Make Your Own Owl Eyes (Josh Brill Style)

Make Your Own Owl Eyes:

Step 1

Create a new document in Illustrator. 8.5in x 11in document.

Step 2

Select the ellipse tool. Click on the art board and a window should pop up with the properties of the circle. Make them as such. 

Step 3

Select the line segment tool. And create a line dividing the circle in half.

Step 4

Copy the line and rotate 90 degrees. Then select both lines and rotate the line until this is the image you see. 

Step 5

Select the circle and lines. Then select the divide tool (the icon on the far right). This will create 8 even spaces. 

Step 6

Select the bottom two "triangles" and move them away for the designated area of "eye" creating. 

Step 7

These two circles we will create the bottom right base of the eye. Select the pen tool and using the upper most endpoint click and make a vertical line 2 points long. Then using the left most endpoint click and make a horizontal line 1.5 points long. The end result should look like this.

Step 8

And then click on the new leftmost endpoint on the horizontal line and create a vertical line 1.5 points long. Then make a copy of the 1/4 circle and rotate it 90 degrees. And match up the end point to the end point of the new vertical line. Then complete the shape using the pen tool. 

Step 9

Now you see that the shape is not completely filled with the desired color. That is because the 1/4 circles are closed object so we need to open them in order to make a complete shape. So select an delete the points of the circle so it will look like this. We will want to keep the arch and shape of the lines so only delete the top points of the triangle. 

Step 10

Now select all of the object and use the short cut cmd+J to join the object together. It should look somewhat like this. 

Step 11

Now create a black circle. Any size depending on how big you will want your actually owl eye.

Step 12

Now copy that circle change the color to white and make the circle smaller holding shift while distorting the circle so it is still similar to the black circle.

Step 13

Select all of the shape. Group the shape using the short cut cmd+G and now cmd+c and cmd+f. Reflect the object vertically and move to create the shape below and you are done! You can take this shape further using more of the circle to create a beak or eye lashes. Endless possibilities!

 

   

  

Quarter 3 Project

A MADE UP WORD AND BIRDS

A quest to find why Josh Brill chose to make those two things by Emily Day
Josh Brill's style is one of the many 20th century inspired art. His '"Lumadessa" originates from the words luminous meaning ‘light’ and odyssey, meaning ‘a long eventful or adventurous journey’. It’s a theme explored and employed by Josh Brill to construct visual reinterpretations of life. Lumadessa is an abstract odyssey of the luminous land around us"'. This is carried on the back of 20th century art inspired by Saul Bass, Chris Ware, Reid Miles, and Russian Constructivist poster designs. Here is one of the examples of a Russian Constructivist poster design(below left). This one in particular is full of geometric shapes which is similar to Brill's artwork(below right). Understanding the history of the style Josh Brill has updated it using shadows, bright colors, and animals.

Comparing:

-Geometric shapes

-Partial circles

-3 colors

Contrast:

-Brill has shadows

-Brill has more images than text

-Brill has a different tone. Russian Constructivism has a more serious tone and Josh Brill has a more whimsical tone.

My re-creation:

I sued this flat style illustration to create a newsletter template for the Olathe Fire Department. Problem is, before doing so I forgot to ask my client super important questions. Lesson learned. This will now be in my design vault to use for something later.