Out of all of the projects, the vinyl was the easiest one to get an idea for. I had initially wanted to make one of my other recurring characters, but as that would require VERY specific colors that we simply don't have, I quickly decided against it in favor of a different face:
My plan was to make the head itself a solid color; I decided on red in the end. The other 2 vinyl colors were white for the catchlights in the eyes, and black for the face.
Using Illustrator
The process for this project was pretty straightforward- I used the circle shape tool to draw the head and the catchlights, as they were just basic ovals. The eyes were created using the paintbrush tool relatively simply; however, the paintbrush tool proved ineffective for drawing the mouth. I used the pen tool for that portion; though it was a bit finicky, I was able to get it to work with a bit of effort.
Once I had drawn the full head, I took each different colored section and moved it to its own document for cutting, leaving me with the following 3 files:
Cutting and application
Once the files were prepared, cutting was as simple as loading the correct color of vinyl, transferring the file to the computer hooked up to the cutter, and sending the file to the cutter itself to be cut. After removing the extra vinyl from the cut sheets, I then stuck the white vinyl to the sticky plastic of the roll and removed it from its backing. It was then laid over the black vinyl in the correct position, then pressed down. I then removed the black vinyl with the while stuck on top of it and placed it onto the red vinyl. I left the backing on the red vinyl to allow me to transport it home.
I applied the vinyl decal to the back of my laptop upon arriving at home by removing the backing and sticking it down, using a straightedge to apply pressure. I was then able to remove the plastic from the top.
Summary
Over the course of this project, I was able to gain more experience with the vinyl cutter and with illustrator. This project was overall the easiest, as at this point I've been refreshed on most of Illustrator's capabilities. The biggest thing I learned was the limitations of the paintbrush tool when working with very thin lines. The pen tool was required to create the thin lines of the mouth, as the paintbrush couldn't get the thin points that the pen tool could create. I also figured out how to work with the finicky pen tool, as it can be one of the more difficult tools to work with.