MY LATEST ARTWORK,
and a few tips for all of you designers out there!
Every so often, when I have some time, I like to create new artwork! It keeps my creative juices flowing. Sometimes I'm creating a lot of layout designs and it doesn't quite satisfy me like when I create my own art. Even though, I still consider creating layouts art. Everything that comes from your heart is art! And I just noticed that the word 'heart' has 'art' right in the name.
(I'm going to create some art, from my heart, to compliment this new discovery - to come soon!!)
So I wanted to talk a little bit about these medieval weapons I made! I got the idea from myself, a few years ago I made some pretty cool ones similar to these and they got lost in space somewhere. I can't find the original files, so it inspired me to create new ones.
Basically said, this hatchet is mostly made from using the pen tool and normal gradients. I say normal, because there is such thing as gradient meshing. Gradient meshing consists of dedicating points to certain colors that will mesh until the next point and the next color. An example of a gradient mesh is in the metal part of this next ax, below. I was able to create more than one direction of gradient. Doing that, created a 3D effect. Gradient meshing takes many long hours, even months or years to master, but you have to start somewhere! You will be creating basic images in no time, I promise! Some people can 'vectorize' an entire realistic image that looks very close to a photograph, using these meshing techniques - including this famous mesher...
An awesome mesher, and a person that I have followed for years is Frank Wyte.
You can check out his YouTube Channel here: https://www.youtube.com/user/frankwyte81
He is a great teacher and he is a MASTER at meshing. If you have the patience, he can teach you how to mesh correctly. Don't get too discouraged - once you pick it up it comes naturally. But depending on what you are meshing, it can be a long process imputing all the color into each point. If you follow through though, you can create a magnificent piece of artwork!
It's all about technique.
Below, is the same ax but using regular gradients. See how the piece above pops so much more! If you know a little bit about Illustrator already, and you want to learn something new, gradient meshing will finish off your artwork so beautifully. In my opinion, gradient meshing is a semi-advanced thing to start doing in illustrator. If you don't know all of your keyboard shortcuts like the back of your hand and cannot quite use the pen tool, you have some learning to do. Even if you are a novice, don't worry! If you practice as much as you can - or even half as much as you can, you will learn everything in no time! I was there before! And believe me, if I can do it, anyone else can too!
Next, is my last piece I created. It is a double sided ax. I've learned over the years, that paying attention to detail is key to have a great looking design. All of the details were created by zooming in very close. But this piece of art in particular, doesn't do justice to the reason why the zoom tool is so important. Majority of the time working in Illustrator, the zoom tool is your best friend!
Remember everyone, Ctrl (+) & (-) is the keyboard shortcut to zooming!
Write it down and take a picture!
I hope you like my latest work and the few tips I had for you! I will do more tips coming soon, each post will be on a different level designer you are. But I'm sure everyone can benefit from them both!
Thanks! See you soon!
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