Tired (Triumph)

[jheti]

I fucking win.

Yesterday, I got Adobe Illustrator to sit up and do tricks. ON A MACINTOSH.

Okay, fine, it wasn't quite that easy...The part where it took me six and a half hours to complete two exercises was our first clue.



One of the major projects this semester is to design a corporate identity for one of about seven fictitious companies. This means letterhead, business card, envelope.

It is SO MUCH HARDER than it looks that it is not EVEN funny. There are kerning and leading and pica decisions, and typeface, typestyle, shear, spot color, process color, good god! It goes on and on and on.

You could not do this shit with a business card maker program. I thought you could. You can't. At least, not presently. It's the difference between, liek, a Ford and a Lambroghini.

Are they deliberately making it hard? Of course. But a lot of that is fucking learning curve.

I still have no idea why we turned our beautiful paths into outlines, but let's not go there, because it hurts my brain. I actually gave myself a headache.

Let's also forget the part where I'm shit at mounting stuff but it's an excuse to breathe more glue! and concentrate on the part where I MADE ILLUSTRATOR MY BITCH.

I was worried. I took the idea, made sketches, and presented them.

The first words from his mouth were, "Not so contained! It--it's--wow, that's really under control. *Nervous chuckle.*"

And I'm like, "Shit!"

I'll level with you, right now. Most of the other kids in that class are WAY more creative than me. I know because I spied on their sketches, even though we're not supposed to; I'm naturally curious and have a way of noticing/seeing/indexing details that shocks people because I'm such a flake. XD

But anyway. They have imagination coming out of their asses at six to ten concepts EACH, and I was struggling in vain to have three solid ideas. And he didn't like any of them, or my basic approach.

It's a rectangle. It's supposed to be contained. It only has four sides! I only have two triangles to work inside and some of that has to be room for both the "i" dots! *Hyperventilate.*

Yeah. I panicked. I swore. I cried. I drank. I slept.

And then I went to MegaCon. I really, really want to say "the heavens opened and bestowed a glowing rain of BEAUTIFUL TALENT upon me", but no such thing happened.

I met Vic Mignona and almost got attacked by Sean Astin's bouncer, but that TALENT was in no way forthcoming. And I had NO NEW IDEAS, with deadline looming. I won't lie. I was fucking terrified.

Monday, I pretended I wasn't terrified, played Mortal Kombat, and wrote an essay.

Yesterday, I told the 'rents not to wait for me, and settled in at the computer lab to perform the labors of Hercules.

The tutor's feedback was helpful. "It's too busy; this, I don't like this. *Pointing at the curves.* Try slanting it."

Luckily, people have been saying "it's too busy" about my work my entire life, so at least I know why they say it, what it means, and how to fix it.

I knew I couldn't, can't, learn to "draw" in Illustrator beyond basic shapes. I can make it not throw up! I can sorta trace! I can play "guess the path"! For only about fifteen hours' total work with it, I think that's exemplary.

It is an extremely powerful and gorgeous app. And so many things can go so desperately wrong so fast that your head doesn't just spin, it does cartwheels. Backwards. Accompanied by a full parade with brass band.

I think you get the picture. XD

So, I did the next best thing. My company is a printing company. They would be called typesetters, and they also design typography--fonts. They want to expand into graphics and more general paper/ink/printing based design.

"I like what you did with the type," said teacher. "Play with the typography."

I forgot all my sketches--I didn't like them and they weren't what my teacher wanted, either, anyway--and opened a blank artboard (document).

I know most people see on paper. I see on the screen. For the first time in the whole process, I had a blank canvas. "Play with the typography." We have an exhaustive list of absolutely gorgeous fonts.

I went to the fonts. My company's name is "Print Squid", and I've known the whole time that I wanted something dark and liquid--implying water, suggesting ink. I found it. It's swooping and rough and very dark. Lassigue-something-something. I wrote my capitals in that. They came out looping and organic, almost illegible.

Courier. I've loved it forever, and it's the perfect heavy antidote to all that "art" going on. So "P S" in curly inkblot joy, and "rint quid" in measured, controlled, rounded-squarish serif. I tweaked the positioning of the capital letters, and at the tutor's suggestion, twisted the Lassigue "+" sign I was using for decoration so it looked even more like a blot/flower/starfish.

It's gorgeous. I most humbly submit. It looks like A REAL LOGO. And I BUILT IT. On a thoroughly uncooperative machine. Without very much help. Contrast and water, and a few suggestions from someone who actually does design for a career. I think she's in photography. My teacher does textbook page-design for his day job. People who actually know what they are doing gave me critique.

I love people who know what they're doing, they're a blessing to my comfortably chaotic inner world. ^_^

I have learned, over the years, that I can throw down when it counts. When it matters, I deliver. Period.

Sometimes, the results are even pretty.

Of course, the first thing he announced when he came in is that the proofs I spent all day building will not be due until tomorrow. XD

At least that means I don't have homework! Lol ^_~