ANM 324 Project 1

For most of you this first project is an adventure and a significant challenge because you are using a totally new piece of software with drawing tools that don’t feel very natural.  I appreciate those challenges and try to push you a bit in how you look at these everyday objects.  You’ll be seeing your skill with Illustrator grow enormously over the course of the first two projects.  Keep up the good work!

Here’s my general grading criteria for this project:

Note: 5pts deducted for missing group critique 10pts for missing submission deadline. You can view your grade and additional comments regarding late submissions or missing comments in the gradebook.

95-100-drawing is accurate, demonstrates good control of tools and includes accurate lighting effects (high level of difficulty)

90-95-drawing is accurate, shows adequate control of tools lighting and fills considered but not complete or accurate

85-90-drawing is accurate, fills not complete, lighting not adequately considered

80-85-drawing and use of tools lacks control, lighting not adequately considered

70-80-drawing not controlled, lighting not considered

70-below very late work

Anita Kunz Group

Laura Allen-Your classic alarm clock looks great!  I especially like the (mostly) free-form shapes and brush strokes which give the clock a very artistic look. You paid particular attention to lighting effects with both highlights on the surfaces of the clock as well as shadows on the clock and surface on which it sits.
I’m not sure why you chose to have the clock numbers repeated on the surface and can’t quite visualize how a reflection could be cast with only the numbers showing….maybe you just were having too much fun.  Overall an excellent job interpreting the clock with the limited tool set we’ve been working with.

Anthony Campanario-I’m not sure if the viewers would clearly understand that the subject is a picture frame. The major clue is the stand coming out the back. The challenge for you was the concept of drawing closed shapes that could be filled while drawing the frame with line segments. This is definitely tricky but a key concept in Illustrator. It would help a lot to see the outer frame filled-in. I do appreciate the addition of a shadow cast from the frame…perhaps a few diagonal lines across the picture glass would help us visualize it’s shinny surface. As we move on to the pen tool you’ll get a much better feel for drawing and filling closed shapes.

Kayal Garrett-Your game (sorry I’m not an expert on the particular models) looks very good! I really appreciate the brush-work that allows us to stroke a path with a textured line. It looks very artistic and you’ve also done a good job of rendering the effect of light on the device. Gradient shadows cast on the surface give us the impression of a soft light illuminating the player. It also helps us understand the various surface materials when we see reflections coming off the glass surface. Overall, a very nice job with your illustration.

Aaron Keisler-Thanks for naming your Game Boy..we really had a lot of examples of phones and handheld games in this project. Your Game Boy looks great..the color especially makes it standout. You’ve used the shape and path tools very effectively to illustrate the primary form and detailed buttons on the player. Type is also very well done and looks very accurate down to the font styles typically seen on this device. You’ve shown a cast shadow indicating a light source from the upper left..looks good but shouldn’t there also be a slight shadow cast from top and left side of screen. As is, the shadow is on the right and bottom…doesn’t look quite consistent. With so much detail it would also be a plus to show the shiny surface of the screen with a slightly contrasting shape that would illustrate a reflection off the surface. I’m being picky, I do realize that you put a lot of effort into your illustration.

Lisa Leone-Your controller looks like I could just reach out and pick it up! You’ve included excellent detail with the control keys and selectors.
The strong cast shadow is done with a gradient…very effective. I can visualize also using a gradient on the top surface to imply the “shine” the light source would have as it illuminates the surface. There would also be some very short shadows cast from the player keys…..these would be easier to illustrate if the surface weren’t solid black. Type looks good!

Seth Sarmiento-A cup is a great subject for this project. I like its irregular shape and the challenge of showing the effect of light. The cup itself looks very good..you’ve used the shape tool very effectively to define the cup form and handle. The shadow cast on the table is very strong and implies a strong light from behind. I see a path along the edge of the shadow…it would be more realistic without it. The shadow on the cup is very good near the base with a nice strong edge consistent with the light. The shadow is a little softer on the back of the cup…which implies a softer rounded surface. It should, however go all the way to the rim. I would also put a darker shadow inside the cup. Considering the complexity of the surfaces and challenging lighting effects, I think you’ve done a very good job.

