Illustrator

By the way, I now own illustrator.

My owl 1

I made an owl in illustrator using the image of the owl on the mug (shown in previous post). I inserted the original image into Photoshop, cropped it, and used the contrast/brightness tool to take out all colour. This made it easier for me to "trace" (using the drawing tool in Illustrator) over the owl to make my owl. The end result is very simple, but I think that's all I need. The mandala is pretty chaotic, so i think keeping the content/symbols basic is better. Here is the original owl and my owl:

OWL

Owl 1: They dont really look like owls. However, I do like the owls in pairs. Owls never travel alone. Maybe all the owls in my Mandala will be in pairs? i like the upside-down, right-way-up effect too.

Owl 2: IT RULES. I love the eyes. I love the shape. I think there will be a lot of owls' eyes in my mandala. Possibly in the centre? In all the owl images I have, the owls are very prominent, maybe owls' eyes separate a picture of an owl say, from looking like a penguin. Or a bird of similar shape...

Owl 3: Nice design. I like the branch. Will incorporate branches in mandala. An owl's gotta perch.

Owl 4: This is the best design/shape of an owl thus far. I think I'll use this shape for owl in my mandala. it is simple yet classy. The triangular nose, the simple rounded rectangular shape used for the body and 3-pronged feet all add to the geometric nature of the mandala. WINNER.

Mandala research/ideas

I've seen quite a few images of mandalas. There are plenty of circular shaped mandalas but I think I prefer the square. The one above is pretty damn nice - I love the colour scheme. The one above does not use vibrant hues, but rather dull, earthy tones. I'll use earthy tones in my mandala - browns, oranges, dark/olive greens, dark blues, purple (mauve and dark).

THE MANDALA

• an aerial view of a multi-level square palace
  
• geometric design that symbolises the universe
• means 'circle' or 'completion'
• "a representation of the unconscious self" - Carl Jung
• inner circle contains the principle deity
• figures and symbols are placed throughout the design
• symbols such as diamonds, bells (female), vajra (male), dharma wheel (the 'Eightfold Path') and the lotus, are commonly used in Mandalas (but we can create our own)

Week 3

<-- I started off with a shape like this. With fill and no outline. I realised later that if there is an visible outline, when the duplicated shape arrives back at the origin (almost) the layering is completely visible, making the last shape placed behind two on either side - a little messy. Therefore, I went for fill (colour red-brown) and no outline.

<-- To do this, select hexagon, then select rotation tool. Hold down ALT and click somewhere off the hexagon to make a new centre. Rotate window will pop up, select rotation angle, and click copy. Press Command + D to duplicate action. Keep going, until the circle has done a full rotation. You are done! 

I then selected all hexagons and grouped them. Then I went to the Reduce(!!!!!!CHECK THIS) function and reduced and copied, the now, whole shape, by 80%. I duplicated this actin by pressing Command + D. This then created the image shown below.

Each circular shape is individually grouped. Originally each circular shape was the same colour. Consequently, I changed each inner circular shape's colour by going to the Fill Colour function. I think this colour scheme is OK - I would prefer some more earthy tones. More complexity to this image would be good too. Perhaps choosing a more irregular shape to begin with would create a more complex structure. By adding an even distance between each circular shape would add technical complexity as well.

Still finding Illustrator completely foreign, and am a little apprehensive about the Mandala. I don't think I have the skills down pat to even start. I am still yet to purchase Illustrator. Will do so in the next couple of days. I need loads of practise.

Week 2

Dearest Blog,

We all learnt the basics on Illustrator today. Having never used illustrator, it all seems a little overwhelming. In the last 10 mins of the course we had to make a clown using the tools we'd learnt during the lesson. Mine was extremely basic. I think I need to get my hands on the program so that I can use it regularly, thus making it easier and not as scary to use. Hmmm.. very expensive and considering I'm doing VisComm, probably completely worth it. Would love to get my hands on a free copy. Haven't got my scary clown to show. Did not save it on to my USB.