THE PROJECT
Create an Art Deco-style poster featuring cocktails and try to include action.
SKETCHING
Sketching a scene doesn't come easy to me, so I use a photo to help me put an idea together. This is also a practice session of tools for me; managing the straight lines of the bottles by holding down Shift, for example.
It sounds easy, and to most of you it takes no thinking to do. I have to position myself to be able to use both hands, even for something as simple as pressing down the Express key on my tablet that I have set to the Shift.
My next challenge is to master rotating the screen in Illustrator! I reckon it will be a great help because I can draw better in certain directions, but I'll need to get the hang of it first.
SKETCH TO SHAPES
From my initial sketch I decide what to use and how the poster might look. I use any typeface for text, for an idea of placement.
The rough sketch becomes shapes, with clean straight lines and sharp angles. Here I choose where I want my pop of colour to be; on the lemon slice and the pouring drink.
I also try out a couple of typefaces for my text, plonked randomly at the bottom there!
A BIT OF POLISHING
"Less is more!" I remove the face and a hand, leaving only a bow tie, waistcoat and the hand holding the cocktail mixer. Everything is black and white, or grey, with the yellow lemon slide on the glass and pink liquid for the cocktail.
Don't you think the Recolour Artwork tool looks brilliant - when it's somebody else using it??
I keep trying, but I've yet to use Recolour Artwork without a good old muttering session! The problem seemed to be the lemon slice; it's created using Radial Repeat for the segment lines. Where possible I like to keep my designs intact, but Recolour Artwork only liked to work if my lemon was Expanded Shapes, rather than ellipses and strokes with a radial repeat.
Maybe I'm doing something wrong...
I chose my typefaces from Adobe Fonts: for cocktails, Flegrei Regular and for the details, Arbotek Light.
COCKTAILS, ANYONE?
I need a drink!
