Here is my final piece combining all the methods I have explored in this unit from free hand digital drawing to selection and fill tool work. I have selected the pieces I believe are the best quality produced and show an array of techniques applied throughout this unit.
In this unit I have experimented with two programs, Photoshop and Illustrator. Both are programs designed to create and edit images digitally. With a digital camera I took a photo of myself and uploaded it onto the computer. This photo could then be edited in Photoshop and Illustrator in multiple ways. Using Photoshop's magic wand and polygonal selection tools and fill tools I could recolour the image as well as edit the filters and apply different effects to the image. In Illustrator I explored the image trace feature and how certain graphic effects can be applied to the piece. Out of the two I found Photoshop to be the easier program to use, most likely due to myself using the program more. However, the image trace feature found in Illustrator was a very handy tool when creating my pieces. I found selecting and filling areas easier when using a pre traced image and the quality of the image dramatically increased with the aid of Illustrator. The left image was created using solely Photoshop and the right combined Illustrator and Photoshop. As you can see the whole image is improved by the inclusion of Illustrator in the design process. With Photoshop alone I found it difficult to the achieve well defined curved edges and instead had to make do with a more jagged look. The image trace in illustrator allowed me to fill the areas effectively as well as to duplicate and manipulate them before moving the image into Photoshop. Overall I feel these two techniques and programs work well together and I hope to in the future be able to enhance my skills to be able to use Illustrator effectively as a program on its own.
Another program I am able to use and develop work with in CAD is Illustrator. This program is designed specifically for creating graphics. The program has an element called Image trace which effectively takes out all colour and turns the image solidly black and white. With this image trace applied the threshold can be manipulated to increase or decrease the areas covered by black or white picking up more shadow or light. These two images (above higher threshold and below lower threshold) demonstrate the image trace feature on my photograph. With these image traces I could then manipulate and enhance the image in Illustrator or Photoshop. illustrator is a program specifically developed for graphic design and incorporates more features than Photoshop to create graphics. Patterns and manipulation of images are available as well as effective distortion applied to create strong imagery. There are certain brushes and tools available such as ink blot that I used on my image trace. Other elements such as adding frames to an image are already set up in illustrator and filling areas with patterns designed by yourself are much easier. Using Image trace in Illustrator, the image created can also be edited in Photoshop. This is the method I used to create several images filling the traced areas with colours and other photographs as textures. I found this method of using image trace and then editing the traced image in Photoshop to be the easiest method in creating pieces of work. Although specifically designed for this work I was not as skilled in illustrator techniques and found it much easier to bring the image back into the program I already knew.
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