Virtual Learning

I am so glad I subscribed to Lynda.com!  It took me a while to decide whether or not to fork out US$25 for a month of this online service, because there are a lot of free resources out there.  The main reason I was finally seriously considering the purchase was cos we finally had an ample amount of bandwidth to be able to withstand the streaming usage of the site.  I watched a few of the free videos they had available every now and then, including the story of how the whole business started up, as well as the beginning of the Simone Legno documentary and they were really good.  It looks like the people at Lynda.com really work hard on bringing quality, comprehensive content to its users.  Each course is also split into categories and sub-categories, so you don't have to watch the whole course at once.

(Applying Legno's workflow to my own sketch)

Today, I went through the first two chapters of "Adobe Illustrator CS5 One-on-On: Fundamentals" course by Deke McClelland.  Most of this knowledge about the basic functions of Illustrator were things I took for granted.  Its really helpful going through all the steps for a thorough learning experience.  That aside, I still can't wait to get to the part where where we get to learn more about the image making side of things!  Ahaha, I shall be patient.

But some things I learned were ...

1) You can make as many artboards as you want on Illustrator, in varying sizes and positions
2) Shift + O is the artboards shortcut
3) You can make new document defaults, by saving a particular file into the Document Profiles folder
4) Units convert automatically when you input one of a different kind
5) Cmd+~ and Cmd+Shift+~ to switch tabs
6) Shift+Drag inside an artboard to create one inside it
7) Alt+Drag to duplicate an artboard
8) Toggle button to determine whether to include artwork in the artboard when moving or not
9) Illustrator will see any type, as all the possible characters for that typeface.  From ascender to descender.
10) Cmd+Shift+B to hide bounding box

Last night, I eagerly watched the rest of the Simone Legno documentary much to my delight.  That guy is so inspirational!  He was able to take his passion in drawing and japanese culture into his career and make a success of it.  I can only dream of this at the current moment.  In the meantime, I shall keep moving forward, keep learning and keep creating.  There was a tutorial that documented the process of creating Mozzarella, from sketch to the final image.  I learned quite a bit from it.  The best new tidbit I learned about was the knife tool!  Oh, what a handy little gadget that is indeed.  I'm almost embarrassed that I didn't know about this amazing tool Illustrator had to offer.  But, glad I know now.

So, things I learned ...

1) Knife tool is hella useful for shades and stuff!  Copy, Paste, Slash, Shade!
2) Pen tool is your best friend when rendering drawings from sketches
3) Try and make the bezier curves as smooth as possible
4) Be inspired by everything around you
5) When an outline is obscured, copy and paste the main shape on front, and get rid of fill

Since I couldn't really apply any knowledge I learned from the Illustrator Fundamentals course just yet into an image making exercise, I applied Legno's technique to my own sketches.  Oh, and another thing that I found to make my workflow faster was to snap a photo of a sketch with iPod and email to myself, rather than go through the whole process of scanning.

I feel pretty enthusiastic about drawing stuff right now uhooo! ☆*:.｡. o(≧▽≦)o .｡.:*☆

Gotta create some more so I can refine my skills and conjure better portfolio pieces.

Well tomorrow, anyways.

Sleep time!  ∑(￣□￣)