Timothy Yuen-I totally understand the perspective of your plug-in surge protector, but I had the advantage of seeing your initial drawings. The shape itself looks very good…I especially like the detail in the receptacles and the green light is a nice touch. You’ve also used gradients very effectively to illustrate the curved surfaces of the device. The shadow does inform us about the dominant light source coming from the top right, but the shadow is not well defined at the base. From this perspective, the base looks open. I think it’s primarily an optical illusion that has been created; is the base concave, convex or is the middle surface flat? The visual confusion would be clarified if there were a darker shape at the base or if gradients were use to refine the cast shadow. There might even be a secondary shadow cast on the inner surface?

Rosenwald Group

Ariel Asher-
I did say in another student’s critique that I didn’t really know all the controllers that students are illustrating..this one I get! Your Wii controller looks great with lots of detail on the surface with buttons, labels and lights. The cast shadow on the right implies a strong light source coming directly from the left. The gradient across the controller surface helps us understand that it slightly curved…a very nice touch. I see the shadows cast by the small buttons…wouldn’t the control “cross” at the top also have shadows consistent with that on the buttons? Overall you’ve done a very good job illustrating your common object.

Laura Krenzler
- Your hat has a very artistic freeform style…that’s fine and demonstrates good skill with those hard to control pencil and brush tools. I do like the detailed stitches added to the brim and the embroidered logo…might be nice if it had a little more depth, which could be shown with a touch of shadow around the edge. I do see the very strong light that is affecting the hat’s surface. With such a strong light, I would expect a shadow cast on the surface that’s consistent with the light on the hat. You’ve added some brush strokes but I think the shadow needs to be a larger and more dramatic form…perhaps filled with a gradient. That would do the trick! I do like the organic style you’ve used which is rather refreshing and gives your hat lots of character.

Kathie Palomar
- We did exchange some thoughts on your knife holder…each version was more refined and better captured the holder and knives. You’ve done a good job illustrating the detail in the holder and the knives right down to the rivets. The perspective on the top of the holder is not quite accurate, it needs to be narrower as it goes away from the viewer. This is not easy to achieve with the limited tools we’ve used to this point. Once we draw more closed shapes, you’ll see how they can be adjusted for precise perspective. I see some modest shadows on the edge of the holder but would also expect to see some simple cast shadows off the knife handles onto the top of the holder. You did a good job illustrating the primary objects.

Morgan Shaw-Wow! I really like the point of view you chose for your favorite red stapler. It’s very striking. It’s obvious that you have excellent control of the shape tools and in addition have applied some very effective gradients that help define the complex curved surfaces of the stapler. I try to discourage the use of visible outlines but in this case it certainly helps illustrate the shapes. Considering the varying levels of light on the inside parts…I think the large black shadow is a little too harsh….,maybe just making this a gradient or filled with a lighter shade of grey would compliment the other elements of the illustration. Outstanding job!

Alana Woldhagen- You’ve included lots of detail in your Nintendo Game Boy
. I especially like the surface treatment with gradients and the reflection on the surface. Perspective is very challenging with this view…I think you’ve done a very good job with it. To me there is a little bit of a incongruence between front and top…perhaps the top should be vanishing at a bit more of an angle and the hinge should recede (become more narrow) as it goes to the back. Looks like you have excellent control over the drawing tools and color fills…gradients are excellent. I know I’m being picky about the perspective but it’s clear from your illustration that you want to challenge yourself to do the very best work. Keep it up!

Tassie Burton-I get the impression that this is a travel bag with the zipper going across the top. Nice detail down to the buttons, zipper pull and handle attachments. It appears that you have good basic control of the drawing tools, which result in closed shapes that can be filled with color. The lighting effects imply a strong source coming from the left front of the bag which result in a strong cast shadow. Including the handles in that shadow is a nice touch. With such a strong shadow, the sides away from the light should be significantly darker…I can see a subtle difference in the gray tone but the green panel (on right) should also be shade darker for consistency. If you put a slight shadow behind the zipper and pull it would also add a nice detail, which reinforces the direction of light to the viewer.

Samuel Ross
-Your phone is one of the most complete and successful in the class! The attention to detail is outstanding and color gradient fills really bring the illustration to life. Perspective is excellent and the surface color fill almost makes the phone appear to be covered with a metallic wrap. The only added feature I would like to see is a shadow that lets us know that the phone is resting and not just floating in space..maybe it is! Keep up the excellent work!

