In this design project, I pulled out all of my Illustrator tricks. I used the type on path tool in order to type words starting with the letter “O” on the outer area. The same was used for the inner circle. I used the pen tool to create my tree and its leaves. The gradient tool was also my friend in this project. The inside of the orange is a mixture of gradients and effects. I absolutely loved making the inner area of the “O” look like the actual peel. I will next time definitely have an easier time using manipulation and other effects with less trial and error. I recommend taking it slow and don’t worry about getting your anchor points all messed up. 
Tag Archives: Anchor Points
Vector Graphics
Yesterday, I mentioned a term, known as vector graphics, in my blog post. I thought I should elaborate more about it today. A vector graphic is a graphic that can expand, shrink, stretch, and squish with out pixelating or losing quality. Vectors use paths and anchor points to allow optimal customization for any work. A path is the black line that appears when you draw a line in Adobe Illustrator. A path is made up of a series of points called “anchor points” and line segments between these points. The anchor points on the either end of a path have “control handles” and these can be used to control the direction of the curved path.
There are three main types of paths:
1) Open Paths – This is a simple line with two end points.
2) Closed Paths – A closed shape no end points. Ex: rectangle, circle etc.
3) Compound Paths – Two or more open or closed paths.
As I mentioned previously, anchor points and line segments make up the paths. Each anchor point has control handles and control handle lines. The control handles are small squares on the path that allow you to control how tightly or loosely you can bend the curve at each of them. There are two main types of anchor points:
1) Smooth points – A smooth point is made up of two linked control handles and help prevent the path from changing direction abruptly.
2) Corner Points – A corner point helps the path change direction. There are three different types of corner anchor points.
a) Straight corner point – The point where two straight lines meet at an angle is called a straight corner point and do not have any control handles. For example the corners of a rectangle.
b) Curved corner point – The point where two curved lines meet at an angle is called a curved corner point and it has two corner handles. For example the top dip of a heart shape.
c) Combination corner point – The point where a straight corner point and a curved corner point meet is called a combination corner point and it has one control handle which controls the curved line.
Because of the tools at our disposal, some vectors extremely abstract and complex while others are quite concrete and simple. You can sketch a design on paper, whatever it may be. Then, you can upload the scanned drawing into Adobe Illustrator and use the tools there to recreate your design for the digital world. Happy Designing! – Jordan
Graphic Design Class 