My second seed packet is about 1/4 way done. My idea for this packet is small business seeds, which in my mind is related to helping our economy grow, creating more jobs and increasing consumer spending (which will be my third packet).
I put a lot of detail into the light bulb and the trunk of the tree. The light bulb represents an idea, since any business first starts with an idea. I applied a gradient to the strokes of the trunk and branches, which I needed a refresher to accomplish. The method I used (since I have CS5.1) was to select the stroke with the Direct Selection tool, then I chose Object from the menu bar, then Path, then Outline Stroke. I decided to apply gradients to the trunk and branches of the next plant because there is an outer glow effect applied to the top of the light bulb. The Outer Glow effect is intended to convey brightness and an attempt at balance with lighting with the sun.
The roots are similar to the first packet. I added some roots to give it a more complete feel, and the trunk grows out of the light bulb. I intend the plant to be a bush or a small tree with related elements like I did with the Job Seeds packet.

I also have made changes to the first packet based on comments/suggestions by classmates. I removed all the additional plants, which I placed there with the idea of having it appear as a field with lots of new jobs growing. It was a last minute decision to add them because I thought it looked too bare. But now looking at the revised version again, it does look better with space around the plant and flowers.

2nd draft of seed packet #1

Hopefully this is an improvement over my original. I added some of the elements from the critique in word form (resume, suits, etc.), which I will be changing to images represent the words.

As a side note, this sketch is one of the first ones I have done in a very long time... it's helped me remember how much I enjoy drawing.

Moodboard for seed packet

My first idea before deciding on the "Healthy Economy Seeds" was grow your own wishes. After thinking about it further, I thought perhaps some people would wish for more US jobs. That lead me to thinking about the economy and some other political issues that are near the top of voters' lists of important topics for the coming election. Therefore, my seed packets are politically-themed while still keeping my original idea of wishes.
I am planning to use brighter colors including red, white, and blue. For fonts, I did a little research into what Mitt Romney & Barack Obama (and some past presidential candidates) used for their campaign advertising. Based on that information, I chose the closest fonts I could find: Goudy Stoudt, Stencil, Franklin Gothic, Trajan Bold, Vonnes, and a few others.
The layout I've chosen is simplistic: the logo at the top, an illustration of the  plant in the main section in the middle, and the seed name near the bottom.

RGB, CMYK, Fills & Strokes. and Paths

There are two different color modes for Web and for print: RGB, or Red, Green and Blue. This is the color mode used for the Web, TVs, computer monitors and mobile devices. CMYK is the color mode for print materials. It consists of Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black (the "k" is used instead of "b" since "b" is used for Blue in the Web color mode). When these colors are combined in various combinations, they can display all colors in the spectrum. Some who have trouble remembering the difference can think of it as: there are three letters in "web" and there are three colors that make up the Web color mode, RGB. There are more letters in the word "print", just as there are more colors in the Print color mode, CMYK.
Fill color is the area inside the path, or the color on the inside boundaries of the shape; stroke color refers to the line that is on the outside the object (letters, shapes). If either the fill or stroke is represented by a white box with a red line through it, it means that element has no color. Changing the colors of either or both is easy in Illustrator, and Adobe gives at least three different ways to do it. First is at the bottom of the toolbar, under the magnifying glass tool and the hand tool. The first box is the fill color; the second box without the center is the stroke color. The second option for finding fill and stroke color is near the top of the screen, just under the Menu Bar. The first box represents the fill color; the second box for the stroke color is just like the bottom of the Tool Bar, only smaller. The third option is within the Color Panel.
Paths are essential to creating any artwork in Illustrator from basic lines and shapes to vector portraits.  They are the "bones" upon which everything else that is created sits to comprise the artwork. Within those paths are anchor points, or the joints or building blocks that hold the paths together; they tell the paths where to go. For curved paths, the points have control handles that tell the path how to curve up or down. Paths can be open or closed. Closed paths are simply paths that have no open ends, like shapes. Open paths are paths that are not closed; there is nothing connecting it, like a straight and arched lines or spirals.
To join two paths, instead of using the Pathfinder or Compound  Shape tools, the Join or Average Commands can be time savers and one may work better that the other, depending on the project. By selecting the two anchor points and choosing the Object Menu, then Path, then Average or Join
Splitting paths can be done with either the Scissors and Knife tool. The Scissors tool splits paths based on selected anchor points. It is as easy as clicking on an object's anchor point with the Direct Select tool and selecting another anchor point on the same object. The Knife tool acts like a liquid knife, and does not cut in a straight line unless the Alt or Option key is pressed and held down until releasing the mouse.

