Digital Artisan

This here was so much work. A lot more than I care to admit. It seemed like there was just one challenge after another when it came to making this and fixing it all just brought up a new problem. Fortunately, with the help of my extreme problem solving mind (and lots, I mean LOTS of help from my teacher), I finished this poster just in the nick of time. I love how it turned out, and it’s one of my favorite works yet. I know I say that a lot, but it just seems like every project is better than the last. Which is the way it should be.

THE PROCESS

First, I needed a picture of myself to use for Jason Voorhees in the center of the picture. I decided to go with this one:

Eck, I know, cringey as HECK. Anyway, I plopped that sucker down into a Photoshop document and I adjusted my shirt to make it black instead of silver. I then needed a background. So I placed a black to red gradient on it. I then used glow effects and clipping masks to make myself glow white from above, and glow red from below. Then I used Illustrator to draw the hole in the wall that the main object is bursting out of. I made this out of it:

Pretty cool, huh? I after that copied it, and clipped a white to red gradient on it. I moved that image just slightly above the black one, and that gave the appearance of the glowing. I after that ran into an issue, Part of the Jason is inside the frame, and part of it is outside. So, I made a new layer containing the parts outside. This also then caused an issue because now, the glow layers are underneath the outside parts of the frame. I tried moving them to be above the outside, but then the whole glow was outside the frame, and that was not what I wanted. So after a while of remaking the glows in specific parts to make it seem like it was glowing fabulously, another problem arose. The layers that contained the outside parts of the body had a sort of line etched in the end of it, making it a very dramatic cut off from the body and the arms. After using a soft, transparent brush, I then searched the layers to find the where the problem lied. After adjusting just about every one of them, the line was finally smooth and no obscure marks were left. Next came the machete. I took a picture of one that my crazy uncle had in his outside shed:

I used a lot of lamps and actually got the lighting for it really good. (My dad also sells stuff on eBay at times so he knows how to get good pictures with a pretty much empty background). I placed it in Photoshop, and flipped it so the blade was pointing up. I then had to adjust the hand (AGAIN) to make the fingers in front of the handle. I then made a random selection on the blade that was in a splatter-ish fashion. I used that selection to lightly colorize it red to make it look like blood. Next, I needed a moon. I made a circle in Photoshop , put glows on it, and then made another sporadic selection and filled it with noise. I made it pretty transparent, and darkened it and… Presto! I got myself a moon. The rest was downhill from there. I put that sucker into InDesign, and put in some text. I had to download a font for the title, but that was fine. I also copied the text, changed it white, and then placed it behind and slightly off for the white outline. I then filled the bottom with a whole bunch of random names and stuff that would just take up space. And if you really take the time to zoom in and focus on the fine text, I can say, it is quite hilarious.

This was indeed, very entertaining. I love dystopian scenarios, so I was quick to hop into the saddle when I was told that I would be making my own. It took some time due to the fact that it was a side assignment and I’m in the middle of taking care of studying and taking finals. I can definitely say though, I am content with the end result.

THE PROCCESS

I first needed two images for the sky. I used these two:

I then expanded the images, and used a soft, low opacity, black brush tool to blend the two together. I next needed my city.

Yes, I found the images using the labelled for re-use tool, as I do for all my images I grab off the internet. I next added some adjustments and darkened the whole scene. I then needed the car, and the photo of me. Here’s what I used:

I put those two photos into the mix, and darkened them and changed the color balance and the hue/saturation to make it blend well into the picture. I next up needed to add the trash that would add the abandoned look to the whole image.

These three are what I ended up adding to the image to make it look more like no one had been there for quite some time. After adjusting the colors and brightness of those three, I then added in a few cracks that I would use to also make it look like the city was taken care of poorly.

After making those cracks basically entirely black, I placed them on the street and on buildings .

I then needed a gas mask to put onto myself to make it look more like the air was bad, and I ended up going with this picture:

I next used a large, see-through white brush to add a foggy look to the whole images. And after that, the whole image came together in one fiasco of pictures put together.

•Man, was this some work. There were so many steps involved in the process of making this photo. Nevertheless, it still turned out great and I am content with the final results. This took me a few days longer than I had previously anticipated, and it required me to be a bit more meticulous than usual.

THE PROCESS

I first needed a photo of a train that would be used in the creation of this photo, and this is the one I used.

I then needed a solid color background, of which I would add noise, and a black and white gradient to. Then using the perspective settings, I created a white box, and made it look like it was turning away from the viewer. Then I inserted the photo, and using layer masks, I erased the front of the picture, excluding the railroad tracks. I next used a masking layer to remove the right half of the train. This allowed me to be able to duplicate the train picture, and clip it into the white box, to make it appear looking a photo. Then using another layer clipping, I highlighted and darkened the places that needed to be adjusted to make the photo come alive. I then added adjustment layers above the photo duplicate to have a sepia tone, so the half that was in the box, was mostly black and white. Next, I used a soft, white brush to sort of blend the sepia and normal photo together, so the transition between them was smooth and there was no hard transition line. Then, I added another white box of the same shape and made it larger to outline the train photo, giving it the looks of a Polaroid picture. Next, adjustments were made to give the outline a gradient look, so it wasn’t just one, plain color. A few adjustment layers were added next, and presto! My project was finally finished!

