustaining duo. Combine blues and greens for natural, watery color palettes. Heat up a cool color palette with a dash of warm color such as red or orange. If you want warmth with only a blue palette, choose deeper blues with a touch of red but not quite purple or almost black deep navy blues.

Cool colors appear smaller than warm colors, and they visually recede on the page so red can visually overpower and stand out over blue even if used in equal amounts. If you want to focus on the calm, use more of the cool and just a dash of the warm colors.

The profiles for each of these cool colors include descriptions of their meanings and how to use each color in design work.

Warm colors rev us up and get us going. The warmth of red, yellow or orange can represent excitement or even anger. Warm colors convey emotions from simple optimism to strong violence. The neutrals of black and brown also carry warm attributes.

In nature, warm colors represent change as in the changing of the seasons or the eruption of a volcano. Tone down the strong emotions of a warm palette with some soothing cool or neutral colors or by using the lighter side of the warm palette such as pinks, pale yellows, and peach.

Warm colors appear larger than cool colors, so red can visually overpower blue even if used in equal amounts. You can often back off from the warm shades and still convey its excitement.

The profiles for each of these warm colors include descriptions of their meanings and how to use each color in design work.

Colors with attributes from both the warm and cool colors can calm and excite. These are colors derived from a mix of a cool and warm colors such as cool blue plus warm red or cool blue plus warm yellow. Shades of purple and shades of green along with beige are mixed colors that carry the color symbolism of both the warm and cool sides of the color wheel.

A cool blue and a warm red combine to create deep purples and pale lavenders. To a lesser extent, shades of green, especially turquoise and teal, also have both the warming and cooling effects born of warm yellow and cool blue. Some light neutrals such as cream, pale beige, and taupe evoke some of the same warm and cool feelings of purples and greens. The opposite or clashing color for purple is green and for green, it is purple.

The profiles for each of these mixed colors include descriptions of their meanings and how to use each color in design work.

The neutral colors of black, white, silver, gray and brown make good backgrounds, serve to unify diverse color palettes, and also often stand alone as the only or primary focus of a design. Neutral colors can be cool or warm but are more subtle than blues and reds.

Neutral colors help to put the focus on other colors or serve to tone down colors that might otherwise be overpowering on their own. To some extent, blacks, browns, tans, golds and beige colors are considered warm. While white, ivory, silver and gray are somewhat cooler colors. Yet these warm and cool attributes are flexible and more subtle than those of reds or blues.

The profiles for each of these neutral colors include descriptions of their meanings and how to use each color in design work.

Sometimes colors create a physical reaction-red has been shown to raise blood pressure-and at other times, it is a cultural reaction. In the U.S., white is for weddings, while in some Eastern cultures, white is the color of mourning and funerals. Colors follow trends as well. Avocado, a shade of green, is synonymous with the '60s and '70s in the minds of some consumers.

In addition to understanding symbolism, it helps when mixing and matching colors to know the relationship of adjacent, harmonizing, contrasting and complementary colors.

Adjacent or harmonizing colors appear next to each other on the color wheel. Harmonizing colors often work well together but if they are too close in value, they can appear washed out or not have enough contrast. A harmonizing trio could be something like blue, light blue and cyan or perhaps red, orange and yellow.

Contrasting colors are separated from each other by other colors-they come from different segments of the color wheel. The further they are apart, the more the contrast. Red from the warm half of the color wheel contrasts with green and blue from the cool half of the wheel. Shades of purple contrast with shades of green.

Complementary colors are on opposite sides of the color wheel. For example, blue is a complementary color to yellow. Green is complementary to purple and magenta. A pair of complementary colors printed side by side can clash making them a less than desirable combination. However, separate them on the page with other colors, and they can work together.

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What Do the Different Colors Mean for Graphic Artists?

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Color symbolism is the use of color to represent traditional, cultural or religious ideas, concepts or feelings or to evoke physical reactions. In graphic design and publishing, choosing a color based on its symbolism applies to print and electronic projects from logos to website backgrounds. Colors are non-verbal communication.

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Get inspired by different colour combinations.

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Color Theory for Designers, Part 1: The Meaning of Color — Smashing Magazine

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Let’s dive into color theory. We’ll discuss the meanings behind the different color families, and give some examples of how these colors are used.

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Photography Exampes

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Olivia Kourambas
Sacré Coeur, Glen Iris
Gen Z - The Zombie Generation
Kodak 400 film, Nikon FE, AF-Eii Minolta, inkjet printer, lightroom, Adobe Photoshop
GEN Z - The Zombie Generation explores the authenticity of teenage rebellion through the film aesthetics of punk youth in the 1980s and 1990s. My photographic series draws on stereotypes of post-millennials, while exploring the desires and behaviours of youth rebellion. My style of analogue photography captures the causes and narratives of youth rebellion, thereby depicting a variety of circumstances where youth are criticised by the rest of society.

Upani Mapala-Gamage
Lyndale Secondary College, Dandenong North
Afraid.
Cotton rag paper (fine art print)
This conceptual photography series is a fictional representation of the psychological fears that a person may have. It uses a combination of influences, from dramatic black-and-white fine art imagery to Hitchcock's classic psychological thriller Psycho. The use of low-key directional lighting, together with the post-production process of shadow manipulation, forms a progressive fictional narrative that attempts to spark personal reflection among audience members.

Chiara Mascaro
Frankston High School, Frankston
Folker
Dye sublimation print
I intended to portray the processes of roasting and brewing specialty coffee through a linear photographic narrative. Working with the genres of candid and environmental portraiture, I captured the individuals behind each process and depicted the passion of the baristas. Additionally, these processes were presented to an audience through a customer's perspective, depicting the individualised experience offered by specialty coffee.

Jessica Ride
Firbank Grammar School, Brighton
Broken
Inkjet print
This media photography series highlights the physical effects of mental illness and brokenness. The painting and editing techniques I chose also emphasise an internal exploration of the self. Inspiration for my product was derived from Rich Lee's project with Maroon 5, Love somebody, and the ballet piece Aurum by Alice Topp. Aurum is about Kintsugi, the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with gold lacquer that makes it stronger and more beautiful than when it was made. I wanted to focus specifically on people who have suffered from tragic life events and as a result, feel defeated and overpowered by the world around them.