Kroencke Group

Caitlin Ayers-The pressurized air can is very well drawn. I assumed you primarily used the shape tools to render it. You have succeeded in creating closed shapes, which fill predictably with color. I’m curious if you duplicated the can layers/shape to create your shadow…that’s the way to do it! The shadow implies that the can is sitting in front of a flat surface…which it may well be. I would suggest distorting it a little by selecting and using the Effect>Distort>Free Distort…the shadow would be smaller at the top as it gets further from the can. You might also consider a slight color change on the left half of the can. Light is strong on the right front (based on shadow) so there would also be a lighter band of color (fill color or gradient) on front right. Love the detail in the head and sprayer!

Joy Culley
-Wow..your clock looks beautiful! The detail, color and highlights are all exceptionally well done. You clearly have good control and understanding of the drawing tool…you’ve done this before! Not really much I can add, but for others in the class to look at the attention to detail. Perspective is precise and the slight shadow across the face really brings this object to life! The only thing (this is picky) that I would consider is to soften the edge of the shadow in front. It likely wouldn’t be quite as harsh. My choice would be to use the Effect>Blur>Gaussian Blur
which can be applied very precisely for just a touch of blur at the edge. Very strong work and I expect you to dazzle us in the class!

Elliot Harris-Your Kleenex box is rendered in a very artistic style with liberal use of the brush tool to outline and highlight the shape. The cloud illustration on the front is fun and certainly is nice challenging upgrade over a simple color fill. You’ve matched the decoration with the perspective of that surface and you’ve also copied and reapplied it to the end, which is exactly how we like to reuse drawn elements. I see a complex gradient applied to the tissue to give the illusion of folds. The gradient fill is a out of place in the context of the other hand-drawn details..perhaps just using the brush to add a few additional shadow lines, with others already in-place, would retain the continuity of the illustration. The shadow coming off the front of the box is strong and implies that there is a strong light source coming from the right. I do see a gradient at the base of the tissue (box top) but I think there should be a more defined shadow from the tissue that’s cast over the top of the box.

Michael Kuntz-Your phone illustration is very precise…almost engineering quality. You clearly have good control of the shape drawing tools and the use of text tools for the logo/type on the device. I like the detail in the icons too. The perspective is not too challenging with the head-on view but you have indicated a light source from the top right and the shadow perspective coming off left and bottom sides of the phone are right-on! I see a slight gradient on the screen…I think it would be a strong added feature if the screen appeared more glass-like. With the light coming from the right, you could add a gradient at a 45 deg angle across the screen to reinforce the direction and intensity of the light. Another technique is to draw a lighter shape on the glass surface to imply a reflection. Strong detailed work..very well drawn!

Candeda Parks
- Sorry for not showing the final image with the shadow included. I finally got it fixed after some tinkering with the file. You obviously had fun putting together your composition of butterflies and the flower. Based on your initial sketch, I thought you were going to focus on just the central butterfly. It looks like you’re gaining control of the drawing tools and coloring techniques and you took advantage of the power of illustrator to draw one version of the butterfly and copy/paste to duplicate. One of the details I wanted to see in the drawing is the effect of light on the scene. I do see your flower shadow but, it’s not quite clear what the shadow is reflecting off-of? It would also be more accurate if you did not keep the outline in the shadow…just the fill. I would expect to see a shadow of the butterfly on the flower. This could either be drawn using the freeform tools or you could copy the butterfly itself, fill with a solid shadow color (grey) and rotate/move to a position below the original. Overall, I think it might have been easier to focus just on the central theme with one large butterfly sitting on the flower. Lighting effects are tricky… you need to focus on them for the next project. Isn’t Illustrator fun?!

Rodolpho Torrencampo-Nice job on the wall clock! Looks like you have a good understanding of the shape tools and color fills including the gradient, which you applied to the center. Aligning and dispersing numbers along a circle is tricky and you’ve done it very precisely. I don’t know if you figured out how to automatically do this in Illustrator (you’ll learn to do it in a CIB lesson 8).

The perspective (straight-on) made the drawing a little less complicated by allowing for exact circles. I do see the effect of light coming from the right with a slight cast shadow off the clock case. It would be a nice added feature if you showed a shadow of the hands on the clock face. A more advanced skill would be to perhaps add highlights that show that there is glass on the front. Overall, you’ve done a very good job on your clock.

