APP Words: Twinings Label

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I want to get started on the other sections - the Twinings label and the pattern - as soon as possible so that I could slowly put all of the pieces together. I thought I'd tackle the label first because it will be challenging due to the serif type style.

Vector Version
The first thing I wanted to try out was drawing it straight from the sketch onto the computer, much like I did with my Never Give In design. However it didn't really turn out quite so well... The serifs went a bit crazy and clearly showed that this was my first time.

Inkling Experiment
I was beginning to panic because of this, so I went and tried out drawing it on the Inkling. I had to draw over my sketch, and this became the source of my problem... When I scanned it into the computer, I looked at the illustration and it came out as a horrid squiggle!

Vector Version 2
I'm running out of options so my next idea was to work on a vector again but this time on my previous Twinings design before I had drawn it into the label.

I then hid the sketch layer and started to create lines so that all of the letters sat on it, then adjusted them accordingly. I also clicked on the 'show guides' option to help me out a little bit.

This was when I realised that it might actually be a lot easier if I used their existing logo design, as my serifs weren't that great, so I hopped over to Photoshop to make it transparent before moving back to Illustrator. I copied and pasted my sketch layer just beneath the logo, reduced its opacity, and started to draw the label using the shapes tools.

With the basic outline done I can now add in the little corners, so I took the pen tool, added new anchor points and deleted the older ones. I then joined all of the shapes using that merge tool (I think it's called the Mesh tool?)

Now it's time to add the little cut-out triangles, so I just quickly drew up a triangle, placed it at the centre of the line, and copied and pasted it to the other end. Then I went onto Object > Transform > Reflect, and reflected it vertically. Then I cut this out using that tool in the Pathfinder. 

I copied and pasted an existing tea label design to compare, and changed the size and angle of the corners, then added in a little circle.

Conclusion:
With my label now done - apart from the colours, which I'll add later - I can now work on the tea leaves pattern design. All that's left after that is assembling all of the little sections together and actually forming the travel mug design.
If I have the time I would like to practise drawing vectored letters a bit more, but for now I'll stick with their existing logo design.

[n] Learning Outcome