Photo Realistic Clock
Photorealism
Photorealism is a "genre of art...in which an artist studies a photograph and then attempts to reproduce the image as realistically as possible in another medium". My objective was to create a vintage alarm clock using Adobe Illustrator. My process started with finding a photo of the clock I wanted to create. I started with a gold clock with roman numerals, but I decided to go with a black clock with digits.
My Goal
My goal was to create a detailed timepiece in a photorealistic style. The timepiece I chose must have moving/mechanical parts or a quartz display. I should start with simple shapes and then begin blending, using transparencies and gradients.
Sketches
Sketching is one of my favorite parts of the creation process! I love being able to just draw whatever my brain comes up with. They can be messy and quick or slow and precise. The sketches you see below inlude Roman numerals. I decided to find two different clocks that were both vintage. One clock and Roman numernals and the other one just had digits. I sketched the Roman numberals, but I ended up going with the digits in my digital design (as you will see later). The sketches were beneficial to me because I was able to break it down into basic shapes.
Sketches
Color Palette
I picked colors straight from the original photo. The following palette is full of the colors that I thought best represented the shaping, highlights, and shadows. I used each color in varying opacities to create the clock.
Color palette
Digital Sketches
After finalizing my color palette, I started creating digital sketches. Finding the right shapes to create the clock was a challenge, but it was really fun! It was like creating a puzzle from scratch. Each piece had to fit perfectly in order to create a final design. I used mostly circles, but there were some rectangles and triangles involved as well.
Feedback
I received feedback through creating this clock. Some of the early feedback that I received includes editing the very center circle holding the hands. It looked off centered, so I aligned everything and made sure that it was all centered to a the largest black circle. As I worked more on the project, I focused on the highlights on the clock. Some feedback I got was editing the shape of the highlights on the clock ears. I started with a circle, but I ended with a rectangle that I had used the warp tool on. For the handle, it was tricky to get the curve just right and to create the highlights. Feedback for the handle was the most helpful. I was given the idea to make a line with the line width tool and then expanded it to an object. I was then able to fix the thickness and overall appearance. Shadows and highlights were the last things that I really focused on. Some of the shadows were too dark and didn't have the right shape. Some of the highlights needed to be brighter and stand out more. Overall, the feedback I received was very beneficial to the clock design.
Final Design
Final Thoughts
Overall, this project was very fulfilling. It was fun to see all the different simple shapes come together to create a photo realistic clock. I created a detailed timepiece in a photorealistic style. The timepiece I chose had moving/mechanical parts or a quartz display. I started with simple shapes and then begin blending, using transparencies and gradients. The result is a vintage timepiece made completly from vectors.