Sahnnon Fannin-I’m very impressed with your drawing of the pen. It’s detailed and demonstrates excellent skill with the drawing tools. The highlight down the center of the barrel really gives the object form and clearly gives us the impression that it is round. The ink-bottle is a nice added touch although the detail is not as precise and there are no visible lighting effects on it. You could use the same gradient highlight on the cap and bottle to give it a rounded form. Because lighting effects were an important element of this project, I did expect to see cast shadows to show the relationship of the objects to surfaces they might be on. Both the pen and bottle could be duplicated, filled with a solid color and arranged on a layer behind the originals to render a more complete scene. I expect to see more strong illustrations in future work.

Tiese Hall-
Your candle holder has some very strong elements. I’m impressed with the layout of the mosaic shapes, which remind me of glass tiles. You’ve followed the curve of the container to give us a clear idea of its rounded form. The shapes appear to be quite soft and blurred…It looks like you have applied a blur effect perhaps to add depth or artistic appeal. I think the blur is overdone and it would be better to leave the tiles with well-defined edges. What I am not seeing is the effect of light on your container. If you think of a directional light source it would cast a shadow on the table (for example) and highlight the surface of the candle closest to the light. This would give the holder a much more defined form and ground it on the surface. You’ll get plenty of opportunity to work with lighting in future assignments and projects.

Frazier Group

Ronald Davis-Wow..your phone looks great! You’ve included lots of detail with all the controls, screen…right down to the AT&T logo.
Lighting effects on the surface of the phone are applied with gradients…maybe a touch overdone on the screen but they are fun to apply and really addictive once you get started. I see the cast shadow on top and right…this implies a strong light from the bottom, which is consistent with the “glow” on the screen. I would expect the bottom surface of the phone to be lighter. This would be a good place to apply a more consistent gradient to highlight. You’ve clearly got a good feel for the drawing tools and I look forward to seeing future work.

Claire Lacombe
-Your rose is quite a pleasant change from all the electronics we’ve had submitted for this project. The detail in the flower is excellent…petals and lighting effects really give it a realistic form. You’ve chosen to put a textured background in the illustration. The only think I find a bit distracting it that the texture shows through the rose…yeah, it’s artistic but I like to see the detail in the illustration. I tried both removing the background and also went into the layer palette and selected “flatten artwork”. The later makes the rose non-transparent and leaves the background texture…I think that looks better. This is a matter of personal choice. Did you consider a shadow on the background? Overall you’ve done an excellent job with the illustration…looks like a pro!

Adam Watts-Once you figured out the strategy and technique for closing and filling shapes the illustration of the lamp really came together nicely. I really like the glowing effect, which clearly shows the semi-transparent panels. The outer structure is very precise and the perspective is spectacular. I would like to have seen you complete the illustration with some sort of shadow on the surface..it would likely be rectangular, slightly blurred form under the lamp base or coming out from the wood corners. Another technique to consider, for the next project, is when to not use visible strokes to outline shapes. Strong, detailed work!

Kimberly Johnson-
Your spotlight is fun subject for this project. You’ve done a very good job drawing the basic shapes and I do appreciate the limited use of outlines. Highlights and shadows on the light and the surface look great! Your choice of color palette is excellent too. The lighting source is strong and the resulting effects ground the light on the surface and give it a very believable form. I think an added shadow coming off the switch would be a nice touch and I’d like to see more detail behind the glass. Maybe there’s a bulb that’s slightly visible. The glass might also have a glow or circular highlight on it as a result of the light reflecting off of it….these are just a couple details to consider. Keep up the good work!

Tamara Ruxin-Wow..your cup is very artistic! I really like the fact that you drew it and chose to not have the strokes visible as outlines. It looks like you have a very good feel for the drawing tools…the shape is very smooth and flowing. Lighting effects are especially strong. I like the shadow on the saucer but the solid black on the surface is a little too intense. If it were black there then it should be black on the saucer too (which wouldn’t look as good). I’d suggest just lightening up the black with transparency adjustment or fill with a grey. Shadow inside the cup is a nice touch as is the highlight on the top of the handle….most new illustrator users don’t think of this detail. Because the light is strong, it would also be revealed as a highlight (lighter blue) on the surface of the cup facing the light. Excellent drawing skills!