PEN TOOL BASICS:
1. Use the Pen Practice exercise to hone your skills.
(Student on STEP Novell (G://)>Shared>Art Technology>Photoshop Lessons>Chap 07 Lessons>Pen Practice) You need my approval on this before moving on to the +/- problem.
2. Keep the number of anchor points in your path to a minimum.
The more anchor points, the choppier your finished result.
3. Hold down the SHIFT key to create straight lines between anchors.
Hold down your left mouse button to create curved lines between anchors.
Hold down the ALT key to engage the Convert Anchor Point tool. This lets you 'push in' the handles of your anchor and therefore control your line angles. You can also switch to the Direct Selection tool to do the same thing.
4. Be sure to SAVE AND NAME individual paths in the Paths palette.
Otherwise they are lost and you can't access them later.
Positive/Negative Space Problem
Use Free Association/Mind Mapping/Stream of Consciousness writing to generate ideas for your project. I don't care which, but just need to see some evidence of brainstorming before you can begin your project.
- Choose any industrial object (something that is non-living and does not represent a living item.)
- Re-create the object as flat, positive and negative shapes.
- Crop the design you made, but retain its readability.
- Drastically crop the design, to the point where the composition is only abstract shapes.
- You now have a total of three designs. Select one and invert it.
- Take that same design you inverted and re-work it in color.
- Repeat steps 1-6 with a new industrial object.
