Evaluation

PDF Problems

The brief states that the final image must be exported as a high quality PDF file. Adobe Illustrator supports this. 


Once I exported the image as a high quality PDF, I noticed issues with the image. The stroke around the F was smaller, the colours changed, and there is a very annoying line on the splash at the fishes tail. 


PH


I was confused when I saw these, as Illustrator was not showing this in the program, and when opening the AI file, neither of these problems are there. I then saved the image out as a JPG, and in this version none of the problems were present either. I'm not sure why this is occuring, as I have tried to save it out as a PDF many times, using the highest quality options, and it is still happening.


PH

Image Final

Here's my final image. Time to export and save. 

Splish Splash

After Crit, I decided to add a splash. I traced around the splash in the original image, and then added gradients. When tracing the original, I had to remove some of the more detailed water drops, as it made the image too complicated, and when placed on the final image, this detail clashed with the simplicity of the rest of the image. Using lots of blues and whites, and the gradient/live selection tool I was able to create this effect. I'm happy with this work and it really adds to the final image. 

Let there be colour!

I coloured this in using a lot of gradients, live selection, and live painting. One of the main issues I had was that I didn't know how to use the gradient tool, and it took alot of getting used to. Once I had mastered the gradient tool, I found another awesome tool, the Live Selection tool. This allowed me to just click in the center of a closed path and it would be selected, ready for a gradient. This made putting the gradients in very fast. Another problem I ran into was the scales on the fish. As the paths were closed, the live selection would only select outside of them, and not inside. This meant that each little scale had its own start and end point of the gradient. To counter this, I selected a solid colour, and filled each scale manually. This was a little time consuming, as I had to get the colour as close to the outside as possible. Doing this had an advantage though, as the final result of blocked colours over the gradient brings a sense of texture and sort of makes the image "pop" I believe, which makes the image better. 

After playing with adding texture, I decided not to. For one, My skills in Illustrator aren't fantastic, and by trying to add texture I nearly destroyed the image, several times (I was using non destructive editing, so it would have been okay anyway). When I eventually did get a feeling of texture, It just didn't look right. Using the colours and gradient styles I did, a texture didn't blend well, and as I said before, I would have to texture the Facebook "F" aswell as all the text also. As of this, I have decided to leave my image untextured. This gives it a very modern feel, whilst still representing propaganda posters of the past. 

Editing "H"

Upon receiving feedback from the crit, I have decided to manipulate the text using outlines, rather then a whole new image. This means that the text is using the same font, whilst being edited to make it different.

I added the letter H to the slogan, and then created outlines of the text. This allowed me to use the white arrow tool to grab an anchor and move it. I repeated this on both sides of the "H". I did attempt to add points to the bottom aswell, but it made the H feel heavy. Also, when modifying the bottom is squished all of the text, sort of like a perspective drawing. I couldn't figure out why it done this, but luckily it looked better without the bottom points anyway. 

Crit

The image I submitted for crit was not completed so the feedback I got was limited, but very useful none the less. The image I submitted had all the text with the custom H, the hook, the fish, but very limited colour. I had flat colours on the image, but no gradients, so I could not get feedback on the colour.


However, I received positive and negative feedback for the image submitted. 


The positive feedback was that my idea was strong, and instantly recognisable. The image represented the WWII poster that I had chosen well and it was obvious. The layout and overall feel of the image was praised.


The negative feedback that was mentioned was for one, the lack of colour (due to incomplete image). It was commented that the custom 'H' I designed was too heavy, unnecessary, and quite frankly didn't fit. I shall experiment with other ways to create a 'different' letter without it being too distracting. It was also commented that my image had alot of empty space that needed filling. The fact that there was no splash, nor 'water trails' made the image look static and misplaced. This is a serious error that needs to be fixed. I shall fix this by adding trails and a splash, to give a sense of direction.