Freestyle Academy proudly presents

Tchai: A Junior Illustration Project by Lleyton Brouwer (2021)

I had many different inspirations for this project: most importantly, my subject, Tchai. Tchai is quite an old dog, and due to COVID travel restrictions, I may not be able to see him again before he passes away. This inspired me to use contrasting pictures of him when he was young, and now when he’s older, for my project. I also had Michaelangelo’s “Creation of Adam” in mind when I began this project. I wanted to have two different versions of Tchai making a line across the artwork. During this project, I dramatically improved at using Adobe Illustrator, which was the tool used in this project. Specifically, I was able to use what I had previously learned about custom brushes, pen tools, and live paint groups in order to create my artwork. Some problems I encountered included my custom brush not working properly at first, which I had to re-do multiple times. Every time I tried to use it, I ran into a different problem - the stars were too dense, too big, too small, not visible, too far apart, etc. This was definitely the most troublesome part of the project for me, but eventually I was able to get it to my liking using trial and error. If I could change one thing, I would probably make my background a gradient, as I now think a sunset-type of background would be much better for the look of serenity I was trying to go for. In addition, I wish I put some more effort into making individual stars look better, as I think they would have looked really good with a feather effect on each one’s edges. I am most proud of the personal growth I was able to achieve during this project. I really see an improvement in my skills with Adobe Illustrator, and I am really happy with it. I feel like I can really appreciate other people’s Illustrator skills and creations better, as I have a real feel for how hard it is to make a piece that I am happy with. Related website
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