Adobe Illustrator | Gradient Mesh Project

I have a new found love for the gradient mesh tool in Illustrator! I had completed a couple of projects during my schooling at HACC with it, but my projects turned out mediocre. The mushroom guy project has really helped me get learn how to fine tune the Bezier curves and manipulate the points to create a smoother gradient. It was rather challenging getting the gradients right, but I really enjoyed this project. I was sorry to see it come to an end!

Lynda.com | Illustrator CS6 | Essential Training videos

Chapter 1 Videos

Understanding Vector Graphics

Vector Graphics are resolution independent, which means they can be scaled larger or smaller and still maintain the nice, clean, crisp edges. This is especially noticeable around curves and circles. When zooming in to a raster-based image, it's edges become grainy or pixelated.
Adobe Illustrator files can be output to InDesign for print projects like business cards, letterheads, flyers, brochures, etc. without losing quality. However, vector artwork needs to be converted to a raster-based format like .jpg, .png or.gif for use on the Web.

Touring the Interface

Illustrator's interface consists of several areas, including the Menu Bar, Control Panel, Tools Panel, Panel System, Workspace Jump Menu. Each menu contains several options and tools. There is also an icon to easily access Adobe Bridge and an Arrange Documents icon with several layouts to choose from for viewing open documents. 

The Menu Bar is at the top of the screen and contains several menus like File, Edit, Object, Type, Select, Effect, View, Window and Help. Each menu contains a drop down list of options with some options containing submenus with more options.

The Control Panel offers different tools and options based on the tool that is currently selected. These options change with each tool. Depending on your screen size, this panel also contains colored links to open various individual panels like the Stroke Panel or the Opacity Panel, which is based on the currently selected tool. 

The Tools Panel on the left side of the screen has a collection of tool groups, like Selection Tools, Creation Tools (pen tool, pencil tool, paint tool, type tool, rectangle/ellipse tool, etc.), Modify Tools, Mesh, Gradient, Eyedropper, etc. Many of the tools found in the Tools Panel have a small triangle arrow in the lower right corner, which indicates there are more tools within that tool. These additional tools can be accessed by clicking and holding on the triangle arrow. At the bottom of the Tools Panel is an area to choose fill and stroke color, toggle these colors, add color, add gradient, and fill with none; drawing modes, and screen changing modes for presenting the artwork.

Below the document window, there are a few useful but sometimes overlooked items, like the zoom percentage, artboard jump menu, and the name of the currently selected tool, which has options for changing the info that displays in this area.

On the right of the screen is the Panel System that contains the default panels for the workspace. These can be changed and collapsed to give the document window more space. This area contains panels like color, brushes, symbols, layers, artboards, stroke, etc. Above the Panel System is the Workspace Jump Menu for changing the workspace to suit the particular task. There are Workspaces for Typography, Painting and Proofing, Layout, Tracing, Web, etc.

