Low Poly Illustration

Low Poly Illustration

Create File in Illustrator

Save File as .aic

Find a Reference Photograph

Create a Reference Layer

Create a Lines Layer

Trace Outline/Colors

Create a Background

Save as a PDF File

Turn in PDF to Canvas

Low Poly Illustration

Low poly art is short for low polygon art. It is a minimalistic art style used in video game design, animation, and illustration.

It is one way to convert a raster image into a vector format illustration.

Create File in Illustrator

On your iMac, open Adobe Illustrator
Create a new "Letter" file.

Save File as .aic

Click "File" > "Save"
Click "Save to Creative Cloud"
Name: "Low Poly Illustration"

Find a Reference Photograph

Find a photograph (an actual photo taken in real life)

Must be school appropriate
Use a photo of yours (to get it on your computer, email to yourself or add to your Google Drive)
Find a photo online from Google images, etc. (right-click, copy image)

Create a Reference Layer

Layer: In your "Layers" panel, rename your "Layer 1" to "Reference"
Add image: Copy and paste your image. Or drag and drop.
- If you drag and drop, make sure to embed the image by going to "Properties" and clicking "Embed"
Template layer: In your "Layers" panel, click on the "Reference" layer and then click on the three bars in the top right and click "Template"

Create a Lines Layer

In your "Layers" panel, click the + to create a new layer.
Rename the layer "Lines"

Trace Outline/Colors

Pen Tool: Click on the "Pen Tool" icon or press "P" on your keyboard
Fill/Stroke: Make sure the "Fill" is set to "None" and the stroke is black or another color
Trace outline/colors: Now trace the outline of the object(s) in your image. Use only simple straight lines and angles (no curves). Also, outline the distinct different colors of the object(s).

Draw Triangles

Using your outlines as guides, add lines to create triangles:

- You can continually draw the triangles from one to the next. You do not need to create a new complete shape each time.
- Draw a lot of small triangles for detailed areas.
- Draw large triangles for areas with less detail.
- Each different color/shade should be a separate color.
- Each point on your outline should be a point of a triangle.
- When you see a minus symbol and if you don't want to erase a point, hold down the "Shift" key when you click the point.

Live Paint

Select all of your lines.
Go to "Object" > "Live Paint" > "Make"
Click outside of your shape.
On your keyboard click "I" to select the "Eyedropper Tool" then click inside one of the triangles, which will copy the color from the reference photo.
Then on your keyboard click the "K" key to select the "Live Paint Bucket Tool" and click inside the same triangle to color the triangle.
Repeat for each triangle.

Hide Reference

In your "Layers" panel, click the rectangle next to the "Reference" layer to hide it.

Create a Background

In your "Layers" panel, click the + to create a new layer.
Rename the layer "Background"
Click on the "Rectangle tool" in the left toolbar
Click and drag to create a rectangle that covers your artboard.
Double click the black square on the bottom of the left toolbar to open the "Color Picker"
Choose a color.

Save as a PDF File

Go to "File" > "Save As..."
Click "Save on your computer"
Make sure it is going to save in "Creative Cloud Files"
Change the Format to "Adobe PDF (pdf)"
Click "Save"

Turn in PDF to Canvas

Turn in your .pdf file on Canvas.

"I'm Done"

Bored? Check out the "I'm Done" activities.

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