Project 2 - Amy Petit

Part 1

1. (a) For this project I created a layer for the sea floor that incorporated the three types of drawing objects. The seaweed bunches are merge drawing objects, the rocks are object drawings with modified points and the bottom layer is a primitive rectangle with the corners rounded. (b) I created a grouping of the large rocks so that I could duplicate them and flip them. The grouping served to quickly fill up the space and so that I could move a lot of very small objects quickly. (c) I used the arrange tool to place the seaweed behind the rocks and to bring some of the rocks on top of each other.

2. (a) All layers are named relevant to their content. (b) I used the spray can and a symbol I created for the background pattern of smaller bubbles. (c) I created a couple of curved objects – the fish – using ovals and the pen tool and then modified the points to get the exact shape that I wanted. They started out very simplified and I added points & handles to be able to manipulate the edges, especially with the fins. (d) I used the paintbrush to add some detail and drew circles with dotted outlines to make the bubbles coming from the fish. (e) The purple fish and her bubbles and the blue fish and his bubbles are each in separate folders. It makes it easier to keep those related elements together. (f) The masked layer pair is the floating starfish. I used the polygon tool to make a star then modified the points to round off the tips. Then I used the paintbrush on another layer to create the pattern. The star serves as the mask. (g & h) I overlapped the fish, seaweed, bubbles and starfish. The stacking order was important to create a background, middle and foreground for the picture and give it a sense of depth.

Part 2

1. (a) For managing complex graphics on a single layer, I recommend using the arrange tool as much as possible and creating object drawings out of merge drawings so the shapes don’t interact. The shapes interacting can be the most frustrating part of drawing on a single layer. (b) I found naming the layers specifically and using folders to organize them extremely helpful. I will use that in future projects, especially as the drawings become more complex. (c) Overall, I found this project to be very interesting. I like having the use of layers now as well as the ability to mask objects. The arrange option is really helpful as well as understanding how different types of layers interact.