Chapter 2 videos

Using Rulers, Guides & Grids

When precise layout is important to the project, rulers, guides and grids are essential to accomplishing that goal. In Illustrator, the rulers must be turned on in order to access guides. To turn on the rulers, there are a couple ways to do so: 1.) choose the View Menu on the Menu Bar, and go just over half-way down the drop down menu to Rulers, the from the pop out menu, choose Show Rulers;  2.) use the keyboard shortcut, Ctrl or Cmd and the letter "r". Once the rulers are on, you can go to the top or left side ruler and click and drag onto the document. The colored line that appears is a guideline. To remove the line it is similar to creating one- either go to the View Menu, choose Guides from the menu, then choose Hide Guides, or click on the guideline and drag back to the ruler from where it originated.
Grids are very effective in fine-tuning a precise layout. When turned on, the grid looks like graph paper with many intersecting lines. It can be accessed through the View menu or keyboard shortcut Ctrl or Cmd + ". The default color is grey, but this can easily be changed by going to the Preferences menu (PC: Edit-->Preferences-->Guides & Grid / Mac: Illustrator Menu-->Preferences, or keyboard shortcut: Ctrl or Cmd + k).
Smart Guides are helpful for aligning objects with other objects. When turned on, Smart Guides appear as bright green lines that are visible when dragging an object inside the document. Smart Guides can be accessed through the View menu on the Menu bar (View menu-->Smart Guides... almost at the bottom of the drop down list) or with the keyboard shortcut: Ctrl or Cmd + the letter "u".
For graphics for the Web need to be "pixel perfect", which means the edges are really sharp and clean even in raster-based output. To further assist precision, the Info panel is great for positioning guides.

Locking & Hiding Artwork

The Layers panel is a must for locking and hiding objects on the artboard. Locking an object or several objects protects them from accidental changes or deletion. Hiding an object may be necessary for accessing objects underneath. These two options are also accessible through the Objects menu on the Menu bar. The keyboard shortcut for locking a selected item is Ctrl or Cmd  + 2; to unlock, press Ctrl + Alt + 2 (PC) or Cmd + Opt + 2 (Mac).

Creating & Using Artboards

Artboards are Illustrator's version of a multi-page layout, allowing you to have multiple artboards within one document. There are a couple of ways to edit artboards in an Illustrator document: with the Artboard tool on the Tools panel (or the keyboard shortcut: Shift + O) or in the Panel System (right side of the screen). Artboards can be resized, renamed, reordered, or you can add or delete artboards. At the bottom of the Document Window, there is an Artboard Jump Menu that allows you to go to any particular artboard in the document.

Chapter 3 Videos

Using Direct Selection & Group Selection Tools

The Direct Selection Tool (white arrow tool) allows object selection and modifications to a path within an object by selecting individual or multiple anchor points. Unlike using the regular Selection Tool (black arrow), there is no bounding box when using the Direct or Group Selection Tools.

The Group Selection Tool is under the Direct Selection Tool. It does just what its name implies: selects an object within a group of objects. The icon for the tool is a white arrow (just like the Direct Selection Tool) with a plus sign next to it. Clicking once with this tool will select one object in the the group, clicking a second time will select the group the object is a part of, and clicking a third time will select the parent group of objects (assuming there is one).

To create a group of objects, press Ctrl or Cmd + G; to ungroup, press Shift + Ctrl or Cmd + G. Grouping objects is an easy way to keep artwork together and to work with multiple objects at the same time.

Resizing Artwork

To resize an object, choose the Selection Tool (black arrow) from the Tools panel or the Scale Tool. After you select an object, a bound box appears around it. Each corner and the halfway points around the bound box have small white squares, which are called Control Points. When you hover your cursor over these points, the cursor changes to a double-ended arrow (the diagonally pointing arrows are for the corners, the horizontally and vertically pointing arrows are for resizing wider/narrower/taller/shorter). Pressing and holding down the modifying key, Shift, allows you to constrain proportions as the object is being resized.

Rotating Objects

 Before rotating an object, it must first be selected by choosing the Selection tool to allow the bounding box to appear. When hovering the cursor near the corners, the cursor will change to an arched, double ended arrow. Clicking and dragging clockwise or counter clockwise will allow the object to be rotated.

Aligning & Distributing Objects

There are several options for vertically and horizontally aligning and distributing objects. To access these options, either go to the Window menu and choose Align to open the Align panel, or choose the Align link in the Control Panel.