Photorealistic Nixon Vector Watch (Case Study)
For this project, I created a photorealistic vector watch by using vectors in Illustrator. My goal for this project was to show my skills in the Adobe program and how meticulous can I be in this type of projects.
Sketches
Sketches
The main goal of doing these sketches was to be familiar with every part of the watch, the knob, the clockwise, the hour marks, the logo, etc. Additionally, this practice was also important to help me understand how shadows and highlights are placed. In that way, I could emulate them the most I can in my vector design.
Process
I started working on the watch from the inside out, I started with the most general, such as the body of the watch, and finished with the details, such as its bands. The guides were very helpful in making the clock as symmetrical as possible and I also played a bit with the shapes as well as the shadows and highlights.
Details and Feedback
I received very helpful feedback about how to create the knob. I was able to focus first on the main shape, a kind of rectangle, after that, I was able to create different shapes with different colors above the drawing, I did this by using the Draw Inside option. Finally, I applied some Gaussian Blur to the shapes.
This section is my favorite part of the watch. I think I was able to recreate it very similar to the original. For this, I also applied the feedback I received. I was able to create a clipping mask to add the black and gray shadow. In the beginning, was very hard to understand how clipping mask works; however, having the idea of "a sandwich" helped me to know that I needed to place the pieces I wanted to clip in a mask as a sandwich.
Final Product & Conclusion
This is my final product. I believe I did a good job by showing how to use different important Illustrator tools and resources such as clipping masks, drawing inside, layers, understanding how shadows and highlights work, Gaussian blur, etc.
Because of the complexity of this project, I believe that I can argue that I am able to not only recreate a photorealistic vector watch but that I can design different objects in a photorealistic way. The complexity of the watch also helped me to show the importance of being organized with layers, being meticulous about details, and having an overview of big and final results.
