An illustration is a drawing or something original that you make. A camera is not used, because it is multiple images on top of each other put in a certain way. Some may thing that a photo is an illustration, but it is not. A photo is captured with a camera and good lighting, but an illustration is something that takes an extreme amount of time. Don't get me wrong, taking a great photo also takes time and preparation, but an illustration takes a lot of concentration and careful movements to get it just right.

In Design, we had to make an illustration that visualy and metaphorically represented our personal statement. We had a few weeks to do it, and devoted most of our time in Design to finishing and perfecting the illustration.

In my Self-Portrait Illustration, the symbols I used were a wave and a barren tree. The wave is supposed to represent fear, and the tree is supposed to represent the fragility fear can bestow upon a person. The wave is big and menacing, instilling fear in the viewer. The tree looks like it is going to be completely drowned by the wave, but it is stronger than one thinks.

To create this illustration, I used Adobe Illustrator. The Pen tool was a huge part in this, because I used it to trace both the tree and the wave. The tree took up a lot of time, considering it is very intricate and there are a lot of lines and spaces to keep track of. I used the Gradient and Gradient Mesh tools to create a smooth transition of colors within the wave. The Brush tool was also very helpful in creating the details in the wave itself. A challenge I met in doing my illustration was using the Pen tool on the tree. It took a lot of precise movements and placing, but in the end it turned out well.