Assignment 2- Final

Title: Rice Abundance

Ideation:
This is my final illustration for Assignment2. I chose to draw a section of a vast paddy field to show that we should preserve our rice supply so that there'll be plenty for the population. The paddy stalks here are bended and the grains are ripe, signifying the richness and abundance of rice we ought to have. Not only that, I drew unpolluted water and clear blue sky to show that we must preserve mother nature for a better future.

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smaller area of Global Warming: Global Rice Shortage

Paddy growth depends on water supply, but world's water freshwater supply is running out. Moreover, global warming is affecting this by causing drought spells frequently. Other causes affecting rice supply are the erosion and the loss of organic matter in soils, desertification, the loss of ozone from the stratosphere and its increase in the troposphere, acid rain, the decrease in biological diversity, air pollution, and flooding caused by deforestation.

We must save mother nature for our survival in the future. Actions must be taken NOW as the rice supply worldwide is diminishing while population increases. Therefore, I draw an illustration of abundance of rice and the clean environment to create an awareness amongst the people.


References:
http://www.newscientist.com/
http://www.irri.org/
http://www.nytimes.com/



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Colours:
Yellow = Symbolizes ripe rice grains to signify abundance.

Green = In the leaves and stems of paddy stalks. Healthy plants signifying clean environment.

Brown = In the ground next to irrigation, and soil of the field.

Blue = The skies are blue to create the feeling of calmness and to show that the air is not polluted.

White = White clouds instead of dirty air and smoke to represent clean atmosphere

Clear water with reflection= unpolluted water running through the irrigation.

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Tools used:
-Pen Tool-
-Brush tool-
-Pencil Tool-
-Ellipse Tool-
-Live Paint Bucket-
-Gradient-
-Selection Tool-
-Direct Selection Tool-
-Zoom Tool-
-Flare Tool-
-Rotate Tool-
-Reflect Tool-
-Scale Tool-
-Warp Tool-
-Crystallize Tool-
-Wrinkle Tool-
-Twirl Tool-
-Free Transform Tool-
-Blur Tool-
-Blend Tool- (finally changed because it takes up too much memory)







[Might edit here and there when I feel like it. So it's not really final]

Step by Step Process

added shadows but realise it's in different direction from sun. editing now

First, I dragg my scanned sketch into illustrator CS2. A few adjustments of position and size are done. Then, I set the layer as template so that it won't appear in print.


Then I make a new layer named "sky". Under "sky", I make a sublayer for the "base". Then I use Pen Tool(P) to draw the frame. To colour it I use Gradient Tool(G) and set it as radial using white and a light shade of blue to make it look like sunshine.

Next I make a new sublayer under "sky" named "clouds". I use Pencil Tool(N) to draw the clouds. Then I use Effects>>Blur>>Gaucassion Blur and set it at 7.0 pixels. Next, I use Selection Tool(V) to adjust the size.


After that, I lock the "sky" layer and make a new layer named "soil". This will be a section of my paddy field. I create a new sublayer named "base". Then, I use Pen Tool(P) and fill it with the colour latte. I set the opacity as 50% so that i can see my sketch below.

I created layers and sublayers for my paddy field first so that it'll be organized. Will be working on this a long time. Posting this in case i forgot to screenshot later [too engaged in the process -_-"]

As I expected, I did get too absorbed in the process. XD What i done here is under the layer "paddy", sublayer "main stalk1", i use Pen Tool(P) to draw the stem and leaves' outlines and veins. Then i use Live Paint Bucket(K) to fill in the colours. After that, i duplicate the leaves under "main stalk1" and paste them on "main stalk2" and "main stalk3". Next using Object>>Transform to rotate and resize the leaves to create a variation. Phew.. now that the main leaves are almost done, I'll start on "grains"

For the rice grains on the paddy stalks, I use Ellipse Tool(L). I use Gradient(G) for the colour in linear setting. Then i duplicate one single grain into many to form a chain. Next, I use Direct Selection Tool (A) to group the chain for easier selection. More chains are duplicated and using Object>>Transform>>Rotate to create variation.