Emily Thompson
Heathmont College, Heathmont
The Stereotypical Perception of Porcelain Dolls
Dye sublimation print
I intended to examine the stereotypical perception of porcelain dolls in a series of black-and-white photographic images aimed at 15-25 year olds. Each image reflects the horror genre by showing an individual doll within its dull and abandoned-looking nursery or room. Inspired by the style of TV thriller Pretty Little Liars and the horror film Annabelle, I photographed the dolls in a way that would emphasise the unsettling aspects of their nature.

Nicolai Yu
Suzanne Cory High School, Werribee
Youth
Inkjet print
My intention was to evoke a sense of youth and nostalgia in my audience by reflecting a retro aesthetic. The images within each collage were individually suspended to replicate the fragmented nature of memories, and they line up to form a more coherent moment when viewed from directly in front.

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Sacré Coeur, Glen Iris Kodak 400 film, Nikon FE, AF-Eii Minolta, inkjet printer, lightroom, Adobe Photoshop GEN Z - The Zombie Generation explores the authenticity of teenage rebellion through the film aesthetics of punk youth in the 1980s and 1990s. My photographic series draws on stereotypes of post-millennials, while exploring the desires and behaviours of youth rebellion.

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Data base of amazing fonts to consider and get you inspired for your folio works!

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Welcome to MyFonts, the #1 place to download great @font-face webfonts and desktop fonts: classics (Baskerville, Futura, Garamond) alongside hot new fonts (T...

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A library of templates, graphics and mockups.

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A bespoke mockup service helping creatives visualise and communicate their concepts with photographic realism.

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Layers specialises in design resource creation. Showcasing artwork to its full potential our templates are true to life with meticulous focus on every detail.

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High quality psd mockups. Helps creative professionals to showcase their work in the best way possible.

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A platform that brings together the best graphic design work from around the world. Now they have opened a shop of premium outdoor mockup templates.

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Swear Words - a design studio specialising in brand identity and packaging design.

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Packaging design and brand identity for food, beverage and hospitality is our strength. We especially love working with small to medium businesses producing quality products and services in an ethical and sustainable way.

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Core Capabilities

Art Direction
Branded Environments
Brand Identity
Digital Design
Creative Strategy
Copywriting
Graphic Design
Illustration
Naming
Packaging
Signage & Wayfinding

Socials

Keep up to date on our
latest stuff, at Instagram

Archive

Click here to view our
complete work
history on Behance

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Core Capabilities Art Direction Branded Environments Brand Identity Digital Design Creative Strategy Copywriting Graphic Design Illustration Naming Packaging Signage & Wayfinding Socials Keep up to date on our latest stuff, at Instagram Archive Click here to view our complete work history on Behance

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Get inspired!

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Top Designs 2020: Meet some of the exhibitors

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Great for refinement of ideas.

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S.W.O.T. analyses are useful information-gathering methods that allow managers, marketing departments, and researchers to determine the current status of an organization, product, or service. S.W.O.T. (pronounced "swat") analyses evaluate four elements: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. Strengths and weaknesses are considered internal forces within an organization and opportunities and threats are considered external forces that affect the organization.

Click on the image below to read about the four steps to conducting an effective S.W.O.T. Analysis.

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S.W.O.T. analyses are useful information-gathering methods that allow managers, marketing departments, and researchers to determine the current status of an organization, product, or service. S.W.O.T. (pronounced "swat") analyses evaluate four elements: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. Strengths and weaknesses are considered internal forces within an organization and opportunities and threats are considered external forces that affect the organization.

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For all your print needs. Melbourne based — Northcote.

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Letterpress and Design - Hungry Workshop

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Make an impact with modern letterpress and design. From business cards, swing tags, invitations, packaging and stationery.

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TYPE DESIGNED BY:
LAURENE BOGLIO

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Final Presentation Designs

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William Allen
Northcote High School, Northcote
A 'Re-thinking' of the Portable Classroom
Balsa wood, cork, acetate, inkjet print, modular/collaborative couch, inkjet print
Modular/Collaborative Couch
Inkjet print Client: Northcote High School
My primary influence was Northcote High School's desire to create an environment that embodies an 'organic' aesthetic. I used plant walls and integrated gardens within the classroom spaces, alongside the calming colours and curved forms of the furniture, to emphasise this aesthetic and create a stimulating learning environment for students.

Jared Baum
Ballarat Clarendon College, Ballarat
Presentation board depicting 'The Gap' logo design and promotional merchandise
Inkjet print
Architectural model of 'The Gap' indoor rock climbing gym and accompanying floor plan
Balsa wood, plywood, acetate, synthetic plants, sand paper, inkjet print Client: Daniel Fletcher
In the wake of significant government intervention into climbing access in The Grampians, my design provides an alternative space for tourists and locals alike to climb. The architecture mirrors the local environment and geology, in order to provide a natural climbing experience akin to what one would encounter outdoors.

Stephanie Cheng
Nossal High School, Berwick
Reef Conservation Building environmental design
Inkjet print of architectural drawings
Reef Conservation Foundation promotional material
Inkjet print of promotional material, merchandise mock-ups Client: Reef Conservation Foundation
The aim of the Reef Conservation Foundation is to generate awareness and action regarding the issue of global warming and its effects on Australian reefs. Research into the devastation of Australian reefs heavily influenced my design process, not only aesthetically but also in the environmental features and materials that I chose to reflect the foundation's values. Bright colours and organic shapes are used to attract the audience as well as highlight the decline of our iconic reefs.

Georgia Collins
Oxley Christian College, Lilydale
Habits: The Mindfulness Zine
Inkjet print
The Mindfulness Pod
Oak wood, plywood, acrylic, cotton fabric, LED light Client: The Zen Den
The aim of The Zen Den is to encourage students to become more conscious of their mental health and create habits for better wellbeing. It explores biophilic design, using organic shapes and shades of green to bring nature indoors. All these elements contribute to creating a quiet, contemplative space. The zine is visually striking and demonstrates student mindfulness practices.

Celia Davidson
Wesley College, Melbourne
VERT: subterranean homes
Inkjet print, foam core
VERT: propaganda posters
Inkjet print, foam core Client: Mia Davidson
VERT emerged from my desire to create a subterranean house. Aesthetically inspired by Villa Vals, a holiday home in Switzerland embedded into the hillside with primarily subterranean living spaces, I explored the interrelationship of sustainable materials and modern architecture in my research. This then led to the environmental propaganda posters, which naturally fell into place. For my communication component, I created these posters using digital design techniques such as Illustrator.

