Illustrator Project Final

Audience/Purpose: describe the intended audience of your illustration(s); what are you trying to communicate to this audience?

The audience I am addressing is primarily youth and adults who are leading unproductive lives due to procrastination and bad lifestyle habits. Many young people struggle with developing healthy habits that will support their goals in life. One of the many trends observed amongst this demographic is an inconsistent sleep schedule. Sleeping and waking up early can make one’s life much more structured and productive. By waking up early, you are able to maximize your energy for the day in accordance with the hours of daylight in a day. Although the habit of waking up early is difficult to implement, it is the most common strategy for leading a successful life according to numerous studies and self-help book authors. In my final project, I am trying to communicate the importance of waking up early to youth and adults that are interested in improving their lifestyle and performance.

Image(s): how do features of the illustration(s) effectively convey the message to your audience?

The main features that I used to effectively convey the message of “wake up early” to my audience include text, shape builder, and tracing and recoloring the image. By using the image tracing and recoloring tool, I was able to change the original colors of the background image to portray the tone of a lazy morning. The tracing of the image also created a graphic art effect which I strategically chose in order to appeal to the younger demographic of my audience. Lastly, the dramatic effect of the arm reaching for the alarm clock features a common action that my target audience makes, which will allow them to find a sense of connection to my illustration.

Process: what did you do to create the illustration(s) in this project?

The first step of my illustration was selecting a meaningful background image. I sourced Unsplash and Google images endlessly until I finally came across an image that communicated the same idea as my message. The original image had a neutral color selection, and I wanted to recolor the image to reflect the tone of a pre-alarm peaceful morning. To create this effect, I embedded the image and then traced it with 16 colors. I then attempted to find the right color palette using the recolor tool and ultimately decided on a suitable array of colors. Next, I wanted to create my own alarm clock for the illustration due to the original alarm clock in the image being too dark and small. I found an Adobe tutorial that helped me build my alarm clock from simple shapes and colors. After experimenting with the shapes, I finalized my alarm clock and then grouped the shapes together to form the final product. Following this, I attempted to create a shadow for the alarm clock as it would have been under a lamp on the nightstand. However, the options for shadows in Illustrator were very limited and I could not find a shadow effect at the angle I desired; so I decided to build my own. Using the shape tool and the eraser tool, I was able to build a shadow and then color it to be the shade needed. Lastly, I added a short catchphrase that summarized the essence of my message at the bottom in order to reinforce the theme of the illustration.

Learning: what did you learn from working on this project–for example, about Illustrator/Canva, about design, about communication, about yourself?

This Illustration project was a remarkable learning experience for me in many ways. While I came into this course with prior knowledge of Canva, I was thoroughly intimidated by Illustrator. I have never been comfortable drawing or doing anything graphic design-related. However, through learning Illustrator, I have gained tremendous confidence in creating logos and shapes from scratch. Although I have never self-identified as an artist, the tools that Illustrator offers make creating digital art very beginner friendly.

Next: what will you do the same/differently on the next project?

One thing I learned while exploring tutorials is that Illustrator is closely linked to drawing and that it serves to bring life to sketches. Although I am not an artist, I would love to explore being able to digitalize my own drawings in Illustrator. I came across many fascinating tutorials on how to transform character sketches and in my future Illustrator project, I hope to be able to explore those tools as well.