Lab Goal
The last lab focused on getting used to the interface and adding objects to a Creative Cloud program. This lab will introduce us to many of the basic functions and assumptions of Creative Cloud programs, and it will potentially give us a few assets to use later this term.
By the end of this lab, you should understand:
- What layers are
- Drawing and manipulating shapes
- Grouping objects and layers
- Stroke and fill effects
Lab Materials
You will need a basic Character Animator puppet for Illustrator here. (If you want one for later, here is the Photoshop puppet.)
You might also want to check out this quick blog post from Graphic Mama, which describes common associations between character shapes and personalities.
Lab Procedure
Open the Illustrator file linked above in the materials. Switch to the Essentials Workspace or make sure your Layers panel is visible.
Notice that the character’s body is split between many layers and groups. Each one is named in a particular way — the Mouth shapes, for instance, match the phonemes recognized by speech recognition algorithms, which we will use when we get to Character Animator. You can make groups and shapes visible or invisible by clicking the eyeball icon to the left of a layer name. Select a later by clicking the dot tot he right of the layer name.
For this lab, please find the layers named [Remove] and edit them to make your own character for our children’s book project. You can simply make revisions to Blank’s appearance using the shape editing techniques discussed in the video, or you can remove the existing content and draw brand new body designs.
If you choose to add new appendages or layers (a two-headed ogre, a six-legged duck, etc.), that’s on you to determine how to do. Please follow the existing template in the file.
At the very least, your character should have a head and a body.
When you are done, please submit your .ai file. Make sure to save it, since we’ll use it again in the future!
Grading
This lab is graded out of 6 points (remember that the course is graded out of 100 points).
- Completion 4
Finishing the lab to its minimum expectations is worth 4 points. This requires you to have a character with a head and a body.
- Quality 1
Creating a high quality product (one that could go in a professional portfolio) is worth 1 point. Quality might be demonstrated in things like…
- Arms and legs
- Multiple colors in a coherent color scheme
- Multiple shape types
- Technique 1
Using advanced or very precise techniques in creating your lab product is worth 1 point. Techniques might be demonstrated in things like…
- Additional layers that fit the existing layer scheme
- Additional groups that fit the existing group scheme
- Complex shapes
