REAL TIME: A PHOTOREALISTIC VECTOR WATCH
The task was to recreate a photo of a watch we choose into its vector version. The challenge is to make it as photorealistic as possible. I was definitely intimidated at first, looking for watches that would seem to be easy to recreate. However, I grew confident when I figured out it's possible to accomplish this task when I first attempted to start on Illustrator.
SKETCHING
Before I looked for images of watches I feel like I could recreate, I pulled out a couple of my watches first and really looked at it. I stared at all my watches long and hard until my eyes started watering. To say my eyes have been opened was an understatement. I drank up all the little details: the reflection, the sheen of the metal, the patterns in the band, etc. Then I started sketching.
I just randomly started sketching a couple of my watches. After a while, I decided to look at a couple images of watches. I came upon this and decided to recreate this one, as the minimalistic style caught my eye:
After deciding on this watch, I started sketching its different parts and stared at it like I did my real watches. I took note of subtleties that I would have to capture as well, as I sketched.
DRAFTING PROCESS
After sketching, I had a pretty good idea on how to start the project. I started on the face, as it was the focal point, as well as the element with the most subtleties and details to recreate. Here's a progression of the face:
I got more and more comfortable with using illustrator, and started noticing more and more details that needed to be added to get it as realistic as possible. and then I started on the band and then polishing the knob even further. I added texture, made sure to replicate the subtle highlights and shadows and used some effects to make it look a little more metallic where it needs to be.
FINAL WATCH
After some time, I was able to arrive at a point where I feel it actually started to look identical. Here is the final draft. From left to right: (original photo, final draft, outline view).
This was a challenging project, but one that made me realize a lot of things. It definitely was frustrating to figure out things at first and come out from staying in my symbolism perspective on things. Over time, through this project, I started to gain the ability to see things as they really are; down to the littlest detail.
