CIEBM pt.2 – Using Fonts

During this module you will also be encouraged to explore typefaces that fit perfectly with your design ideas. You must explore the list of sites in order to collect a maximum of three typefaces that will fit well with your design ideas. You can install as many fonts as you like on your personal machines… Continue reading »

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Logo/Branding Resources

This is the Logo Powerpoint Presentation Web Resources Links to websites showing logo design theory and an insight and comments of logo development included:- 1. Logo Design Love http://www.logodesignlove.com This is an excellent resource with huge amount of useful information – please explore this site. David Airey has also kindly allowed the public to download… Continue reading »

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Visual Studies – An Introduction to Vectors – 29/02/12

This is the final “taught” lesson. Where we will cover the very basics of understanding the way vector drawing tools or “Bezier curves” work. Download Exercise file here An application of some understanding of the techniques covered today, such as effective use of the live trace system in Illustrator, and effectively tying this in with… Continue reading »

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Visual Studies – 22/02/12. Creating Repeats using your personal colour palettes.

Wrapping up this final task we will learn how to develop our own repeat patterns, and apply your personal colours palettes to these patterns using amongst other Photoshop adjustments, the Replace Colour command . This should open up many design options for you all and give you scope to really expand on your initial experimentation. You will… Continue reading »

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Visual Studies 01-02-12 – Repeat Patterns

Repeat Patterns Not only can you colour your sketches digitally, but as soon as you have defined a region to fill and isolated it on a new layer, you can apply repeat patterns. Personally, to find a repeat pattern I feel is very much like solving a visual puzzle. Sometimes repeats are very easy to… Continue reading »

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CIEBM pt.2 – Using Fonts Logo/Branding Resources Visual Studies – An Introduction to Vectors – 29/02/12 Visual Studies – 22/02/12. Creating Repeats using your personal colour palettes. Visual Studies 01-02-12 – Repeat Patterns

Mar
24

CIEBM pt.2 – Using Fonts

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During this module you will also be encouraged to explore typefaces that fit perfectly with your design ideas.

You must explore the list of sites in order to collect a maximum of three typefaces that will fit well with your design ideas. You can install as many fonts as you like on your personal machines but we will be restricted at college. Please ask if you want a font installing on your college machine.

http://www.creamundo.com/
http://www.chank.com
http://www.free-fonts.com
http://www.betterfonts.com/
http://www.showfont.net/
http://simplythebest.net/fonts/
http://www.acidfonts.com
http://www.webpagepublicity.com/free-fonts.html
http://www.dafont.com

Tips to install the fonts on your personal machines:

# Windows Vista/7 : Right-click on the font files > “Install”
# Windows XP : Put the font files into C:\Windows\Fonts
# Mac OS X : Double-click the font file > “Install font” button.

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Mar
03

Logo/Branding Resources

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This is the Logo Powerpoint Presentation

Web Resources

Links to websites showing logo design theory and an insight and comments of logo development included:-

1. Logo Design Love

http://www.logodesignlove.com

This is an excellent resource with huge amount of useful information – please explore this site. David Airey has also kindly allowed the public to download a chapter from his book, fortunately one of the most relevant for this project. You can locate and download the chapter by clicking on the following link: – http://www.logodesignlove.com/free-logo-design-love-book-chapter.

2. David Airey Portfolio

http://www.davidairey.com/portfolio/

David shares elements of his design process within his portfolio. It is quite rare to find a designer so candid with their design and thought process. Some examples are more detailed than others – just ensure you click on the “design process” link.

3. Under Consideration

http://www.underconsideration.com/

During class we specifically looked at the ‘Brand New‘ section of the site. This focuses solely on corporate and brand identity work. By looking at other graphic designers and brand designers work and comments in the “Brand New Classroom“, it should help you become more aware of design trends and more on an insight into the process, consideration and opinions of designers. Remember, once on the “Brand New Classroom” page, ensure you click on “Continue reading this entry” in order to see the comments.

This website has an enormous amount of resources.  Ensure you explore this site.

4. Logo Pond

http://logopond.com/

Logopond, although not quite as insightful, works in a similar way, with lots of graphic examples.

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Feb
29

Visual Studies – An Introduction to Vectors – 29/02/12

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This is the final “taught” lesson. Where we will cover the very basics of understanding the way vector drawing tools or “Bezier curves” work.

