Creative Spheres

These first three spheres pictured to the left I created in illustrator. Though they may not look it, they were very simple!! and who doesn't love that? These were created by creating simple patterns of lines and making them into a style. When making them into a sphere, I simply laid the pattern onto the shape like a gradient.

This was my first creative sphere in photoshop and was
fairly difficult despite its simplistic look. This work im not
proud of however it shows my growth in perfecting spheres.

This sphere pictured above and to the right are by far my prized possession in my creative spheres field. Which makes me sad to admit that this as well, was very simple and a lovely tutorial held my hand the whole way through. This was created in photoshop and was an overlay as well.

















My sphere pictured to the right was actually my
second sphere in photoshop. I used the same technique as explained
above with the earth. Very simple, however, my choice of background
/image overlay could have been better.

Realistic Shadows

This realistic shadow tutorial was a bit challenging and took MULTIPLE attempts to get a pleasing product. I started with the tiger image above then pulled in a new background which is pictured to the right.

Next I extracted the tiger with quick selection tool and worked a lot with contrast and softness in the refined edge. I also put it against the blue background so pixel fringe could be seen and I could handle that.

Finally I took all backgrounds away and worked with just the tiger to create a shadow. This was particularly difficult as I had to pay attention to not only the light source but the way the shadow fell. I used a gradient for the shadow to be dark near the tiger then lighten the opacity to blend with the ground. One thing I love about this piece is the tiger however the background I put it on just isn't quite as awesome:(

Real Or Hoax Website Preview

Real or Hoax- Home Page

Real or Hoax-Real Viruses (linked page)

        One main focus of this website was to call attention to all of the scams on the web. Many are familiar with the emails that go around asking you to perhaps send money or pray. While some are genuine, most are not. This website was created to provide examples of the hoaxes you going around and the real story behind it all. This website was also a project to further our skills in dreamweaver and problem solving.

         As for the process of this website it was fairly simple. Not a lot of prep was needed because all content such as pictures logos and information was all given. Had it not been, we would have needed to do background research for all of the content and the truth about them. As for actually constructing the website we used dreamweaver in creating all of the seperate web pages. We created on CSS style sheet and controlled everything through that. We embedded pictures and links into every page. Along the way I learned more about the basic hitches and how to problem solve especially when it comes to linking websites and the root folder. I also learned that it is handy to have someone who knows the program better than you do around! Next time I would  be a little more diligent in the CSS with the color choice and pay more attention to fonts and typography. I however thought I did well with time management and would budget my time the same. Next time I will now apply my newly acquired skills in linking websites and there will be fewer problems.

       

Floating Mountain Tutorial

 

This is the original image that we started with. The main goal would be extract the island and put it in another setting, which will end up being the sky. Initial problems we find with this image is the branding "Fotolia..." at the bottom and the abrupt edge where the island meets the water.

In the next step we solved both of those initial problems. We used the content aware move tool to clip a piece of the ocean and drag it over the branding label. This step was more to learn a new skill since we are extracting the mountain, the branding would have been cut out anyways. Also, to fix the bottom on the island where it met the water we cut and copied a selection of the island and moved it over the top of the bottom. We warped it to fit it nicely, although this increased pixels a bit.




The next step as pictured above was to extract the island completely to place it in a new background. The new background which is pictured in its beginning stages is to the right and below.

The sky above is the original image that we then de-saturated and layered on each other. Pictured below we placed the extracted island into the sky, added a shadow on the cloud that we also manipulated to come to the front.

To finish up, I veered from the tutorial and extracted a unicorn from a separate image. I placed it as it was floating on the cloud. The only wonky thing is the shadow that I cast from the mountain now rests under the unicorn and the scaling of the unicorn in comparison to the island is a bit misfitting. For the final touch I added a title of Unicorpia and my initial MK.

Red Spheres

Red Spheres with a hint of ME

This here is my preliminary sketch for the spheres that we would compose in photoshop and illustrator.

This is my sphere that I made using adobe illustrator. This one I experienced more trouble with because the gradient was hard for me to adjust correctly.  You can see the awkward phases between the red and black where the color is a nude tint.

This sphere was constructed in adobe Photoshop, and was considerably easier even though I normally lean to Illustrator more. I think my shadow for this sphere is better because i was able to use a Marquee tool, which Photoshop doesn't offer. I do however now notice that my shadow is on the wrong side and contradicts with my light source.

