Lesson video

Hi, my name is Jordan Bickel, and this is lesson six of six of vector drawing.

In this lesson, you're going to learn how to evaluate and improve vector drawings.

You're going to need permission from a parent or carer to use their Google account to access Google drawings.

Now find a quiet place with limited distractions where you could get your best work done.

Pause the video to get comfortable and press play when you're ready to continue.

In this lesson, you will evaluate vector drawings.

First you're going to evaluate alternatives to vector drawings and then we'll suggest improvements to vector drawings.

And then finally you're going to apply everything you've learned and create your very own vector drawing.

How can you create drawings using a computer? Pause video here and think what programme or devices could you use? Press play when you're ready to continue.

Some programmes you might have mentioned is Google drawings like we've been using in this unit or maybe a paint package.

And then some of the devices you might use could be a phone, a tablet or a desktop computer.

Images on a computer are usually vector graphics as we've learned about in this unit or they could be raster graphics, and these are made of tiny dots of colour.

This is what you would be creating when using a paint package.

We're going to take a closer look at the differences between these two types of drawings.

When creating a painted drawing or raster graphic, you're creating the drawing by using click and drag to draw.

Then you can draw anything and not just shapes as in a vector drawing.

And you can also erase parts of the shape and not the entire thing.

However, with a vector drawing these are created using only shapes and lines.

The shapes within the drawing can be moved closer and further away at any time.

And you can also make different shapes that can be layered to make more complicated drawings.

Below, there are two drawings of pencils.

Which of these drawings look best? Think about why.

Pause the video and have a think and press play when you're ready to continue.

You might have said the drawing on the left looks better than the one on the right.

This might be because there's more detail and the lines are more clear.

Now we can think which of these images is a vector drawing and which has been created using a paints package? How do you know? One of the biggest advantages of using vector drawings is the fact that they are made up of shapes.

This means they can be resized without losing their clarity.

However images made in a paint package are usually made of pixels.

And these are small dots of colour, which make up the image.

When images are enlarged however, they become fuzzy.

We say that the image is pixelated.

Looking at the pictures in the centre of the page here underneath the magnifying glass at the very tip of the pencil that made using the paint programme, you can see that there's tiny little squares and these are those dots of colours and that's what we would call pixelated.

Task one, improve a vector drawing.

When making improvements to a vector drawing you can ask yourself, where could you add more detail or could you add an appropriate background? Take, for example the flamingo below.

Right now it's quite a plain vector drawing.

I can look at this real image of a flamingo for inspiration on how I can add a bit more detail.

So here you can see there's feathers there or black beak that I could add to my vector drawing to add more detail or I might add an appropriate background.

Here you can see another example of a pretty plain vector drawing of a cat.

Now we'll think where can we add more detail? Looking at the real image of the cat below you could see on its further patterns and it also has whiskers.

So I could add some of these details into my vector drawing.

I could also add an appropriate backgrounds.

Now let's take a look on how we can make improvements to vector drawings on Google drawings.

Google drawings demonstration.

Improve refractor drawing.

Here I've chosen the picture of the coffee cup to make improvements to.

So first I'm going to think about where I could add more detail.

So first I would like to add maybe a bit more detail to the drink itself 'cause coffee is never just that one flat colour.

So I'll start by using the zoom tool here just to get a bit closer to the coffee cup.

And I'm actually going to go to the line tools and use this curve line.

So the way this works is you click and click and click and click and click and click.

And every time you click, it kind of starts to add a curve to the shape wherever you move.

So I can start to bring my curve from that way.

And as I'm doing this I'm click, click, click, click, click, click, click.

And that kind of helps me create the curve that after.

So then when you're finish creating your shape you can see it joins up there.

And now I have kind of that custom shape I've been able to create.

So now I'll do that, just deleted that shape.

Now we'll do that to add a bit more detail into the coffee.

So selecting that tool again I even want to get a little bit closer so I could be really precise.

So go to the zoom tool once more that's better and I'll select the curve line tool again.

And I'm going to click.

And I'm clicking repeatedly here to create this kind of curved shape, then I'll join it up at the end.

And when I choose the select tool, I can kind of change the placement of that.

And now we'll just make this I'll try like a lighter brown and see what that looks like.

And then I'll click outside of the shape to kind of see what it looks like now.

Maybe lighter brown might look better.

Let's see then.

And so I've matched the line to the inside fill.

So I just have like that one smooth look.

And if I want to see what it looks like far back remember I can select the arrow here and then choose fit.

And now you can see we've started to add a bit more detail to the coffee.

So zoom back in and I'm going to add one more just around here I think.

So go back to my curve tool.

And I can see the coffee has a bit more detail added to it.

The second thing I could add is maybe a shadow underneath the sauce with air.

So I'll go to my shape tool and I'm going to select the circle or the oval shape.

And you could do this over the coffee cup image if you want to kind of match up the sizing.

So that's what I'll do.

Just use it as a reference.

And again, remember you have the alignment lines and the size guides to help you.

And so now I have my oval shape drawn and I will right click on my mouse.

And first I'm going to send that all the way to the back because I want to layer it underneath the coffee cup.

Now I'm going to just select a colour that will look like a shadow.

So I'll go for a light grey.

And again I'm going to make the inside and the border colour the same.

