The lesson began by identifying the difference between vectors and pixels. As the basis of nearly every image format worth using, they can easily be confused and it was useful to learn the proper definition for each. Pixels are literal blocks of an image, simulating the points on a screen. They can be used in a variety of ways to create art and game art. For example, when many tiny pixels are put together and zoomed out, an image is created which doesn’t look pixelated at all, but, going in the opposite direction, making the pixels larger and more obvious creates an interesting blocky style which has grown in popularity massively in the last few decades. Vectors, on the other hand, are points, lines, curves and polygons on an algebraic grid. These points, lines, curves and basic polygons are called “primitives” and are the building blocks of vector art. Adobe illustrator, which is the program we went on to use, uses vectors, which allow for those clean-cut graphics that it is known for. Another perk of not using pixels is that when assets are imported into illustrator, they can be blow up infinitely, with no risk of the image looking blurry or pixelated.

 

 

Upon opening up adobe illustrator, my initial impressions were that there were many options and features along the sides, which was a little daunting, but not as much as after-effects. In fact, despite the fact that I knew there would be a learning curve, I was confident that eventually, I would be able to make amazing art with this program and operate it with ease. Our first task was to hover above all of the icons in the toolbar with our mouse and make a note of what they are and their shortcuts in PowerPoint. I was thrilled to be able to do this and get to know what the program had to offer. I liked how almost all of the shortcuts were simply a letter because this meant that you could switch from one tool to another without disrupting your work. I also noticed that as I went down the toolbar, the tools began to get more unfamiliar to me – which was convenient, as the most commonly used ones were at the top. Everything is made for the ease of the user. There are also awesome customisation and personalisation possibilities. By selecting a box, like layers or colour guide, you can move it around to any point of the screen, so that you can pick whichever layout is comfortable for you. And, when selecting window at the top, more options are available to add as well, which is quite impressive to me!

 

 

The first tools that we used were the shape and pen tools. The ellipses tool allows you to make circles of any size or shape, which you can then edit however you like using the handles and selection tool.  The same goes for the other shapes available, like the rectangle tool. However, in my opinion, the next one was more important and useful – the pen tool. I had some time to play around with it on my own, and it was very difficult to get the hang of at first. This is because, when making straight lines, you simply click, but for curved ones, there is a drag and pull system that requires some practice before it can be used properly. This is when I was first introduced to the bezier game, which is an online game that anyone can play to get used to using the pen tool. The objective was to draw the shape on screen using as little nodes as possible, and with the demonstrations, this was easy enough. Eventually, I felt much more comfortable using the pen and it became possible to do shapes as complex as clouds and side profiles. I already felt much more confident in using the tool and I felt that the capabilities it offered when used to its full extent were amazing.

 

 

Now that we could use the shape and pen tools, we were given the task of illustrating a character from the Star Wars franchise, the robot BB8. We set the image as a template background and set to work, essentially tracing the shapes and adding colour and stroke. This was to practice and get used to the feel of adobe illustrator. I found it enjoyable and good practice, and I found that I was actually more comfortable using the pen tool than creating shapes, although that also came in handy at certain parts. One of the things I found most difficult was accuracy. Although I could create almost perfect replicas of all the shapes that made up the robot, when looking closer, little details seemed to be off, like the size or position of a specific shape. They still looked exactly the same from afar, but if the careful inspection was made, it was obvious that my copy was a little different from the template. I wasn’t sure if these were limitations were due to the software or my inexperience. In the end, I didn’t have time to finish my work, so I decided to continue at home, especially since I still needed a lot of practice with the program.

 

 

I think that one of the most interesting parts of this task for me was how my thinking changed. As I was creating the shapes and drawing the details, I constantly had to be aware of what goes in front of what, what goes behind, what will end up being seen on top. I view it as “thinking in layers” and it’s not something I have experienced before, both with traditional and digital art. The mechanics of the program are what encouraged me to think this way and I found it truly facisinating although very new and different. I had to consider what I was doing in each layer and I did make a few mistakes, after which I had to go back and redo certain things. I really liked being challenged this way with a new method of art, and after a while, it certainly began to get easier. I even found myself using some shortcuts. This happened each time I realised that I was using a certain tool extremely frequently, I looked at my shortcut list and started using my keyboard, and habits started to form, which sped everything up considerably. Accuracy is still my weak point, but I’m trying my hardest to work around that, zooming in and focusing more on where I put the anchors, and I do believe that I have improved a little, even in this short amount of time. The tools I use the most and learned the shortcuts to, are the rectangle and elipses tools, the pen tool, the selection and direct selection tools, the eyedropper tool and the fill and stroke. I plan to watch some video tutorials and try and expand my knowledge further, to maximize the use of everything included. Overall, I am very happy with the result and considering that this is my first attempt, I think that I have done a pretty good job.