Sep 22, 2012

Make your own Jack O' Lantern Art


      I am currently doing a small project with a colleague designing a promotional material for a vocational school here in the PI extending help to students who want to study and work in Australia. My creative skills are way beneath professional but I've always loved anything artsy-craftsy so I decided to do the project. It is a long process of trial-and-errors and I've been trying out new software to effect the desired results. However, I have newfound respect for MICROSOFT WORD. What used to be a mere writing tool for me is now my graphics editing software.


        Since Halloween is just around the corner, I am showing here a simple tutorial on how to make your own Jack o' Lantern art using only basic shapes from Microsoft Word.

Evil enough for you? This pumpkin is made from Basic Shapes and a little imagination.

  1. Go to FILE >> NEW BLANK DOCUMENT
  2. Press the Shapes Icon on your toolbar, choose basic shapes, then choose CIRCLE.

3. Right click on the circle and press EDIT POINTS




You may have to do a little trial-and-error on this one until you get your  desired shape.




 4. Once you get the shape that you want, go to the FILL ICON on your toolbar and choose the shade that you want (orange of course!)




 4.  You don't want your pumpkin flat, so we will adjust the the colors to make it look plump. Go back to the FILL ICON and click on FILL EFFECTS. Click FILL, then go the GRADIENT tab.


On the GRADIENT TAB, you may use the following selections as guide:

   STYLE : Linear
   ANGLE: 93 degrees ( you may tweak on this button to get the desired result)
   SELECTION AND TRANSPARENCY: ADD COLOR, then choose any light yellow color

  You may follow the settings below to save time :)

  CLICK OK



Add caption







On its way to being a full fledged pumpkin :)


5. For the stem, go back to the SHAPE ICON on your toolbar, then click on BASIC SHAPES, then choose ARC



Right click on the ARC to edit it. Adjust the width as shown above.

 Fill the ARC with a combination of Brown and Green colors---experiment with different combinations :)
NOTE: Fill the ARC using the LINE ICON below the FILL ICON. The ARC is apparently not a shape, but a line :)
6.      To create the sections on the pumpkin, go to SHAPE ICON, LINES and CONNECTORS, then choose the curve. With the curve cursor activated (cursor appears as a plus (+) sign), click on the top of the pumpkin on the base of the stem, then move slowly towards the bottom of the pumpkin, stopping each time to fix your curve path. Repeat this process until you have made enough sections.









7.      Now, for the eyes, go back to your SHAPE ICON>> BASIC SHAPES>>then choose triangle (told you these are basic shapes :)  ) Right click on the triangle then go the FILL ICON, then choose a darker shade of orange than the one used to fill the body of the pumpkin. 



       To create the illusion of depth and light from within the pumpkin, go to FILL ICON, then FILL EFFECTS, FILL, then go to the GRADIENT tab. 

          STYLE : Linear
          ANGLE: 354 degrees 
     COLOR AND TRANSPARENCY: ADD COLOR, BLACK, ADD COLOR, YELLOW            (adjust the color spread according to your desired outcome)

           CLICK OK


TIP: Edit one eye only then copy the same triangle for the second eye. That way you won't have to edit both eyes and they will look uniform. I placed here two triangles just to mark where i'll put both eyes later











      When done editing one eye, just click on it, COPY, then PASTE. Click the ROTATE ICON on your toolbar, then choose Flip horizontally. 



8.    Once you're satisfied with both eyes, it's time to do the nose. Follow the same process as we did with the eyes. On your GRADIENT TAB, use the following settings:


       STYLE : Linear
       ANGLE: 102 degrees 
       COLOR AND TRANSPARENCY: ADD COLOR, BLACK, ADD COLOR, LIGHT    YELLOW

            CLICK OK.





9.       We're almost done. For the Mouth, go to the SHAPES ICON, click on STARS and BANNERS then choose a seven-pointed star. Do the same process for the eyes and nose above and use the following settings:


            STYLE : Path
            ANGLE : 170 degrees
            COLOR AND TRANSPARENCY: ADD COLOR, YELLOW, ADD COLOR, BLACK







           CLICK OK and VOILA!!!








       

No comments:

Post a Comment

Post Comments Here: