INTRODUCTION:
The challenge was exploring and documenting the process and Adobe Creative Cloud workflow for drawing on an iPad using Adobe Illustrator Draw, refining the content in the parent application(Adobe Illustrator CC), storing and organizing artwork and documentation screengrabs in the Creative Cloud and documenting the project on Behance.
MATERIALS:
Hardware: iPad, Mac Desktop
Software: Illustrator Draw; Illustrator CC, Photoshop
Platforms: Creative Cloud, Behance
CREATIVE PROCESS:
Since I never made a caricature until I did this project I left most of the facial features the way they were. I exagerated the size of his ear and made his lips to be a little bigger than they are. Taking what little I knew of caricature portraits I drew the head of my subject to be at full size while I made the body smaller. I added a little bit of a personal touch to it making the half realistic and the other half as cartoonish as I could.
The same went for the cameo project. I made it as simple as possible with the limited amount of knowledge I had on the subject matter. I used a dark ellipse as a negative around the portrait to make it stand out. Although, I could have used a few more lines and possibly some grey for lighting to create a three dimentional piece.
PRODUCTION METHODS & WORKFLOW:
This details the methods of production in my first attempt at making both the cameo and caricature assignment.
This details the methods of production in my first attempt at making both the cameo and caricature assignment.
We started off by starting a new project in Adobe Illustrator Draw. For this assignment we tittled it "Cameo". From there we were able to start.
After taking a picture of myself from the side using an iPad, I opened the image into Adobe Illustrator Draw and changed the opacity of the photo to be low enough that I could still get the slightest amount of detail to do an outline using the basic taper brush.
Once I had the outline made, I selected the "Shapes" menu and selected the ellipse tool. Using my index finger and thumb together on the screen I was able to move and rotate the ellipse over the the figure. By pinching the ellipse with my two fingers I was able to create a proper size to fit around figure. When I was finished with setting it up I pressed on the X to exit the tool.
Once that was done, I double checked to make sure all my lines used to make the outline were closed off. After that I held down my finger onto the space between the outline and ellipse to fill in the background. Then I erased the lines that were on the outside of the frame as part of the cleanup.
Once the drawing portion on the iPad was finished I saved a copy to the Creative Cloud and then opened it up in Illustrator.
Before being able to open the image from the iPad to the desktop, I needed to make sure to be signed into the Creative Cloud app on the desktop so they would be linked.
After opening the image into Illustrator I used the "Select All" (command + a) to select the all the points that were made from drawing. From there I when to Object - Path - Simplify to reduce the number of points in the image.
With the image simplified I saved two copies of the cameo. One as a .ai (Illustrator file) and a .pgn file. Once that was all done I uploaded my content on to Behance with a step by step explanation of my process with screenshots with the final product at the end.
Using similar steps I created a caricature on Illustrator Draw of the person sitting beside me.
CONCLUSION:
This was the first time I ever used Illustrator Draw to make something. I've only ever used applications on my old Android tablet. It was also the first time I ever made a cameo and caricature piece so it proved to be a challenge considering I do not have a steady enough for precision drawing. Working with the Creative Cloud was both complex and simple at the same time, uploading content from the iPad and Mac desktop to the Creative Cloud wasn't difficult once I knew what to do. Once I got the hang of the program it became easier to draw. Jumping from iPad to desktop was easy for me since I have a little over two years of experience working with Illustrator and Photoshop. I feel more confident now in my ability to use Illustrator draw in the future.
