Recently, we've begun working with Adobe Illustrator. In working with Illustrator, there are multiple struggles I’ve come across. The biggest issue at first was simply that it was different than Photoshop, which was what I was used to. Sometimes the way you did certain things you could also do in Photoshop was different. This made Illustrator a little hard to learn at first, but I was able to get used to it fairly quickly. One of the later problems I encountered was using completely unfamiliar tools. In creating the image above, I made use of some of these tools. I used the mesh tool to create the shading on the burger. It took me awhile to figure out how to use it, but once I figured it out, it didn’t take long for me to get the hang of it. The pen tool, on the other hand, was a different story. I managed to create the cheese and lettuce with it, but it took a while. It wasn’t hard to figure out how it worked, but it was, and still is for me, at least as of this post, hard to use. Hopefully as I work more with Illustrator, I will get used to it.
While some parts may be hard, I find Illustrator an enjoyable program to use. I like how I’m forced to use only shapes, which makes me think outside the box when trying to create something. It’s interesting to see what you can make in such a program. Illustrator could be used in pre-production of a game or film. It can be used to create concept art, which is something I hope to do with it. Overall, Illustrator is an interesting, and highly useful program. While parts may be hard, I enjoy using it.
0 Comments
I haven’t been using Photoshop for very long, and I only consider myself to be somewhat familiar with the program. I have enjoyed almost all things I have done in Photoshop, and have liked using many different tools and techniques. So far, my favorite technique that I have used is colourizing images through blend modes. I enjoyed adding an extra layer to old black and white photos. I enjoyed taking black and white images of musicians I liked and adding colour to them. I feel like it can add an extra sense of depth to them. In my opinion, colourization helps people relate to older photos. The colour makes them seem more similar to something from our time. I also like how I can decide what colour things might be. Colour is important to the mood an image gives. Thus, when I colourize an image, I can make the picture better reflect the mood I think the image should give off. The image above is one I colourized, and one can see how I used colours that may not have necessarily been extremely accurate to give the picture some character. I think the most important tool is any tool designed for selection. Without a way of selection, it would be impossible to do a great deal of things. There are a fair amount of tools made for selection. In the short time in which I have been using Photoshop, I have become rather partial to the Quick Select tool. Other selection tools include the magic wand, and the various types of lassos. While using Photoshop, I find the tools I typically use the most are selection tools. Selection tools allow you to manipulate certain areas of an image while keeping the others the same.
Photoshop can be seen everywhere in our modern world. It is generally looked on as a positive thing, for it can make images more interesting and appealing. It makes graphic design a great deal easier. For example, it you can edit photos in a non-destructive manner. If you do end up making a mistake, generally you can go back. It also allows people to create digital art. Though, as of writing this, I have yet to explore its artistic capabilities, I think Photoshop can be a great medium for self expression.
Despite its many positive uses, I think advertising has exploited Photoshop in a way that impacts society negatively. Advertising constantly uses digitally altered images. From the perspective of the unknowledgeable consumer, an unaltered image can never compete with an altered one. Therefore, I think a company who decides to use unaltered images for the sake of honesty is left at a severe disadvantage. In addition, a consumer might not know an image is Photoshopped. This is where the altering of images begins to become a problem. The use of Photoshop in advertising has left a great many people longing to look like the perfect people they see in advertisements. The ideal body has shifted from unrealistic to impossible. Some may go to great lengths to achieve what cannot be achieved. Photoshoped pictures can make people feel like they aren't good enough. It can make it harder for a person to accept who they are and how they look. A person holding a negative image of themselves, especially one revolving around their body, can lead to all sorts of problems. In my opinion, this is the greatest defect of Photoshop and image altering.
|
AuthorI'm interested in film and animation. The views and opinions expressed in this blog are solely those of the author and do not represent those of Durham School of the Arts or Durham Public Schools.
Archives
May 2019
Categories
All
|