Technical illustrations are widely made but the maximum number of Illustrators will produce a technical Illustration however few will produce a really nice technical Illustration. Each illustrator can develop his own unique style and through trial and error will gain experience and confidence. The most vital aspect of being a technical illustrator is to know and comprehend the purpose of the illustration. Try to figure out who is going to look at your illustrations and how best you can satisfy them by giving them what they want. Sometimes the client may be from a specific field and they may be knowledgeable on the finer aspects of technical illustration.
Various elements which contribute Technical Illustrations
Creation of technical illustrations consists of various elements. Once you identify the target audience, you should start working on your illustration that can be elegant and useful. The most important aspects of technical illustrations are colour, focus and in-depth detailing. The quantity of detailing that you depict in your technical illustration will depend upon your target audience. Any detail or element that is not necessary is left out and sometimes a specific portion of the element is necessary to comprehend it.
Focus on particular portion that you want to show or explain. You can highlight certain parts of the illustration in order to draw your reader’s attention to that particular part. By using elements like different line thickness and width whether it is thin or thick and varied opacity levels you can help the viewer to see what you want them to. The underlining statement is that you display all the details without even making it a foreground component.
The important tools in making elegant and useful technical illustrations are the colour selection. Mostly you can use the option of black and white and in certain illustrations you can go in for grey-scale or fully coloured illustrations, judge wisely which you need to use. The usage of light colours will be appropriate for unimportant aspects or for alignment purposes, whereas spare use of bright colours will attract viewer’s attention to a specific part.
When you do technical illustration the most important thing is its layout. By placing the technical illustration on the right or left of the document, you can tell where the focus point of the viewer will be. If you are asked to draw a small technical illustration you should leave out more details and make the illustration very simple. On the other hand, if you are asked to draw a technical illustration that you know is big, you can go in for more detailing as there is enough space for that and then important aspects like colour and final outlook will be the primary point of focus. There are a lot of important aspects to technical illustration that may be specific to every project. You should give importance to client’s specification and base your technical illustration on those important points.
Photograph Tracing in Technical Illustration
Most technical illustration consists of tracing out photographs. Most of the promos or print media use photographs to a great extent but it may not be the best choice. When photographs are illustrated, they are always neat and elegant. Illustrations of photographs can be consistent and stylish. Various aspects like colours and elements of images can be edited to accommodate a particular colour pattern and style. Technical illustrations are independent of resolution, and the resolution does not suffer distortion even when they are scaled down.
In order to produce good quality technical illustrations, it is always better to work with a higher resolution. Images that are blurred will be difficult to view when it is zoomed upon. Never ever work on images with low resolution as this will distort the image and make it sloppy and fuzzy in appearance. When bitmap images or photographs are auto traced with the help of a computer, the pixelated image looks irregular and stiff even when high resolution images are used. If lines are drawn over the photographs by hand it gives out a sharp and smooth image.
An image that is traced by hand is always better compared to auto tracing even though auto tracing software may be good in certain specific cases.
When you work on technical illustration you can use call outs, arrows or type instructions within or outside of the traced photograph. In order to blend with the background of the final product in a better and smoother way you can modify the edges of the illustration along with other elements in a more superior way than a normal photograph with high resolution. Most important parts of the illustration can be highlighted with thick lines and bold colours and parts of the illustration that are not so important can have thin strokes and light colours.
The scope of Technical Illustration
There is a great future and scope of technical illustration in the future. As cutting-edge technologies and things get more automated day by day there is an ever growing and urgent need for technical illustrations. There is a necessity for technical illustrations in augmented reality and interactive gear. The need for creating a technical illustration, designing it, marketing your skills and keeping in touch with changing trends are all the finer aspects of technical illustrations.
The field of technical illustrator is very competitive in nature. If you have talent and skill, you can make a successful career in technical illustration and the work you do will display the requirements of the clients. Competition helps technical illustrators to give their best and it encourages them to do their work better and to create better quality images. The changes in technology every day and the new innovations that are made every day are the sole purpose behind why clients are in need of good technical illustrators.
A technical illustrator will always find work if he is consistent and talented, building upon the foundation of talent and skill that he initially started with. A continuous growth in understanding new software and understanding the needs of the clients will establish you as an eminent technical illustrator.
