During this class, we took a look at some art blogs you can use for research or inspiration. We also took a look at some new Illustrator tools and techniques, including creating new Symbols and using the Symbol Sprayer tools to manipulate them, and creating custom fill patterns that you can apply to shapes. We looked at a few tools that manipulate paths, such as the Scissors tool (which snips your path at an anchor point), the Knife tool (which can be used to divide a path into two separate shapes), and the Eraser tool (which is used to subtract areas from shapes). The Appearance palette can be used to align shapes to the Artboard or to each other. Stroke palette options allow you to control how Illustrator draws corners on your paths, precisely control how the path is drawn, or to create dashed lines. We also looked at the Blend tool, which can be used to tell Illustrator to create a gradient between two objects, or to create a series of in-between objects as it blends one shape into another. It can be used to create grids and other patterns.

During this class, we spent some time working on Assignment 1, which is due next class. Remember to bring a USB drive (labelled with your name) for next class, so that you can hand in your work. We also took a look at some new Illustrator tools and features, including context menus, Live Paint, Warp, Twirl, and related tools. Here are a few more essential Illustrator tools and techniques to remember:

Selecting Colours
There are several ways to choose colours in Illustrator. You can use the Color palette to pick a colour from the coloured bar, but because the palette is so small, the controls are rather limited. For more control over colour selection, try double-clicking either the Fill or Stroke colour in your toolbox. This brings up the Color Picker window, where you can easily adjust the colour you have, or use the controls to find the precise colour you’d like.

Illustrator allows you to select both a Fill colour and a Stroke colour. You can use the toolbox buttons to swap these two colours, or switch them to the default white and black. You can also set either the Fill or the Stroke to None, and the Fill colour can be set to a gradient or a pattern instead of a solid colour.

Using Swatches
Swatches are a way to save colours that you intend to use later. To create a swatch, simply select the colour you want using either of the methods described above, then click the New Swatch button on the Swatches palette. You can give the swatch a name if you’d like. Your swatch then appears in the Swatches palette, and you can click it to make it the active colour.

When you first start a new Illustrator document, the Swatches palette is filled with the default swatches. If you aren’t going to use these and want to clear them from the palette, simply drag each swatch to the little trash icon on the palette to delete it. You can also click the first swatch, hold the Shift key, and click the last swatch to select them all, then drag them all to the trash at once.

Free Transform
The Free Transform tool is used to resize or rotate an object. It’s quite easy to use, and you don’t even need to switch to it most of the time – when you select an object with the Selection tool, the Free Transform controls automatically appear. To resize the object, simply drag the controls on the corners and edges of the object’s bounding box. When resizing, you can hold the Shift key to keep the same proportions (so the object is not stretched). When you move the mouse slightly outwards from the corner controls, you can use the controls to rotate the object.

Changing an object in this way is called transforming it. To more precisely control the position and size of an object, try using the Transform palette. You can also access more Transform options from the Object → Transform menu, which will let you Reflect the object (mirroring it) or Shear it (skewing it).

This class was mostly studio time, to give everyone a chance to get working in Illustrator and ask questions. There was also a brief demonstration reviewing some of the Illustrator tools, and introducing the Type Tool and Type on a Path. As you are getting started with Illustrator, here are some of the more important tools and features to focus on:

The Pen Tool
The Pen Tool can be used to create just about any shape in Illustrator. Despite its name, it works quite differently than the Brush or Pencil tools, and is a good way to get used to the differences of drawing in Illustrator. The Pen Tool creates lines, which in Illustrator are called paths. However, instead of dragging the tool to draw each line, you click to define where each anchor point of the line is. An anchor point is a place where the line changes, such as a corner or the apex of a curve. You can click without dragging to create a corner point, or click and drag to create curves with smooth points. Hold the mouse down on the Pen Tool’s toolbox icon to access the other pen tools, which allow you to Add Anchor Points, Delete Anchor Points, or Convert Anchor Points between corner and smooth points. The Pen tool takes some getting used to, but with some practice you will find it super useful for drawing many shapes.