Download Exercise file here

An application of some understanding of the techniques covered today, such as effective use of the live trace system in Illustrator, and effectively tying this in with your hand-drawn work is a minimum expectation for submission. Videos supporting this session will be uploaded on this blog by the weekend. You will be awarded higher grades if you show effective experimentation with these tools and integrate this work within your portfolio and sketchbook.

You will be provided with a check list next week with suggestions of what you should submit. A good submission will go beyond what has been covered in class, demonstrating: -

  • Applied Knowledge
  • Creativity
  • Visual Awareness
  • Presentation Skills

Videos to supplement what has been covered today are listed below: -

The Video Tutorials

These videos cover the basics of applying the Live Trace technique to your artwork. As with may techniques, practice and experimentation is vital.

  1. The first tutorial covers a basic introduction. Watch the video here.
  2. The second tutorial covers setting up your sketch in order to convert it to a vector graphic. Watch it here.
  3. The third tutorial covers live tracing and refining your line artwork. Watch the third video here.
  4. The fourth tutorial suggests ways to colour your traced artwork, focusing predominantly on Live Paint. Watch it here. *Note – there is a quicker way to achieve this but is not as reliable. This will be covered in class.
  5. The fifth tutorial develops more ways to use live paint. Watch it here.
  6. The final tutorial looks at ways to resize and apply basic gradients to your artwork. Watch it here.

 

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Feb
22

Visual Studies – 22/02/12. Creating Repeats using your personal colour palettes.

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Wrapping up this final task we will learn how to develop our own repeat patterns, and apply your personal colours palettes to these patterns using amongst other Photoshop adjustments, the Replace Colour command . This should open up many design options for you all and give you scope to really expand on your initial experimentation.

You will need to download this file to follow today’s session.

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Feb
01

Visual Studies 01-02-12 – Repeat Patterns

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Repeat Patterns

Not only can you colour your sketches digitally, but as soon as you have defined a region to fill and isolated it on a new layer, you can apply repeat patterns. Personally, to find a repeat pattern I feel is very much like solving a visual puzzle. Sometimes repeats are very easy to identify, other examples can be exceptionally difficult. You can also make your own repeat patterns manually in Photoshop. With the remaining time within the Visual Studies sessions we will attempt to explore as much of these concepts as possible.

See how to create a repeat pattern in Photoshop and integrate it into your digital sketch here.

After trying this method, try this alternate method. It will be really worth your while, as long as the width and height of your document is dividable by 2! Watch it here.

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Jan
31

CIEBM (31-01-12)

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This is what will was covered in the  session on Tuesday 31st  January 2012:-

Blogging – Word Press

We covered the basics of setting up a Word Press blog. This would be useful as it could enhance your web presence without requiring any real web design skills. In turn, it can help develop your self promotion portfolio.

Areas we looked at included

  • Setting up an account
  • Customising your theme
  • Adding content
  • Formatting Content
  • Looking at the ‘Dashboard’
  • Creating Catagories

Personal Branding

In order to generate ideas, inspiration and techniques in order to generate personal logos and in turn, branding strategies, we looked at several websites. These included: -

Logo Design Love

A wonderful resource on Logo Design. Explore the links on the right as there are many useful and relevant articles.

David Airey (of Logo Design Love): – Portfolio

This is particularly useful as it provides a glimpse into the design and development process of a logo: – a topic rarely disclosed by most professional designers. To find these examples (which vary in detail), click on the design process link under each visual sample.

http://www.underconsideration.com

An excellent Graphic Design resource. If you click on the Brand New link, it will take you to recently submitted examples of re-branding work. Find a re-branding project that interests you and click on the CONTINUE READING THIS ENTRY link at the foot of the excerpt to read the creative process and opinions from other graphic and branding designers. This will give you a flavour of what designs and styles are currently fashionable or appropriate.

You can also find more critique and opinions on student work by clicking on click on the Brand New link > Brand New Classroom > and click on the CONTINUE READING THIS ENTRY link.

Logopond

This is particularly good for visual references and visual inspiration on logo development. There is some comments but generally they seem to be less insightful and intelligent.

An Introduction to Colour Consistency

It is extremely important to work consistently with colour in your branding/promotional projects. We will be learning how to create a unique, personalised colour palette. Download a blank one here and watch the accompanying video here.

