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Gradient Mix Media Grid

The strongest area of the piece of work I made is the textures I chose to use and the gradients I put over the part of the piece I did in illustrator. This is because I spent a lot of time trying to find the right colors and adjust the scale for the gradients until i got it just right. I was also able to overlay textures on the gradients to make the ornaments look a bit more realistic. Some areas of my work that I can improve on are the drawing part of the piece and the cropping of the scanned piece. I had trouble drawing the ornaments because I struggle with drawing. In the future I may want to try painting or creating this part of the project in a different way. I may also want to try and keep the paper I scan a bit flatter and not crinkled so it's easier to scan and put on illustrator. 

The easiest part of this activity was using the pen tool. This is because we have had a lot of practice using this tool and I now know how to work will it to create outlines, fill in shapes and create gradients. The most difficult part of this piece was matching the colors in the drawing to the colors I used in illustrator. I wasn't able to use the eye drop tool when creating gradients which made this difficulty. Drawing my piece was also difficult because I struggle with drawing. For this piece I used illustrator, Photoshop, and drew something to scan into illustrator. In illustrator I used the pen tool, fills, gradients, eraser, and the paintbrush tool. I also used the eyedropper tool when I could. In Photoshop I used the lasso tools and filters to give my piece texture. I used the tools in illustrator to draw the shapes for the ornaments and color them in. I then used the gradient tool to create gradients on the ornaments. I also used the paintbrush tool to color in the background of the squares blue to match what I drew. After I was satisfied with the shaped I had created, gradients, and lines I moved the piece into Photoshop. I used Photoshop to overlay textures on the ornaments. I also used a filter over the whole piece. I used these filters and textures to make my piece look more realistic. 

I demonstrated the objective of this art activity effectively. I was able to draw a piece to put into illustrator in 3 sections of the paper. I was also able to create pen tooled imagery and fill it in with gradients to create the ornaments in the remaining boxes. I was also able to use the tools in illustrator such as the pen tool, anchor points and the order of layers to created the desired piece. I was able to manipulate anchor points and lines with the pen tool to create the round ornaments as they appeared in the picture. I was then able to move into Photoshop and finish adjusting my piece and was even able to add texture and filters. If I could do this activity again I may want to use paint to create my mixed media piece because my colored pencil marks didn't show up dark enough when I pulled it into illustrator and I had to darken them in Photoshop first. I may also want to try creating a different background instead of just a solid blue one. I could also try to draw shiny things other than ornaments which may be more fun to recreate in Photoshop, like a shoe. Overall I am happy with the way it came out. The drawing portion of the project took a long time and I am proud of what i created.