03. Vinyl Stickers/Murals

What are we doing?

Vinyl can be a great alternative drawing media for large walls, elaborate detail, or a project that necessitates strong contrast between the subject and ground. Vinyl is also an excellent medium for letters, numbers, and symbols.

We’re going to start small: everyone creates a sticker from a drawing in their sketchbook (to understand how the pen tool and the vinyl cutter works).

Then, we are going to create vinyl murals for the front windows of the Star Store. Each student will be assigned a rectangle window to work with/plan for. We’ll be doing some self-reflection using listing exercises. Imagery from the lists will inspire students to make a variety of patterns. We will use those patterns to create our window-murals.

Important Note: You can buy your own vinyl and/or transfer paper online, or we also have it for sale for $1/foot at the Star Store computer lab. You purchase it with your UMD dollars (not your $40 of free prints). UMD dollars are put on your card via credit card using the online system ($25 minimum) or at the UMass Pass office (no minimum – can use cash/check). The UMass Pass office is near where you get on the bus on the Main Campus – it’s where you picked up your ID card.

Why are we doing it? (objectives)

Practice recognizing and experimenting with elements/principles of 2D design; special attention to effective use of negative space, line, edge, and shape, which are all very apparent when you are drawing with vinyl
Practice creating strong overall compositions and visual relationships
Build vocabulary through critiques
Practice working with limitations to encourage creative thinking/brainstorming

Process

We’ll look at vinyl drawing artists to see what the medium is capable of.
We will practice using the pen tool using this website and tutorial: http://bezier.method.ac/
We will practice using the pathfinder tools:
We’ll use the pen tool to trace a small drawing from our sketchbooks in order to make a small sticker. We’ll put all our class stickers together to create an installation somewhere in the Star Store.
Next, we’ll do some self-reflection using listing exercises, and everyone will be assigned a window at the front of the Star Store.
Imagery from the lists will inspire a variety of patterns for use in our window murals. Patterns could be radial, grid-like, stripe-oriented, gradated, and so on. These patterns below are inspired by nature, but your pattern can be inspired by anything from your personal lists.
These small radial patterns inspired by nature create a larger grid pattern when taken together.
We’ll design/draw the murals for the windows. You’ll export as a .DXF file
Submit your .DXF file for review/error checking via Canvas, and sign up for a time to cut out your vinyl.
Everyone will calculate how much vinyl you need for your mural, and then purchase the vinyl from Paula at the 2nd floor computer lab at the Star Store.
Sign up for a time to cut out your files with Paula and submit your approved file to the Computer Lab’s Dropbox. (click that link, and use the button to submit your file) You will cut out your mural using the Cameo Cutter.
When cutting from a roll of vinyl, open your “Design Page Settings” toolbox and set it to landscape with the correct dimensions for your long piece of cut vinyl. Make sure to also change the “Cutting Mat” to “None”. Also check that the feed wheel on the Silhouette is in the right location to grip your vinyl (sometimes it’s set wider for the cutting mat – both feed wheels must touch your roll of vinyl to feed it straight).
After cutting out your design, you will weed the vinyl and apply transfer tape.
Install the murals on the windows
Critique in class
Reflection (online)

Grading

SMALL STICKER: 1 point (DXF file), 4 points for following remaining directions

LARGER WINDOW MURAL
2pts – followed directions/used class time wisely
2pts – explored variations/options for the design (didn’t just go with first impulses)
1pt – turning in DXF file online
2pts – ability to use, analyze, and critique elements/principles of design throughout (especially negative space, line, edge, and shape)
3pts – craft (how well did you draw in Illustrator, how well did you apply the vinyl)

8pts – reflection

Tips & Tricks for Illustrator

One of the most difficult, yet most important skills to master is the use of the Pen tool in Adobe Illustrator. You can practice this skill at http://bezier.method.ac/

You can use the Add Anchor Point tool to create bezier curves out of straight lines and the Delete Anchor Point tool to eliminate unwanted/unneeded points or curves.

The scissors too can also be used to divide a path into two separate segments.

There are commonly used shortcuts such as select pen tool (P), Select Add anchor point tool (+), Select Delete anchor point tool (-) Select Convert anchor point tool (Shift + C), or Select Scissors tool (C).

There are some secondary mouse controls which are useful as well when the path is selected, such as: when you hover the Pen tool over an anchor point, the pen tool changes to the Delete anchor point tool; when the Pen hovers over a path segment, it changes to the Add anchor point tool; or when the Pen tool hovers over an ending anchor point, it can be used as the Convert anchor point tool to change the curve of the path.

A handy trick is when trying to create a rounded rectangle, change the corner radius on the fly by using the up and down arrows.

Also, if you want to create several objects as you draw, hold the tilde key while you draw.

VINYL CUTTING/DRAWING TIPS

– None of your shapes/lines can be thinner than ⅛” wide. One way to check to see if your lines are too thin, is to go to “View” and then “Rulers,” which makes rulers appear at the top and left of your screen. You can zoom in to compare your drawing to the rulers. Generally, if you think it might be too thin, it probably is. Another way is to click the “Rectangle” tool and hold down the mouse; it will give you the option to select the “Ellipse” tool. You can click on your artboard and a window will pop up asking you how tall/wide you want the ellipse to be. Enter “.125 in” in both fields. It will draw a tiny circle that you can drag around on your screen comparing to all the skinny lines. If the lines are narrower than this little circle, then they are too thin.

– All of your shapes must be closed (no drawing a pair of pants with 3 separate paths/lines – you must OUTLINE the pants creating a single closed shape).

– ONLY USE ONE COLOR (this truly means only one color – not different shades of black, but only ONE black – or whatever your chosen color is). This means both the stroke and the fill (if you are using them) need to be the same color.

– Simplify anything if necessary. For example, if you’ve used a complicated brush, you may want to simplify the outlines to make weeding the vinyl easier. To simplify, select the object, then go to the “Object” menu, click “Path”, and then select “Simplify”. A menu will appear where you can adjust how simplified you want the object to become.

– Make outlines. If you have any lines that utilize a stroke or a brush, this is an especially important step. If you are making text into outlines, select the text, then click the “Type” menu and choose “Create Outlines” to edit the text as an object. If you are making vector-based lines/objects into outlines, select the object, then click the “Object” menu. Click “Path” and “Outline Stroke” to create an outline of the vector object. A good way to CHECK your outlines is to simply do command+Y, which shows you your outlines. Anywhere you see the outlines, that’s where the vinyl cutter is going to cut. To turn off outlines view, simply do command+Y again. (click image below to view larger and read text)

– Merge. Select everything on your artboard. Go to the “Window” menu, click “Pathfinder” and a little menu will pop up. On that menu, the 3rd button over under “Pathfinders” is called “Merge” (hover your mouse over each button to see its name). The Merge button will join all your paths and make the file ready for the vinyl cutter. (click image below to view larger and read text)

– Remember that you can cluster your drawing elements for the purpose of saving money/vinyl.

Tips & Tricks written in part by Sarah Kett and Phil McCollam, citing these sources:
 http://www.trainstation.cc/Tutorials/Illustrator/illustratortutorials.html
 http://www.illustratortips.com/index.php/Instruction/Beginner-Tips/5-essential-illustrator-pen-tool-tutorials.html