Within the video you will learn how to: -

  1. Find online colour resources
  2. Create a personal colour palette based on a piece of artwork or photograph to work in Photoshop, Illustrator and Dreamweaver

You can also download a detailed handout to accompany the video here.

Finally as some extra background reading, you can download a short essay about colour which may help you with your research and annotation here.

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Jan
23

Protected: CPD – 24-01-12

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Jan
18

Visual Studies – 18-01-12

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Case Study: – Colouring and Retouching a Sketch Digitally

You will learn how to prepare and colour a typical hand drawn sketch digitally. Once you understand the process, you can prototype your sketch incredible quickly and easily. The main tool used in order to complete this lesson is the Magic Wand tool, but there are many techniques covered in this set of videos, some of which are to an intermediate level. Enjoy!

  1. Preparing and cleaning up an image in Photoshop to use in our project using levels adjust. Watch the video here.
  2. Using the Magic Wand to get a basic effect. Watch the video here.
  3. Expanding selections to avoid ‘haloing’ and a processed look. ‘Jumping’ layers and using Blend Modes. Watch the video here.
  4. Putting it all together. Watch here. * Note: – Video 4 is an updated, improved tutorial with simplified techniques.

Once you have completed the tutorial, why not apply the same principles to other parts of the sketch, such as the flesh and shoes. If you can do this without too much trouble you have come a long way in the world of Photoshop!

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Jan
17

Live Trace techniques to develop a flexible, Vector Logo

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This post may be the solution to your vector drawing needs, particularly if you have struggled or have no time to tackle/figure out the vector drawing tools. In addition, if you want to develop a vector logo (i.e. for “CIEBM pt.2″ or for the niche branding task in “Introduction to Fashion Promotion”) this is an excellent place to start. *Note, these techniques are not used as an alternative to the flat drawing techniques used in “Working in The Digital Environment“, but as a supplement, particularly useful for prototyping.

The Exercise Files

Download the exercise files here. Within the exercise files you will find: -

  • good-live-trace-final.jpg : – this is the file you will need in order to follow along with the tutorial.
  • live_trace_final.ai : – this is roughly what you will end up with if you follow along with the tutorial.
  • handout – live trace.docx :- this is a handout which leads you through a similar process as the video tutorials below, but with a more complex sketch.
  • logo outline – bear.jpg: – this this is the file you will need in order to follow along with the tutorial. You will develop a polar bear motif.

The Video Tutorials

These videos cover the basics of applying the Live Trace technique to your artwork. As with may techniques, practice and experimentation is vital.

  1. The first tutorial covers a basic introduction. Watch the video here.
  2. The second tutorial covers setting up your sketch in order to convert it to a vector graphic. Watch it here.
  3. The third tutorial covers live tracing and refining your line artwork. Watch the third video here.
  4. The fourth tutorial suggests ways to colour your traced artwork, focusing predominantly on Live Paint. Watch it here.
  5. The fifth tutorial develops more ways to use live paint. Watch it here.
  6. The final tutorial looks at ways to resize and apply basic gradients to your artwork. Watch it here.

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Jan
15

CIEBM Part 2 – Module Guide

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Introduction

Welcome to Creative Industries : Enterprise and Business Management (CIEBM) – Part 2

Please download the latest Module Guide Here.

Your initial tasks are to: -

  1. Hold formal meetings to discuss all aspects of the layout of the publication. Ensure minutes are kept for any absentees.
  2. Develop your personal statement.
  3. Develop moodboard for initial ideas for allocated zine space. Deadline for these is 4.30 on Tuesday 31st January

 

 

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Jan
14

Working in The Digital Environment – Clipping Masks in Illustrator (using fabric samples)

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This is an opportunity for you to experiment with the techniques covered thus far. Each student is expected to put  into practice what they have learnt and develop a digital piece of artwork in Adobe Illustrator from a personal garment sketch which should be integral to your final submission.

It has been mentioned on more than one occasion how to integrate fabric samples within a digital sketch. It can be achieved using clipping masks. Although we have looked at them in a previous exercise, I have uploaded a couple of videos to help you follow this procedure.

Video 1

Video 2

You would greatly benefit from purchasing and working through exercises in the recommended text for the future.

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Jan
09

Working in The Digital Environment – Final Illustrator Session & Videos

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This is what will be covered in the final Illustrator session.

