Battle of the Blades
Competition VS Tournaments
Figure skating and hockey are very different when it comes to performances. Instead of breaking down figure skating and hockey I am going to talk about the competition and tournament itself. Figure Skating is based on competition and you are placed in group depending on your level based on your skills. There are different types of competitions; singles, doubles, groups, interpretive, showcase and more. As of now I am going to focus on singles since it is the most common. Depending on your level you will be skating a normal length program or a short and a long program. Even though you are going against others during the competition you are also competing against yourself, pushing yourself to new levels and to beat your old score. You have fans and your club in the stands and your coach on the edge of the boards but you are alone on the ice in front of your fans, coach, competitors and judges. It is nerve racking, hand work and dedication to not skate off the ice without finishing your routine. But, the most amazing feeling is skating off the ice after finishing your program knowing you accomplished what you have been working so hard for no matter what the outcome is. The medal at the end is just a bonus.
Hockey on the other hand is completely different. Hockey is a team sport. You have tournaments that your team signs up for and you play 3 or 4, hour games throughout the whole weekend. You have 5 players and 1 goalie on the ice at a time going against your opponents attempting to score a goal. Your team tries out plays that you have been practicing in hopes that you can beat the opponent and win the game. Depending on how many times you win your team can win the tournament. There are different levels in hockey tournaments some include; novice, lower intermediate, intermediate, higher intermediate, and advanced. Even though you are playing with a team you also need to work on your own skills if you want to improve in the sport. As you can see figure skating and hockey are very different when it comes to competition and tournaments.
First Draft:
This draft was difficult for me, mostly trying to make the heart and the blades connect together. I started with making a heart; I made one half of the heart using the line tool and then copy and pasted a new one and rotated it to make the full heart. I then made two other layers, added a photo of my sketch with the figure skating and hockey skate and cut out each blade. I then rotated them to fit on the outside of the hearts. I then added the words and the color by using text and color swatches. Here is my rough draft, let me know what you think!
Final Draft:
I looked at my first draft and I did not like how I made the heart before, I started over. To make the hear I drew two circles using the ellipse tool. To make sure they were the same size I held down shift. I then highlighed both and used pathfinder to connect the circles. I then used the direct selection tool to drag the bottle middle anchor to make the bottom on the heart. I then deleted the two side anchors with the deleting anchor point took. After I adjusted the anchors to make the heart look more like a heart. Of course I stuck with the color blue and used the gradient tool to make the heart pop, I also made the stroke to a 10pt instead of a 1pts. After the heart was made I locked the picture and then added the blades that I used from my first draft. Instead of keeping them black I decided to make them grey and used the gradient tool too make it look more like a blade. I then added my text with larger text than before. It was difficult trying to make everything line up but I am satisfied with the final product! Enjoy.
Site Title 