Logos | T-Shirts | Banners | Photo Composits | Black & Whites | Photos | Websites | Videos | Other Works
Other Works
Client: "PEZ" (DeVry University Course Project)
Project:
Advertising insert with coupon.
Overview:
This was a DeVry University course project. We were tasked with creating an advertisng insert with a coupon. The product was our choice. We were to stage a setting and photograph the product ourselves with whatever we had at home. I chose PEZ. I have several PEZ dispensers and decided to create an ad for them using a luau theme.
The Solution:
The first task was choosing which PEZ dispensers to use. I chose to use dispensers that were enemies "on screen", but were having fun together "off screen". So I chose several Star Wars dispensers, the Batman and Riddler dispensers, and then chose some Disney dispensers to use off to the side. I used two different pictures for the background. I used one for the beach and another for the sky. I merged them into one cohesive background. I then staged my PEZ characters, used PEZ candy packages to create a firepit and individual PEZ pieces as "logs" in the firepit. I scattered various shells I had here as more decorative pieces. I included an alcoholic bottle with a hula outfit used to decorate bottles to add to the "fun" theme. I also used small Coke bottles with straw umbrellas inside to add to the ambiance. I also scattered various PEZ candy packages around the scene to help add with the advertising branding. I wanted as many items as possible that showed the PEZ word to help with the branding. Below the scene I used a fun font for the text and shadowed it with a fun pink color. As part of the assignment we had to make sure to include a coupon. So I created one from scratch that everyone has commonly seen in any ad
piece. The Title or Headline was created using an actual font called PEZ and I used a colorful background gradient to, once again, add to the fun theme. One of the final elements that were used to tie it all together were the shadows. I created individual shadows for all the pieces that required it. The project was created using Photoshop. The pictures were taken using my iPhone camera. I received an A on this piece from my Professor.
Client: "Space Goalie" (DeVry University Course Project)
Project: Movie Poster
Overview:
This was a DeVry University course project. We were tasked with creating a movie poster. The final design was one that someone could expect to find hanging in an actual movie theater.
The Solution:
I chose a Star Wars themed poster for my piece. After researching movie posters I found that the Star Wars posters really created that movie poster "feel". So I used them for inspiration. My step-son is a high school hockey goalie so I had him dress up in his pads and uniform and gave him his plastic BB gun to hold. I then took various pictures of him in an array of poses. His image was to highlight the piece. I then dressed myself up in various costumes here at the house and took pictures with my iPhone. I spliced the face of my wife onto a Princess Leia image and used her as my female character. The background is a black background overlayed with star "brush" strokes I downloaded for Photoshop. I used a reddish hue for my star pattern. I also used a couple of different star brushes to create the yellow gun flash. I wanted to create a laser beam feel with that effect. I used various Masking techniques to gain the looks I wanted and used a combination of the Oval Marquee Tool and Gausian Blur to create the vinnettes around the images. I finished them off with various degrees of opacity to gain the look that melded best with each character. The main goalie picture was created using a variety of Filters, namely the postarize feature. The credit block was provided to us by the Professor. We just had to change out the names, and/or add in additional job categories. For the Headline I used a font actually called Star Wars. I then used a color gradient that suited the piece. I placed a thick white border
around the Headline to help it stand out further. The piece melds many different aspects of design and Photoshop techniques. The finished piece turned out precisely as I wanted. The project was created using Photoshop. The pictures were taken using my iPhone camera. I received an A on this piece from my Professor.
Client: "Hillsborough County" (DeVry University Course Project)
Project: Advertising poster to aid in tourism.
Overview:
This was a DeVry University course project. We were tasked with creating an advertisng poster for a county of our choice. Since I live in Florida and we have so many tourist attractions I chose my county of Hillsborough. It comprises the Tampa, Florida area. We were to highlight 4 different area attractions and represent them on a poster that could be used for tourism advertising. I chose The Beach, The Lowry Park Zoo, Adventure Island, and Busch Gardens.
The Solution:
The first task was choosing which attractions to include. I chose 4 of this area's most visited and well known attractions. The next task was figuring out what aspect of of each attraction to use. For the beach I, of course, chose a beach area. I included a bright blue sky with big puffy clouds and a text using a "cloud" font. I included beach umbrellas with shadows to highlight that aspect of my creativity. The last piece of this section was a wooden beach sign sitting comfortably on top of the main city sign. For Lowry Park Zoo I wanted to highlight the animals. They also have a creative sign for their zoo so I also wanted to include that as part of it. One of the highlights of this area is the Shell. There is a large "band shell" at the entrance of Lowry Park Zoo where local residents gather for free concerts or community events. I thought that would be a good aspect to hightlight as well. I used the famous Florida palm trees to frame in this section and tied it all together with a lazy monkey in a hammock dreaming of Lowry Park Zoo. Since Florida is known as a vaction spot and many come here to relax I thought that an appropriate image to create.For Lowry Park Zoo I wanted to highlight the animals. They also have a creative sign for
their zoo so I also wanted to include that as part of it. One of the highlights of this area is the Shell. There is a large "band shell" at the entrance of Lowry Park Zoo where local residents gather for free concerts or community events. I thought that would be a good aspect to hightlight as well. I used the famous Florida palm trees to frame in this section and tied it all together with a lazy monkey in a hammock dreaming of Lowry Park Zoo. Since Florida is known as a vaction spot and many come here to relax I thought that an appropriate image to create. For Busch Gardens I wanted to highlight the rides. So I vectorized a picture of one of their roller coasters. I had it swooping around the palm trees to add to the gestalt. There was a lot of detail work in this section to create the look. For Adventure Island, a water park, I chose a lazy river image. This was one of my first assignments using Illustrator so extensively so the perspective on this one is off a bit. If this had been for a real client I would have had more time to work on this further to create a better, more realistic look. I had this lazy river "spilling" out into a pool at the bottom and again used their park's sign as part of the composition. The project was created using Photoshop and Illustrator. I used a background gradient that highlighted the colors in the various areas. I used the Tampa sign I created from scratch in Illustrator as a break between the Beach and the rest of the composition. I used the Palm Trees to frame the remaining 3 sections. And I used the pool at the bottom to finish it off. I received an A on this piece from my Professor.