History of Google (just google it)

       When looking up the google logo it was clear they were wanting to establish a strong character and credibility into corporate, conventional, or complacent. They wanted a playful simplicity. They sought to convey comprehensive, fast, and trustworthy search results. They went to the artboard and put out a design that was easy to read and put out a memory that reminded them of their childhood. A lot of thought was put into the shading and lightness of the letters. Then they moved on to the font, which had to have some humor and traditionality, so, they landed on Catull. Google is also famous for their google doodles in which you can submit your owns. Heres a link to a few....
https://www.google.com/doodles/

My Personal Logo

My Personal Logo

      

This is my final logo (although you're never done amending)

This is just vector drawing in illustrator messing around with a few letters

              To start my psychology and personality is portrayed through this logo in the meanings of its color blue. Blue represents calm stability it symbolizes trust, loyalty, wisdom, confidence, intelligence, faith, truth, and heaven. Blue is considered beneficial to the mind and body. And thats what im all about! The font is fairly basic as i will look into changing that fairly soon and continuing to do typography. The process was simple but long and ever changing. I began with just throwing some sketches in a sketchbook and then started working in illustrator. I did a few tutorials on textures and effects but little relayed into my logo, which is fine because new skills were still learned!I learned about setting up art boards and key increments which will be extremely helpful for me in future projects. I also want to learn more about textures and useful plugins that illustrator doesnt already offer. I did really well I believe in the meaning behind my work, but i definitely need to work on time management and producing more product so I can have more to work with. I need to work more on my skills in illustrator and less on my social skills :) 

A few preliminary sketches 

Grass Tutorial

         In this tutorial I learned how to create a grass texture that looks like astro turf. In this 2 min video I had to install Phasam plug in that allowed me to add an extra effect. In this instructional video I did really well in problem solving as it didnt work the first time around and I had to re do the video a series of times. Next time I would minimize my time by paying attention the first time around and getting it right. I was also impressed that I was able to install the plug in as I had never done that before and the video never showed me how. I want to continue to learn how to involve different colors and work in a more realistic lighter feel. I want to lighten it up and not have so much black showing through. I also want to learn more nature textures

Here I have created a clipping mask to add this texture to a text. I am proud of the skills I gained but still need to learn to make it not so clean and more grass like. 

Getting to know me- Project 8

           Project 8 was a personal biography that we made using text mate. For the first step we took a selfie then edited it in photoshop. We used the Pen tool to cut of the background so it would be form fitting. We then color corrected ourselves using the tutorial listed below. Then we took a seamed photo and made it seamless by using the clone stamp in photoshop. We set up a CSS page in text mate then linked both the home and link page to the css page so we didn't have to repeat the styles, and if we mended one page it would mend them all. Also we put in a wrapper div to make sure that we could group and separate certain things. We also used the elements of CARP to make our web page stand out. I used contrast in the headings to make them stand out.  I used alignment, repetition, and proximity in my information following under the headings










Tutorial on Color correcting :)
http://www.peachpit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=1928944&seqNum=2

In order to get to this font we had to answer a series of questions. Are you Emotional or Rational? I chose Rational.The next question was are you understated or assertive? I chose assertive. Next he asked if you are traditional or progressive? i chose progressive. Lastly they asked are you relaxed or disciplined? I considered myself as disciplined. This gave me the type of New Alphabet. It has no curves and is limited to horizontal and vertical strokes. This is a font that doesn't make sense to many people but its creator and that is why it explains me. It portrays discipline and assertiveness through the strict lines. It also shows the progressive spirit of a contemporary form

Smudges of Creativity

This was our first attempt at creating basic shapes in illustrator. We learned shortcuts and the basic function of most of the tools. We kept it simple and there was no color for the first sketch. 

This next step included starting from scratch and re-creating the basic shapes to get our pencil and can. This time we had to be creative in our color schemes and design. Adding symbols and graphic styles was another skill gained in this step.

This final step included finding two complementary objects and creating them will the skills we had gained. Our work was efficient and creative as we had to do this in a weeks span. We combined our knowledge of shapes and the tools of illustrator to do this.

As a summary we had to come up with our 3 main takeaways from this project; this is what i came up with

1.  Illustrators smart guides are very handy and should always be turned on!

2. There is a tool for EVERYTHING!

3. Creativity is power. 

What is Graphic design?

What is Graphic design?

Graphic design is essential communication of respectful ideas based on human behavior and cultural tendencies. Graphic design is a new language that portrays the consumers voice and makes moments ever changing and worth remembering. Graphic design is full of bold statements that are linked meaningfully to environmental and psychological factors. Graphic design is constant discoveries in everything we do. Graphic design is a wide web that captures and connects everything we've ever known.

The Color Wheel

In this project we learned the basics about functioning in Adobe Illustrator. In the first stages we had to create a perfect circle to base all our shapes off of. We learned simple shortcuts like holding down shift to create a perfect circle and how to create a triangle by pressing the down arrows while on the polygon tool. I also learned single shortcuts to tools such as V for the selection tool and M for the shape tool. I learned a fast way to copy by holding down option and just dragging. There are many simple things that make working in Illustrator efficient and this project helped us learn the ropes a bit.