Blake Hudson
Caulfield Grammar School, Elsternwick
Logo and brand identity
Inkjet and colour laser prints, cardboard
Point-of-sale display
Inkjet and laser prints, cardboard, 5 mm foam-core board, spray adhesive, double-sided tape Client: Hetherington's Dog Food Pty Ltd
Hambleton Dog Foods needed a logo and brand identity for its 'Hounds of Hambleton' range of dog treats, to help it stand out in a competitive marketplace. I developed a comic-inspired, pop art design, with bold colours and graphics that burst from the packaging and point of sale to attract the attention of dog lovers.

Yvonne Jin
Camberwell Girls Grammar School, Canterbury
Balwyn Park playground diorama
Paperboard, basalt wood, floral foam, PLA plastic, coconut coir, artificial moss, real wood sticker, metal sheet, wire Client: Boroondara City Council
'Boroondara Play!' corporate identity Inkjet print, foam core The mission of 'Boroondara Play!', a program launched by the Boroondara City Council, is to encourage children's outdoor activity beyond digital screens. Heavily influenced by the playfulness of children, the designed corporate identity and Balwyn Park playscape distinguish themselves by their creative and vibrant nature. 3D printing technology plays a major part in this diorama.

Yi Jing
Firbank Grammar School, Brighton
Logo and brand identity
Digital media - Adobe Illustrator, laser print
Speaker design and orthogonal drawing
Digital media - Adobe Illustrator, laser print, acrylic paint, quick-drying clay Client: Rico, William Keane
The founder of Rico, William Keane, believes that dogs are a source of joy and companionship to humans. Therefore, Keane decided to use an image of a dog as the symbolic representation of the character and qualities of his company. I have undertaken research into various audio brands and taken my main influence from trending brands such as Jarre, AeroBull and Ultimate Ears.

Cordelia King
Carey Baptist Grammar School, Kew
Architectural design
Perspex, plywood, paint
Brand identity
Laser print, foam core Client: Jason and Jo Cooper
My clients were focused on creating designs that presented sustainable, environmental and minimalist aesthetics. This heavily influenced my design in terms of experimenting and choosing particular materials and colours. Their direction towards a younger audience meant that the nature of the design was simple, modern and straightforward, but still engaging and contemporary.

Marsalis Lam
Cheltenham Secondary College, Moorabbin
Snapshot brand identity
Laser print, laminated foam core, card, recycled paper, steel keyring
World View Action Camera
Laser print, laminated foam core Client: Snapshot
Snapshot's focus on adventure and nature heavily influenced Snapshot's brand identity and that of the action camera itself. Vibrant colours were used to encapsulate this bold, daring spirit. Additionally, the recyclable materials used for the camera reduce its carbon footprint and link back to Snapshot's environmental connections.

Zavia Lingenti
Santa Maria College, Northcote
Brand identity
Vector-based programs, ink and inkjet print, textiles, acrylic paint, lino ink and tools
Picture book
Vector- and raster-based programs, watercolour paint and brushes, coloured pencils, ink and inkjet print Client: Santa Maria College
The partnership between the Filipino community in Bacolod and the Australian Santa Maria College community in Melbourne was the primary influence on my brand identity and picture book design. The use of bold symbolism and bright colours enables this message to be uniquely interpreted by all those involved in the Philippines immersion.

Han Ngo
Nossal High School, Berwick
Events Mascot toy design
Inkjet print
Event identity
Inkjet print, core boxboard, cotton Client: Diego Iris Organisation (DIO)
DIO Events' Nights of Frights Festival focuses on bringing Halloween to a contemporary Melbourne audience. To achieve this, it has commissioned the design of a playful mascot toy, and a Halloween-inspired event identity. These themes are accompanied by vibrant colours and circular motifs, to create an endearing and unique identity and establish the client in Australia indefinitely.

Matilda Pridham
Geelong Grammar School, Corio
Emergency shelter model
Balsa wood, cardboard, foam core, transparent paper
Presentation poster of model
Inkjet printer Client: Techo
The principal focus of Techo is to use architectural design in creating secure and functional spaces for families and individuals struggling in crisis situations, such as the escalating humanitarian crisis in Mexico. The shelter provides a safe and private space for its users and is modular in form, creating an adaptable and multifaceted structure.

Erika Rajic
MacKillop College Werribee
Company logo and travel posters
Inkjet print
Travel wallet and tag packs
Inkjet print Client: Adventure Awaits
Designing the face of travel agency Adventure Awaits, I aimed to create a logo that is modern and adaptable. The advertisements are centred around different European destinations. My goal was to capture tradition and culture in a way that displays something unique about each location. This notion is also what drove the travel wallet designs.

Charlotte Zelouf
St Catherine's School, Toorak
Social awareness campaign
Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, inkjet print, Lightroom
Classic Interactive educational tool
Adobe Illustrator, inkjet printer Client: Trigger
Trigger's objective is to raise awareness of panic attacks, conveying the internal experience with confronting and powerful visual campaigns. This is achieved through the use of a black-and-white-toned design with accents of yellow. The research into symptoms and discussions with psychologists were used to further inform the public about feelings experienced during an attack.

Katie Zhou
McKinnon Secondary College, McKinnon
Logo
Inkjet print
Poster
Inkjet print Client: The Eclectic Collective
The aim of The Eclectic Collective is to collate a diverse range of works by independent designers into one cohesive market space. This mission is reflected through the eclectic imagery of products within the logo and poster. The vibrant colour palette combined with the flat shapes creates a playful aesthetic, matching the market's ambience.

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Northcote High School, Northcote Balsa wood, cork, acetate, inkjet print, modular/collaborative couch, inkjet print Inkjet print Client: Northcote High School My primary influence was Northcote High School's desire to create an environment that embodies an 'organic' aesthetic.

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On completion of this unit the student should be able to produce a final visual communication presentation for each communication need that satisfies the requirements of the brief.

(VCAA Study Design, VCAA)

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DESIGN TERMINOLOGY

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As a designer, explaining and putting visual work into words can be tricky as not everybody is a designer. As a freelancer, it is up to you to get the idea across and describe (a.k.a. sell) your design to potential clients. Not only that, but getting feedback and knowing what you are talking about is important in order to be a credible designer.

