Building on our previous activity using the tools in Illustrator to come up with single-coloured artwork, this time, we can incorporate full colour!
This time, start with a file that’s 27 inches wide and 8 inches tall. You do not need to fill up all of that space. We could make the page taller if you feel like you need to, but talk to me first.
As always, before you start, SAVE your work on your computer in OneDrive (and make sure OneDrive is running!)
If you draw your own art to put on a sticker, GREAT! You can skip the next section.
For this assignment, you can PLACE in raster images that you download from elsewhere.
This is a good time to mention that you shouldn’t be using copyrighted artwork without the creator’s permission. Any time someone designs something or takes a photo, they get to choose what happens with it. Without permission from the creator, using artwork or photos that you didn’t create/take is ILLEGAL!
That having been said… So long as you’re creating stickers for your own use and it’s for a school project, you could use logos or artwork or characters from the Internet if you wish.
BUT, make sure that they’re HIGH QUALITY. Use Google Images!
Click on the Tools button
And limit your search to Large images. You may also wish to click on color and limit your search to transparent images (ones without a background.)
in the search results, click on the image you want to download
It’ll open in a box on the right hand side. RIGHT CLICK on that and choose Save Image As…
Put that in your Downloads or in your Graphic Tech folder or wherever. You need to know where to find it afterward!
Go into Illustrator and go to the File menu and choose Place
Find your file wherever you downloaded it (probably in your Downloads folder).
You can save yourself a step if you TURN OFF the check mark next to the word Link:
If you don’t do that, you need to remember to Embed your image once it’s placed in!
If you ignore me and leave that link on:
you will need to EMBED. I’ll get to that in a minute! Don’t rush me!
Whichever way you chose, you’ll see a tiny thumbnail version attached to your cursor. You can either click on your Artboard (page) to Place the image full size OR draw a box for it to go in:
Remember that Embed business? Click on one of your images. If you haven’t turned off the Link box, you’ll see the option to Embed your image just above the image, under the menu bar:
Or on the Properties panel:
If you don’t Embed your images, the images won’t transfer to me along with your Illustrator file, so your stickers won’t look good.
You can make sure that your placed images are all embedded by looking at the Links panel. If you see something listed and it has a little link of chain, it means that it’s a linked file and should be embedded.
You can have as many different images as you want on your Artboard. You can use as much or as little of the page as you like.
If you have multiple images on the page, PUT THEM AS CLOSE TOGETHER AS POSSIBLE (without touching). Leave a bit of space between, but put your images CLOSE TOGETHER. If you have a bunch of blank space between stickers, I will make you MOVE them BEFORE I will PRINT them!
This is wasteful and annoying:
If you hand that in, I will ask you to move the images together before I will print them!
This is much better:
Again, you don’t need to fill up the page, but you do need to put your images close together (WITHOUT TOUCHING.)
Every sticker needs to be properly outlined, though, in order for it to be cut out.
For that, see the next set of instructions: Roland Cut Outlines