Ukrainian Egg Design Project
ART 1029 Digital Media
A.) Introduction:
This is a design project for first semester in the ART 1029 - Digital Media program at George Brown College taught by Professor Jim Kinney.
Our professor was aware that the students already dealing with two years of a pandemic, supply shortages, political protests and respective personal issues are now struggling with heavy course workloads and as a result have become ever more stressed with the added pressures. Most recently the entire world has been very upset and understandably distracted by the unfortunate events happening in Ukraine. In response, he designed this assignment for us to share on social media to show our support for peace for all the Ukrainian people.
Our brief was to create a unique design for a Ukrainian egg using Adobe Tools. Once complete we would add it to a social media campaign to spread kindness and positive messages of hope for the people of Ukraine.
B.) Materials/Tools:
Adobe Illustrator for the pattern and egg.
Adobe Creative Cloud Express for the background, embellishments and text.
Behance to share documentation of project.
C.) Creative Process:
To begin research on my project I wanted to find symbols of Ukraine that could be incorporated into my pattern. I did a Google search and went to the Wikipedia page to educate myself on what the national symbols were.
I found the national flag had a beautifully patterned coat of arms on it so that was an immediate choice. If repeated in a pattern it would be intricate like the designs on traditional Ukrainian eggs.
Ukrainian National Flag with coat of arms
My second choice was the national flower, the Sunflower. It is a good choice because not only because of its beauty but also it would be a good shape to practice repetition and add a linear gradient to give texture for petals, as well as radial gradient for the centre of the flower.
I had also seen video footage of a Ukrainian woman standing up to a Russian soldier who was in full uniform with an assault rifle slowly walking into her neighbourhood with a contingent of soldiers. She walked up to him questioning why they were there. He told her to calm down so the situation didn't escalate and she got angry. She offered them sunflower seeds to put in their pockets so that the flowers would grow when their bodies lay on Ukrainian soil. She told him that they were cursed. This has changed forever how I will view sunflowers, they are no longer fragile - they are resilient against the odds like the Ukrainian people, especially the ones that appear to be vulnerable like women.
My third choice was the Olive Branch. It has been a symbol of the offer to peace, friendship and reconciliation dating back to Ancient Greek mythology. It added more colour and texture to my pattern. I am a trained professional floral designer so I also wanted to bring a foliage accompaniment to the floral component of the sunflower.
D.) Production Methods/Workflow:
Sunflower: I started with creating the sunflower for my pattern. In Adobe Illustrator I used the Ellipse tool + shift key to make the centre, then played with a radial gradient with different shades of brown to give a simulated texture of the disk flowers that make up the centre of the main flower. I debated with myself on whether to add in the detail of the spiral of individual disk flowers (where the seeds form later) but decided that once the entire sunflower was scaled to fit the pattern on the egg it would be impossible to see that detail. Instead I created shading within the centre by adding extra shades of brown in the gradient. Next I used the pencil tool to draw one petal. I added a linear gradient then off set it a bit from the tip of the petal to give the illusion that the petal was not flat. Once I was happy with the petal, I used the option key and dragged my copies into place around the centre portion. I randomly flipped petals horizontally/vertically depending on where they were on the circle so that they were not all facing the same direction. I think the effect gives the flower a more natural feel. I repeated a second row with more petals but scaled them to a different size. Then I selected all the parts and grouped them.
Olive Branch: I began with using the Ellipse tool then adjusted the handles using the Direct Selection tool to make the tip of the leaf then elongated it to where it was close to a real olive leaf. Then I gave it a linear gradient and chose shades of green that would give the illusion of the leaf's midrib. Again there was no point in putting in the small details in each leaf such as the veins or petiole where the leaf attaches to the branch. I used the Curvature tool to make a slightly curved line then changed the width of the line (Shift key + W or Width tool) to simulate a branch. I used the option key then dragged my copies along on either side of the branch to mimic a real olive branch. I selected all the parts then grouped them.