In this article, we put together a list of 60 design terms that can help you translate visual ideas into a verbal conversation. The design language is vast and can get complicated to explain, especially to other non-designers. So we hope this list helps you understand and provides an easy way to describe the terms.

10 Essential Design Principle Terms

What Is Composition?

Composition, also called layout, is the visual arrangement of design elements that create a complete image. Within a composition, you may use different principles of design to create visually pleasing work to deliver a functional layout.

What Is Balance in Design?

Any element placed on a page has visual weight that can be affected by form, size, color, and texture. In order to make a layout balance, some elements might need to have a certain scale.

What Are the Type of Alignments?

Alignment refers to the position of the elements on a layout-the way the visual elements are arranged so that they line up. The alignment can be left, right, justified, or centered.

What Is Repetition in Design?

Repetition creates consistency by repeating the same element within a layout multiple times.

What Are Some Types of Contrast?

Contrast is the level of differentiation between different design elements to create visual hierarchies. The variation may be in form, color, texture, and size.

What Is Negative Space?

Negative space is the blank area around a design element. It is used to emphasize certain parts of a layout and to zone into a specific element.

What Is Hierarchy in Graphic Design?

In graphic design, you'll quickly learn to arrange elements by the level of importance. Hierarchy is exactly that. In order to create hierarchy, you need to have contrast in your design. If one image is larger than the other, this will place the emphasis on the larger image, and the reader will look at it first.

What Is the Difference Between Symmetry and Asymmetry?

Symmetry refers to the equal amount of elements reflected on a page. If you were to draw a vertical line through its center, the elements can sometimes be mirrored or the visual weight can be the same from one half to the other.

The opposite of symmetry is asymmetry. The elements on both sides of the centerline aren't equal and can create an unbalanced design.

What Is a Grid?

Grids are a group of intersecting vertical and horizontal lines that can help you structure content on a page. There are many types of grids for different uses, but the common denominator is that they help keep the content organized and clean.

If you are interested in diving into more composition and design terms, be sure to check out:

10 Important Color Definitions You Should Know

What Is the Difference Between CMYK and RGB?

CMYK stands for cyan, magenta, yellow, and key (black). These are the four most basic colors you can use for print. You'll notice CMYK colors aren't as vibrant as RGB. This is because CMYK is subtractive-this means that the colors work with the reflected light.

RGB colors are used on-screen only. RGB stands for red, green, and blue, and this color mode is additive, meaning that by mixing these primary colors in different combinations, we can simulate a bigger range of colors.

What Is Grayscale?

Grayscale is a monochromatic palette using different shades of gray in an image. A single image is composed of up to 256 combinations of shades of gray.

What Is the Definition of Opacity?

This refers to the level of transparency on an element. The lower the opacity, the more transparent the element is. If the opacity is set to 100%, it means the object is solid.

What Is Saturation?

Saturation refers to the intensity of a color. You'll notice saturated images appear brighter and punchier. Desaturated images are dull and almost colorless.

What Is the Difference Between Hue, Tone, Tint, and Shade?

Hue is a way to describe a pure color without tint or shade (added white or black). For instance, any color on the color wheel is a hue (blue, yellow).

Tone refers to a hue with gray added. The tone will lower the intensity of color, and it can become dull.

Tint refers to a hue with added white to lighten it and make it paler. The tint can range anywhere from a slightly lighter color all the way to completely white, with barely any color.

Shade refers to black added to a color. This is the opposite of Tint-instead of making the color lighter, shade will darken it.

What Is a Color Palette?

A color palette is a group of colors that can be used for a specific design project. This color palette usually represents a brand and should be chosen to work in harmony with each other.

What Is the Pantone System?

PMS or Pantone Matching System is the most widely used system for blending colors that aren't CMYK. Every hue is identified by a number that is easy for designers to reference and reproduce when printing.

If you want to check out more about color, we have a section on it in this article:

What Is Resolution in Graphic Design?

The resolution of an image determines the file quality. A high-resolution image will be crisp, and wherever the focus is, it will have defined edges. The higher the resolution, the higher the quality. A low-resolution image will be pixelated and blurry.

What Are Pixels?

A pixel is the smallest basic unit of color on a computer that makes up images. Depending on the amount of these tiny squares, you can have a high- or low-resolution image.

What Is the Difference Between PPI and DPI?

PPI stands for pixels per inch. It is a measurement used to define the resolution of a screen, most commonly monitors, cameras, and scanners.

DPI is similar to PPI but is used for printing, and it stands for dots per inch. Printers produce images composed of small dots that affect the printing quality of an image.

What Is the Difference Between Crop and Close-Crop?

Cropping refers to eliminating unnecessary parts of an image. By doing this, you'll change entirely the direction, emphasis, and even composition of an image. Cropping improves the framing of an image to fit your project.

Similar to cropping, close-cropping refers to cutting out a specific element from an image. This is mainly done for headshots if you wish to use a different color background.

What Is Trim Size?

Trim size is the final size of a printed project after it's been trimmed. The trim size is guided by the crop marks that are on a printed sheet.

What Is the Rule of Thirds?

This technique is used to determine the focal points of an image or design. Imagine a 3x3 grid on top of an image or a design. The four spots where the lines intersect indicate the focal points, and these areas are where the most important elements should be placed.

Learn more about grids in this article:

16 Typography Terms You Should Know

What Is the Difference Between Serif and Sans Serif?

A serif is a small extra stroke at the end of each character. A font family using serifs is called a serif typeface. These typefaces are usually easier to read because the extra stroke allows our eyes to follow the characters more easily. Serif typefaces are widely used for body copy as they are deemed elegant and highly legible, depending on the size.

A sans serif is a character that doesn't have the small strokes at the end of each character. Sans serifs are also used as body copy but most predominantly on screen as they don't have small details that can be difficult to render.

What Is a Script Font?

Script typefaces are based on handwriting, and they can be either historical or modern. They possess a fluidity compared to other traditional typefaces.

What Is a Slab Serif Font?

Slab serifs are characterized by thicker and heavier serifs compared to regular serif fonts. Slab serifs can be square, angular or rounded depending on the typeface.

What Is Monospace in Typeface Design?

Monospace fonts have a fixed width, meaning each character occupies the same amount of horizontal space. You tend to see this in typewriters or when setting computer codes.

What Is the Difference Between Kerning and Tracking?

Kerning is the space between two specific characters. Certain pairs of letters can create awkward spaces, and by kerning them you can adjust the space between them. By adjusting the space, you can improve the legibility.