More duplicating... -happy with result of 2 stalks- Then, *zooms out*...
[practically fainted]
I have a looooong way to go.... -_-""

*runs to a wall and bangs head* X_x

-dead- Anyways, more duplications. I vary the sizes with Selection Tool(V) and shapes using Warp Tool(Shift+R). Along this process, I made the leaves lighter and the stalks blurer using Effects>>Blur>>Gaucassion Blur, the further the paddy stalks are. Half-dead now. Wow, time flies! Need to grab a bite.
To be continued~~~

back. I make a new layer named "irrigation" and sublayers "ground" and "water". For the ground, I experimented with Blend Tool. Then I use gradient for the colour. I use Wrinkle Tool for the sides of the ground. Next, I use Pen Tool(L) for the base colour of water and Warp Tool for the effect I want. Then, I make a new sublayer named "reflection" for the reflection of paddy on surface of water. Using Pen Tool(P), I draw the basic lines and then blurring it using Gaucassian Blur. For extra effect I use Twirl Tool.

Under the layer "soil", I make sublayers named "uneven", "shadow" and "water". Using Brush Tool and chalk brush, I make uneven lines around the base of the stalks. Then I put a layer of water on top with lower opacity so that it is see-through. Next, I use Ellipse Tool and Crystallize Tool for the shadows.

Added my Symbol.
Is there anything to add?
Ah wells.. Too tired now anyways. Good night people.

Apparently, my illustrator lag after I use Blend Tool. So I check the file size.
.....54MB??!!!
Alright time for drastic action. Don't want my file lag the lecturer's computer and get me a 0%.
I deleted the Blend Tool layer and use Pen Tool instead with Gradient.
Then I use Brush Tool with ink splatter brush for texture.

Told you I'll be editing and editing XDD. Anyways I added reflection of the paddy stalks on the surface of water on the soil. First I Reflect the stalk and set it at Copy. And reduce the opacity.
Ta-daaa~ almost done~ Hopefully XD

Added shadows and I shall call it a day [looks at time] 2:20am @_@

Assignment 2- Sketches

Sketches done last week. My scanner was being evil. Anyways, a few rough sketches of layouts.

trying different views- closeup of paddy

the one on the left is wrong for assignment 2 XD maybe more appropriate for assignment 3.

same thing. more suitable as assignment 3. need to focus on paddy ><..

gonna do this layout for assignment 2
so that i can use part of it in assignment 3 by duplicating it.
then my paddy field in assignment 3 will look super detailed XD..

Reference Pictures

Since my smaller area is rice shortage, my subject matter will be paddy. I'll be doing closeup on the paddy field for my illustration. These are reference pictures i got from the web.

www.istockphoto.com

www.mrblurster.blogspot.com

http://images.inmagine.com


http://www.jazzmint.net/blog/images/Sekinchan27.JPG

http://kbhappening.blogspot.com/2008_02_01_archive.html





http://allunderabowl.blogspot.com/2007_07_01_archive.html




http://www.fotosearch.com/photos-images/paddy-field.html


http://ciifad.cornell.edu/sri/images/iranimage/iransglplant.jpg

Meanings of Completed Symbol

Meaning of Issue:

Global warming leads to rice shortage. This is caused by the warmer temperature that increases evaporation rate on surfaces of water all over the world. The land and rivers dry up and thus leads to drought. That cuts off the water supply to irrigate the paddy fields. As the environment is not optimum for paddy growth, production of rice will be halted.

Meanings of Shapes and Metaphors in Symbol:
the circle represents the earth and this means that it is a global issue.

The cracked land shows that global warming dries up the land and causes drought.

The bowl symbolizes all the paddy fields and rice supply of the world.

The crack on the bowl shows that the purity & well-being of the paddy fields are tarnished as a result from the irresponsible acts of man towards nature.

