Vector Illustration

Studying at University has helped me hone my skills in vector Illustration. At UniSA I learnt how to use Abobe Illustrator, until then the only vector program I had come into contact before then was CorelDraw 7 and that was largely self-taught.

I was shocked at how powerful a tool Adobe Illustrator really was. When I started I hadn't really considered vector programs for anything more than stylised poster art. Once I learnt how to use blend shapes, gradient meshes and clipping masks I was surprised at how realistic the image can look.

Australian Theme Stamp Design

This project involved students using Adobe Illustrator to create a set of stamps. After seeing past examples I wanted to try replicating metal or plastic textures. Internet pictures from search engines were fine for this project, as they were just for reference and would be completely replaced with vector artwork.

I picked a Holden Monaro and an older model Holden to create a bit of variety. Only two stamps were required but they could be designed to be part of a multi-stamp set, so when you put them together the whole car is shown.

The reason why there is a close-up of the mag wheel in the picture viewer is because it took me quite a while to get the metal textures just right. Blend shapes can be pretty tricky until you figure out why they are deforming wrong.

Create a Glass Object

This was another excercise to help us get used to using Adobe Illustrator. By the end of drawing this I well and truly knew how to use the pen tool and the bezier curve nodes. I also learnt how to use the envelope and 3D revolve functions to create a labelled bottle that goes with the image of the glass.