Critical tools for the digital artist

Before we get too far into making artwork, let’s get clear on what exactly vector art is, tools that will be useful for this course and looking under the hood of the software for personalization.

It is critical to establish an early solid understanding of how vector artwork behaves and how to master control of even the simplest of elements. We will also begin to create images with the Pencil tool and learn about it’s properties.

Moving on from the freeform nature of the Pencil tool, we will get solid experience with the ever essential Pen tool – likely to become one of the most important assets in your digital tool belt.

In order to create more complex images and designs, understanding layers and how to manage them is a must. We also get deeper into color options and shapes.

The Brush can be a surprising tool in a vector environment, as we are most accustomed to these sorts of tools in raster-based environments like Photoshop. We will explore the Brush’s capabilities and how we can successfully implement these strokes into our work.

With this next session, we will be exploring what Illustrator has to offer in the realm of Symbols, Blends and Masks. The ability to hide, reveal and mix certain parts of our designs is critical, but again, this gets pretty complicated when we aren’t organized or working on a large project.

In this session, you will get to Trace images with the magic button, as well as with your own hands. Both techniques will prove to bring interesting, compelling work to the table, and you will leave hopefully knowing when is the right time for the right approach to your creative work.

We continue this next session with the same conversation as the last: Lots of cool buttons and awesome effects, but learn to use them wisely and become a more valuable artist.

In our 9th session, we will be exploring the very hot topic of icons and logos. We will look at successful examples, hear from the pros and get a chance to explore the process of communication through the icon, the image, the “gotcha in one look” object or word.

Integration really is where it’s at when it comes to digital design. The more you realize when you should use what, the better your work will perform, the better you will work with other designers, and you will find improvements in efficiency and professional confidence.

In this session we jump full-on into the realm of printing. We start with the tools and processes involved with setting ourselves up for print work in Illustrator, then move to it’s big sister, InDesign for a more professional workflow.

This session is going to focus on your publishing techniques as you dive into the creation of a mini-magazine. This will be a great opportunity for you to play with expression, but also put your best foot forward and create a professional piece.

In this session, we will look into some of the ways to publish and export our work from InDesign, touching on the process of creating a digital book (eBook/iBook) and how to prepare a packaged project in order to pass on to other designers or a print facility.

As we finish up with our work from this class, we should take a moment to reflect on the new tools and techniques we have picked up, and how they have and will continue to affect our creative work, our stories we need to tell and the experiences we wish to share.