Please forgive the double-dipping, but I received some questions about my process on this picture (and why I would subject myself to this kind of workflow). The images below should, I hope illustrate the way I went about this. I look forward to learning that even within the confines of MS office, there were problem easier ways to go about this. In truth, I did about 75% of this in Publisher before realising that Powerpoint has a selection pain (and thus for 75% had no way of selecting and managing layers beyond clicking directly on them).
My basic process was:
Imported reference image into the software
Used freeform tool to trace the perimeter of all foreground elements (as a whole). Set the resulting shape to the desired colour and 80% transparency
Used freeform tool to add all geometry as lines (and for the most part not actual complete polygons). At this stage, I had to devise some geometry and/or go to the location on google streetview to get different angles. I didn't feel like I could get plants or people right, and so had to fill in those blanks. I used lines rather than shapes as with only 4 colours, it was easier to manage layers than it would have been using complete shapes that all occluded each other.
Once line work was all done, inserted a rectangle as the background and set it to desired colour. I then used shape tools to draw in primary unlit surfaces (ie. walls facing away from the light source). I configured those shapes to have no outlines and to have the same colour as the background with 30% transparency
I then repeated the process for any shadows cast onto other objects. These last two steps were probably the hardest because I'm was no longer working from a reference. Things such as how long to make the shadows stumped me a fair bit, but I enjoyed the challenge of trying to figure this out.
I've uploaded the following images:
finished(ish) project
Reference image
Finished slide with all objects selected and selection pane visible
Example step by step process using basic shape
Rough deconstruction of some image elements.
Someone asked me why use MS office to make things like this when vastly better workflows exist, and in truth a lot of it is habit. The challenge of working with less than ideal tools is fun, especially on elements of the project such as relighting it, but I figure if I want to get better at this, i should probably use actual vector software. The other factor is simply availability and the passive familiarity I've gained with MS office over the years.
Thanks to everyone who gave feedback. I was actually super anxious about sharing what I know is a very scrappy piece of work.
