1Table Of ContentsChapter 1.............................................................page 2 Tools ...........................................................................4 Warm-Ups.......................................................6 Shapes....................................................................8 Shadows.............................................................10 Double-Take...................................................12

Chapter 2..........................................................page 14 H2O..................................................................................16 Mine & Yours...................................................18 Teapots...................................................................20 Wine...........................................................................22 Favorites.............................................................24

Chapter 3............................................................page 26 Where It Began........................................28 The Process........................................................30 Final Project......................................................32 Variations...............................................................34 Dusk & Destruction...............................36 Final Favorite.................................................38

About The Artist.........................................page 40

"What We Have To Learn To Do, We Learn By Doing."

-Aristotle

When learning anything new in general, you should always start with the very basics and then slowly work your way up into more complex and detailed ideas. The following pages

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3I entered this class with zero knowledge of how any com-puter graphic programs worked. I figured with technology these days getting more and more complicated, and neces-sary for many jobs, learning a little about it would help make me more successful in the future. Ill admit, in the be-ginning I thought this would be an easy class. I figured that we would not have to do too much because the computers would do it for us. Man, was I wrong. This proved to be my most stressful class, and also required much more outside of class work than any other class that I have taken. I never realized how much detail must be considered in all types of art work. I am not used to being the artist. I am used to look-ing at the whole big picture after something has been com-pleted. In this class I had to learn how to start a project and work through it step-by-step to make something wonderful in the end. Though the practice was tedious, and very much unappreciated at first, it helped to make me a better artist. I have never before considered myself creative, let alone an artist. However, after this class I now have a greater appre-

ciation for art and how it is made.

will hopefully guide you through the process of turing a simple line into a structured magazine.

How To Start

TOOLS&HOW

TO

To better understand my art, you must understand the tools I used and how they function. Each and every tool used in this program was of the utmost importance to completing the class. Throughout the rest of this magazine I will refer to the terms on this page and the next. It will be highly beneficial to take a look through here for guidance if you are not sure what I am refer-encing. I am by no means an expert in the Adobe software. I did not even use half the tools that are obviously available, but I did use select tools over and over again until I nearly mastered them. Who knows, maybe with a picture and description you might even find yourself able to better use Illustrator and InDesign

The pencil tool is used for free-hand drawing. You would use it in the same way you would use a regular pencil. Pencil strokes still make points that can be al-tered using the white selection tool.

The color selection tool allows you to choose which colors you want to use. The solid box is for fill color. The box with the smaller box inside is the stroke color. A box with a red dash through it means no stroke or fill.

5The black selection tool is used to select entire objects and move them to different locations on the screen.

The white selection tool is used to select certain points of an object and move them. This will not move an entire object.

The pen tool is used to place points. The points will all con-nect to each other with lines until you close the shape. You close the shape by clicking di-rectly on the first point you made.

The type tool is used to make text boxes where ever you would like to place them. The text can be changed to have a unique font and size.

The eyedropper tool is used to se-lect a color from any part of your drawing or picture and drop it in another part. For example I could use it to match the color of the page border with the color of my text.

The line tool is used to make line segments. The line can be as long or thick as you choose.

The very basic beginning of this project was learning to navigate through Adobe Illustrator. We learned about the selection tools, pen and pen-cil tools, and the various things we could do using only those. We were give an actual pen/ stylus and a drawing pad to use while drawing in Illustrator. The stylus helped to simulate actual pen and paper draw-ing, except while using a computerized program. Using a stylus helps when it comes to making more detailed strokes with the pencil tool. Using the pencil tool allows you to free-hand draw in Illustrator. You can easily make new lines in any which way using the pencil tool. The pen tool is used to make various points that will eventually connect to make lines or shapes. The black pointer tool can select all shapes and lines and move them around. The white point-er tool can select different points of an object and change their specific location without changing the entire object. Even though that seems simple enough, it took a few days of practice to really get used to it.

