Evaluation My first task was to research several aspects on the Steam punk genre and its influences (concepts, clothing, artifacts etc.) most of this was achieved using the Internet and supporting notes have been taken. After doing this I created a word document, which viewed my working plan, a list of things I have to work through. My next task was to produce sketches and ides of what the character I had chosen would look like. After doing so I then scanned the picture on to the computer and built on it (labels etc.)

After doing this I took a picture that then was uploaded on to the computer/mac. This was to give my character a basic shape or outline (Human body shape). From here I began to search for pictures relating to steam punks so for example the arm or leg of a steampunk. I didn’t need to find a hat however this was because when I took my picture there was already a shaped hat for me to be worn. I used the magnetic polygon lasso tool to crop out the body part and then copy and paste on to my character.

After being satisfied with which parts would go where on the characters body I then saved as a jpeg and put the picture on to Adobe Illustrator. Here I created a vector drawing lining out the shape of my character and where the parts would go. Producing a vector drawing gave a more realistic look towards the character. This was achieved by using the pen tool in illustrator. The pen tool allows use to create vector drawings.

After tracing vectors through illustrator I progressed and put the outlined vectored image onto Photoshop. This was to color in the character using the paint bucket tool. This was a lot quicker and easier as the paint bucket tool allows you to color in the certain area you click on however that area has to have a closed path otherwise the color will spread across open areas.

Note: filling an area with the paint bucket tool may cause areas around the fill to be pixelated. To fix this either uses the slice tool in Illustrator to fill in areas of which you wish to color in.

After reviewing and looking back at my work I realized my work may have not been at its best effort therefore I recreated my project however in a more detailed way. I took more care with my work by layering each part of the body and naming them this was to keep the work professional and not have any errors between joints etc.

Instead of filling each part with a color I decided to use the eye drop color tool in illustrator this gave me great quality in my work and every pixel was coloured allowing the work to look professional

Note – CMYK Cyan Magenta Yellow & Black The color pallet allows you to edit colors so simply grey is in between Black and white.

Another useful technique I discovered was curling using the pen tool. By holding down and dragging out in the area you want the pen tool allows you to create a creative curl resulting in more realistic looking drawings.

Some times after curling you may want to curl in the opposite direction and the pen tool may nnot allow you to do in the way you want -

The way to fix this is by holding Alt and dragging the extra line which is created after curling with the pen tool for example –

This is the same curl as the picture above right, however after holding Alt and dragging in the extra line I have been able to reset the shape of the line allowing me to curl in the opposite direction.

Overall I found this project easy as not many of the tasks were challenging. At first the project seemed difficult as I had no creative ideas or an open imagination on what a steampunk is or looks like. The research gave me an informative insight on the genre artwork even culture of a steampunk. After doing so mind maps and mood boards allowed me to get my ideas down. Sketches I scanned into the computer etc… During my time in illustrator, I came across many problems however overcame then and also developed new skills like using the pen tool or even just coloring in using illustrator. The result of my work is something I would have never been able to accomplish weeks ago as no knowledge was acquired. I didn’t rely on the teacher too often and some of my colleagues were helpful in developing my new illustrator tool skills, in return I was able to help them. This project has been a creative and enjoyable also educative in terms of learning how to use software such as Photoshop and Illustrator.