Similar to kerning, tracking refers to the spacing between characters. While kerning refers to a pair of characters, tracking applies to a group of letters.

What Is Leading in Graphic Design?

Leading determines the distance between multiple lines of text. This ensures that the lines aren't touching and that there's enough space to read the lines comfortably.

What Is Weight in Font Design?

Weight refers to the thickness of a character relative to its height. A typeface may come in many different weights, and most usually come with a normal and bold weight. It isn't unusual to see fonts with anywhere from four to a dozen weights.

What Is Point Size?

A font is measured in point size, and it dictates the height of the character. There are 72 points in 1 inch or 2.54 cm.

What Is the Difference Between Uppercase and Lowercase?

Uppercase characters are used at the beginning of sentences or the first letter of proper names. They are also called capitals or caps. The name uppercase comes from the old-school typesetting printing presses. Printers kept capitals in the upper drawer of a desk.

Lowercase glyphs are the non-capital letters that make up the rest of a text block. The name lowercase comes from the old way of setting type with printing presses. Printers kept the lowercase letters in the lower drawer of a desk.

What Are Small Caps in Design?

Small caps are uppercase characters that are shorter than regular uppercase given in a font. Some typefaces come with small caps, while others don't, and the software you are using will generate them. When small caps are designed as part of a typeface, they will usually be the same height as lowercase characters or just slightly taller.

What Is Lorem Ipsum?

Lorem ipsum is placeholder text that can help you show your design without meaningful content. It is mostly used at the beginning of a design project to mock up the design until the final copy is available.

What Is Readability vs. Legibility?

Readability refers to the way blocks of text are arranged on a page. Legibility refers to how well one character can be distinguished from another.

What Are Widows and Orphans?

Widows and orphans are seen when typesetting text. A widow is a short line or a word at the end of a paragraph or a column causing too much white space between paragraphs at the bottom of a page. An orphan is a short line or a single word at the beginning of a column or page.

If you are just as interested in typography as we are, be sure to check out:

The 5 Logo Design Styles You Need to Know

What Is a Lettermark or Monogram?

A lettermark is a type-based logo made of a few letters. It's often used if a company's name is made of two or more words. A lettermark will shorten the company name by using only its initials, resulting in simplicity. For instance, NASA is easy to say and remember compared to National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

What Is a Wordmark?

A wordmark focuses on the business name alone rather than reducing it to a single lettermark. For instance, Google is already a memorable name, but if it's combined with a strong typeface and colors, it results in a powerful wordmark.

What Is a Pictorial Mark?

Also known as a brand mark, a pictorial mark refers to a graphic-based logo. It's usually an icon that has been simplified and stylized to represent a brand. For instance, Twitter's icon is a bird, and it's recognized around the world as Twitter.

What Is an Abstract Mark in Logo Design?

The opposite of a pictorial mark, an abstract mark is not based on a real object. Instead, it's an abstract geometric representation that represents a business. Adidas's logo doesn't represent anything from the real world. Instead, the brand distilled their ideas into a geometric shape that best represents them.

What Is an Emblem?

An emblem logo is a mark in which the name of a business is contained within a single shape. An emblem is not necessarily just for the corporate world-you'll see emblems representing schools or sports teams.

10 Must-Know Image File Formats

What Is a Raster Image?

Raster images are made up of a set of grid pixels that together make an entire image. If you want to stretch a raster image, it'll get pixelated and blurry.

GIF stands for Graphics Interchange Format. This file format supports animation and transparency. It can only display up to 256 colors, which allows you to have small files. Perfect for the web.

What Is a JPEG Image?

JPEG is the most widely known raster file. Anywhere from images on an email to photos and anything you find online. JPEG stands for Joint Photographic Experts Group. Unlike PNG, JPEG doesn't have the ability to be transparent. It's suitable for web and print.

What Is a PNG?

If you are looking to maintain some quality when an image is compressed, PNG is for you. PNG stands for Portable Network Graphics, and it was created to improve the quality of GIF.

What Is a TIFF Image?

TIFF images are mostly used in layout design and InDesign. It stands for Tagged Image File Format, and the format produces a higher quality image compared to the formats above.

What Is a PSD File?

Adobe Photoshop's document format is PSD or Photoshop Document. This version is an uncompressed raster image file.

What Is a Vector?

Vector graphics are made out of small graphics like points, lines, and curves. The shapes within a vector use a mathematical equation that allows the vector to be resized without compromising the quality. Vectors won't get blurry, unlike the raster image format.

What Is an AI File?

AI stands for Adobe Illustrator. This format was developed by Adobe to represent single-page vector drawings in EPS and PDF.

What Is an EPS File?

EPS stands for Encapsulated PostScript, and it's a resizable format that contains vectors. Mostly used for logos so they can be scaled as needed in any type of project.

What Is a PDF?

PDF stands for Portable Document Format and was developed by Adobe. This format is the most used format to be downloaded and viewed on any computer. From the vector standpoint, Adobe Illustrator can embed PGF data (Illustrator's native format) onto a PDF so it can be used as a vector format.

That's It!

In this article, we rounded up 60 design terms that you should know. These terms can help you explain your designs to clients and talk about your work like an expert. Many of these terms we learn during our design studies, and it's easy to forget them if you don't use them often. Explaining these terms to your clients can also help them to be on the same page as you when it comes to feedback.

If you liked this article, be sure to check out:

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As a designer, explaining and putting visual work into words can be tricky as not everybody is a designer. As a freelancer, it is up to you to get the idea across and describe (a.k.a. sell) your design to potential clients.

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DESIGNED BY: TEEXPRESSION

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We've got together some of the ATAR Notes lecturers and have, collectively, come up with 100 tips to help you smash your VCE studies. Strap yourself in, folks!

1. Don't obliterate anything you write down. If you gently put a cross (or maybe five) over it, at least the examiner can see what you've tried to do and you might be able to sneak away a few marks you would've otherwise sacrificed.

2. If time permits, don't just revise over where you the marks. Scan through what you did correct as well and attempt to understand why you were correct. It's very easy to forget stuff you don't see in a while.

3. Have reasonable breaks. Seriously. Unless you're trying to mimic exam conditions, gluing yourself to the same thing for 3 hours is pretty hard.

4. Share notes, help each other.

5. Whiteboards are expensive but fun to write on. It gives you more space if you wanna do a mind-map/quote bank or solve a lengthy problem.

