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 (your subject had a high level of difficulty)

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

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

First let me say that, as a group, you all did exceptionally well on this project. Your control of the drawing tools and consideration of lighting on the controllers was much better than I typically expect with the first project. You’ve now set an exceptionally high bar for the next project. Keep up the good work!

Anita Kunz Group

Maria Morales-My first impression of your phone is how great the top and bottom edges look with the gradients that give it a metallic appearance. That’s a very strong feature. You’ve demonstrated excellent control of the tools and shapes to give your phone a very precise look. Detail in the home button and logo are strong too. The face-on view is not as challenging as a view with more perspective. The effect of light is also shown on the screen. Your oval background would be a prefect compliment for an advertisement.
It would be a plus if you showed a more precise cast shadow to ground the phone on a surface.

Pam Redlew
-
I like the fact that you’ve challenged yourself with a perspective that demands adjustment of the shapes and paths to look realistic. The detail is good although you might consider how the phone would look without all the outlines to define edges…as is, it looks a little more angular than a typical phone. One way to achieve a more rounded look is to use gradients for fills. I do like the gradient on the screen, which corresponds to the light coming from top rear. It’s also casting a nice shadow under the phone. The short vertical line at the top left edge looks a little off of the perspective….maybe your phone has this look?

Stacy Carlton-
Your iPhone looks very realistic! You have excellent control of the drawing tools…I particularly like the thin edge around the phone which is very accurate. Your light source coming from the left is reinforced with the gradient on the screen and a very delicate cast shadow at the bottom and right edge. A view with slightly more perspective would have challenged you a bit more but I feel like you could easily handle it.

Liubov Voronina-
I appreciate you sending the two views of the phone and I thought that together they showed a good deal of skill. I particularly like the gradient you’ve used in the hinge on both views. The gradient gives us a clear idea that this element is a round curved shape.
You’ve incorporated good detail with the screen, buttons and logo. I am curious why you did not add numbers to the keypad? You have considered lighting effects with the gradient on the screen in both views but it would be stronger if a stronger cast shadow clearly depicted the light. You have incorporated a drop shadow on the right view but if this phone were sitting on a surface the shadow would be more complex.

Jamie Ly-I’m not really up on all the game controllers but his very cool. I appreciate your including more than one view although it was not required for the project. You’ve definitely gotten some good experience with the drawing tools and especially with the buttons and knobs. I especially like the thumb knobs with the gradients that show their curved shapes..very nice!

Lighting effects are a little inconsistent, although I understand you are not necessarily showing light from the same source. I’ll be specific about the shadows on the top view. The light source is a little unclear…is it from the top or back? In any case, it would be more accurate if the shadow were on a layer under the device. As is it’s very artistic…not necessarily correct or consistent. We’ll be doing a lot of work with lighting for our next project.

Rosenwald Group

Vicky Chen-Wow! I’m sure everyone in the class is wondering if you just picked-up the Illustrator skills since the start of class. I know you said you had some experience and it shows. You have incorporated excellent detail and this demonstrates the level of accuracy that can be achieved with Illustrator. My only comment is that, with such exceptional detail on the buttons and a strong cast shadow to the left, I would expect there to be some shadows cast from the buttons too. OK…only so many hours in the day…excellent work!

Michelle Naas-I was trying to figure out what this Vivitar controller was used for. I think of Vivitar and camera equipment. The controller itself is a combination of basic shapes.
I do like the detail in the slider button and the type style looks in the logo looks very precise. You have illustrated the effect of light coming from the left and casting a shadow to the right..this grounds the controller on the surface. It would be a plus if this same light was also reinforced by showing a gradient on the surface or perhaps a shadow cast from the buttons…I can really tell if they are raised or recessed. If recessed, then there would be a crescent shaped shadow just at the edge of the recess. Overall, your point of view is well done but not as challenging as a view that demanded perspective in the drawing.

Steven Tuck
-You’ve included lots of detail in your controller! Of course, Illustrator is a great tool for drawing and aligning regular shapes
like this. Your lighting from the left casts a strong shadow, which helps give the controller form. I think the angle of the shadow off the lower right corner would be more accurate if it came down at an angle. The surface of the controller looks very flat. All those buttons could help you add depth. Because your background is black, it does make it more difficult to illustrate button shadows. One technique to consider with would be to draw a subtle crescent shaped reflection off the shiny surface. Again, this all has the goal of rendering the device as realistically as possible. I know you had questions about making the logo for DELL more accurately..we’ll be focusing on type in a couple of weeks and you’ll become a pro with type effects.

Yelena Volkova-
Your mouse looks just like one I use! You have given it very good form and the curved surface is enhanced by the addition of a gradient across the bottom. I think it would have been interesting to add a highlight on the top shape where light would be hitting it most intensely. To do this you can add a gray gradient or even draw a shape that you blur (we haven’t learned this yet but thought I would mention). The shadow is rather harsh because you’ve used solid filled shapes. In this case, a shape with a gradient fill would be better. Also consider not using a visible stroke.

