Web Design Graphic Design Interactive Video Photography Animation

"You don’t take a photograph, you make it." Ansel Adams

Project 1 | Project 2 | Project 3

Project 1

Project 1

You have been assigned to a freelance project for a brand new company whose intentions are to design very silly caricatures using photos of everyday objects. These caricatures are designed for computer games, movies, and promotional materials such as toys, games, and dolls.

The final caricature will be composed of several images you have shot yourself with a camera in order to emulate one of the caricatures named below.

For example, let’s say you choose to create Fantasias Furniture Fairy. You could take several photos of different furniture in your home, and then create a funky caricature with these furniture pieces.

This CEO would like four caricatures to start with. Your job is to choose and eventually create just one of these caricatures.

Set-up

You will be responsible for creating a polished composite that consists of a combination of photos and text and may also include one colorized line art.

You will put the elements together to look as if each photo and line art (if you choose to add one) combination is one caricature, not several objects simply placed together in a collage format.

Sketches need to be four roughs, with pencil (color pencil or marker) and paper (NOT drawn on the computer), illustrating four unique, and very different, ideas for your caricature. You should show the text as simple lines and create quick sketches of the caricature so that we can identify the images you are going to use.

Scan these sketches and attach them to your discussion as one .pdf file.

Include:

Local cafe' owner "Fred" of the "Flippin Food Fred" greasy spoon cafe', has just finished remodeling his premises, and is also looking to add extra new locations. To go with the new look of his business, Fred is looking for some images (relative to his cafe' business) to adorn his front window display, his business cards, logo and for advertising. He will be maintaining his cooking style of cheap and cheerful burgers, hotdogs and sandwiches.

For this concept I clearly need to utilize food in the design, and make it look happy and nourishing, appealing and with character. Basically, the caricature will come from the food itself, and only the type of food prepared and consumed on the premises.

The Company information is as below:-

"FLIPPIN FOOD FRED,"
99 Cent Drive (Through),
Outer Flippin State,
FL 050607.
123 456 7890
http://www.flippinfoodfred.us

Sketches

caricature sketches

Image A: "The 99 Cent-a-bite," Hot dog and fries with onions and lettuce. Actually costs 99 cents (excluding tax), but the management does not guarantee 99 or 100 fries per serving. Image B:"The Jolly Meal" logo, a breakfast on a plate. Image C: "Flippin Hot Frog" the signature dish (burger and two hotdogs), tomatoes optional. Image D: "Louise (Anna) Cheese, one of the many sandwich combinations on offer.

Caricature Objects

caricature objects photographed

Initial Caricature Set-up

caricature objects manipulated

Final Composition

caricature final image

Photoshop manipulation - final stages

I kept the base of the caricature's image in total relativity to the items available at Fred's Cafe.
It was my intention to add to the background, but still retain some simplicity in it so that it does not detract from the main subject matter.
I also wanted to keep the spatular tool, but manipulate it to resemble a microphone (in keeping with the character's stage-like appearance).

Technical Details:

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Project 2

Project 2

Verse and literature was always very prominent in schools around England and Wales, with works from Dylan Thomas to William Wordsworth, and Kipling to Shakespeare. Many sayings, expressions, verse, and of course, poetry was born from such literacy masters, and there is an abundance of possibilities to choose from - of course, not all favorites. While I was very tempted to choose a song, I decided to use a paragraph from one of Kipling’s early poems. When my sons were very young, I created a slideshow along with narrated content from Kipling’s "If." From that poem, I chose the second paragraph (first 4 lines with 36 words total) for the typographical content in my final project. It is content that I believe opens up many possibilities for visual interpretations. The portion of the verse is as follows:

"If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster;
And treat those two impostors just the same."

While I am currently in New York City, I decided to compile some new images (photographs) that I would base my final assignment on. I intend to create images that utilize real objects/subjects, and montage them in a dream-like composition, framed within three arches (Bethesda Arcade in Central Park). As a poster with a photograph (image size: L_14" x W_8"), I believe the three arches will greatly help with composition (rule of thirds) and the three phases of the phrase.

Final Composition

Digital image manipulation of 3 arches, NYC

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Project 3

Airman

Before & After

There are a number of dust-spots and a large crease on the original image which I wanted removed. Ignoring the background, I used the spot healing brush to remove all the dust-spots on the figure and the paper crease along the characters arm. Rather than remove all the marks and spots from the background, I decided to create a layer mask, and then remove the background all together. Then with a new background layer, I placed a radial gradient behind the character. As a final touch, I made seven more layers and added color individually to each layer, creating an old color-tinted appearance to the photograph.

Retouching

Retouched photograph of airman

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