Mixed media - Week 2

This week it has been all about making sure l was prepared and organised ready for laser cutting. I scanned all my drawings in on the computer, and then began to be selective in choosing which drawings l was going to work further with. After id decided l then needed to use adobe illustrator to trace all the line in my drawings so they stood alone and had no background. This was very time consuming and was the bit in particular that l personally struggled with. At first I just couldn’t get the hang of it and l still now get confused whilst l work with it, but it is definitely something that will improve over time and is a good skill to have.



I decided to focus mainly on the subject trees, as they stood out most to me on my journey to the museum. I love the structure and intricate detail within the branches. I’m focusing on drawings I’ve made of five different trees. Four of them have highly decorative patterns inside them that represent things l photographed on my way to the museum. I really like this idea and I’m pleased with how they appear on the page. I have come up with some different ideas on what context they could be used for, I’m thinking of using the trees to make a clock or sculptural wall art.



After all the images were on illustrator they then needed putting on to a programme called coral draw. This was so that they were ready to be put on to the laser cutting machine. This was quite simple to do, you just had to make sure all the lines were hairline, adjust the size on coral draw to the size of the material l was using, then highlight the image and change the particular selection of colour. You had to change it to red for cut and blue for etching. I found that if this isn’t done beforehand then it delays things when you get into the laser room. As this week’s lesson was only an hour and a half and l didn’t really know what to expect, l wasn’t as prepared as l should have been. So it is vital that illustrator and coral draw is done beforehand as it is quite a slow process.