Digital Graphics for Print | Production Log [Update 6]

Overall I am very happy with how this unit went. I had to make several different creative decisions with my advertisements and needed to change several things throughout the process, but in the end the graphics looked of very good quality.

I was already very fluent in Photoshop, so I didn't have to learn it afresh for this unit. This made creating the graphics fairly easy for me, and I didn't encounter many problems.

Digital Graphics for Print | Production Log [Update 5]

For the magazine advertisement I took a different creative approach. I decided I would keep the video game aspect, so both of my adverts followed the same style, however instead of creating the original images in Photoshop, I would take pictures of actual people.

I dressed my friends Lucy and Corey up as Mario and Luigi respectively, and took them out to a field. I got them to do various poses to show the Mario brothers as 'brothers' and to show the connectivity that BBC Cult will offer.

Here are some of the photos I took:

I ended up deciding on the second one. This is because Lucy and Corey are interacting, which symbolises the slogan I was planning on using for BBC Cult "Bringing People Together".

Originally I had planned to just use the image on the field as my advertisement with the logo and slogan across the top and the bottom of the image. I then decided I would cut them out of the image and place them into a different background. The fact that they were interacting with each other essentially made them into one object, so it would have been easier for me to crop them out of the image.

Once they were cut out of the image, they looked like this:

Now that they were their own image with no background, I could manipulate the image and place it on top of another background.

I created a starburst-style background by taking a template from the internet and pasting in my own colours. I used the Magic Wand tool to select the area and then the Paint Bucket tool to past the image. I decided to use light blue and white for the pattern, as the bright colours help make the advert stand out.

I used the font 'Super Mario 256' for the text on the advertisement. I wrote "Video Games on BBC Cult" and "Bringing People Together" as separate text boxes so I could edit them individually. I used both the Free Transform tool and the Skew tool to manipulate the text to make it look over-dramatic and almost like a Japanese movie poster. This will attract the attention of people flicking through magazines, as the text takes up a lot of the screen.

I then added in the picture of Corey and Lucy and moved it around to fit alongside the text. I added 2 effects to the image "Bevel & Emboss" and "Drop Shadow". This helped the image stand out from the background and the text, making it the central focus of the advertisement.

I then just pasted in my already-created BBC Cult logo and the final document ended up looking like this:

Digital Graphics for Print | Production Log [Update 4]

I then started to create the final design for my bus advertisement. The first thing I needed to do was create the characters that were going to be used on the side of the bus. To do this, I used Adobe Photoshop and the pen tool to draw around images of the characters. This means I am creating my own original images and not using anything copy written.

I decided I would use bright and vibrant colours for each section of the characters, without using any complicated gradients or patterns. this allows the characters to stand out from the rest of the bus. I did this by using the paint bucket tool and selecting a colour from the original images with the paint dropper it gives you.

I also used this time to create the chair that will be repeated over and over on the side of the bus. I just took an image of a bus chair from the internet and traced over it just like with the characters.

     

After I created all the parts of the characters, I had to make sure that they were all layered correctly so there was no weird overlapping. By moving the layers up and down in the layer panel, it changed which objects appeared on top.


Once they were all completed, I grouped all the objects together in their own folders so they all move together. This way, the characters are all organised and I won't accidentally move individual parts.

I then opened up the bus template in a separate document and added a filter. I added the 'Patchwork' filter to make the bus look like it is pixelated. This fits with old-fashioned video games, as they were mainly 8 and 16 bit and full of pixels.

After that, I pasted the chairs in. I had to move certain ones higher up for certain characters, such as Sonic, as he has quite a short torso. The 1st and 4th chairs were over the wheels, so I had to use the polygon lasso tool combined with the eraser tool to cut them to the correct shape.

I then proceeded to copy the characters in one by one and placed them on the chairs. This was fairly simple to do, although I needed to use the brush tool to extend the colours on some of the characters, as the characters torsos were too short to reach the windows.