Download today’s exercise here.

We will be learning how to:-

  1. Align shapes.
  2. Tweak the appearance of the neckline to create a rib effect. See the video here.
  3. Work with clipping masks in order to complete the neckline. See the video here.
  4. Work with Illustrator files in Photoshop using “round-trip editing”. Also creating effective backgrounds in Photoshop. See the video here.

Your final image should look something like this...

This will be the last formal Illustrator session. If you have followed and understood all the tutorials to this point, you should, with a little effort and imagination follow all the tutorials in the recommended text. Most techniques covered after this are basically variations on what you have already learnt but will allow you to tackle different garments with various levels of complexity. Now is time to take your skills to the next level by setting yourself personal projects to digitise  your own garments in Illustrator.

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Dec
11

Introduction to Fashion Promotion – 12-12-11

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Creating a swing tag in Photoshop (and integrating your logo)

Get the resources (if you really want them – it is not essential) for this tutorial here.

1. First we will learn to:-

  1. Create  irregular and regular shapes swing tag in Photoshop
  2. Use the vector shape tool and paths
  3. Converting paths to a regular selection

Download or watch the video here.

2. Then we will learn to:-

  1. Use Clipping Masks to integrate a texture into the swing tag shape
  2. Create a 3d effect using drop shadows, bevel & emboss,
  3. Drill a hole in the tag for the string/ribbon

Download or watch the video here.

3. Next we will learn to:-

  1. modify the texture through blend modes and opacity
  2. bring in the vector logo
  3. merge the logo with the swing tag texture using blend modes
  4. create a compressed stamp or branding effect using inner shadow
  5. use layer groups in Photoshop
  6. duplicate the swing tag for the reverse
  7. integrate a barcode

Download or watch the video here.

4. Finally we will learn to:-

  1. Apply “round trip editing” for the vector logo

Download or watch the video here.

An Introduction to Colour Consistency

It is extremely important to work consistently with colour in your branding/promotional projects. We will be learning how to create a unique, personalised colour palette. Download a blank one here and watch the accompanying video here.

Within the video you will learn how to: -

  1. Find online colour resources
  2. Create a personal colour palette based on a piece of artwork or photograph to work in Photoshop, Illustrator and Dreamweaver

You can also download a detailed handout to accompany the video here.

Finally as some extra background reading, you can download a short essay about colour which may help you with your research and annotation here.

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Dec
08

WIDE – 09-12-11

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Please download today’s exercise here.

All the techniques covered today are summarised here: -

  1. Add extra pleat details. See the video here.
  2. Create your own 2 needle top stitch and save in the brushes library. See the video here. Download the handout here.
  3. Create a striped repeat pattern. See the video here.
  4. Transform a pattern (change the orientation). See the video here.
Your final image should look something like this.

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Dec
08

Advanced Digital Applications – Session 1

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Here are the basic outlines of the techniques that have been covered in the first session. You will need a basic video viewer and headphones/speakers.

  1. Video 1 covers basics of reshaping the face using the liquefy tool. watch it here
  2. Video 2 introduces the concept of masks and the blur filter. Watch it here.
  3. Video 3 shows another interesting way to use masks. Watch it here.
  4. Video 4 uses masks and multiple images to make a digital moodboard/montage. Watch it here.
  5. Video 5 consolidates a few more retouching techniques covered in class. Watch it here.
  6. Video 6 discusses a few more retouching techniques, followed by strategies to create focal points for images by applying blur and adjustments to lighten and darken images. Watch it here.
  7. Video 7 covers key selection techniques, and highlights the importance of SELECT, CONTRACT and finally FEATHER. Note, this video is quite long (over 20 mins.) and may take a while to download so please be patient. Watch it here.

The following are tutorials that have not been covered in class exactly, but cover similar techniques. Although they start with really basic techniques, they are good for revision.

  1. Setting up the interface and basic settings in Photoshop. Watch the video here.
  2. Modifying and tweaking the orientation of photographs in Photoshop. Watch the video here.
  3. Understanding Brushes in Photoshop. Watch the video here.
  4. The Healing and Clone Tools. Watch video here.
  5. Isolating editable areas in order to apply clone and healing – case study. Watch here.
  6. Principles of the Magic Wand tool for selecting. Watch video here.

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