Hello everyone, and welcome to Project Educate: Vector Week!! I'm DomiSM, and I'm in the Community Volunteer in charge of the Vector Categories on dA
This week I hope to bring a bit of light to help artists understand more about what Vectors are...and what they aren't. I also hope to bring some help to those who are interested in delving into the Vector medium, as well as hopefully giving the more experienced Vectorists some inspiration
So, without any further ado....
What is Vector Art?
In digital art there are two layer formats: Raster and Vector. Raster formats are based in pixels and vector is based in paths and points.
When you resize a raster image, you are expanding the pixels. Your program has to try to estimate what the colours would be for the additional pixels created. Due to this, the image loses it's clarity and creates a pixelated effect.
When you resize a vector image, you are increasing the distance between the points. Due to this, the image doesn't lose it's clarity and doesn't pixelate.
The key element of vector is that it's infinitely scalable without any quality loss and it's why we love it!
While Vector is a Medium, there are so many styles of Vectoring! Each Vector Artist finds his or her own way of using the tools to create their own style. I'm often amazed at what people do with Vectors and often have to look twice or even ask what program/tools they used because I can't believe some things are possible with Vectors...but they are pretty much limited only to your imagination. The programs today are capable of so much more than they were a few years ago, and it's opened up wonderful new styles
If you would like a more in-depth history of Vectors, please see my previous The History of Art - Vector Graphics article.
We're going to jump-start Project Educate: Vector week with *drumroll*....
Project Educate: Revamp Your Vector Contest!
We want you to choose either one of your earliest Vector pieces, (or if you're new to Vectoring and don't have 'earlier' pieces, you can choose a non-vector piece) and give your work a Vector Makeover! We want you to totally remake your ealier vector/non-vector piece into a brand-new Vector!
Your entry MUST:
1) Be a totally NEW piece, created especially for this contest, and must be reworked from a previous piece in your gallery. Pieces uploaded earlier than May 28, 2012 will be disqualified.
2) Be submitted to DomiSM via a NOTE with the Subject 'REVAMP CONTEST'. One note per entry, please do not submit multiple entries in one note. If I do not get a note from you with your entry into the contest, I won't know it exists, and it won't be judged as part of the contest.
3) Be 100% VECTOR! Please do not use raster (pixel based) textures or other raster elements in your entry. If you are unsure if something is a raster element, please note me and ASK...I promise I don't bite
You may enter more than once as long as the above rules are followed, but you can only win ONCE.
The contest starts TODAY, May 28, 2012 and ends at midnight, PST on June 3, 2012. Winners will be announced as soon as possible after the contest ends.
1st Place will receive a One Year Membership to deviantART and a T-Shirt of their choice*.
2nd place: 6 month subscription to dA and a dA T-Shirt of their choice*.
3rd place: 3 month subscription to dA and a dA T-Shirt of their choice*.
*If selected item is out of stock, you'll be asked to select a different item. dA T-Shirts must be added to your Wishlist in order to receive them. Hoodies and Jackets not included.
Have fun everyone!! I'll be back tomorrow with more Vector Awesomeness!