In the Clouds

Through this project I learned how to use the many tools in Photoshop. For some frustrating reason it would not get rid of that pixel fringe no matter what I did. I learned about short cuts when using this program. The quick selection tool is W, move tool is V, brush tool is B, and lasso tool is L. You can use the refine edge tool to create a seamless, fringeless image.

Concrete Jungle (Extra Credit)

I decided that I was going to use Photoshop some more and learn more about masks when it comes to actual text instead of images. I had never worked with masks and texts together before, but the process ended up being much simpler than I had originally expected. I download a font with various buildings built into the letters, because it looked like New York City at night. I then found an image of Times Square at night because that is my absolute favorite sight in the entire world. (Can you imagine having one of my designs put up on something in Times Square?) I then typed the words New York City on one layer, and created a mask. It was that simple! After adjusting the positioning of the words for awhile, I was finally satisfied with what I had accomplished.

The Difference Between a Red Sphere and a Red Sphere

I created two spheres that are very similar in appearance, but made with different programs. When using Illustrator, the size of the art board is infinite. Instead of using pixels like I did when making the photoshop one, Illustrator used a bit-map. I found illustrator a tad bit easier when it came to the gradient tool because i'm used to using it and although Photoshop has a very similar gradient tool, Illustrator allows you to do more creative inclined things. The pen tools are very different on Illustrator and Photoshop, but I didn't have to use anything other than the initial shape tool and then the gradient tool. I think that gradient is an okay way to make something look like a sphere, but knowing about the 3D Revolve effects you can use on Illustrator just made these gradient spheres look amateur. I added my (kinda) signature onto my Illustrator sphere, and put a gradient inside of it. On my photoshop sphere I made it bouncing.

A Circle is Never Just a Circle

Spheres symbolize unity and infinity. The can be balanced or unbalanced as we learned through that wonderful video we watched. I learned that every circle has a story behind it and different designs and techniques can determine the overall outcome of the art. The work flow for these projects were fairly similar. I found Illustrator slightly easier in making simple designs on spheres, because all you had to do was add a 3D Revolve effect and then add a symbol to the Map Art, but Photoshop has a lot of advanced 3D mechanisms and the textures were more extravagant. Illustrator used inches and I had an infinite amount of space to work on, where as Photoshop used pixels and I was limited to the space I requested when opening a new project. When I saved my Illustrator work, I first screenshotted it because that's the easiest way to guarentee that it was saved, but it saved to the server as a PDF.  I saved my work on photoshop as a screenshot as well, but then saved it to the server as a jpeg but could also be saved as a png. I learned a lot about custom pens, symbols and shapes when completing these spheres. I need to learn more about shapes and lines because they always have some little thing wrong with them in my experience and it can be frustrating.

Illustrator Tutorial: http://pixelrockit.com/create-stylish-3d-shapes-with-adobe-illustrator/

Photoshop Tutorial: http://layersmagazine.com/3d-texture-mapping-in-photoshop-cs6.html