The Importance Of The Warm-Up

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Making Lines Into Shapes

After finishing our warm-ups and revisiting the function of each of our tools, we are able to start using lines to make shapes and objects. For these assignments we would choose an object to sketch using the pencil tool and stylus. The intention was not to trace the outer edges of the object, but to create it out of various lines. The work flow, for exam-ple of the water bottle on the bottom right of the page, was to start, line by line, from the bottom and go up. Once I got all the way up to the top I was able to go back through and add lines where I thought they would make the most sense.

On the next page there are a few examples of how light-ing can effect a line. When trying to describe shadows and brightness through lines you realize that many more lines are required to make the picture look realistic. The easiest way to go about this is to stark with the lightest part of the object. In the top picture on the next page the lightest part was the part just under the handle of the mug. Using white with the pencil tool I started shading in the lightest parts with lines. Once I had a basic outline I was able to go color by color into the darker shades of the mug, The final edition makes it clear which side the light was coming from.

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Shadows In Color

It is easy to look at an object and see the shadow in shades of gray and black. What if blackness did not exist in shadows? Of course we need some darkness in our day, but just for a moment, lets see all the darkness in color. These pic-tures try to express how the shadow would look monochromatically. Using different shades of the same color can give the illusion of a shadow.

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Using various different types of brush strokes, I was able to change each of the images from the previous page into something new. This page contains my favorite variation of each drawing. You are still able to distinguish what each of these pictures used to be-IF you refer to the previous page. However, If this is the first time you have seen any of these things; it is very likely that you will not be able to tell what they are. Which of these draw-ings are most recognizable? Which is the most altered?

Double-Take

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"Creativity Is Contagious, Pass It On."

-Albert Einstein

Creativity is essential in order to be an artist. Inspiration is also very important. Artist all over the world are praised for the originality in their work. However, the ideas they

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Art is not my strongest subject. I study psychology. I am used to spending a great deal of time studying why people do the things they do. When I look at art from a psychologist point of view, I find it much more interest-ing than I would otherwise. Every stroke, line, and space an artist uses is for a reason; to grab the viewers attention in a specific way. I took this class for the hands on experi-ence. I felt as though I would like to use new technology and make things rather than sit at a desk and draw all day long.

produce come from very real and existing things. The pages that follow will show how my classmates inspire me.

When searching through magazines, catalogs, web pages, and more, I tried to figure out why people laid out each page the way they did. I noted what captured my attention im-mediately and tried to find ways to make the idea my own. I was very inspired by how much work people have to put into various magazine spreads. Even the pages with adver-tisements on them have a lot of work put into them. People are undoubtedly creative. When I have a hard time think-ing of new ways to make attractive pages, I take a look at what someone else has created. Whether I realize it or not, other peoples creativity helps me find the best in me when it comes to art. I can only hope to pass my creativity onto

others.

How Others Inspire Me

By: Alvarez

Alvarez

muerer

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Fellow classmates had the same assignments that I had. However, no one quite sees anything the same. For ex-ample, a strange amount of students started their basic line drawings with water bottles. These are examples of how other students in the class thought it was best to depict an

average water bottle using only lines. H20muerer

The value of the image is in the eye of the beholder. Value measures the light and dark area of an object depending on the lighting. Each of these objects has light shining on it from a different angle. You can tell where the light is by

where each artist made the object lighter versus dark.

Whats Mine Is [[Not]] Yours

By: M. Muerer

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By: R. Rodriguez

By: A. Munoz

Teapots Please

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Would You Like Some Wine with that?

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Favorites

By: AlverazBy: B. Sykes

By: M. Meurer

By: J. Hoffman

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By: J. Hoffman

By: A. Rivera

"Think Left And Think Right And Think Low And Think High. Oh, The Thinks

You Can Think Up If Only You Try."

-Dr. Seuss

After all the things we have learned so far, the end hasfinally come. We are beginning to put everything together and make a masterpiece of our very own. The final project is a col-

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lection of all the skills we have learned. The process of bringing it all together is only a few pages away.