The Selection and Direct Selection Tools
Both the Selection and Direct Selection Tools are used to manipulate your drawn shapes, but they do so in different ways. The Selection Tool is the dark arrow, and is used to select shapes (by clicking them) or reposition shapes (by clicking on them and dragging the mouse). You can also select multiple shapes by drawing a box around them, or holding the Shift key while you click different shapes. The Direct Selection Tool (the white arrow), on the other hand, is used to manipulate parts of shapes. For instance, you can use the Direct Selection tool to move a single anchor point, or adjust a curve using the control points. You can select multiple anchor points by drawing a box around them, or by holding the Shift key as you click multiple points.

The Layers Palette
The Layers Palette is used to organize your artwork. Everything you draw in Illustrator will show up in the Layers palette as a separate object, and each object is contained in a Layer which acts like a folder containing the objects. You can use the Layers palette to organize your drawing, select and delete objects, and change which objects appear on top of others. Objects at the top of the Layers palette will appear “on top” in your artwork. To select an object using the Layers palette, click the empty area on the very right side of the box containing the object’s name. One of the most useful functions of the Layers palette is that you can use it to temporarily hide or lock certain layers or objects so that they are not in the way when you are working. To toggle whether a layer is hidden or locked, click the two boxes on the left side of the box containing the object’s name.

The Zoom and Hand Tools
The Zoom Tool and Hand Tool are used to navigate around your drawing. With the Zoom tool selected, you can click to zoom in on your drawing, or hold the Option key and click to zoom out. With the Hand Tool selected, you can click and drag to reposition your artwork on the screen. It is quite helpful to learn the shortcut keys for these tools: you can press Command (⌘) and + to zoom in, and Command and – to zoom out. You can also press Command and 0 (zero) to fit your artwork on the screen. The shortcut key for the Hand tool is the spacebar, so you can hold the spacebar and drag the mouse to reposition your drawing at any time.

In our second class we looked at the work of several artists and illustrators who work with vector graphics or related techniques:

• Siggi Eggertsson
• Alex Hohlov
• Marian Bantjes
• Joshua Davis
• Andy Gilmore
• Autumn Whitehurst
• Tom Whalen
• Catalina Estrada
• Cristiano Siqueira

We also looked at several artists who do not work with vector images or even digital media, but whose work shares some characteristics with vector imaging. Many of these artists are painters who work with flat geometric shapes and bold colours, and make use of precise placement and symmetry. Others work with text and patterns, sometimes referencing commercial design or advertising techniques.

• Tauba Auerbach
• Chris Ware
• Takashi Murakami
• Piet Mondrian
• Bridget Riley
• Peter Halley
• Barbara Kruger
• Robert Indiana
• Wassily Kandinsky
• Andy Warhol
• Keith Haring
• Ed Ruscha
• Banksy

In this class we also looked at some examples of Illustrator projects, and there was a brief Illustrator demo. Since we were not able to meet in the Mac Lab, we’ll go over most of the tools introduced in this class again, so you can try them out. We also started Assignment 1.

Siggi Eggertsson is an Icelandic artist and illustrator who lives in Berlin. He works extensively with vector images, creating choppy, graphic drawings that reference early computer graphics while retaining a lively organic quality. His subtle use of gradients and unusual colours is especially evident in his In Plein Air series.

From his interview with Computer Arts magazine:

“I got really into the paintings of romantic impressionists, who took their canvases and paint outside, and painted what they saw – mountains, flowers and other imagery like that. I decided to modernise this method, taking my canvas – that is my computer – outside and drawing everything I could see in front of me directly into it. I’m not sure how long everything took, perhaps seven or eight hours, but I had to go back inside in-between times to charge the battery. I used Illustrator while I was drawing the image, and the colouring was done in Photoshop.”

Eggertsson also experiments with video art: see A Growing Pile of Work and Supernova.