Polaroid : Illustration + Photo Realistic Art
Student project to create a realistic illustration of an original polaroid camera from a photograph. To design advertisements or packaging with said illustration that are creative and outstanding.
Polaroids have been around for years now since 1948 to be exact, as the first one was called the Model 95 and its associated film went on sale in 1948. Instant cameras were certainly popular in the 60s and 70s, reaching the height of their popularity in 1977, at the time Polaroid held two-thirds of the instant camera market. Over time with the further development and decreased price of film cameras (35mm), video cameras popularity fell. Digital cameras really made film itself seem obsolete. As a photographer (originally by hobby) film is never obsolete, I grew up with a darkroom in my basement and was handed my first digital camera at 3. In the past two decades, instant cameras have been making a comeback with younger generations, something about the instant print of a literal moment, and it being its one and only/exactly what it is alongside the nostalgia captivated the young.
I initially took photos of one of my instant cameras, I have a polaroid from the 70s and figured it would be the most authentic to use, though every picture I shot didn’t come out in a way that I could work with. I then googled the exact model of my Polaroid and found an image that I felt had the right lighting and background to base my illustration on. Within Adobe Illustrator, I opened two artboards side by side and placed the photo in one.
With my two artboards and photograph, I began creating the Polaroid out of numerous shapes. Using both gradients and the eyedropper tool, I was able to recreate the different shades of the dark gray plastic, the almost beige of the flash, and the iconic red and blue of the flower icon and text reading ‘closeup’. I also used grid-like segmented selections with many individual anchor points to create texture. The illustration itself is entirely made of shapes layered on one another. I recreated various icons used on the camera itself.
Figuring out how to use the illustration was somewhat difficult, it didn’t work as a framed photo or framed poster. In time, I figured it could work on packaging, and as stand signs. Using scans of polaroids I’ve taken and the illustration, I mocked up boxes that could house polaroids in store.