My Very Own Creations

This being my last post, I'm going to share some pieces that I've done over the years. Hopefully, even though they're not great, you can learn at least something from them.

The first two are some logos ideas I've created for different companies.

This is a brochure template I've created for CCSoftware.

This was a logo idea for the, well, Art and Humanities Department at Davis High School.

The last few pieces are done in acrylics and colored pencil.

Well, I hope you've liked the blog. Remember, you can learn from anyone's art. Look for different techniques, for inspiration, and for new challenges. Then don't be afraid to try them. You might surprise yourself how well you do.

Advertisement

I've decided to branch out a bit now from still images, and just post up some of my favorite advertisements. You can learn a lot about advertising (and yourself) from good ad campaigns. In advertisement, it's not what you say, but how you say it. Notice in each advertisement what they're really saying, and what emotions they are trying to make you feel.

First off, Old Spice.



Basically, the man is not talking to the ladies, even though he said, "Hello ladies." He's talking to guys. And in a very simplistic way, he's saying, "you stink." But it's the way they say it. And the way they say it is very successful, raising sales 4.3%.

Now this is another Old Spice Commercial just one year earlier. They say basically the same thing: "you stink." But notice the difference of the way they say it.



There's no one way to do great advertisement. But some ways are a lot better than others.

Here's another example: Doritos.



And one of their less effective advertisements back in the day.



And just cause I like these next commercials, Skittles have been doing great advertisements.



This next one appeals to me, just because they're yelling in Tagalog and I understand what they're saying.



The writers that came up with this actually were recently hired by Old Spice and made that new commercial you watched above. Now lets take a look at a commercial that was less effective.



By looking at how good advertisements sell their products, you can learn a lot of good principles you can apply to other situations.

Terry Bogard: Graphic Designer

Portion of image from http://99designs.com/people/terry/folio

Now that I have explained a little bit about 99desings, I'll tell you a bit of a secret of getting good at whatever you do: Look at and learn from those around you. Look at what they create, and learn from what they did right. I like to create graphic design. So one of my favorite artists to learn from is Terry Bogard.

While I wad around 99designs, Terry Bogard stands out as one of the most impressive graphic designers there. Terry, like me, mostly submits logo designs. He has a firm grasp on both 2D and 3D variations of designs. His designs always look professional and crisp. Not only does his designs stand out because of professionalism, but he can skillfully use light, shape, and contrast to make each design pop.

I don't know how he creates some of his work. I'm still a beginner at graphic design. I'm looking forward to the day when I can create designs like his. And that will happen by looking and learning. If you want to learn how to oil paint, look at Albert Bierstadt. If you want to learn how to sculpt, look at Claes Oldenburg. If you want to learn a more modern art form like graphic design, one of the stops, at least for me, would be Terry Bogard.

99designs

Last time, I gave some links to tutorials for Adobe CS4. Now that you've increased your skill in these programs, you can make convincing graphic design. Do you want to use your new found skills and make some money? At 99designs.com, you can.

99designs is a great website where businesses post up graphic design projects. These projects are contests where they'll tell you generally what they want and what they'll pay for the winning design. And the best part is, any one can submit a design to the contest as many times as they want.

Now, 99 designs doesn't pay even close to what a professional graphic designer would get paid. Most projects are around $100-$500. That being said, 99designs is a great place to build up a portfolio. It gives you the creative starting point for designs, the motivation to create your best work, and a bit of cash if the business likes your design. So go on. Check it out. Choose a project and submit a design. It'll be great.

Layer Tennis

Portion of image from http://layertennis.com/100219/04.php

This week's highlight is called Layer Tennis.

The guys at Layer Tennis explain that at Layer Tennis, "Two competitors swap a file back and forth in real-time, adding to and embellishing the work. Each artist gets fifteen minutes to complete a "volley" and then we post that to the site live. The players may be designers, animators, illustrators or pretty much anything else, and they can use any tool or application they like. The match progresses volley by volley. A third participant, a writer, provides play-by-play commentary on the action as it happens. The match lasts for ten volleys and when it's complete, opinioned Season Ticket Holders sound off and we declare a winner."

I like Layer Tennis because you can get ideas off of what the other artist do. You can see what other artists are doing and learn from what good they are producing. If you're getting pretty good at Adobe CS4 and you think you have the chops, you can request to play a match through Twitter.

The next match will be on April 9th. They usually happen every Friday afternoon. If you go before hand, you can take a look at the previous matches. Go on, check it out.

CS4 Tutorials

It's been a few weeks since I've posted, so I figured I'd post three great links. If you are like how I was, and interested in any programs in the Adobe Creative Suite, but just don't know how to use them, these links will be a fabulous help: Layers Magazine, adobe.com, and Creative Cow.

If you're completely new to the programs (like Flash, Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign, AfterEffects, Premier, etc), the tutorials on adobe.com will be your best choice. It will go step by step through the different tools and applications within each program. It will be pretty basic, and you'll just learn enough to be comfortable. But after you know the basics and you want to learn to do some really cool effects, Layers Magazine and Creative Cow are right up your alley.

Through Layers Magazine and Creative Cow, you can learn more about meshes, texturizing text, and animating paint. My personal favorite is Layers because they teach you cool effects you can do when you use multiple programs at once. Once you learn some of the principles, you can make your designs more creative because of the different choices you have.

Rad How To

Portion of Image from Rad How To by Rad Sechrist

This week's highlight is Rad How To! If you're an artist wanting to break into the film industry, this blog will be a big help.

Rad Sechrist is a storyboard artist at Dreamworks Animation. He created his blog to share some ideas and concepts he has learned about drawing. In no way does he say his techniques are the "right way" in doing things. His techniques are only some ways of accomplishing artistic challenges.

I love this blog because it's updated very often, and it has valuable information about drawing. Do you want to know how to draw the "Disney nose"? How can you improve your character design just by improving your shape design? Are you confused about the 180 rule? Have you even heard of the 180 rule? Rad goes step-by-step through concepts for comic book pages, faces, and even character anatomy. The cool thing is that Rad is very down-to-earth in his blog. He says that he didn't have that gift of drawing that some people are born with. Like most of us, he had to work very hard to get to the level he's at right now. The key thing to do is practice. You won't get good unless you practice. It's the only way to get good enough to break into the industry and work on projects like Dreamworks Animation's How To Train Your Dragon.