6. Study music actually works.

7. 8 hours of sleep. I know some people can survive on less, but I would have flunked if I didn't get all my sleep.

8. Pressure yourself to write. Reading or typing might seem to save time but really isn't efficient when it comes to actually retaining it all in your head.

9. I don't like studying in the house. I like going to a local library or occasionally just a park to force myself out of a ball of comfort.

10. Losing silly marks hurts. Make a list of them to make sure it doesn't happen to you.

11. Don't be afraid to procrastinate! Memes are good.

12. Before you start studying, think about how you learn best in relation to a particular subject. Your study technique should be different for each subject!

13. Take time out to relax every single day. If you find yourself losing productivity, take a break, go for a walk, read a book; do whatever it is that will clear your mind

14. Use YouTube! It is a great educational resource for conceptual topics. Just try not to get sucked into a YouTube wormhole....

15. Form small study groups, and meet once a week to chat about whatever it is that you're all struggling with.

16. Make a shared Google Doc where you can post questions, help each other and record your thoughts (during class and while you're studying).

17. Plan for something after you finish VCE. It's important to have a 'reward' ready to go for when you graduate, whether that means relaxation, travel, tertiary education or anything else.

18. If you're struggling, tell someone. It's important to remember that you aren't in this thing alone. Confide in your friends, or your family, or even your teachers if you feel comfortable enough around them.

19. Do past papers. Just do them. Again, and again, and again, and you guessed it - again.

20. Write super-succinct summary notes. By the time I got to end-of-year exams, I had summarised all of the content I still had to learn into a single page for each of my subjects. It makes your life a hell of a lot easier, and has the added benefit of forcing you to write out stuff you're not confident with.

21. Don't be afraid to mix up your study techniques. Record your voice and play it on repeat, try question and answer booklets, write out palm cards.

22. Try go through the entire syllabus by looking at a dot-point and just talking about it for as long as you can. You'll quickly work out if there are areas you are less confident with.

23. Keep doing whatever extracurriculars you're doing now. Don't ignore your hobbies, and don't make study 100% of your life.

24. Don't fall for the myth that writing notes is the only way to study, or even that it is mandatory! For some students, writing notes can even be a complete waste of time (it was for me!), because it just doesn't suit your style of learning and content retention. The way you study should be personalised to you!

25. If you do want to write notes, try and structure them in a way that is reminiscent of how that content could be used in an exam context, e.g. for History, don't just write a chronological timeline of the events that took place, but organise your notes around themes (and how these events reflect the themes) that can be used to construct a sophisticated thesis.

26. Practice essays! Try and do at least one practice essay/topic test a week for each subject. That may seem like a lot, but remember an essay should only take you about 45 min to write.

27. Re-do practice questions you have done before, but try and take a different angle, or try a different structure. Forcing yourself to argue "the other side", or trying something new may give you a new perspective on how to answer the question!

28. Start studying early. Starting early means less stress, and fixing issues in advance, so you have time to focus on the stuff that will make your responses shine!

29. Every now and then read over past essays you wrote - even from Term 1. It's good to not only see how far you have come and where you have improved, but also patterns in the way that you write.

30. Be proactive, not reactive! If you got a mark you aren't happy with, work out why you got that mark, and how you can avoid doing that in the future! Everything is a learning experience.

31. If you have spent 45 mins on an essay already, chances are you have written enough, even if you didn't get to include everything you wanted to.

32. Short on time? Remember you're going to earn more marks starting the next section of an exam, than finishing the section you are already on.

33. "If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough" - sophisticated does not equal complicated!

34. Be nice to your teachers, and (hopefully) they'll be nice back (like marking an extra practice response right before your exam level nice!).

35. VCE is not Fortnite. Share notes! You're all in this together <3

36. If you are planning on going to schoolies, BOOK ACCOMODATION MONTHS IN ADVANCE.

37. Every day, but particularly in exam periods, create a study to-do list so you can make sure you feel organised and enjoy the amazing feeling of completing your to-do list for the day!

38. Get a part-time job. It ensures that you have a work-life balance, which is crucial for maintaining quality of life. You're also more likely to be more productive during your study sessions, knowing you've only got 5 hours to study before work at 5pm.

39. Exercise. Physical activity is so important for improving your attention, memory and relieving stress. Go for a run, take your puppy for a walk, or do some push ups in your bedroom.

40. Write study notes as you go, don't leave them to the last minute. Otherwise, what's the point of making study notes?

41. Don't put too much pressure on yourself to go well. Aim high, but never ever put yourself down for going not as well as you expected in an assignment or exam. You are only human and you can only do your best.

42. Have an escape-route planned for when you feel stress taking over. Take a break from study. Go for a walk. Pat a dog.

43. Stay organised. Keep a diary and always write things you have to do down somewhere so that you don't forget. This is the key to reducing stress.

44. Don't worry if you don't know what you're going to do when you leave school. Most people don't figure out their dream career until a long time after they graduate from high school.

45. Look out for your friends. They could be struggling so make sure they're ok too.

46. Figure out if you're an AM or PM person, and do your study during this time. This is the time that you'll get maximal retention of information. Use this time well.

47. Help other students when you can. Ultimately, their mark will affect yours!

48. Get involved in extracurricular activities at school.

49. When choosing a course, make sure you look at the unit descriptions of the subjects you will be taking as part of your degree. This is the real way to know whether something interests you or not!

50. Don't go to uni just because everyone else is going! You need to make sure that you are interested in the course and know what your future after the course looks like!

51. Find how you study best. For me, sitting there reading the textbook and then summarising it was mindnumbingly boring. I got too distracted and realised that it was way more efficient for me to not spend time rewriting things and better for me to read the same concept a few different times through different notes with a million different highlighters.

52. Don't memorise, understand! It is a much more effective way to study if you try to understand the way different topics and concepts operate including their causes/effects/history etc. This means that your knowledge is adaptable and flexible in terms of applying them to different questions. You will be able to see past the curveball questions if you thoroughly understand the content whereas if you try to memorise it and use a cookie cutter approach to questions, it won't work.

53. Find ways to trick your brain into studying more effectively - for me this was by using different coloured highlighters. By using and assigning a different colour to a different concept/legislation/statistic etc. I would actively be reading notes and my brain would be more focused since I had to change colours every time.

