Digital Illustration (WK3) - Design Blog

This week really pushed me to slow down and actually learn Illustrator instead of just messing around and hoping for the best. The gradient mesh tool has been the biggest eye-opener. At first, it felt intimidating, but once it clicked, it totally changed how I think about shading and depth. I started seeing how my flat shapes could feel more dimensional and intentional. The pen tool also became less of an enemy and more of a precision tool. I’m still not perfect with it, but I’m way more confident placing anchor points on purpose instead of guessing and hoping for the best. I learned how to use the pen tool to make smoke, which I am SO excited about. Somehow, smoke becomes a theme in a lot of my work, so this will be very useful knowledge to have moving forward.

The Seven Deadly Sins project really tied everything together. Not being able to use text forced me to think outside the box and rely on visual storytelling, which was honestly a lot of fun (and frustrating...in a good way). It helped me to really understand how much meaning you can communicate through shape, color, and composition. Between experimenting with gradient mesh, improving my pen tool control, and pushing myself to be more conceptual, I feel like my designs are starting to look more thoughtful and less like I’m just winging it. Seeing how the gradient mesh tool brought my mask to life and made my candy box banner feel like it was truly coming off the screen was so rewarding. I'm learning to expand on ideas instead of just going with the first concept that I come up with in order to start the project. I've realized that I was spending more time forcing an idea and having to change it later than if I just came up with a few ideas in the beginning and figured out which was the best option.