Deborah Maqrques-
Your garage door opener is a good basic design to draw in Illustrator. Perspective would make it more challenging but you have done a good job of rendering the basic shapes that make up the basic case and the buttons. I especially like the Genie logo. The cast shadow is a little large and tends to distract from the original controller. What’s the direction of light? I would suggest making it clearly from one angle, such as from top left. If you moved the shadow layer down and right so the small band across top on left didn’t show it would be more accurate.

Kroencke Group

Mary Beatty-I like the fact that you tried to make your Wii controller more complex with a view that required added perspective. The face of the device and oval buttons look great but the cross button and the small squares at the bottom don’t quite fit that perspective. You have considered the effect of a light source that comes from the right. The edge is darker to show that it’s in the shadow side. I especially like the small shadows you’ve created for the buttons…these are very well done. It would be a plus to have a cast shadow coming off the left of the controller to ground it on the surface. I’m sure you learned a lot from this illustration.

Wa Yung Chiu-
Your phone looks very realistic with the top face especially well done.
The buttons and ports around the edge add detail but they do not fit the perspective that this view demands. The shapes need to be foreshortened to appear accurately. I like the fact that you incorporated shadows and highlights. The gradient makes the screen look shiny which fits the phone but perhaps the light side should be towards the source of light (from right), which is dictated by the cast shadow on the left and bottom.

Scott Lockhart-Your iPhone looks great! I like the detail you’ve incorporated with the time, typography and Verizon
logo. The additional detail of the charging plug and cord adds a nice dimension to the phone. The top view is not as challenging as some projects with angular perspective but you rendered the phone very precisely and successfully incorporated cast shadows to ground the phone on the surface. Very nice work!

Melissa McGregor-Gosh we have a lot of iPhones in our class! My first impression of your illustration is the effective use of highlights and shadows
which help give the phone form. You’ve added gradients to both the screen and surrounding surface..this gives a metallic look. The cast shadow reinforces the direction of light although the hard corner of the shadow doesn’t correspond to the rounded corner of the phone. The perspective adds some challenge. However, the way you’ve shown the perspective, would imply that the top of the phone is closer to the viewer…that’s not consistent with the shadow which tells us the phone is lying flat.

Melissa Villarama-Your phone appears to be floating above the surface..it looks this way because the shadow is blurred which, in this case, visually communicates distance. You have incorporated a lot of detail in the phone and your paths are very precise except for the front left corner which looks angular. I don’t see the same treatment on the right so I have to assume you would prefer having a smooth corner. Lighting effects on the large screen are excellent and the gradient really gives it a realistic look…love the logo!

Frazier Group

Andrew Jozwiak-Your colorization of the Gameboy really gives it energy. Detail in the buttons and screen is excellent I especially like the slider on the right side. The shape/line accuracy on the front and front right corner is a little rough but I realize the tools we learned for this were not as easy to modify as we will learn with the pen. You’ve done a good job with lighting effects. It looks like gradients were applied to the control surface as well as the screen. The shadow is consistence with a light source from the left. A gradient fill would make the shadow more effective if it lightened-up as it moved to the back it would show that the lid was further from the surface than the base.

Glenn Lopez-Absolutely great detail in your iPhone. I feel like I can almost reach out and touch it. The plug-ins and charging cord are exceptionally well done. In fact, the shadows and gradients on the wall plug are rendered slightly more effectively than on the phone itself. Did you consider a gradient on the screen? I get a little confused by the perspective of the phone vs that of the accessories. They are not quite consistent but I’m being picky. Excellent work..you’re going to have fun with the second project!

Velvet McKenzie-Your phone looks amazingly realistic. You must have used Illustrator previously? I say that because you’ve created outlines of the Verizon type, which is a rather advanced technique…this definitely helps with logo creation. The button at the bottom looks very realistic. You took the easy route by using an image for the button. It’s just as easy to create in Illustrator with overlapping ovals with gradient fills to replicate the metallic look….and it’s also easier to add perspective, which the image doesn’t have…it’s not quite consistent with the phone body. Lighting effects reflect a source from bottom right..I like the soft gradient on the screen and the drop shadow looks great.

Ken Rathbun-
Another stunning colorization job on your controller. I really appreciate the level of detail you’ve included on the buttons, type and logo…looks great. The controller looks very symmetrical
too. I don’t know if you drew one side then copied and pasted to create its opposite but that’s a great way to insure accuracy. Lighting effects show a light source from top-left and the soft cast shadows also imply that the controller is curved and not flat on a surface. I would like to see the same lighting reinforce on the buttons…added highlights with a gradient fill would make them more realistic…especially on the thumb controls which are slightly curved. Nice work!

Anna Volkova-Your cell phone illustration looks good and I appreciate the fact that you challenged yourself with a perspective view. You’ve used gradients effectively to show the surfaces of the phone, screen and bezel. The Motorola M is really well done and the highlight really gives us the impression that the button is raised. Some of the paths are a bit irregular. I know it’s difficult to draw accurately, especially with freeform tools. We’ll learn that the pen tool and anchor adjustment will make all the difference in line control. Your cast shadows are a little harsh. I would suggest this as a great place to use a gradient and have the stroke not visible for a more realistic shadow.