54. Instead of doing complete past papers all the time, instead do a 'plan exam.' go through the paper and write what you would have done/said and go through the steps instead of doing the whole paper. This is good because doing paper after paper can take its toll, this way breaks it up, allows you still to practice applying the content but isn't as arduous. This works well for math past papers as well. Also it decreases the amount of paper wastage.

55. View each course holistically! Try not to fall into the narrow view of the course in that concept A has x, y, z effects etc. Attempt to have a mind-map and see the course in it's entirety then look at how different topics link between each other - how they all are interdependent. This way you will be able to have a better understanding of the course and how it can be applied to different types of questions.

56. Find your own definition of success. Don't just follow the crowd and only be happy if you get a .95! You will put sooo much unnecessary stress on yourself and won't actually ever be happy.

57. Whenever you finish an exam and are about to go through and check. Before you do go to the bathroom! Go for a quick walk there, splash some water on your face and take a breather so that when you come back to look through your paper you are slightly calmed and have a fresh set of eyes.

58. When choosing a uni/course look beyond the prestige of the university and look into the course structure. Look at what the required courses are, if it has unnecessary/dumb requirements, how little/much room there is to study courses outside of your degree, if it offers the major you want or is open to flexibility, if there are internship/clinics available, overseas programs associated with your major etc.

59. Alternatively, don't feel like you need to go to uni or start uni right away. Don't feel pressured to go if it's not for you - you will end up wasting years of your life being bored out of your mind and a whole lot of money too.

60. Your friends are often your most useful resources! If you don't understand something, ask them how they would explain it. Their explanation will probably make more sense to you, and together you both engage in an amazing learning process.

61. Stay motivated as much as you can. You only have 100 days to go, note all your little achievements and be proud of how far you've come! Put in as much work as you can now and you'll reap the benefits in your four month break 🙂

62. Motivate others to keep going. Often, your peers will start to feel tired during this last stage of VCE. Remind them of how well they are doing, and why they started this journey in the first place.

63. Talk your study! This was one way I was able to learn all the content I had to, especially for content-heavy subjects such as Biology and Legal. I would pretend to teach myself, or some imaginary person in the room, and soon, I felt like an absolute genius. Repetitive reading and writing your notes soon becomes mindless, so take new approaches to study in order to keep motivated.

64. Having an ATAR in mind is great, but don't let it get to you too much. Truly, your ATAR is a number that gets you into uni, and maybe a few other benefits. But, your health and wellbeing is of utmost importance during this time. Take time out for yourself during the busy exam period, sleep well and eat healthily. You have a life beyond the realms of VCE.

65. As repetitive as this may sound, you have to work hard during this time. Work on your weaknesses, know your strengths. Do those extra practice questions. Watch videos to solidify your knowledge. Talk to your peers and see what they struggle with. Keep at it!

66. Practice, practice, practice! Writing essays is the biggest grind, but it's the only way to test what you really know, and helps you learn to apply this knowledge. View it as 'training'.

67. On the days I felt low and unmotivated to write practice essays, I'd tell myself "just write the introduction, then you can quit". Doing the introduction forced me to sort through my ideas about the question and plan my structure - most of the time I'd go on to write the whole essay afterwards!

68. Mix up your study techniques. Read through and highlight notes, practice answering exam questions, record yourself saying your quotes or formulae and listen to them whilst you go for a run. Maximise your chance of getting things into your head!

69. Get yourself in a positive mindset before exams. For me, this meant staying away from people I knew would make me more anxious (ahem - my mum), and telling myself "you have studied enough - you are prepared" like a mantra. I'd also tell myself "just read the question and answer appropriately" to help myself cope with pre-exam jitters. After all, that's all you can really do.

70. "Competition" is overrated and it's a waste of your time and emotional energy stressing out about it. Sure, there is a ranking system, but the amount of control you have over your ranking is ZERO%. You have absolutely no control over how your peers perform - the only thing you're in charge of is yourself. Just get the absolute best score you can and things will sort themselves out.

71. Take care of yourself, and take care of your friends. Check in with the people you see struggling, and check in with people you haven't heard from in a little while.

72. In exams, never sit without writing anything for more than a minute or so. If you are stuck, move on and let your brain churn through it in the background, keep your momentum going!

73. Never just throw away a paper after you get the mark back. Keep it, figure out where your marks were lost, and figure out what you need to do to improve. Even though that exam is done in class, it's all assessable in the VCAA exam itself!

74. As you learn content, record video lessons for yourself to rewatch near big exam blocks. Who could possibly teach you better than yourself?

75. Have a relationship, if the opportunity presents itself. People who block themselves off from romantic involvement during Year 12 to "focus on VCE" are really just cutting off a source of motivation and relaxation. Having a partner is a good thing!

76. Apply for scholarships! Even if you aren't sure if you will get one, apply anyway. I did all my applications as a way to get away from my coursework.

77. Get stuff marked. Like, far out, why do something and then not know if it was good or not? For Maths/Science papers you can often mark yourself, but if you can't, just find someone else who can. Knowing where you sit is absolutely vital.

78. Don't over rely on it, but Moccona is the best brand of coffee.

79. Do easier preparation tasks immediately before a big exam. This will help build your confidence - nothing will sink in at the last minute and doing the hard stuff is just going throw you off.

80. Don't memorise essays. Controversial, I know, but I think it is way easier to just memorise your evidence and then to link these to an idea/question on the day. It is super easy to spot prepared responses, because a lot of the time they totally miss the mark on the question - which is the most important think to get right.

81. Study different subjects in the one day. Mix up the part of your brain under pressure - do Maths in the morning, then something essay-based in the afternoon, as an example. Physics in the morning, Music in the afternoon. You get the idea!

82. Don't subscribe to stereotypes. There is no "golden amount" of study or revision, everyone is different!

83. Write dot point versions of essays instead of the full version to save time while you are cramming for big exam blocks! It still rehearses how your ideas are organised, which is the main thing.

84. Teach people! It is a nice thing to do, but it also will help you heaps with memorising your own content.

85. We've said practice is important, but make sure it is under exam conditions. The more closely you replicate the real thing, the more prepared you will be.

86. Don't worry about scaling - you can't control it, you can't fight it, you can't play the system. Just work hard and put your best effort in, doing that is always your best chance of success.

87. Treat yourself! In the long term, sure, but also in the short term. Have a favourite meal after a good day of study, reward good marks with lollies. Positive reinforcement is a good thing.