This is what the final design looked like:

Digital Graphics for Print | Production Log [Update 3]

26/11/13 - 02/12/13
Since last week I have started creating an A3 design sheet for my bus advertisement involving video games. I printed a bus template onto A4 paper and traced through it so the design was my own. I then stuck it onto the A3 design sheet to write and stick images around.

As I plan on using video game characters on my advertisement, I printed out both sprites and PNG art of Mario, Link, Sonic and Kirby to stick around the edges.

I also took colour samples from each of the character's sprites to print out and stick on. I did this so I have colours to sample from when drawing my final design.

Once I added to the design sheet, I included sections for Concept, Reasoning, Colours and Design. I also drew on a rough idea of what the final design will look like, with Mario, Link, Sonic and Kirby sat on the side of the bus.

When creating my final design, I will use this design sheet as a rough reference guide for the characters and chairs.

Digital Graphics for Print | Production Log [Update 2]

05/11/13 - 12/11/13

Since last week I have started to think up my own designs for bus advertisements. Originally I planned created some simple designs using various characters from cult television shows on the side of the bus, with the BBC Cult logo placed on the design.

Doctor Who

With the Doctor Who design, the original image was only the width of the Doctor himself, I had to use the clone stamp tool in Adobe Photoshop in order to create the spacial background and extend it down the length of the bus. I didn't encounter any problems with this, other than occasionally I cloned David Tennant's head by accident, however this design worked rather well overall. This design has the BBC Cult logo at the far left of the bus, to show just what the Doctor is advertising.

Sherlock

As with the Doctor Who design, I extended a small image of Sherlock Holmes and John Watson to fill the entire area. The original image just showed Sherlock and Watson stood in front of a cityscape background, with murky colds covering it. I again used the clone stamp tool to extend the clouds. The problem I encountered with this was the clouds didn't extend very well; they ended up looking rather blurry and didn't blend with the rest of the image. This one again has the BBC Cult logo at the left of the bust to fit with the other designs.













Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

The final design I did with this layout was for Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., in which I used a poster advertising the show. The original poster was only the length of all the Agents, from Skye to Grant Ward. There was a slight bit of background next to Skye's head that I could use to extend it across the length of the bus, again using the clone stamp tool. This one again has the BBC Cult logo at the left of the bust to fit with the other designs, with the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. logo next to it.

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The Walking Dead

Another design I tried was using the doors from the first episode of The Walking Dead that say "Don't Open Dead Inside" on them. I placed an image of the doors on the bus doors, however I had to squash it so it would fit. If I were to choose to make this design, I would re-draw the image in proportion with the bus doors.

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Hand-drawn Designs

After producing some designs in Photoshop, I went on to do 2 hand-drawn designs. I was given a design sheet with bus template faintly on them.

On the first bus, I simply coloured it in blue and wrote "POLICE Public Call BUS" on the side. This bus represents the TARDIS from Doctor Who.

The second design is a hand-drawn idea which will include various video game characters sat on chairs on the side of the bus.

I thought of this idea to represent cult entertainment not just being tied to television and movies. By including characters from video games it shows how BBC Cult is going to incorporate every aspect of cult entertainment.

Digital Graphics for Print | Production Log [Update 1]

Unit Start - 13/09/13

The brief I was give for this unit is as follows:

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The aim of this unit is to give learners the knowledge and skills needed to produce, process, control and manipulate digital graphics used for a range of print, interactive and moving image media. On completion of this unit you should:

1. Understand graphic file formats and applications.
2. Be able to use appropriate image design and manipulation software.
3. Be able to produce digital graphics in response to a brief.
4. Be able to reflect on own digital graphics work.

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Task 1 | Digital Graphics Guide

The first assignment tasked me with producing an informative Digital Graphics Guide that explains about different types of images and digital graphic files and applications. I had to comprehensively explain graphic file formats and their applications, with reference to elucidated examples and consistently using subject terminology correctly.

The Digital Graphics guide can be viewed here (incomplete).

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Task 2 | Producing Digital Graphics

The first thing I had to do for task 2 was create 5 mood boards. I had to create one for each of the following:

1. Advertising Campaigns (Bus)
2. Advertising Campaigns (Magazines)
3. Logos
4. Fonts
5. Textures