July 2009 Archives

I've been a professional graphic designer for over 10 years. I started out as a flatbed scanner at York Graphics.

I then became a color technician for their magazine production department. I spent a lot of time creating clipping paths in Adobe Photoshop for hundreds and hundreds of images that went into various magazines. I also did color correcting and photo manipulations. I later moved into senior artist in the desktop publishing department. This is where and when I really started learning and picking up my computer skills as an artist.

I eventually moved into my position at the York Daily Record back in January 2001. And I really love my job here.

Even an old-timer like myself falls into a rut when it comes to creating graphics/illustrations. So, when I'm not working on art specifically for work or a freelance job, I'm working on art for myself to improve my skills.

This illustration below is an example of a piece I am working on not for work exactly but for my self-teaching.

I love learning new skills and honing the ones I already have. I am very fascinated with creation of vector art that looks photo realistic.

I've created the main shapes and shading and will continue to add details to achieve the realism of a photograph.

The story this illustration goes with is about how to enjoy the summer, even when it's hot.

I created this in Adobe Illustrator. The colors are different gradients. I also added an Inner Glow filter to add dimension to the illustration.

I started drawing straight in Illustrator without sketching an idea out. I already had an image of what I wanted the girl and sun to look like.

Here is the illustration. Note the Chuck Taylors the girl is wearing. I love Chucks they're my favorite sneakers.

Can't afford a vacation? Here is an illustration to coincide with a story about if you are not going on vacation, what books you can read to give your mind an escape.

Illustration created in Adobe Illustrator CS3. I basically just started drawing from my head. This won't be running in color in the newspaper, but here is the color version for your enjoyment.

This illustration took about an an hour to complete.

Not really. But I have some free time and I like to work ahead. This year I've taken inspiration from one of my favorite movie directors, Tim Burton.

Here is a sneak peak of my Halloween finder.

I created a meteor page that is in today's York Daily Record.

I just blogged about how the main art was created using a combination of Illustrator and Photoshop techniques.

On the page, I also created a smaller information graphic explaining what happens when the meteoroid enters Earth's atmosphere.

All four images are based off of my original main art. I just turned off my different layers depending on the time frame of what is happening.

The fourth piece of art is when the meteoroid starts breaking apart.

Very simple, I used the lasso tool and created various shapes and then cut and pasted from the original whole meteoroid. That is how I created the broken pieces. Each piece is on its own layer. I used the free transform tool to rotate and scale the pieces.

And that's all folks!

Here is the final meteor page design I created yesterday. It is in today's York Daily Record.

Here is how I did it.
I first drew a meteoroid in Adobe Illustrator CS3 using the pen and pencil tool.

Then I imported the meteoroid into Adobe Photoshop as a smart object on its own layer.
Here is what the layers file looks like of the finished meteoroid.

Now, let's take a step back. I created the space background using the gradient tool and creating my own unique gradient, called atmosphere.

Then, I added stars using the brush tools from the brush palette. I have them highlighted. Notice the stars and space background are on their own separate layers.

After creating the background elements, I then imported the meteoroid onto its own layer.

Here comes the fun part, adding the fire streaks. To create them I used the pen tool and drew a water-drop-like shape. And then made the path into a selection and feathered it about 10 pixels. The selection was then filled with a yellow-orange gradient.

I then added a reddish glow to the tip of the meteoroid again making a shape using the pen tool. I turned the path into a selection and feathered it and filled the selection with a red color.

To create motion for the falling object, I made a copy of the original meteoroid and added a motion blur to it. I also lowered the opacity of the blurred meteoroid layer.

Again, this is a look at the finished art with added fire streaks. Theses extra streaks are copies of the original fire streak. They have been modified in size and shape using the free transform tool.

I change my mind a lot.

I first pitched a Harry Potter two-page design a couple of months ago. The idea was to have separate pages that would combine into a poster after they were published. One page would be of the good guys and the other page the bad guys.

Here is my original design/illustration I created in Adobe Illustrator.

I had gotten pretty far into my concept and then decided I was not happy about how it was looking, so I took a break away from it. (A couple of weeks break to be exact)

Then I realized that the movie was going to be released and I needed to get back to the drawing board.

Here are my new sketches.

These are pencil sketches using a regular No. 2 pencil.

I scanned the sketches into Adobe Photoshop, pumped up the contrast and added color to my sketches. The sketches are on their own individual layer and set to multiply. The color is then added to a layer below the sketch layer.

I use a Wacom Tablet when I color art in Photoshop. I would recommend one if you want to get a painterly effect.

In this step, I added a background using the the clouds filter and I also added a magic glow to Hermione's wand. The magic glow was created by drawing a shape with the pen tool, changing the path to a selection then feathering the selection and adding a box blur.

The printed piece will be in this Sunday's Daily Record/Sunday News and the second part will be published in Tuesday's Daily Record/Sunday News.

But, I already have an English Bulldog and four cats, so William, my husband has forbidden me to adopt any more animals. But I really want a chinchilla.

Well, if I can't have one, I guess I will draw one.

Meet Quesadilla the Chinchilla. (Quesadilla rhymes with chinchilla)

Illustration very easy to draw in Adobe Illustrator, took about 15 mins. I used the ellipse tool to create his body, head and eyes. I then used varying stroke widths for the outlines.

I made him my profile picture on my Facebook account.