Coat of Arms: I took a screenshot of the Ukrainian flag from the Wikipedia page then placed it onto my artboard in Adobe Illustrator. I set it as a template by going to its layer in the Layers panel then double clicking on its line. The Layer Options appeared then I could set that particular layer as a Template and reduced its opacity to 50% so that I could see it as I was tracing it. I set about using a combination of the pen curvature tool and the pen tool to trace half the shape. My intention was to copy then mirror the shape so that it was symmetrical. I adjusted the thickness of my line to the same thickness as the lines of the template. At first I struggled with trying to attach the lines to be one solid line. Parts would not attach and would randomly delete. I finally asked for help and with Professor Kinney's instruction, I learned that I had to select the pieces then go up to the Object panel, then down to Path then choose Outline stroke. Then I adjusted the points and curves of the lines using the handles with the Direct Select tool. Once complete each section I could then use the Shapebuilder tool to make them one shape. Once Professor Kinney helped me with that, it went much quicker.
Building the Coat of Arms one piece at time. I used different colours as I went so that I could see which parts needed to be attached next.
I copied my final half then used the Reflect tool to reflect a mirror image. Once they were overlapped successfully I used the Shapebuilder tool to make them all one piece.
I changed the Fill and Stroke of my Coat of Arms shape to the official Ukrainian colours: Blue 000BBB and Yellow FFD700. Next I used the option key and dragged copies of my floral components onto my coat of arms.
Once I was satisfied with placement I selected all the components and grouped them.
The next step was to add my pattern into Adobe Illustrator by going up to the Object panel then select Pattern then Make. In there I played with different tiling options and the distance between each tile. I finally decided with the shape of my Coat of Arms that I like the hex column configuration the best.
Then it was time to draw my egg shape. I used the Ellipse tool in the same way as the petals and leaves by adjusting handles and elongating the shape. I made a copy of the Egg in the Layers Panel by clicking on the layer then dragging down. One layer was for the pattern and one layer is for shadow.
I initially had the egg in both official Ukrainian colours while I was working on adding the pattern. I quickly realized with the background as the same colour as the Coat of Arms that it would disappear so I changed it to the blue instead.
Pattern added to the Pattern Layer.
Working on creating a realistic shadow on the second layer to overlay onto the Pattern Layer. I used another egg layer to use as a Clipping Mask to hide the overlap of the shadow which was created using Multiply and adjusting the opacity in Options under Fill.
Once I layered both the Pattern and Shadow layer I noticed that the blue was too dark to see the shadow I had created. I went searching under the Libraries in the Fill panel to see if I could find a nice blue that could work. I found a very Spring-like blue under Pastels which was quite lovely with the other components and the shadow was more obvious.
Next up I had to go to Adobe Creative Cloud Express and make a social media project.
I signed up, created my profile then added a New Project.
I started playing with backgrounds. Initially I layered two abstract blues that combined felt like a sky. I started searching around for Design Assets that I could add that would give more interest and were relevant to my project. It took me a while to go through different assets as there are lot of design styles to choose from. Because it was an egg, I wanted to put it in a nest then I tried using olive branches to make a nest but it seemed very busy visually.
I eventually decided that the sky background had to go when I spent way too long not making any good decisions. I deleted the layer then looked for a simple background instead. I eventually found this background with the crescent moon and editable text. It was originally gorgeous 70s oranges and browns but it didn't work my current project. I played around with colour combinations then finally chose to go with grey tones as grey is a nice contrast with the brightness of yellow. I wanted the egg to be the focal point so chose to make the background neutral. I found some fabric assets to frame around the egg as though the delicacy of the fabric was protecting its fragility from the winds of unrest. Once I was happy with the size and angle, I changed the colours to the official Ukrainian ones. Finally I edited the text to 'Peace for Ukraine' and changed the placement and scale of the text.
E.) FINAL WORK
I started the Art and Design program at George Brown with zero experience in Adobe Illustrator. This project has challenged me and I felt that my knowledge has grown significantly. I am more confident with the different panels and tools within Adobe Illustrator now. I enjoyed making this project and learning new Adobe tools such as Creative Cloud Express that I did not know existed prior. I also enjoyed exploring the other designers and artists that using Behance. This has opened more ways and opportunities to express my artistic vision.
