HAWAIIAN SHIRT- Intro to Digital Media
INTRODUCTION:
In this project, we were tasked with creating a Hawaiian shirt with a uniquely generated pattern. In keeping in theme with the general subject matter seen in Hawaiian shirts, we designed a pattern and applied it to a drawn shirt complete with buttons and an imagined shirt company tag.
MATERIALS:
Adobe Illustrator was used to create all assets in this project from the illustration turned into a pattern to the designed button and tag. References like a shirt asset used as a base for shirt construction and etc.
CREATIVE PROCESS:
I wanted to create something playful and lighthearted so I deiced on making a more simplistic design consisting of an aquatic creature native to Hawaii so I ultimately deiced on a crab for the base of the design. in addition I knew that just having a crab would be to boring and pretty darn generic to see so I added some classical show biz tap dancer aesthetic on to give it a classier look
The Shirt
Theses are the basic shapes used for creating the shirt starting first with the internal shapes then proceeding to create the exterior shapes through layering in order to create the basic shape for the shirt
In order to create the shapes i used this Hawaiian shirt as a template for the overall shape of the shirt
For the fishing touches I access the appearance panel and add in my fills in the right layers with the pattern being first and then shirts color second using the direct selection tool for each individual shape and part of the shirt. I also make sure to give the shirt some 3d elements by adding shadows like the gray outlines on the interior of the shirt as well as changing the opacity on the to interior shapes by making the bottom square bright and darkening the over square.
The Pattern
As you already know the patterns main idea is that its a cute little crab. the reason I thought of grabs was because of how common they were associated with beaches and tropical areas due the fact that's there habitat. I specifically used red crabs because of the iconic color in media like cartoons or animation. Fun Fact the Ocypode gaudichaudii, also known as the painted ghost crab or cart driver crab, is a species of crab found on Pacific beaches from El Salvador to Chile as well as on the Galápagos Islands.
The second big inspiration for the design was the classical show biz suit, top hat and Cain seen in retro cartoons like the looney tunes as well as real life tap dancers and there suits
by using both of theses elements of the painted ghost crab and the Show biz classical performer in order to create this design though the only thing missing is a little cape which i was conflicted on adding.
The Button
when making the button I had to make sure that the button was the correct size and shape so I used the ellipse tool to create a perfect circle then procced to scale up the button using the scale tool as well as hitting shift and expanding the asset
But before I scaled the image I had created 2 additional copies which I switch of the gradient off and made a solid color. I then began to layer the 3 assets on top of each other only having the solid color circles under the gradient and have them slight un aligned diagonally to create a 3d object using the 2 copies to make a shadow. Also I had to make some lines for thread while also giving the thread 2 fills on the appearance panel.
The Label
when creating the the label I used this image of a of linen cloth as the the base and proceeded to make everything else from there
To give the label some realism I add a border of a line which i edited to look like line segments in order to create the illusion of stitching on the fabric.
For the label I had to use the typography tool and type out y intended company name as well as its font , font size as well as color.
For the Final step I made the logo and added the logo image. As u can see the logo is a island with a palm tree and the ocean on both sides with opacity set to multiply by using the appearance panel, though the original idea focused on not overcrowding the logo certainly didn't meet that idea looking back on it.
Elements combined
I had All the assists are then all lined up at the bottom of the page in order of what was completed first from left to right starting with the pattern then the button and ending off with the branding logo.
After lining up all the assets I then used the typography tool and made the title as well as my name for the project.
This is the final product after completing all of the pervious steps
Conclusion
In conclusion the Hawaiian Shirt taught me the importance of layering and how small details are key to crating good composition. Although I already like my final composition I do think I could have done better in terms of the pattern and really dive in some realism for the crab while also having the show biz aesthetic going on.