And now I kind of am starting to get that effect of a shadow.

And you can play around with this until you find a look that you are happy with, and it has the desired effect.

So depending on where I place this oval the shadow will appear like a different angle.

It might just move it around and keep trying different places until I see kind of the look that I want.

I can also make the oval shape slightly larger or smaller, whichever suits the effects that you're going for.

So now I say I'm quite happy here with the shadow that I've created and I'm going to add one more detail to my coffee cup.

And I think a nice little teaspoon here in the front would really add to the overall effect of my image.

So I'll start by choosing the shape tool again and I'll use the oval shape once more.

And I'm kind of going to make my spoon just below the coffee cup.

And then when I'm happy with it, I'll place it into the drawing.

So I'll start with a spoon that's kind of the top of my spoon and I'll go back to shape and I need something that will look like my handle.

So I could use a rectangle shape that has a rounded end and I'll click and drag.

And at the top in that blue outline, you could see that's where the rounded corners are going to be.

I can kind of visualise the handle better now but I can always resize the image if I'm not happy with it.

So now I have a vertical rectangle and I'm going to use the rotate tool to turn it on its side to attach to the spoon head and I'll bring it down here.

Now this looks a bit awkward I would say the handles' slightly too long for teaspoon.

So I will just select the shape and drag it and just keep looking until I find kind of the right length that I like.

Okay, that's better.

And here, my layering I'm actually going to bring my spoon head above that.

So I'm going to go to order and bring to front and there you could see that looks a bit better.

And now I can select my colour.

So I'll select my spoon head first.

And again, I'm going to go for kind of a grey colour and match the line to it as well.

And I'll do the same here for my handle.

That's looking nice.

And now I'm going to try to add a bit of a shadow underneath to give this spin a bit of depth.

So I'll select the rectangle again and I'm actually going to use Control + C to make the copy and then I'll use Control + V to paste another copy of this rectangle here.

And I'll change the colour first.

So since it's a shadow I'm going to need a slightly darker grey for the fill and the border again.

And now I can just bring it here to my rectangle and place it.

And I want the shadow to be layered underneath the spoon.

So go to order and send this to back.

And now you can see we're kind of developing a 3D effect for the spoon.

Now we'll do the same thing here.

Control + C to make a copy of the spoon.

And now I can do a similar thing here to add more detail and maybe put some of the coffee on the spoon.

So using that curve line again.

And so now I'm going to use that select all features.

So I've clicked here and I'm dragging over all of the shapes I've created and then I can right click and I'm going to group them together now because I can move them all at once that way.

So now I can kind of try to place it on my saucer and it looks like it's slightly too big.

So if I go from the corner here all of my shapes now will resize at the same time.

And then I'm going to use the rotate tool at the top to make it look like it's resting on the saucer.

Again, it might be a bit too big.

Aha, that looks quite good.

So now that I'm happy with the placement, I can click and drag this blue box over all of my shapes and I'm going to group them together so I can resize them if I want to.

And they'll all resize 'em at the same time, just like that undo.

So now I can add a background to give the final overall effect for this image.

Remember when you're adding a background you're going to have to be searching on Google.

So just make sure you have permission from a parent or carer.

So I'll go to insert image and I'm going to search the web.

So I'm nice to look for a coffee shop and then I can place my coffee cup on one of the tables.

Hey, this one doesn't have any people in it and it's got a nice table that I could put my cup on.

So insert the background.

And I'm going to resize it to fill my space.

I can drag it a bit wider.

Yes, it hasn't really changed the image.

Now you could see my coffee cup is hidden so I'm going to right click and change the order and send that straight to the back.

And now I just have a giant coffee cup.

So I need to resize here and make it much smaller to fit on my table.

And then I can click off there to see what it looks like and change the placement.

And I can even add a second one, so right click copy and right click and paste.

And then maybe I'll put it here on the second table and I could right click and flip that horizontally just so kind of looks like a different coffee cup and make it a bit smaller because it's further back and maybe try to get so it's not floating.

Perfect, so now I have improved this vector drawing by adding details and adding a background.

In this task you will choose one of four vector drawings to improve.

Remember to use all the skills you've learned throughout this unit.

Click the link on the worksheet to create a copy of the activity in Google drawings.

Choose one of the images to improve.

Pause the video here to complete your task.

Press play when you're ready to continue.

Task two, what can you create? Showcase, now you get to put all the skills you've learned in this unit to the test, you're going to create your very own vector drawing.

Some of the skills we have learned are listed to the right.

Can you think of any others? Pause the video here to have a think.

Press play to continue.

Where do we find vector drawings? Vector drawings are often used as illustrations in documents or presentations.

They can also be used for labelling.

In this task you're going to create a vector drawing that could be used on a label in the classroom or at home.

What can you create? Now think of an object in the classroom or at home that could be labelled.

Then you need to think about what shapes you're going to need to use to draw it.

Finally, you can create your vector illustration that could be added a label in the costume or at home.

Pause the video here to complete your task.

Press play when you're ready to continue.

Now it's time to celebrate.

You've learned a lot of new skills in this unit.

Give yourself a pat on the back and be sure to share your vector creations with somebody.

You've reached the final lesson in this unit.

If you would like to please ask your parents or carer, to share your work on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter, tagging Oak National and #LearnwithOak.