Page 47 - CS6_GD_Look_Inside.pdf
P. 47
19. In the Layers panel, drag Layer 5 to the top of the layer stack.
New layers are automatically placed immediately above the selected layer. You need this
new layer to be above the template layers so you can see what you’re drawing.
20. Double-click the Layer 5 thumbnail in the Layers panel. In the Layer
Options dialog box, change the layer name to Icon Art and choose Magenta
from the Color menu, then click OK.
The Color option has nothing to do with the stroke or fill colors used in the artwork on
that layer; instead, it simply determines the color of bounding box handles and other
visual indicators for objects on a layer. (The default for Layer 5, Yellow, can be very
difficult to see. We chose Magenta because it shows better in our screen shots.)
Click here to choose
any color from the Color
Picker dialog box.
Click here to choose
a predefined color
from the list.
21. Save the file and continue to the next stage of the project.
Stage 2 Drawing Basic Shapes
If you remember from the client meeting, the client’s bitmap icons work fine on the Web, but
they look terrible in print. After you redraw the icons in Illustrator, the client will be able to print
them anywhere, with no loss in quality — which is the primary advantage of vector-based artwork
vs. raster-based images. A number of tools and utilities can be used to create complex Illustrator
artwork. Creating the icons in this project gives you an opportunity to experiment with some of
these options. As you complete the other projects in this book, you will delve deeper into complex
drawing techniques.
create artwork with lines
The snowflake icon is really nothing more than a series of straight lines — which
makes it ideal for introducing the Line Segment tool. In this exercise, you create simple
lines, and then use some basic modification techniques to create the final icon.
1. With icons.ai open, make sure the Icon Art layer is selected. Zoom in to the
top-left rectangle (with the snowflake image).
Project 1: International Symbols 67
