The link above is the .ai file of my 2D drawing this week! The drawing I choose is the 6th project of the book. I really enjoyed the drawing process, during which I self-discovered/ googled many new features of Adobe Illustrator. As a challenge to myself, I chose not to trace the shape from the picture I have taken. Instead, I tried to recreate every parts on the computer by myself. Following is the picture 🙂
During the process, I have found/being taught/googled several useful techniques. I want to share them here. I hope they are helpful.
1. Grid.
Grid is extremely helpful for this homework as the original dimension of the parts are expressed through the number of grids in the book. Grids can be shown/hided. We can snap the drawing to the grids and we can set the space between two grids.
To show or hide: View = > Show Grid/Hide Grid.
To snap: View => Snap To Grid.
To set grid space： => Edit => Preferences => Guides & Grid
2. Transform(rotate, reflect)
When we want to draw something that is symmetrical, we can draw a part of it,copy the part and transform. After selecting the part, right click, and you will find the transform menu where you can rotate/reflect objects.
3. Adjusting Artboard
I once find that the original canvas(or Artboard, in illustrator) is not big enough for me as I have still several parts to draw but I am running out of space.
To fix the problem， File=>Document Setup=>Artboard
and I successfully enlarged my Artboard!
Hope these techniques are helpful!