88. Be flexible. Life is messy sometimes and you never get exactly as much time as you plan to work on stuff. Add extras in when you have the time, and don't stress if you need to cut stuff out of a a study schedule. Go with the flow!

89. Learn from mistakes! Never throw out feedback, everything is useful.

90. Be confident! Even if you don't feel 100% about something, act like you are. It will translate to mental confidence and help you push through.

91. Go to the bathroom before exams - seems simple, but lots of people forget.

92. Listen to your body. If you get sick, rest - trying to fight it will just lead to unproductive work and slow your recovery time.

93. Textbooks are too thick to cram from at the end of the year - make sure you summarise your content somewhere. Brevity is good - I summarised entire core topics in a few pages where I could!

94. If you think something will take two hours, assume it will take four hours. It will make your schedule less stressed.

95. Relax. VCE isn't the be all and end all of achievement, and the ATAR isn't a measure of success or potential. Do your best, but don't let the process of it all impact you negatively. There are always ways to get where you want to go.

96. Be specific with what you want to get done when you are organising your time, and try to keep the benefits of this action in mind. For example, "I want to do a dozen short answer questions for Legal because it was my weakest subject in SACs, if I do it I will improve."

97. Have balance in your life - do other stuff! Exercise, work, rest, spend time with family and friends. It will keep you recharged and performing at your best, and doing nothing but studying is no fun anyway.

98. Aim to achieve consistently. Results tend to be better for students who invest their time proportionally across all their courses, rather than "letting one go." You never know what will count, so give everything your best shot.

99. Understand that shit happens! Sometimes you'll be up until 2am finishing an assignment at the last minute. Sometimes you'll need to cram. It happens - what is important is learning from those experiences and tackling the situations better the next time.

100. Use ATAR Notes! Seriously - it is a fantastic tool that can help you heaps.

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100 Tips to Smash Your VCE Studies - ATAR Notes

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We've got together some of the ATAR Notes lecturers and have, collectively, come up with 100 tips to help you smash your VCE studies. Strap yourself in, folks! 1. Don't obliterate anything you write down.

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VCE examinations can seem like a daunting prospect but they don't need to be if you're well prepared.

These tips will help:

1. Make sure you've got notes on each of the Key Knowledge and Skills set out in the Study Design

2. Do 3 or 4 past exams to revise - if you can, work with friends to check and comment on each other's answers

3. Read the examination reports

4. Don't try and cram at the last minute. Draw up a revision schedule that makes best use of the exam lead-up period.

5. Better to get more sleep than stay up late studying during the exam period

6. Make sure you have two or three spare pens

7. Read the questions carefully

8. If you are stuck on a question, mark it, move on to the next and come back to it at the end

9. Keep track of the time during the exam, and make sure you try and answer as many questions as possible

10. Don't leave the room early - use any left over time to revise and check

11. And a last bonus tip - don't try to cheat. It's wrong, you're cheating your friends, and in any case it doesn't work - those trying to cheat get caught

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VCE examinations can seem like a daunting prospect but they don't need to be if you're well prepared. These tips will help: Make sure you've got notes on each of the Key Knowledge and Skills set out in the Study Design Do 3 or 4 past exams to revise - if you can, work with friends to check and comment on each other's answers Read the examination reports Don't try and cram at the last minute.

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The focus of this unit is on the development of design concepts and two final presentations of visual communications to meet the requirements of the brief. This involves applying the design process twice to meet each of the stated communication needs.

(VCAA Study Design, VCAA)

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A searchable archive of typographic design, indexed by typeface, format and topic.

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Fonts In Use - Type at work in the real world.

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A searchable archive of typographic design, indexed by typeface, format, and topic.

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Inspiration —
A daily collection of original typographic design and lettering from four primary contributors.

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Friends of Type is a type & lettering sketchblog by Erik Marinovich, Aaron Carambula, Jason Wong, and Dennis Payongayong, and their guests.

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Student examples of research and idea generation!

(Patterson & Saville, 2017)

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PLEASE NOTE: This includes a sample brief too.

(Patterson & Saville, 2017)

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TOP DESIGNS — 2020

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Unit 3, Outcome 3 - The brief and Generating ideas

Criteria 1

Development of a brief that defines the communication needs of a client

Criteria 2

Apply design thinking to synthesise research material and observational drawing relevant to the brief.

Criteria 3

Use of visualisation drawings with annotations to generate ideas relevant to the brief.

Unit 4, Outcome 1 - Developmental work, refinement and evaluation

Criteria 4

Use of a range of materials, methods and media to develop and refine two distinctly different concepts relevant to the brief.

Yi Jing, Visual Communication Design, Criteria 4

Criteria 5

Use of a range of design elements and design principles to develop and refine design concepts for two communication needs.

Criteria 6

Application of relevant stages of the design process and design thinking to develop and refine a range of annotated design concepts relevant to the brief.

Criteria 7

Devise and deliver a pitch to test its suitability and evaluate refined concepts relevant to the brief and respond to feedback received.

Unit 4, Outcome 2 - Final Presentations

Criteria 8

Production of two final presentations that demonstrate effective communication appropriate to the brief.

Criteria 9

Production of two final presentations that demonstrate innovative and thoughtful selections appropriate to the brief.

Criteria 10

Production of two final presentations that demonstrate technical competence.

The examples of student work represent excellence in Criterion 8-10

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Criteria 1 Development of a brief that defines the communication needs of a client Criteria 2 Apply design thinking to synthesise research material and observational drawing relevant to the brief. Criteria 3 Use of visualisation drawings with annotations to generate ideas relevant to the brief.

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Contemporary design, architecture, interiors, architecture and more!

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Wallpaper* is the world's number one global design destination, championing the best in architecture, interiors, fashion, art and contemporary lifestyle

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How to Create an excellent Observational Drawing: 11 Tips for High School Art Students

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This article contains list of tips for high school art students who are looking to improve the realism of their drawings.

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Transforming the world through interdisciplinary design-led research

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We believe in the unstoppable power of imagination.

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A print publication and online magazine featuring inspiring conversations with creatives via long-form interviews, short features, film-based projects, and events.

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Own your discontent. Interviews with artists, makers & risk-takers via print & online mag, live event series & podcast.

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An online magazine that uncovers what’s new and next in design, with a focus on independent makers working outside traditional disciplinary boundaries.