The Semester One final was targeted at conveying through an educational format everything we've learnt throughout the semester. This is personally one of my best adobe illustrator projects, as it incorporated a good understanding of the concepts and a unique execution that keeps it complex yet simplistic. 

Breaking it down, the first two pages talk about Elements of Art, applying different concepts like line, shape, form, value, and more.

On the third page, it introduces Principles of Design, introducing movement, unity, and repetition. 

Throughout each section, there is a systematical approach - following the same overall technique and color palette. This truly helps reconnect to the overall "structured" feel of the piece, going for modernity & professionalism over everything else, while still factoring in creativity and self-expression.

In each section, there's an intentional play with the characters and aesthetics - trying to match the respective element/principle. For example, the text in shape is intentionally rounded to give the illusion of "bubbly" shapes. 

Being one of my earliest Adobe Illustrator designs, I wanted to incldue this just to show how much I've improved. While this design is still good, and incorporates a lot of very cool features, it feels simplistic and overall, more beginner in comparison to some of my later designs. 

Following the rubric for the assignment, I was instructed to create a three-panel canvas that included three different interests to me. I decided to break it into the following components: 

1: Kite Flying 

• Using pre-made vectors and creating the shapes myself, I created a simplistic background with kites in the background, adding to the overall design. I learnt how to import pictures and use outline-orientated techniques to convert to vectors - thus enabling customization.

2: Rock Climbing

•  In this segment, I wanted to try going outside my comfort zone with typography - using outline, expansions, and other distinct tactics to try and really highlight my name. I also looked at blending gradients more and overall elevating my design. 

3: Scuba Diving

•  In the final section of my nameplate, I wanted to appeal to a newly found hobby - scuba diving. Continuing my understanding of applying images and converting them to vectors, I continued to mesh together different parts and pieces that could together make a different meaning. I also experimented with text-warping - a unique future that changes the proportions of text.

Although one of my simpler assignments, I still think the overall design & usage of 3D elements to construct the iceberg was pretty cool. Additionally, the use of multi-directional gradients to serve different functionalities was pretty cool here - as well as the usage of a gradient that functioned over all of the text. While I do think more could've been done, and expressed in perhaps a less physical way, a lot of the physical properties of this have nice design & overall architecture. 

Some of the important constructs: 

1: Title

• The title in this, although simple, I think is really cool - as I figured out how to apply a gradient on the entirety of the text, rather than on a specific character. This is important to provide that feeling of fluidness to the title - as well as properly blend the characters together. Additionally, using a drop shadow, I was able to properly ground the title on the back of the page. 

2: Sealion

• I tried an advanced method of tracing in this instance, using shapes and other constructs to properly outline and fill the sealion. I also experimented using planning stages and phases to add detailing, and to help with the complexity at a later stage. I used varying stroke widths to highlight detail and help add a sense of perspective - allowing my sealion to look more realistic.

3: Iceberg

• Although simplistic, I thought this Iceberg was really cool. To make it, I took the pen tool - and guided a simplistic, yet rocky shape on the top. Being the base, I then used a 3D built-in-plugin in Illustrator to create the depth and 3D component underneath - and then I applied a gradient that would darken the bottoms and lighten the tops. I had a phase where there was a circular blur under the sea lion, however, it seems to have been removed.