Client: Typography (DeVry University Course Project)
Project:
Take a personal photo and get creative with Typography
Overview:
Tasked with taking or using a prior photo that we personally took, choosing a song verse, poem, or phrase, and creating a Typography Poster. Must understand the meaning of the verse and pair it with the "feel" of your picture. Had to select a Primary and Secondary font with the Secondary font being used as an accent. Use color, size, and orientation to highlight and emphasize the text. Lastly, use Photoshop effects to enhance the text.
The Solution:
I chose a photo I took while hiking with friends in the Red Rocks area outside of Las Vegas. The image is one of my friends just sitting and taking a break after a long climb up. He's sort of sitting over the precipice of a long drop off. It's an image I can imagine many thinking "No way would I sit with my legs dangling over the edge of a cliff!" So with that thought in mind I chose one of my favorite verses in one of my favorite books. The "Fear Is A Mindkiller..." phrase comes from an excerpt in the Dune books by Frank Herbert. It's sort of a personal motto of mine to not let fear override your ability to act or take on difficult tasks. The photo was not supposed to be the focus of the piece. The typography was. So my first task was to take my original photo and "mute" it to the background more. I accomplished this by creating a white layer and a red layer background underneath the image and then setting the opacity of the photo to 49%. This gave me the nice reddish hue that accented the feel and the color of the rocks in the area. It also gave me a good pallet upon which to add text and have it stand out boldly. I used font colors that stood out in their
specific areas of the photo and I chose 2 fonts that I thought brought out that fear and adventure feel I was looking for. The layout of the verse leaves a little to the imagination as to which part is read next. I did this on purpose in the hopes that others would seek out this phrase in their curiosity and see its exact structure. In two parts of the piece I attempted to make the phrase appear to be cut into the rockface. I also further emphasized the letters with my secondary font with some added Photoshop effects to help them stand out further and give some added artistic flair to the piece. I also experimented with creating text on Paths for this assignment. The entire piece was created using Photoshop. For this assignment I received an A (100/100).
Client: Flying Dragon (DeVry University Course Project)
Project:
Create a comprehensive image from a pre-drawn image outline.
Overview:
This was a DeVry course project. We were tasked with creating a comprehensive picture using Adobe Illustrator after choosing from 1 of 10 pre-drawn outline images.
The Solution:
I chose a Flying Dragon image because I thought I could really create something colorful and unique. I had the image of a flying space dragon almost immediately. This assignment was to get us more familiar with working in Illustrator. We had to trace the image we chose using the Pen Tool and then color it in and add a background. I chose purple as the body, legs, and tail background color. I then used alternating black and green on the underbody segments. I thought those colors would offset each other nicely. I then used a greenish-yellow / purple gradient on the wings to add some color flair to the piece. The colors on the nails, horns, spikes, and teeth were colors I chose based on appealing, complimentary Shades and Tints using Illustrator's color guide panel. A final touch I created was to fill in the spots on the body. I painted in a colorful, multi-gradient circle pattern then used the Effects Gallery to create a pitted rock look with shadowing to make them look like they were weird "boils-like" lesions. I then moved on to the background. I started off with an off-black full background then used "star", "flare", and "galaxy" brushes to fill in the remainder. Once I was done I thought it would be cool to create a space helmet for my dragon. It was a simple circle that I then filled in with a grayish gradient color. I then had to create a neck hole to give the illusion of the dragon's head actually IN the helmet. This was a bit harder than I'd imagined, but I eventually got it just right. One of my last touches was to use an outter glow around the body to offset it from the background.
Client: Flying Dragon (DeVry University Course Project)
Project:
Create a comprehensive image from a pre-drawn image outline.
Overview:
This was a DeVry course project. We were tasked with creating a comprehensive picture using Adobe Illustrator after choosing from 1 of 10 pre-drawn outline images.
The Solution:
I chose a Flying Dragon image because I thought I could really create something colorful and unique. I had the image of a flying space dragon almost immediately. This assignment was to get us more familiar with working in Illustrator. We had to trace the image we chose using the Pen Tool and then color it in and add a background. I chose purple as the body, legs, and tail background color. I then used alternating black and green on the underbody segments. I thought those colors would offset each other nicely. I then used a greenish-yellow / purple gradient on the wings to add some color flair to the piece. The colors on the nails, horns, spikes, and teeth were colors I chose based on appealing, complimentary Shades and Tints using Illustrator's color guide panel. A final touch I created was to fill in the spots on the body. I painted in a colorful, multi-gradient circle pattern then used the Effects Gallery to create a pitted rock look with shadowing to make them look like they were weird "boils-like" lesions. I then moved on to the background. I started off with an off-black full background then used "star", "flare", and "galaxy" brushes to fill in the remainder. Once I was done I thought it would be cool to create a space helmet for my dragon. It was a simple circle that I then filled in with a grayish gradient color. I then had to create a neck hole to give the illusion of the dragon's head actually IN the helmet. This was a bit harder than I'd imagined, but I eventually got it just right. One of my last touches was to use an outter glow around the body to offset it from the background.