Expressive Typography

Click to enlarge.

Click to enlarge.

For this assignment we had to use new techniques to turn letters into shapes, and shapes into letters, which we will use later to create our logo designs in the next project. We followed the assignment on our teacher's blog, MrBoothby.net. We did 4 examples for each, though I did 5 for the figure-ground reversals and symbol replacement and 7 for the ligatures because I was unsure of previous ones, or I just wanted to do another. We did stacked text, for which I typed my word then created their outlines and ungrouped, making them separate shapes. I then moved them so that they were touching and made them one shape, then made copies and rotated them until 4 copies were stacked on each other. I made them one shape using Pathfinder and Expand. For figure-ground reversal I typed out the alphabet then made a rectangle. I made each letter a separate shape placed them so that they were touching within the box. I used Pathfinder-Add-Expand to make them all one shape, then I could go back in and fill in spaces and cut out negatives of other letters I didn't use. For symbol replacement I searched for pictures of objects with white backgrounds that resembled letters. I decided to make a theme of colors, so I used shapes that resembled the letter and were the same color as the word. I would place the picture in Illustrator and use Live Trace to make it a shape. Then I would place the object where I wanted it, delete the background and group the whole word together. For ligatures I first had to pick words that had letters that could be connected in different fonts. To think of words to use I first typed out the alphabet in certain fonts then decided which letters I wanted to put together and then what words to use.

Tools I used:

• Pathfinder
• Text Tool
• Place
• Live Trace
• Expand
• Create Outlines
• Ungroup
• Group
• Gradient
• Patterns

My personal evaluation for this assignment would be a 10/9, participation/product. This is because I worked hard on each part, but I had trouble with the figure-ground reversal, and so my examples of them aren't the best.

Spaceship

My spaceship going to the Moon.

For this project we had to create a spaceship in Illustrator, following steps from This Tutorial shown to us by our teacher. The blog, Create a simple Spaceship in Illustrator, layed out how to make the spaceship in steps categorized by each part of the ship. I first made the body, the main red oval, and from there every other part of the space ship, except the gray engines, are made from copies of the main ship. I made the window by sizing down a copy and deleting an anchor. The fins were made from using copies of the main ship and cutting parts of squares out. The flames were the last part of the actual spaceship made, and I made them by using 4 copies of the original main ship, then cutting down parts to make the flame shape, changing the color, and then making a copy and sizing it down to fit inside.

Tools I used and for what:

• Ellipse tool, Delete Anchor Point tool, Rectangle tool, Convert Anchor Point tool, Pathfinder: Intercept shape areas/Subtract from shape areas, Gradient, and Star tool
• Delete Anchor Point tool:
• take away anchor point on the window to change it from an oval to a window shape
• Convert Anchor Point tool:
• change the shape of the engines
• Pathfinder:
• Subtract and put together different objects
• Gradient:
• coloring in the background and on ship body
• Star tool:
• stars in the background
• Rectangle tool:
• fins, background, and engines
• Ellipse tool:
• Body, flames, shadows, moon, and window

I think that overall it wasn't hard to make the spaceship, it was more difficult to navigate around Illustrator. Other people in the class helped each other with parts that they couldn't do as well, and I think that helped me complete my spaceship. It took me about 2 days to complete it, so overall it was a pretty fast project.

I would give myself a 9/8 (participation/product) because I was focused while I made the spaceship, but it took me a while to make this post, and I'm pleased with my final project, but some things could be tweaked, like the background gradient is backwards, and little parts along the spaceship aren't lined up perfectly.