The computer or digital process in creating the majority of my art pieces involved many steps, including hand-drawn sketches, vector illustration, and raster manipulation using computer graphics applications. Following is an outline of this digital process in creating one art piece, which contains the word "Allah," and is arranged in a geometric shape forming an eight-pointed star. The individual stages involved in creating this image are discussed and illustrated as follows:
1. Using a grid sheet of paper, I hand-sketched the word "Allah" with a pencil, and then scanned it into the computer using Adobe Photoshop software. The file was then saved in a raster TIFF file format. This scan was used as a template for line tracing using another program (see below).
2. By placing the scanned image (TIFF) file into the Adobe Illustrator program to be used as a template, I traced the word using vector and tracing tools. In this step, I made sure that the lines were straight and the width of the lines was consistent. I used a different color to be able to distinguish between the template (background) and the lines that I was tracing (see below).
3. After tracing the entire image, and making sure that the closed areas were made into one object, I deleted the template that contained the scan, because it was no longer needed. Then I filled the objects with a solid color (see below).
4. Using the reflection or "mirror" tool in Adobe Illustrator, I made a mirrored copy of the image, as shown in (see below). The vertical red line is the reflection line.
5. Another mirrored copy of both images was also made using a horizontal mirror line, as shown in (see below). The resulting image was now in the shape of a square, rotated at 45 degrees.
6. I then made four additional copies of each word and arranged them by rotating each one or making mirror images, to form a square shape as shown below. This is what I called a "Unit."
7. Additional copies of the "Unit" were made and arranged in a square. Additional words were added to form the shape of a star, as shown below.
8. After completing the conceptual shape in Adobe Illustrator, the image was then saved into EPS (Encapsulated PostScript) format and brought into Adobe Photoshop. In Photoshop, colors were assigned to different parts of the image. In this process, layers were made for experimenting with different colors, effects, and making a color background. Gradinats were also used to give additional effects. When colors and effects were assigned, the final image was completed, as shown below.