The falling of rice into the cracks in soil symbolizes the loss of rice supply to drought.

The chopsticks represent that man’s irresponsible actions to nature causes global warming and lead to poor harvest.

The single grain of rice held by the chopsticks shows that men were only able to acquire a meager amount of rice from their harvest, due to the global rice shortage.

The spiral in the sun shows that this problem would grow worse as the spiral progresses and becomes bigger if man failed to solve this growing problem.

Meaning of Colours:

White:
the purity & well-being of the paddy fields

Grey:

The corrupted paddy fields caused by human and also a colour to create shadow for the bowl.

Red:
danger and heat
Orange and Yellow in the Sunray:
bright and merciless sun.
Yellow grains on bent paddy:
Symbolizes the rice on ripe paddy that the field should have instead of wilted paddy in drought
Green in paddy motive:
nature and its importance in the world.
Brown in cracked land:
dried up land without signs of life because of drought.

Step-by-step Process

First, I opened new file with A3 sized canvas. Then, I dragged my scanned sketch file from My Scans to the Adobe Illustrator CS2 window. Adjustments of positions are made in this step.

I set the template's opacity to be lower so that i can see the grids clearly.

Then, I made a new layer named Sun.
Underneath it, I made sublayers named Sunbody and Sunray.
On the Sunbody sublayer, I drew the core of the sun using pen tool.
Fill: Red, Stroke: Black


On the Sunray sublayer, I used the pen tool to draw the fiery rays of the sun.

[Lots of editing and anchoring involved ><] Fill: Yellow, Stroke: Black
Using ellipse tool, I drew a circle in the background layer i've made earlier.
I filled the circle with yellow and set the opacity lower so that the template and grids are visible.



On a new layer named Land, I made 2 sublayers named Soil and Crack.
On the Soil sublayer, I used pen tool to draw the land.

Fill: Mocchacino, Stroke: Black

On the Crack sublayer, I used pen tool to draw the cracks in the soil.
After that, I highlighted the crack drawn earlier by using the Selection Tool.
Next, I clicked on Objects and then selected Tranform.
Click on Reflect, from there, select the Vertical option and click OK.
[as shown in image]

On a new layer named Ricebowl, I made 3 sublayers named Paddymotive, bowl and crack.
Under Paddymotive sublayer, I made another 3 sublayers named Stem, Leaves and Grain.
Under the Leaves sub-sublayer, I used pen tool to draw the leaves and duplicate [copy & paste]

The same process is repeated for the Stem and Grain
I group the separated rice grains together to ease selecting in future.

Using pen tool, I draw a crack on the lower part of the bowl.
Fill: Peridot, Stroke: Black

At this stage, I wanted to make the sun look more fiery 8D!
So, I duplicate the sunray and transform them.
Different shades of yelllow and orange is used here.

Using the pentool, I draw a bit of shadow for the bowl or else it'll look too plain ^^;;

Using pentool, I draw parts for 1 chopstick and duplicate them.
Then, I rotate them 10 degrees for the other chopstick.
Go to Objects tab and Transform, then to Rotate.
[as shown in image]



Using ellipse tool, I draw grains of rice and duplicate them again and again. I rotated each grain of rice and positioned them accordingly til I'm happy with the result.

Using the Spiral tool under Line Segment tool, I formed a spiral for the core of the sun.
Then I use Warp tool to position it nicely.
Then I use ellipse tool for the outline of the symbol.

Fill: None, Stroke: Black


I explored more colour option especially gradient tool.
Then, I use gaucassion blur for the shadows
[Effect->blur->gaucassion blur]

All in all, I've used 6 main layers:
Template
Background
Sun
Land
Ricebowl
Chopstick&Rice

Completed Symbol

Global Rice Shortage

Spent 5 hours on this on Illustrator @_@. Will post the steps later. So happy it's almost completed! ^.^

edited.