This project entailed creating a Hawaiian Shirt using Adobe Illustrator. The project was used to evaluate student's knowledge of Adobe Illustrator - testing their ability to use the pen tool, create and edit patterns, and use of gradient, blending, blurring, texture and shadow effects to make the shirt look more realistic. The design challenge was to create a pattern that deviated from the traditional Hawaiian shirt look in terms of theme and colour.

Adobe Illustrator

To solve the design challenge, I wanted to create a modernized plant theme that incorporated trending tropical foliage including banana tree and philodendron leaves that deviated from the traditional look of palm trees, sunsets and hibiscuses. I also wanted to create depth and reduce the flatness of the traditional design. The creative process began with researching the history of Hawaiian shirt (http://www.thealohashirt.com/history/), and how they are currently manufactured.
Next was finding reference images of current shirt designs and images of tropical foliage I wanted to include in my pattern. 

The general shirt shape and outline was created using image trace and the pen tool. A pinkish-mauve fill was added with no stroke. Next shadow details were added using transparency effects and blend modes.