Here is a photo of part of the galaxy, that I just so happened to have made. It took time, definitely, but it was worth the hours spent on it. Watching the whole piece come together was very entertaining.

THE PROCESS

I started out by using a noise distortion filter to create the stars, then I rendered in and added a gradient to the nebula clouds. Then I needed two of my own photos to use as the planet surface.

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These were the two photos I decided on. The one on the left, is a very zoomed in photo of a canyon in St. George Utah, in Snow Canyon. The one on the right is a photo I took on the Shepherd Creek Trail in Kaysville, Utah. I made a circle marquee, and added the images and spherized them. Then I added highlights and shadows to each of the planets. Next was the star rings. I rendered in clouds again, added a twirl effect, and hollowed it out. Then I slapped it on a planet and voilà. I had myself my own little planets.

Our first example of what makes a photo good, is the classic rule of thirds. The eye always seems to like un-even things more, so that’s why things placed in the rule of thirds tend to be more appealing. Here, I got some pictures from google, and a picture that I took myself, and drew in the rule of thirds to demonstrate it.

Next, we have the element of leading lines. Leading lines, are imaginary lines that we can see in photos that will direct our eyes towards the subject of the photo. Sometimes, the lines are the subject of the photo. This keeps our eyes following around the picture, and not away, or off the photo.

Next up, we got depth of field. Depth of field is when the image is mainly focused on one object while the background is blurred out. This helps dramatize and show what the photographer was trying to show to the viewer.

I created this logo in an attempt to represent myself. At first, I needed an idea for what I wanted the logo to look like. I started with some basic sketches of what I would like to see.

In the past, I had created the shape that kind of looks like two question marks facing each other. I liked the simple yet intimidating design of it, and I have used it in the past to mark things created by me. But it seemed like something was missing. A background was what it needed. So I tried to add an octagon in the back. But it still seemed too plain. I wanted something that would add to the intimidating design of it, so why not put a skull in the back? I really liked the idea of putting the sigil on top on the skull, but once I had created it in illustrator…

It seemed to sloppy. I didn’t like how it just, looked out of place. So I decided to compromise and find a way to still include the symbol, but make it looked like it belonged there. I decided to place it on the forehead instead of covering the entire thing, and lo and behold, it worked! I was finally satisfied with the final outcome, and I hope you are too.

The Portrait

This was a lot more work than I originally intended it to be. Of course I knew that it would prove to be a challenge, but I had no idea that it would be as difficult as it was. That wasn’t the only thing that surprised me in the making of this. I enjoyed it so much more than previously anticipated, and I hope that the viewers like it as much as I do.

The Process

First was the hardest part; finding a picture of myself that I didn’t hate entirely. I’m sure that wasn’t an uncommon theme across my classroom. I then uploaded the photo into Adobe Illustrator and went from there. I first made multiple layers for each part of the picture, namely: face, eyes, ears, nose, mouth, etc.

This was the photo that I had decided on using. Of course, I’m not the best photographer, but I didn’t want someone else taking a picture of me

Using solely the pen tool, I then began the long process of drawing the various shapes to identify the highlights and shadows of the face. It took a lot of time (I mean a lot of time) for the face to finally appear out of what appeared to be a figure straight of a Sean S. Cunningham film.

Using many, many layers, the face finally took shape. Except… there was one last road block that I was (quite literally) unable to see. The colors that I believed to look perfect, didn’t seem to pass as well through everyone else’s eyes.

Though I have a hard time noticing it, I’m sure the first thought that went through your mind was “Hey, why is he green?” that’s when I remembered… “Oh shoot that’s right, I’m colorblind.” With the assistance of my teacher and other peers, I was able to get the colors right, and I now share witth

So, my name is Connor Valentine. A little about me is that I am often a quiet and reserved person, and the only way that I enjoy to express myself is through art. I often find myself drawing or spending hours at a time practicing my guitar or playing the piano. I love art and i am looking forward to being able to share some of my work. I have a passion and appreciation for art and I consider myself “good” at it. Though no one notices flaws in art like the illustrator himself, I still enjoy the ability to draw things that I desire to interpret into my own fashion.

I have many of my own art works, and they are all hand drawn with a classic paper and pencil. For a while now, I have desired to expand my media usage and start on something digital. I am very excited to learn new ways to form art on a computer this year and reach new heights. The things I am interested in drawing has a large variety. I have a social media account sharing my works that I am proud of. One of the greatest things that I am interested in drawing is characters from comic books. My dream job is to one day be a comic book artist or an animator for DC or MARVEL comic cartoons.