Nets in Illustrator

L/Os 

To develop your Adobe Illustrator skills 

To be an Independent Enquirer

Outcome: To develop your hero and villain characters to be printed on special cereal packs so they can be cut out and assembled to make 3D freestanding characters.

Starter - 10 min

Today you are going to turn your hero and villain into nets! You are also going to experiment with a new piece of software - Adobe Illustrator - for a bit of a challenge/fun!!! (Golds for best designs next lesson)

Reminder: You have already looked at some of the example nets on http://www.paperfoldables.com/ as below:

You are now going to have a go at designing your own on Adobe Illustrator

You may either:
a) use my square net here - download it into your ICT folder and PLACE it into a new A4 Adobe Illustrator document

b) use a foldable net like the dracula one here - download it into your ICT folder and PLACE it into a new A4 Adobe Illustrator document

c) choose one of the paper foldables above and turn it into a net design using Adobe Illustrator

Main Task - 45 min

Ensure that you have downloaded a net design into your ICT folder. Now, follow the step-by-step instructions below on how to get it into Adobe Illustrator:

In Adobe Illustrator go to 'File - New':

Create a portrait A4 document as below:

Go to 'File - Place'

Choose your net

Once it is placed on your artboard (the white area in Illustrator!) you can experiment with the tools on the toolbar (LEFT-HAND SIDE) - such as the shape tools:

Use the brush tool to make patterns and shapes too:

Change colours on the colour palette on the RIGHT-HAND SIDE by moving the arrows left and right:

Change the brush size using the STROKE settings at the top of Illustrator:

Select sections and use the gradient palette to make a gradient

Change the colours of the gradient by following these images below...

Select the hanging buckets by double clicking on them:

Choose your gradient colours:

Watch the gradient change colours!

Above all, have fun!! And if you get stuck.....

If you are stuck: Here are some fantastic tutorials for you to use:
http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/cartoon-illustrator-tutorial-more/

Why don't you try clicking on one and creating your very own character?!


Remember the CRITERIA:
You must produce designs for two 3D characters, one hero and one villain.

 Produce a design for each character.

Each design must:

• only use elements from primary sources
• be created using only vector tools
• be a single net that folds to make the character
• fit on one sheet of A4
• include fold and cut lines, and areas to be glued
• include clear instructions on how each character should be assembled.

Plenary - 5 min

Blog about what you have achieved this lesson 
Gold: Can you add a photo of your products so far??