PART ONE:
http://calymonkey.edublogs.org/
http://fidias11111.edublogs.org/
PART TWO:
THREE FAVORITE PROJECTS:
Calysta’s project 7 evaluation
Calysta’s project 6 evaluation
Fidias’s project 5 evaluation
I learned how to use the mesh tool in order to make a realistic CD. I had a hard time selecting certain points to fill them with color but I fixed that by rotating the whole shape to select what I want, (thank you to Mr. LeDuc)! In this tutorial, I learned what grouping ment, and grouped and ungrouped shapes a lot.
I learned how to use the rotate tool! I think it is my favorite tool just because it is so easy. You just have to select the object, move the point of rotation, press the alt/option button while you rotate the object your desired degree, then press command d and voila! The shape is rotated! I keep rotating until it comes full circle though. The only frustrating part was getting the shape to rotate at the right angle.
Well now I am going to learn how to use the mesh tool @ http://vector.tutsplus.com/articles/web-roundups/30-illustrator-gradient-mesh-tutorials-to-help-enhance-your-vector-realism/
Description:
I found a tutorial that I wanted to try out because it looks cool and it might come in handy if I need to fill in some empty space on a project. That tutorial should last a day or two so I’ll find another tutorial that has to do with the mesh tool on this website http://www.vectordiary.com/tutorials
Timeline:
Resources:
HERE IS MY PANDA BEAR HEAD! Instead of learning how to use the pen tool I ended up learning how to use the eyedropper tool and how to make the object have a shadow without creating another shape to go underneath it. You select the shape, then go to effect, then stylize, then drop shadow! A shadow drop dialog will show up and then you just change the numbers to make it how you want. I kept having trouble with making the mouth the right size and shape that I want it because no matter how i look at it, the mouth looks like a mustache. and it makes me really mad. But I managed to fix it a little bit my making the mouth thinner.
OK so I stopped trying to use the pen tool because I couldn’t do what the directions were saying correctly and couldn’t figure out why… so I found a cute panda head tutorial that I’m doing instead 
here’s what I have so far…
Description:
So far I’ve been looking at tutorials that avoid using the pen tool because that tool just doesn’t make sense to me. But I keep hearing about how useful this tool is in Illustrator so I want to learn how to use it right.
Timeline:
Resources:
For the past week I have been working on the spring on the left. I learned how to use the 3D tool to make a spring! The hard part was aligning the spring to look right, because you start with a circle and then transform it into half a spring and then align the two halves to one and then continue on doing that. I was never able to fix the lumps on parts of the spring though because I couldn’t figure out how to move the parts of the spring instead of just rotating it. I tried to make the spring turn into an arch but I took too long on deciding how far to rotate each spring. So now I just have an awkward looking spring… oh well, at least I know how to finish it off.
The past week has been very frustrating because I would spend a class period trying out a tutorial and end up giving up on it. Part of the reason is that the tutorials I have been looking at are for pc computers and for an amateur illustrator user like me, it’s just plain confusing and I don’t want to spend half my time trying to translate some of the steps into mac language. So I just started the spring tutorial that Maddy used and here is what I have so far… on the left…
Description:
So I saw Maddy making a spring on Illustrator and I thought it was really cool. She told me about using the 3D tool and then I really wanted to learn how to use it. Sooooooo that’s what I’m going to do.
Timeline:
Resources:
http://vector.tutsplus.com/tutorials/tools-tips/how-to-create-funky-3d-springs-in-illustrator/
