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Life on the edge
Mar. 4th, 2004 12:16 pmThere's a few more things I think I can learn in Illustrator, like how to use filters/effects more effectively and some other manipulation tricks. I'd also like to learn more about how to use the color models, but I think most of that will be covered in classes.
I should also take cue from![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
peganthyrus and break the habit of the line. I should try making things that don't have a stroked edge on them at all. I should also also try making things that have different styles of stroked edges. For instance the heavy outer stroke and lighter inner stroke that some people use, or very heavy lines. I've gotten into sort of an odd rut using tapered line weights as a cheap and dirty cue to contour but without making it really heavy. Perhaps that's another thing I should try. making a really fat brush with a lot of variance and take this to an extreme.
All in all, I think I have learned some interesting things from Illustrator but I notice I'm starting to become sort of addicted to it so I probably ought to take a break from it for a while. It's too easy to draw and redraw lines until you get what you want and then later you can move it, rotate it, scale it, change its color, etc with no penalties. It has almost infinite potential for fiddling with and cleaning up a drawing.
Don't get me wrong, I think those are GREAT things. Fantastic, in fact. I just think I'm not really ready for them yet. I still frequently draw things wrong. My modeling sucks. On the one hand, Illustrator is a nice tool to go in and fix those things and learn how I could draw them different, on the other, it's a great tool to go in and fix those things instead of learning to draw them different. I need more basic study.
I guess I noticed this because there's a certain asthetic of fingers and calves that I like for certain types of characters that I just can't seem to get on paper but I can fiddle it into existance in Illustrator.
In addition to that, I can control the smoothness of my brush and I can zoom way out and draw 'long' strokes by drawing short ones in the zoomed out mode. I need to learn to draw long smooth strokes in real media. This affects drawing, painting, inking, etc,etc,etc. it's a key element I am really weak on and Illustrator makes it too easy for me.
On the other hand, there is a lot I can learn using it and a lot I have learned and it lets me make drawings I actually sort of like rather than the sort that I shamefully bury and that has encouraged me to explore more. *sigh* Double-edged sword.
I should also take cue from
peganthyrus and break the habit of the line. I should try making things that don't have a stroked edge on them at all. I should also also try making things that have different styles of stroked edges. For instance the heavy outer stroke and lighter inner stroke that some people use, or very heavy lines. I've gotten into sort of an odd rut using tapered line weights as a cheap and dirty cue to contour but without making it really heavy. Perhaps that's another thing I should try. making a really fat brush with a lot of variance and take this to an extreme.All in all, I think I have learned some interesting things from Illustrator but I notice I'm starting to become sort of addicted to it so I probably ought to take a break from it for a while. It's too easy to draw and redraw lines until you get what you want and then later you can move it, rotate it, scale it, change its color, etc with no penalties. It has almost infinite potential for fiddling with and cleaning up a drawing.
Don't get me wrong, I think those are GREAT things. Fantastic, in fact. I just think I'm not really ready for them yet. I still frequently draw things wrong. My modeling sucks. On the one hand, Illustrator is a nice tool to go in and fix those things and learn how I could draw them different, on the other, it's a great tool to go in and fix those things instead of learning to draw them different. I need more basic study.
I guess I noticed this because there's a certain asthetic of fingers and calves that I like for certain types of characters that I just can't seem to get on paper but I can fiddle it into existance in Illustrator.
In addition to that, I can control the smoothness of my brush and I can zoom way out and draw 'long' strokes by drawing short ones in the zoomed out mode. I need to learn to draw long smooth strokes in real media. This affects drawing, painting, inking, etc,etc,etc. it's a key element I am really weak on and Illustrator makes it too easy for me.
On the other hand, there is a lot I can learn using it and a lot I have learned and it lets me make drawings I actually sort of like rather than the sort that I shamefully bury and that has encouraged me to explore more. *sigh* Double-edged sword.
