Project 4: Typography

Typography version of the Protomen's album cover of "the Protomen"

(Using the album's own lyrics)

Like with the Polaroid collage, I had problems from the beginning. The skyline at the top was incredibly difficult to recreate. Originally it was very jagged and had a lot of edges, and that doesn't translate well into a text box. It was a struggle to fill the outlines sufficiently enough to create the illusion of a skyline. Even now, I'm still not satisfied with it; the space between the last two buildings on the far right sticks out like a sore thumb to me. I believe I should've applied another full layer or partial layer to fill that up. Indeed, the text itself is probably the biggest problem I have with this image. Saving the file so that the text could be preserved and read was nearly impossible. I can't say why that is; it either comes to file type or size, I think, and I can't fathom which is more responsible. Perhaps I'll upload a different version of this image in the future. That's not to say that I dislike the product overall. What I produced is a good recreation of the original album cover, as a quick Google search will surely confirm. It also has vibrant colors, with special emphasis given on the purple. The layering of grey text over the black section is also visually interesting. The grey's presence adds depth and texture.

Putting it there was a pain, though. I used the Type in an Area tool throughout the entire piece. I will admit that I neglected to use the Type on a Path tool. I didn't believe I needed it, as I believed I could get​ by with the Type in Area alone. That may have been a mistake. Yes, the Area text tool worked, but it was a pain to use. I made very sharp and specific edges to my areas, and that made them difficult to populate. The​ text had to be constantly shrunk and later repeated to fill up space. Aside from that irksome tool, I also made use of layers to repeat the lyrics and art boards to crop everything. This project probably used the least amount of tools out of all the other ones I created in this class. I suppose there's something to be said for that.

If I were to start things over, I'd use the Type on Path text tool. It'd make the image look more interesting and polished, I'll bet, to see layer after layer of text rather than a solid block. As it is though, I'd give myself a 6/10 for effort. It was a hairpulling process, and that made it hard to concentrate on it. I wish I had focused a bit more. 

Project Three: Vector Polygon Portrait

Ah, my vector polygon portraits! Art so nice they've been exhibited twice. That's a tale for a future post. Just before I begin into reflection proper, I'd just like to state the background of these pieces. The first was inspired by the in-game icons for leaders in "Sid Meier's Civilization V". Google "Pacal civ 5" or "Bismarck civ 5", and you'll see portraits of people inside circles. Those were my inspiration. I play Civilization V quite often, and I've always wanted one of those, so I went ahead and made one. The latter image came from the same polygon self-portrait. I took that original version's wireframe outline and colored it in with pieces I made during previous courses. It was a time waster, nothing else to be said.

I certainly am hurting for compositions this year! With the icon I had absolutely no idea what to do with the design, especially with the B-17 flying behind my head. An image that large and unorthodox was hard to position. Furthermore, I found the polygoning process tedious, albeit inevitably rewarding. I will say, I like the process too much; I'm addicted to making them! Maybe someday I'll post more here. Additionally, once I had taken the original source picture out from the polygons, I had to fill in all the gaps, which was, again, tedious. Still, I like the art style! It's sharp and smooth. I love bold lines and vibrant colors. I'm also a fan of myself in the icon-- I think it's one of the better images of me. The B-17 is also awesome. It is my favorite plane, of course. Having it in there is great.

I used many tools during the process. Just to make the original polygon portrait I used the Pen and Fill tools. To polish it up I used the Polygonal Lasso, Paint Bucket and Brush tools im Photoshop. Then, to make it into an icon, I used Photoshop's Shape and Gradient tools. The Polygonal Lasso tool was also included in that latter set. I used all the same tools and processes on the B-17. The only additional tool was the Blur tool, which made the propellers spin. I was quite glad to learn how to use the Pen and Fill tools. Like I said, I'm addicted to making these portraits, no matter how long they take. 

I can't think of anything I'd redo in these images. Okay, maybe I'd bold the second piece's lines, but that's it. They turned out so well! I'm quite proud of myself that I went beyond the call of duty and made not only a B-17 portrait, not only an icon, but a whole second picture all together! I think I'm justified in giving myself a 8/10 for that. Now, I have to think about what my nation would look like in-game. Does an airfield sound suitable?

(The original image I used for the B-17 is a picture I took of the Collings Foundation's plane, the Nine-O-Nine. Check her and the foundation out!)

Project Two: Cartoon Self-Portrait

This was a fun project to do! I had been shifting over to cartoons even before it was assigned, so I was thrilled. 

As the directions would suggest, I first drew the cartoon on paper with pencil, outlined it in Sharpie, and scanned it onto the computer. From there I used Adobe Illustrator's pen tool to outline the lines bit by bit, and colored the white spaces between them through the lines' fill. In a few places I had to fill in the color by hand, as the lines' fill couldn't cover all of it. After that, I switched over to Photoshop to fill the rest of the white spaces I couldn't in Illustrator, and that was it for the flats. The last step was to shade everything with the Dodge and Burn tools.

I've found that the pen tool is used to make crisp and clear lines. It's more advanced than using the plain paintbrush, and handles curves easier than the Line tool. Although, it can't do quite everything-- for circles I had to use the Circle tool, and for filling in white space I had to break out the Paintbrush. Thus, I suggest using the Shapes tool with the Pen, and also the Paintbrush if there's any white space one needs to fill. 

I did the lion's share of coloring in Illustrator, so I can't say much about Photoshop's paintbrush based on this project alone. I have, however, used the Photoshop paintbrush before in personal projects, so I am qualified to say that it's used pretty literally behind the lines layer to color things in. The Dodge and Burn tools are also used as a brush, but they darken or brighten the image's colors to create highlights and shadows. I wouldn't call them a paintbrush as such. 

Curves and Corners Worksheets

Only the outlines on these shapes are mine.

Project One: Polaroid Collage

From the beginning of this project, I had difficulties with the composition and subject. Originally I intended to use myself as the subject, but seeing as I had no usable pictures of myself, I resorted to using my cat instead. Even after that was settled though, I still had issues with the composition. I had heard that I was supposed to "avoid the middle", but that went against my personal affinity for symmetry. I tried to break that resort though. The result was this, a composition that was constantly pushed around and became one that I do not enjoy. Thus, I feel the composition is the worst part of the finished image. I wish I had taken the time to settle on a more inspired layout. Regardless of this problem, I do like how this turned out. I especially enjoy the Polaroids themselves, as they have an interesting arrangement. And, of course, I really like my cat. Cutting him and everything else out from their original photos was rather easy.

I used several tools in the creation of this piece, some of which I don't remember. What sticks out to me are the ones I used most: the polygonal lasso, the layer effects and the healing tool. At some point I probably also used the brush and eraser tools. Typically happens whenever I make something in Photoshop. I used the lasso to cut everything out, and the layer effects to give everything a drop shadow, with the exception of one Polaroid for which I had to manually make one. The healing tool was used to smooth out textures, like with the fish, or to fill in space that I accidentally cut off. However, I managed to include a foreground, mid-ground, and background. The essence of my cat was also captured in eight Polaroids, and the calligraphy I scanned in was included on his ribbon.

If I could start this over, I'd definitely sit down and decide upon a composition. The whole mess with shuffling things around was a headache. Similarly, I'd also decide upon my subject at the very beginning. The same reason applies for that. Because of the early onset headache, I'd say my motivation was low, effecting my effort. While I did pick up my efforts near the end, I'd have to give myself a 6/10.