The Explanation For My Illustration

Title - The Ice Caps Must Remain in the Arctic- The Big Thaw Must Not Happen

It is not a surprise that the Global Warming is melting the world’s glaciers and Ice-caps. But no one expected it to happen this fast.

Since early 1960s, mountain glaciers around the world have experienced an estimated net loss of over 4, ooo cubic kilometres of water; this loss was more than twice as fast during the 1990s as in the previous decades. According to experts, 4 degree Celsius rise in average global temperatures would cause nearly all of the world’s glaciers to melt.

Ice is part of the biology of every creature that lives in this frozen vastness. So, human beings should think twice of what they have done because they are the ones who attribute to Global Warming. This will not only save all the creatures that live in Arctic but also save the World’s, our mother nature.

I was given a task to complete the assignment by doing the illustration of the area I chose from the theme- Global Warming. Based on the illustration, I was trying to say that there is still hope for us or human being to save the Ice-Caps from melting and help “them” to continue to remain in this world. Look at the illustration; I had been illustrating the view of some remaining Ice-Caps in the Arctic. Although the Ice-caps are already undergoing the melting process, but yet there are still Ice-Caps. The difference is just the size of the Ice-Caps is smaller compared to before. Therefore, there are still some Ice Caps remaining in the Arctic and I believe some Ice- Caps have not been affected by Global Warming, why don’t we try to protect them? The remaining of the Ice- Caps illustrated in the illustration give the impression that there is still hope and chance for human beings to be aware of the effects brought about by Global Warming. Even the remaining Ice-Caps also metaphor that they still have a strong will to remain; they still want to play an important role in maintaining the temperature of the Planet Earth.

On the illustration, I decided to put my symbol of Awareness from the previous assignment. The Symbol with title” Save the Ice- Caps, Means Save the World” is creating a strong awareness for all the people who see it. The Ice-Cap metaphor is suffering because it is melting. And, all this happened because of Global Warming.

In conclusion, I wished to emphasize the meaning of my illustration by saying that we must stop the melting of Ice-Caps and must not let this big thaw to happen starting from now. This will ensure the Ice-Caps will continue to remain in this World together with all its co-existing creatures and wildlife.

The True Final Illustration For " Melting Of Ice-Caps"

Here I wish to say thank you to Miss Koo for giving me good comments and some wise suggestion. Hence, I had made correction for my illustration. I had put my Symbol of awareness at the right side now. Ya, now the illustration looks nicer. Besides that, I had taken out some pieces of Ice-Caps and made the rest of the pieces less contrasting in colour. I hope that the new overall view of illustration looks better than the previous one and have been improved.

Finally I Started To Draw My Illustration for "Melting Of Ice Caps"

Step 1- Place The Template

First, I am going to place the reference picture of Ice Cap and my complete sketches as my Template. The Template is very useful because I can easily use it to trace the outline of the Ice-Caps.

*Select File> Place> Choose the picture> select Template>>>Then, PLACE.






Step 2- Start Trace the Outline of Ice-Caps Using Pen tool

I used Pen tool to trace some of the structure of Ice Caps.





Step 3- Colour the Ice-Caps With the Help of Mesh Tool


To make the Ice-Caps looks more realistic, naturalistic and well textured, I chose to use Mesh Tool. Mesh Tool allowed me to add point with line inside my Ice-Cap outline. The line added will make the Ice-Caps looks like 3D.


Firstly, I selected the Mesh Tool icon. Then, I chose one of my Ice-Caps and selected the suitable place to put mesh point. Examples below showed before and after I added the mesh point using Mesh Tool.



Examples of The Ice Caps


Ice-Cap 1

Before

After

Ice-Cap 2
Before

After

Ice Cap 3
Before After

Ice- Cap 4
Before After



Ice- Cap 5
Before

After



Ice- Cap 6
Before
After

Diagram Below showed that all the Ice-Caps had been modified by me using Mesh Tool. It is quite interesting to use this tool as it will make your illustration looks very realistic and "cool" looking. At first this tool is quite hard to use as it was still new and unfamiliar for me. But after I kept on using it and try my best to learn it, suddenly I feel like I managed to use it wisely and accurately.

This Mesh Tool allowed us to adjust it mesh point by using Direct Selection Tool. So,whenever we are not satisfied with the location that we put the mesh point, we can just click any mesh point you like and adjust it to be higher or lower; and even adjust it to become more curve or round. Besides that, after you put the mesh point, you can just simply delete it, just hold the alt Key and click the mesh point u want to take out.



*Notice that the green words written " My Swatches". I had been creating my own personal colour swatches before I started to place colour on my Ice-Caps.This is because I knew that doing this will make it more convenient for me to choose the colour I would like to place on my Ice Caps. Besides that, using own self created swatches is much better as it will not confuse you on what colour you want to choose or you had chosen.



Step 4- Complete View of Ice-Caps

This is the personal swatches I used to colour my Illustration. Basically to make realistic colour tone and shading on my Ice-Caps, I chose to use ocean light blue, light grey-purple, light grey and mostly white or light-blue white.

Diagram on top shows the final view of my Ice-Caps. As I kept on adjusting and observing the suitable location to place mesh point and kept on observing and studying the shape and colour of the Ice-Cap, finally I managed to make a great improvement on my Ice-Caps.By using this Mesh Tool, we can easily match the colour of the Ice-Caps making them more beautiful and more structured.Finally, I had done and completed the illustration of Ice-Caps.

Step 5- Making Up The Background

Every illustration must have a background to enhance its beauty. A background also make the illustration looks more complete and perfect. Basically, in this assignment, I am just going to illustrate a simple background.

Both diagram below showed before and after on how I make improvement of my background.

I had divided the background into 3 part- The Blue Sky, The Sea and The Stone( ground).

*Using Rectangle Tool, I draw the Blue Sky and the Sea.
*Using Pen Tool, I draw the Stone (ground).


Before-

Firstly, I drew the rectangle by using Rectangle Tool.This is for the Blue Sky and the Sea. Then, I use Pen Tool to draw the Stone (ground).

After-

Then, using gradient to match the colour of my background.

This is the final view of my background.Now I can put my illustration of Ice-Cap into this background.

Step 6- Add Additional Small Ice- Caps

After I had done my background, I decided to put some small Ice-Caps as to make my background similar to the situation of the Artic. I chose to use Paintbrush Tool because I found that by using Watercolour Wet (one of the brush found in Paintbrush Tool ),I can illustrate simple small Ice-Caps easily and faster. The effects of Watercolour Wet looks similar to small Ice-Caps shape. This can be shown when you chose light blue colour for stroke and draw a short straight line using Watercolour wet.

Step 7- Finishing View

Without Symbol-
With Symbol- This is the complete view of my illustration for Assignment 2. I will post my explanation about the melting of Ice-Caps and about this illustration on the next blog.

Thank You..

My Sketches For Assignment 2

The purpose of this assignment is to illustrate the overall picture of area of my choice. Since i chose "Melting Of Ice-Caps" as my title for the theme-Global Warming, I am going to illustrate the Ice Caps. But before that, I decided to make some sketches first. These sketches can be considered as part of my important ideation and greatly assist me when I do illustration using Adobe Illustrator.