This article is aimed at all who may have an interest in getting more out of whichever program they may have available. The program I am using here is Adobe Illustrator. However, there are many others that will do this project, all you need to do is translate some of the "local" terms Adobe uses to your own set tools and commands.
Every object has a mass and a contour. Most computer graphics programs refer to these features as "fill" and "stroke".
First, display the grid:go to view>show grid (graph background). Pick up the rectangle tool, click "no fill" select stroke, I make black, with 1 or 2 pt. thickness. There is a palette for adjusting the weight of stroke:go to window>show stroke. Drag a rectangle around the image. Use selection tool to center and adjust it (could be a little more space at the bottom). To drag from the center outward, click>hold alt>drag. To make fine adjustments, select the image and your arrow keys to move it in the desired direction.
Illustrator has a preview mode and an outline mode. Preview is the normal view showing the images with colours and textures etc. Outline shows only the contours. This is a major help in finding edges of shapes in order to select an object when the design has become complicated. To switch modes:view>outline, or view>preview. Hint: If I wasn't so lazy, I'd be using the "layers" palette to separate these shapes, that would place each object on a piece of clear film, one on top of the other. But here I've put everything on the same layer and I need to make sure the picture is always on top. Select the picture, go to object>arrange>bring to front. Now you can create the colour of mat you want, select mat, go to no stroke and select fill, this gets rid of the black line. Open swatch palette, and click a colour of your choice. Open the colour palette and adjust the mix.
Repeat the process for the "double mat" look, leave a light grey or coloured stroke if you want. For a simple frame, make a darker rectangle, slightly larger than the mat and put it behind, or use stroke on the largest rectangle, but in a different colour. For oval mats, use the oval tool instead of the rectangle.
Go to window>show pathfinder, select moulding, shift-select rectangle (so both are selected)and click minus front in the pathfinder palette. Place the moulding on the mat and repeat the cutting at the other end. (note: stretching or scaling at this stage will alter the angle of the cut). Make a copy and rotate 180 degrees, place on opposite side. Make a copy, rotate 90 degrees, put in position and cut off excess. Copy that piece, rotate 180 and place. This results in very convincing seams at the corners.
Try this: make any stroke shape (oval, rectangle etc.) select it, click and
alt-drag. In this and some other programs it will make a copy. When you have a group of shapes
you like, drag a marquee to select them all and then click>ctrl>alt>drag another copy. The
smallest pattern multiplies to a long string rather quickly, and should be grouped
(object>group)to keep them together. This can be placed on top of a moulding and colour can be
added, lighter or darker to give it a more ornate appearance.
This is a photograph I took at Long Beach, British Columbia and anyone who as been
there with a camera, likely has a box full of pictures like this. If you work with photos on
your computer, you're familiar with using a program like Photoshop to crop and adjust photos.
However, you may be less familiar with methods of presenting your finished product. The mat and
frame were built from "scratch" in Adobe Illustrator. I'm sure there are ways to acquire things
like this from clip art, but it's no fun if you're an artist or have creative desires. Adobe
Illustrator is definitely a program designed for the pros, but if you're a keen hobbyist, this
program will last a lifetime.
Please advise editor@bbc.org if this article is reproduced.
Grant Fuller is a Victoria British Columbia artist. See his work at
http://members.home.net/grant-fuller/index.htm
Grant also instructs Big Blue and Cousins advanced Adobe Illustrator classes.
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