In order to achieve the final result, I followed the steps given in class as well as watched the attached video. Before starting the project, I knew that I wanted to make a pastel-colored elephant that was reminiscent of the Lisa Frank style but toned down. Some tools on Adobe Illustrator that I learned about to use for the process for this project were essentials classic, swatches, brushes, symbols, colors panel, rectangle tool, white and black selection tools, new swatch maker, mesh tool, swatch libraries, gradients, patterns, paste in front, paintbrush tool, stroke panel, symbol sprayer, symbol shifter, symbol sizer, and layers. This assignment taught me a lot about the program and how it works, as well as the most efficient ways to use the design tools. The design principles I considered while making this piece consisted of color and pattern. I made use of the negative space by adding a scattered flower pattern for the ground, tree patterns for the horizon line, and butterflies and clouds for the sky. I ended up liking my outcome more than I thought I would with all the patterns and colors I gave the elephant. 

In order to achieve the final results of my piece, I followed the instructions given to me in class. These pieces taught me how to use the live paint tool, which was the tool predominantly used throughout the assignment. For both assignments, I used the rainbow for accent colors and greens/blues for the main aspects of the pieces. Considering both images reflect nature, I figured this color scheme was very fitting.

When making the shape builder project of the color wheel with the image trace, I followed the instructions that were given in class and on Blackboard. Some tools and skills I used and learned how to use included the ellipse tool, making straight lines, rotating a line and making even selections, align tool, shape builder, and image tracing. I chose to do a bird for the image trace because I believed it would add motion to the piece as well as add an aspect I really like to it that reflects my interests. The main design principle used was color. 

The process in order to make the image trace assignment was through watching the video on Blackboard, as well as using the knowledge learned when making image traces for the color wheel in class. The tool used in this assignment was the image trace tool, as well as picking which version of the image trace looked best to you. Different image traces work well for different applications on projects. The design process for picking out a photo included me going through the pictures of myself and choosing one that I thought would look the most interesting with the image trace tool. I was between the 16 colors and grayscale image traces but settled on the 16 colors because I enjoyed the interesting shading. I liked the grayscale because it looked like a blurred old photo. The main design principle used was color. 

In order to complete this assignment of making a pencil in Adobe Illustrator, I followed the instructions and examples given in class and on Blackboard. It taught me how to make more complex objects using basic shapes and transformation tools in the program.  Some tools I used included the rectangle tool, dialogue boxes, align tools, rounding corners, making copies and pastes, combining shapes, mesh tool, pen tool, color, gradients, paintbrush, and symbol sprayer. For my pencil, I wanted to use blues and oranges due to what I was in the mood to create, as well as being complimentary colors on the color wheel. 

For my infographic, I decided to focus on the topic of how playing video games is beneficial to those who play. I got the data I used from 3 different websites; Geico, Statista, and VentureBeat. The main design principles that I focused on were emphasis, color, and proportion. The typefaces I used were American Typewriter and DIN Alternate Bold. When looking on Pintrest as well as Blackboard for examples of other infographics made by students and professionals, I got a lot of ideas about how to arrange my infographic as well as knowing what the important aspects to emphasize were. The main tools I used were the paintbrush tool, box tool, pen tool, and type tool. When starting this assignment I was a bit worried about how it would turn out, but in the end, I really ended up enjoying my piece. 

Research websites:

https://www.geico.com/living/home/technology/9-reasons-to-give-video-games-a-try/ 

https://www.statista.com/statistics/1133150/positive-experiences-video-gaming/ 

https://venturebeat.com/games/esa-65-of-americans-play-games-and-88-of-players-say-games-relieve-stress/