Adobe Illustrator

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Something I've wanted to do for a long time is branch out with my skill and knowledge of adobe software. So, to begin with, I looked at adobe illustrator, my knowledge of this software was very limited so I wanted to document what I learned here on my blog!

To begin with, you have to understand the idea that there are two graphic types; Pixel and Vector. 

  • Pixel, also know as raster or bitmap, is a graphic type that is made up of individually coloured pixels. this is the most common form of graphic type you will find. When you take a photo using a digital camera you are creating a bitmap graphic, this is useful as you can edit each individual pixel. The problem is that when you resize a bitmap image, you can begin to lose fidelity and the image can become blurry or pixelated. 

  • Vector graphics are a graphical representation of mathematical equations referred to as 'objects' and does not use pixels. Vectors are created in software such as adobe illustrator and consist of objects. Vectors can be scaled and retain their quality regardless of their size. Because of their nature, they are perfect for creating a company logo, brand or product.

Once you have understood this you can look at a task and assess which software would be easiest and would give you the most effective outcome. As an example, in this blog post, I will be creating a fashion flat. 

Fashion flats also are known as fashion flat sketches, flat drawings, technical flats are a form of technical drawing used heavily in the industry. This is a really useful skill to learn and gain. They are black and white technical drawing that shows the garment as if it was laid flat to display all the seams, topstitching, hardware, and any other elements that garment consists of. they are very important and they can show all the details needed to make the garment, the proportions, shape, stitching and design details.

To begin to make my fashion flat I started by drawing out a design. I am currently completing my Bauhaus inspired garment projects and thought this would be the perfect garment to draw in Adobe Illustrator due to the sharp lines and panels in the dress. I scanned in the image of my dress from my sketchbook and copied it into the adobe illustrator software. I created a new layer to work on, then selected the pen tool.


Using the pen tool I then outlined all of the sections of the garment. I treated each panel separately and outlined every part of the panels so I could work on them individually if I wanted. After the first shape I created I went into properties and changed the stroke size to give me a thicker and clearer outline. The hardest part about this process was creating the curved areas, however, using the tools in Illustrator and slowly working on it I managed to get a nice finish. Then in a separate layer I outlined the body parts just in case I wanted to remove these and have just the dress. Once I was finished outlining I removed the original scan and was left with my fashion flat 



Something that I was struggling with in this project was coming up with a color scheme and placement that I was happy with. However, after creating this fashion flat I thought this was the perfect opportunity to look at the different possibilities. Now because I drew each of the shapes separately I could color them in using the fill tool on illustrator. However, because I wanted to experiment with some patterns I have created and I feel more comfortable using photoshop I imported my fashion flat into there.
I then scanned in my fabric designs I have experimented with in my sketchbook. Then on my fashion flat image, using the quick selection tool I selected one of the shapes marked on the fashion flat. then using the eraser tool I would delete the white section. I would then place the pattern behind the fashion flat and merge those layers together. I repeated this process for all the panels and filled the entire garment.

            

As you can see these are a couple of the results that I produced. One of the benefits of using photoshop and not illustrator is when coloring the panels that I could edit the scan and change the colors of the patterns I made. I was very indecisive with what color scheme I should use so this entire process was useful to build my confidence in adobe software but also in creating a fashion flat. 


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