Postcard 2

So my second postcard is Dubai, UAE because I went to Dubai and I love it. Dubai is a very modern and beautiful city

Figure 1

Figure 1 - these are some reference images. All the building images are mine that I took when I was in Dubai. >>>> Camel, Dubai mosque, Burj al-Arab, palm tree, Burj Khalifa, Palm Island Jumaeirah

Figure 2

I made a camel on a separate document> the pen tool> picked random colours> selected all (V)>Cmd+C> opened a new postcard document 120x210>Elipse tool to create circles>Cmd+V to place the camel.

To make my postcard layouts the same, what I did was I placed my previous postcard on the bottom layer and created circles above it (on a separate layer)

Figure 3 and figure 4

I tried to figure out which colour would look best for this building and I decided to go with figure 4

Figure 5 and figure 6

I realised that palm trees look similar to coconut trees. Because I did not use a Malaysian coconut tree for my final poster, I decided to use it for my final Dubai postcard. I changed the colour and deleted the coconut so it looked like a palm tree instead of a coconut tree.

Figure 6 - At first I thought of putting my palm tree on the red circle so its colours would be black and green. But I thought it looked dull. So I decided to place it on a black circle background as shown in figure 6. As usual I had to change its colour, save it as a pdf and place (Shift+Cmd+P) it on the postcard document as I added some patterns on the wood bits.

Figure 7 and figure 8

Figure 8 - traced the mosque on a separate document. I had to lock the mosque photograph to make it  easier when I was tracing it so  it would not move and disturb me.

When I created the illustrations for my postcards, I usually picked the colours first then copied the illustration and pasted it onto the postcard document (in Illustrator) then I picked the colour. I did this because I found it easier as I wanted all my postcards and illustrations to have the same tonal colour of green, red etc.

Figure 8 - I debated which colour to pick for the black circle background and I went for the red coloured mosque.

figure 9

As well as I am addicted to making sure my artworks look neat and tidy, I am also a lazy designer. Especially on Illustrator, instead of moving its anchors, I love to put shapes on top of each other to cover its weaknesses as I think moving it anchors would take more time than placing another shape on top of it.

For example figure 9, because the building is too long, it bleeds off the circle. So what I did was I got the pen tool and added a new layer, I just created another shape on top of it so the audience cannot see the part of the building that bleeds from the green circle. Clever isn't it ?