stars and barbs

[kirkcudbright]

This semester I'm taking a class in Adobe Illustrator, as part of the graphic design certificate program. I don't usually post about this because a) it's not as exciting as bike wanking, b> I'm not into self-promotion (which is going to be a big handicap if I ever decide to go into graphic design professionally), and/or c] my work, while good enough for the class, isn't as good as I'd like. I mean, I'm taking this class to learn Illustrator, so I'm producing beginner-level work, and who really wants to look at that when you can look at stuff like this instead?

But I was really pleased with this. The assignment, as should be obvious, was to redesign the flag, using the stars and stripes, and the colors red, white, and blue. Oh, and it should express a message of some kind. One of my ideas was to make prison bars (yeah, it's probably been done to death), but I kept coming back to one of the early pictures of Guantanamo, which was shot through razor wire. One thing led to another, and suddenly it's a piece about immigration or something.

It took about 6 hours to create, most of which was two steps forward, two steps back, and a running leap. I deleted everything and started over at least three times. Once I figured out what exactly I needed to do, it took less than half an hour. The secret is to do as little work as possible. One star and its attendant strands of wire are the only real elements here; the endless repitions aren't even copy-and-paste, but smoke and mirrors. The background is from the Photoshop "clouds" filter. It's almost embarrassing how far you can go with so little skill. But it's got 50 stars, arrayed as in the field in the flag, in approximately the right aspect ratio. And it was fun to do.

(BTW, like all the pictures I post, you can click through for a larger version. In this case, you can click through that for larger yet.)

{(
First and most importantly, make the grid. Start with a box the size
of the finished piece: 10.5" x 8". Make it a guide. Pen tool a line
across the top, drag-copy it 9 times, ending on the bottom of the
guide box. Make sure they're aligned, and distribute vertical.
Likewise make 6 columns across. Make a 4x4 grid in the lower left
cell. Subdivide the middle two rows, and subdivide the middle two
rows of that, so you've got lines 0.056" apart at the center.

Create the first curve by dragging the handle of the first point to
the next column line, then down and drag, then back up and drag.
Rotate horizontally as a copy. Select both, stroke to 6 points.
Outline strokes, red fill, black stroke. Divide and un-group. Select
the components of the long "over" stroke, and merge. For some reason,
this removes the stroke, so stroke it again. Do the same for the
other long stroke. With the direct selection tool, remove the "end
cap" segments. Look for an empty (un-stroked, un-filled) lozenge path
for the center, and delete it.

Click the star tool on the center of the cell: Radius 1 0.5", Radius 2
0.13", Points 5. In the layers palette, position it between the two
long strokes, and adjust it vertically to fit in the gap. Group.

Copy the unit group, and position it on the second row, centered over
the left edge of the bounding box (x=0.25"). Use the Transform effect
to make 6 copies at 1.75" horizontal spacing. Use Expand Appearance
to make them all real instances. Un-group the row, then un-group the
leftmost two units. Remove the star from the leftmost one, draw a
vertical line across the wires, and Divide Objects Below. Discard the
paths to the left of the bounding box, merge the truncated paths to
their neighbors, and remove the "end caps". Similarly for the right
edge. This gives us one unit with a left tail, one with a right tail,
and three unmodified units in the middle. For simplicity, I deleted
two of the unmodified units, and used the Transform effect to fill in
their spaces from the remaining one.

Select this second row, group it, and use the Transform effect: Move
Vertical 1.78", 3 copies.

Select the original unit, Transform: Move Horizontal 1.75", 5 copies.
Transform again, Move Vertical 1.78", 4 copies.

Make the background in Photoshop. New document 10.5" x 8" x 100dpi.
Foreground white, background medium blue, and use the Clouds filter.
Do it again if you don't like the first one. Save as psd.

Back in Illustrator, make a new layer behind the vector artwork, and
place the clouds image. Center it, and you're done.
)}

Comments

[lyonesse.livejournal.com]

you should make a smaller one too, and use it as an icon for politix.

[kirkcudbright.livejournal.com]

Shmaybe. I don't tend to post about politics either, because it's so depressing.

[lyonesse.livejournal.com]

me neither, i guess. but i still think you should make it. maybe let other people use it :)

[c1.livejournal.com]

OK, maybe I'm seeing too much into the illustration, but how's a helicopter supposed to land on a pad with a cable crossing into the pad's airspace? (Tiny detail on the bow...)

[kirkcudbright.livejournal.com]

I'd like you to meet my colleague, Dr. Rorschach...

[gatewaygirl.livejournal.com]

C1 means the Adobe Illustrator tutorial piece, not yours. There really is a cable right over the heliocopter pad.

BTW, this is brilliant! You never showed it to me.

[noire.livejournal.com]

I think it's awesome. Glad you posted it!

[con-girl.livejournal.com]

Lovely.