- 1. Survival Techniques& File Types The Corresponding
structural elements of art are line, shape, value, texture, and
color. In art the artist is not only the contractor but also the
architect; he or she has the vision, which is given shape by the
way the elements are brought together. - Art Fundamentals, Theory
and Practice
2. Use your Brain as the Tool of Choice
- Autotrace adds unnecessary points and shapes, creates really
weird colors and can make detailed areas to simple.
- Stick to the pen tool and use your eye to judge where points
should go, rather than relying on a computer to do your work for
you.
3. The Creative Process Dont be a Tooler be a Thinker
-
- During this step the only computer you should turn on is your
Brain
4. Communication
- After All this is called Communication Arts
- Learn to discuss, request information, and quote projects.
- You can never have to much information.
- The designer knows what directions are appropriate and what are
not and the client knows the scope of what will be done.
- Write out a contract every time.
5. Research
- Study anatomy, illustrations, or other concepts before
embarking on your design.
- You can never have to little reference.
- Artists block??? Go to the Internet, your portfolio of
sketches, See what the competition is doing.
- NEVER COPY OR TRACE OVER ANY WORK THAT ISNT YOURS WITHOUT
PERMISSION!!!
6. Concepts
- Keep all your research and assignment information on hand. Stay
on Target!!!
- This process can take days of refining ideas.
- Keep a sketch book with you at all times and keep thumbnails of
old projects.
7. Refinement
- Pick the greatest ideas from your thumbnail sketches and start
the refining process.
- Archive your ideas whether they have been used or not.
- Sketch it out, erase, redraw and repeat until your concept art
is exactly the way you want it.
- Leave little or NO guess work.
- One more step before entering the Digital Realm
8. Fresh Eyes
- You are looking to produce a finalized sketch that you can
simply use to build your art from.
- Know exactly where your headed both conceptually and
aesthetically.
9. Execution
- If you havent done the proper prep work and you skip to this
step you will be Executing your creative process literally.
- Scan it in or use your Graphics Tablet to stencil in your
artwork.
10. Comps
- Make sure you are going in the right direction with you
client.
- Give them progress reports.
- Write out a description that is clear and distinct relaying
your thoughts and reasoning behind each design approach.
- Dont leave your client guessing.
11. Final Art Delivery
- Use appropriate file formats discussed with you client before
hand.
- CMYK for printing and RGB for web.
- Always build clean files, name layers, no hidden layers or
loose points, close objects. KEEP IT CLEAN!
12. Archiving
- Digital Environment and its ever changing design
applications
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- Keep an .eps file of your Illustrator work
- You never know when you might need to reopen the file.
Especially when your in school.
13. Closer
- Always follow up with a client
- Ask them if its ok to add them you your promo list.
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- Building a list of potential clients.
14. File Types
- .eps ~ saves points and curves. Transfers to other programs.
Older version of Illustrator can open in Newer version of
Illustrator.
- .pdf ~ maintains bitmap as well as vector images. Secure. Use
when showing client progress of a project.
- .png ~ is a bitmap image format. Designed to replace .gif. Uses
only RGB designed for the web. Employs Lossless Data Compression
(like zip files)
- .jpeg ~ bitmap image format for photographs. Employs Lossy Data
Compression
- .ai ~ an Illustrator file