How clever are you? Design Challenge - For Fun!

About a week ago, I was working on a little art project just for fun in illustrator when I got this idea. You see, when I'm "on-a-design-roll", if you will, I tend to get worried. Since it has happened so many times in the past, I always think my computer is going to freeze, close illustrator and discard my work in progress...

Therefore I've gotten into the habit of constantly saving my work (of course) and I also save pretty much every element to my design as a symbol. I create a special library for that project and continue to add to it and save. As obsessive, unecessary or tedious as this may sound to some, it actually helps a whole lot. With this technique of creating symbols I then have the flexibility to:

-Rearrange the layout or placement of elements

-add duplicates of an element with a symbol drag-and-drop

+ the added bonus of being able to break the link to the symbol and change the look of it (and then save the changed ones as whole new symbols too if you want to get crazy!) While having a spare copy of the symbol as I originally made it in my library.

I was playing around and doing this technique and thinking about how I could share these symbols with others. I was hesistant about just posting them up for download because, afteral, they were original and specific parts to my final picture.

Now, here's the lowdown if you want to be a part of my first "challenge":

As I was making this picture---> I saved every element or cluster of elements as symbols in Illustrator.

Click here for the symbol library file:

Download

(save in: Program Files>Adobe>Adobe Illustrator>Presets>Symbols)

Create a new document

Open symbol library and start creating!

There aren't really rules but these are preferences and suggestions:

-Use each symbol as many or as few times as you want-change look of symbols if you want ie colors, gradients, patterns etc-arrange elements any way you want

-resize, warp, clip, join, whatever!

-Make the concept/ final picture in any style you want ++ implement your own!

-Try to use elements in a different way and no swiping anyone else's ideas because that's not cool

-But please ADD YOUR OWN ORIGINAL ELEMENTS ONLY created IN illustrator ONLY

-Host 'n' Post a link to your finished work(s) as a comment on this entry to share!

I will post participants art in a new entry to showcase and possibly vote for a winner (no monetary or material prizes available- just a good ol' ego boost)

Have fun!

... and we'll see how this goes...

-Ivy K.