Spirit Animal with Illustrator

Re-draw/trace a Pacific Northwest Indigenous spirit animal using the Adobe Illustrator pen tool.

• Look through the images below.
• Select a spirit animal that interests you- if you are a beginner, keep it super simple.
• Right click -"SAVE AS" Select your student file to save it to your # folder. (Create a new folder for Computer Arts, put it in there).
• The open Illustrator.
• Create a NEW Document.
• Select a PRINT Document. Letter sized file. TITLE it "Spirit Animal"
• "FILE" - "PLACE" - your image into Illustrator- Browse for the image file in your student folder.
• Click on the page to insert the image.
• Use the SELECT TOOL(black arrow) to select and move the image onto the page.
• The SELECT TOOL can also size the image. If you click on a corner and hold SHIFT to keep proportions. Prevents from stretching and squishing.
• Open the LAYERS panel- look on the WINDOWS tab on the top drop down menu. Or type "F7".
• CLICK 2 times on the image layer- should open a new panel.
• NAME the layer "Animal"
• Select "TEMPLATE" and click OK
• Create a NEW LAYER- click on the "Create New Layer" Icon. (See image 1-1)

Image 1-1 Create New Layer

• Title the layer Drawing
• Now select the PEN TOOL and start to outline shapes.
• Make sure to complete shapes full circle- back to where you began.
• For curved lines, click and drag while you are still clicking with the PEN tool.
• The white fill will automatically block the image. Select the "NONE/NO FILL" icon on the tool bar.

Image 1-2 None/No Fill

• Select a STROKE colour for now and fill it later....

It is be a good idea to create a new layer for each over lapping shape- easier to maneuver later when you fill it.

Start with these for practice:

Ovoids

Here are some Spirit Animals to Choose from:

You can search and select your own Spirit Animal, but keep it simple.
Colour it in afterwards.
You can add an subtract parts.

Find the meaning behind the spirit animal you chose:
https://whatismyspiritanimal.com/spirit-totem-power-animal-meanings/mammals/
Type the interpretation below your drawing. Use the "T" text tool. Drag a box where you want to type it. Select the font and size WINDOW- TYPE- CHARACTER to open type window.

What is your spirit animal? Find out.