Making my final project was a long process. As previ-ously stated, we had to start with the very basics. We added piece by piece make a more elaborate picture. I feel as though we barely scratched the surface of Adobe Illus-trator in making the pictures I have shared so far. Some people are experts with the program and can make some re-ally wonderful things. For the final project we took one type of art technology (photography) and turned it into vector art-the most primitive art technology made of points, lines, and shapes. When we were first faced with the task of basi-cally tracing our original picture with a Mac computer and a mouse I thought it would be impossible. How could I make lines look as realistic as a photograph? This is all before I actually realized how much detail was really there. I picked a picture that I simply liked. I did not think about how I would go about re-creating it. I did not think of how hard it would be to match the colors in the photo. Once I had the image on the screen, I had no idea where to go from there. Slowly I made my way through and created something that I am proud to call my own. I have never felt so artsy or creative in my live. This is the first time I have really been able to create something original surrounding work that I have done. My final project for this class was not what I had expected. I would have never thought that all the work and

practice we did in class would turn into this.

It All Lead Me Here

Where It All Began

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The photograph that my final project represents is shown on the left. I took this picture about four years ago, with no intention of ever modifying it. I was at a random train station in a small town not too far from home. My friend and I were going to a concert downtown and we decided it would be fun to make a day out of it. We found a train station close to the hotel we were staying at and decided to take it downtown. The most peculiar part of this train sta-tion was the random London-style phonebooth. In current times it is hard to find a pay phone anymore, let alone an actual phone booth. Since we were documenting our entire day, I decided that this was worthy of a picture. I hardly ever take pictures anymore so this one definitely came in handy.

I chose this picture because I really liked that the phonebooth was the main point of the picture. When you first look at the picture you hardly notice the fence or the tracks or the partial building in the background. You notice the bright blue sky and the extraordinary phonebooth. I did not realize that there was an extreme amount of detail it though. I looked at the picture as a whole. I did not look at each individual object or the different layers each thing appears to be on. None of these things were really obvious to me, not until I was trying to realistically capture the same picture with my own colors. If I had know ahead of time that this detail would be this hard to capture I would have probably chosen a different picture. However, since it did require a little more work I think I am better able to appreciate it.

Where It All Began

THE

PROCESS

When beginning the process of making this drawing I had to first figure out how my photograph was layered. When I took the picture the layers happened unintentionally. Now I can see that the sky is on a different level than the trees and the phone booth. The objects in the picture are not all on

one plane. This makes replicating it much easier.

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It is a very slow process to add layers to a drawing. It is hard to even notice what has been changed or added to. If you look carefully you can notice added branches the building right

over the original picture.

Final Project

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VariationUsing the same concept of variation from the ear-lier chapters, I was able to make multiple varia-tions of the phone booth drawing that I already made. It was as simple as selecting a few line or all the lines that I made and adding an effect to the stroke or the entire picture.

Phone booth at DuskThis variation of the phone booth has just a few added details such as a gradient sky to

change the scene from day to night.

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Using the tweak effect I was able to change the phone booth until it became unrecognizable. It changes the whole mood. Quick Destruction

Rainy DaysThis is my favorite variation of my phone booth drawing. I selected all the lines I made and added a scribble effect to them. The scribble effect makes it look although you are looking at a rainy scene through a window. I really like it because I did not add the effect with the intent of making it look like a rainy day. The unintentional mistake ended up making a masterpiece.

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MEET THEARTISTI am a senior at Saint Xavier University. I hoped to have a very simple year and I took what I thought to be blow off classes. Funny how wrong I was. This semester proved to actually be very difficult, and this class one of my hardest. I have never taken any computer classes but I figured this would be simple since I use a computer every single day of my life. It was actually very difficult and time consuming. However, I learned many neat things that computers can do. The cool things that computers can do make up for some of the creativity I lack. Therefore, with a little bit of help, I am an Artist.