It’s time to have some fun for the holidays. One of my clients asked for a reflection composite (very trendy!) of apples for his upcoming self promo piece. The concept is “Stand Out’ using apples. I grabbed the individual apples from IStock, put them together, did some shadow painting, re-lit them, then created the background gradation and reflection. I then had this idea that it would be cool to take a bite out of the red apple. So back into istock to find a bite picture, then back into PhotoShop to composite the bite and recast the reflection. That also turned out pretty cool. I was thinking maybe a front and back cover of the brochure in question.

The client emails me back and loves the apple composite so much, that he wants me to add a santa hat to the set so he can use them for this year’s Christmas Cards. So back into istock, I grab a santa hat, isolate the hat and then place it on the apple. The trouble is that the hat is shot under very different lights so, I jump into the layers and duplicate the hat, set it to multiply and tweak the color a bit. This makes the hat’s density curve pop a bit, but it still isn’t right. So I go back to the tablet and do some more shadow painting, I add a small drop shadow to the hat and put a small cast reflection to the apple closest to the hat.

It’s not perfect, but it is fun. I am always amazed at what photoshop can do.

The Zen Fellowship of Dayton. It is a gather place (not sure if worship is the right word?) for Buddhists in Dayton Ohio. The client said it was perfect, while at the same time commenting on the ‘leftist’ look the logo has. He said it has a flavor of Russian propaganda art!  “… The hyper-perfect grain, backed by the sun burst!  Enlightenment for the workers!  A bold new tomorrow!”

Who knew that I would eventually have a voice in the uprising of the spiritual proletariat?

A few of you have asked for a breakdown of my working processes, so here it goes.

Step 1: The client called and asked me for some ideas, I met with him and thumb-nailed this (1 of 4) sketch of a middle aged mom making a big print. The sketch is digital, using Sketchbook Pro. The concept (for the most part) was approved on site.

Step 2: I tighten the sketch in Sketchbook Pro and send the file to the client for final approval. (Or for changes as the case may be.)

Step 3: I take the sketch into Illustrator, (for this particular illustration) and using a custom variable brush, pen and tablet, vectorized over top of my sketch which is on a layer set to 20% opacity. I keep the “inking” on one layer and my “color” on another layer. In this piece I also created a layer for the photo print so that I could drop that down in value. I also added a visual cue (the arrow) to connect the camera to print concept. I created a “print big” graphic also in illustrator and dropped in the branding to finish it off.

That is basically it. The client liked the “print big” graphic so much they have adopted it for a number of advertisng graphics they are developing for the first quarter of this year.

I am working on an ad graphic for Digital Color Print Center that is slanted towards 30-something moms. Digital Color is a great outfit for very large prints. I have used them a number of times for show booths, custom display graphics, ad boards, and the like. Funny thing is they started out as a place to create large canvas art prints. The advertising service bureau aspect of the business was sort of an unexpected market niche that took off under its own power. So in an effort to explore this original idea and capitalize on the growing digital photo market they asked me to create some fun graphics that show the power of their art canvas product. Basically you can take almost any digital camera photo and blow it up to a wall size art print on canvas. The finished product is museum wrapped around stretcher bars and is ready to hang. it is actually quite visually stunning and strangely enough … affordable.

The graphics are not meant to replace real shots of the product in use, but instead are an eye-cathcer that simplifies and distills the experience while giving it some sizzle. I presented the thumbnail this afternoon and the client like it. There was some concern over the tag “Digital Diva.” Is there a negitive connotation there or has the mood of the phrase moved to express a more hip, powerful, and experienced woman? I see it as the later. It helps that I am in love with the alliteration and that we are talking about some others (Graphic Grandma, Dorm dude, Pixel Picasso).