Just Because It's Been a While Since I've Posted Something Original...

Editor in Chief

I am taking an advanced editing class this semester and we were given the task of creating a study guide for the Theatre Department that didn't... suck. No offense to anyone who had a hand in designing study guides for previous productions, but they all had that "I designed this in Wordperfect for Relief Society" kinda feel to them.

So as a class, we were to make, from scratch, a study guide that looked professional, that enlightened the audience, and kept them from walking out of the show. I'm certain that the production will be brilliant, but I would not blame anyone for walking out of Waiting for Godot, (which, obviously, is the production that we designed the study guide for).

For whatever reason, I was selected to be the Editor in Chief for the project (in reality I made very few executive decisions, preferring instead to work as a team) and my primary role was in graphics creation. I made all of the pictures used in the study guide (with the exception of a conceptual sketch not pictured here). I started in illustrator and made the general shapes and colors (I had chosen to create clockwork illustrations because the production is going to be kind of steampunk-ish and deals a lot with time) and then I imported them into photoshop and made them all rusty and cracked and generally aged.

I posted the graphic on the front page a few weeks ago and decided to do so without explanation because... I was feeling really lazy and frankly didn't feel like explaining the whole project, which I'm repenting of as I write these words. :)

Anyways, I'm super happy with how it turned out, my editing class was awesome to work with on the project. And I'm extremely happy with how all of my images turned out and I'm super stoked that I made them from scratch.

It was a super fun project and I really got to flex my developing design muscles. Let me know what you think!

And if you're near Rexburg, they'll be doing the play early next semester. (You should totally go, if only to grab one of the study guides:)

This is the front cover

And here's a sample of what the interior pages look like

 You can barely see this graphic on the interior pages, so I wanted to post it, just cuz

#1

Photoshopped by me.
Photographed by my wife.

The Tower of Babel

Ok, so I acknowledge the fact that no one has heard of Xenogears and that the only person who'll even know what I'm referring to (and I highly doubt that he'll even remember) is my brother. But I made this in photoshop forever ago and it's always reminded me of the Tower of Babel from Xenogears, not that anyone even knows what I mean.

And it matches my blog's fresh coat of paint!

We Live in an 8-bit World

Presented with No Explanation

Cafe Terrace at Night Tilt-Shifted

So this is a bit after-the-fact, but I haven't seen any of my favorite Van Gogh painting tilt-shifted (although I remember reading that the effect isn't tilt-shift but something else... depth of field, maybe?) Anyways, this was not in any way, shape, or form my idea, but I did execute this particular effect on this particular painting. Any Van Gogh lovers?

Those Aren't Clouds

I got bored today and decided to flex my Photoshop muscles. I was playing around with some waterpaint splatter brushes and ended up making a picture of clouds. Perhaps it's not photo-realistic, but I'm pretty happy with it since I was just playing around with some brushes...

I toyed with the notion of saying that I had taken a picture of the sky, but I guess I just respect you all too much to do something like that... :)

Are you looking forward to lying on your back on the grass and looking at real clouds?

That's No Moon

Elfed

Linds was mad that I made her into a zombie, so she made me make her into an elf.

That's all.

Self-Portrait on Lined Paper—Part Deux

There may be some of you that remember this post. While on my mission I tracted into an artist who invited us inside because he wanted to talk about God. We visited him a few times and had a few conversations with him, and one of the things that he showed us were his abstract self-portraits.

I loved them.

They were abstract in a symbolic way, not like a Picasso or something. He used it as a method of learning about himself—even he wasn't sure what they stood for.

I decided that I wanted to try doing it, so the next day during personal study I just drew something. Obviously, it looks more like doodling than a work of art, but I still enjoyed doing it.

Anyways, I've been trying to learn how to use illustrator so I created a vector version of the original.

Yet Another Zombie

Here's yet another zombie picture. I probably could have done a lot more work on it and it looks a bit over-processed to me, but Linds likes it.

My Pretty Little Zombie

I realize that it's January and zombies are a subject usually left for October, but I think it's time to face it: zombies are awesome and should be talked about many times throughout the year.

Which is why I've decided to post a zombified picture of Lindsay that I made several months ago. I had just finished the television show Dead Set, which provided the inspiration for the eyes.

And the gif is here because I recently discovered that I could use photoshop to create animated gifs, something I've been wanting to do since I was 14. Shame that nobody uses animated gifs anymore. *sigh*

A Painting from Fongs.

This is an unfinished work I decided to try to make as I was waiting for my Lemon Chicken from Fongs (the local Chinese restaurant talent). I noticed a painting tucked into a corner behind a tree and thought "I bet I could recreate that in photoshop." So that's what this is. I guess it turned out alright.

I should mention that I snapped a photo with my phone and used that picture to mixer-brush (that's a verb, right?) the bird.

Keeping up with the space theme, I guess...

So, this is the result of another tutorial, courtesy of Chris Spooner, whose website I believe I've linked to in my new "Websites I'm diggin'" list over to the right and down a little (at least, at the time of the posting). Not too much to say, just a picture of some planets. I couldn't think of any awesome captions to put on this one, so I just wrote "Planetary Conquest." Y'know, because that's cool. 

What I'm doing instead of homework

So it's finals week and I've been playing with photoshop instead of doing homework. These are some pictures that I've made all retro-y and look like they were taken with super old vintage-y cameras. Here's hoping I make it through the week...

Y'know, just cuz

Merry Christmas F'realsies

So the first one I posted was the result of a tutorial I found. I made this one by the seat of my pants, but using the same principles, and I like it way better.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas

More Boredom

So, here is some more pictures from Europe. And let me warn you: I got two positive comments from my last series of pictures. So this time, I'm stretching. Don't worry, you don't have to feel obligated to laugh when you see them. As I said: I was just bored. 

 This is me being an airplane. In light of the recent death of Leslie Nielson, I'll say it's a tribute to Airplane! even though it's really a tribute to the Sound of Music.

 This is a happy butterfly. I see it and think of the Silence of the Lambs.

 By your powers combined, I am Captain Planet!

 This is one of the hundreds of extreme close-up shots taken by my lovely wife.

 This is me, trying on a brand new pair of clown shoes in Sienna, Italy.

 We didn't actually notice the creepy guy in the background of this picture until much later.

 I only recently noticed that my head is located right where that guy's genitals should be. Awkward.

 This is me, looking intellectual in front of a famous cafe for intellectuals in Vienna.

 This is us in front of a big O.

 Killer Octopus.

Word to the wise: don't ever shoplift in a foreign country. Another word? Oubliette.

 Motion sick?

 Salzburg sandstorms come out of NOWHERE!

 For whatever reason, I kept running into ravenous mythological sealife.

 Dog-Sherlock Holmes.

 Linds looked like a witch in this picture, so I just completed the effect.

Yeah buddy, I got muscles. And this picture was in no way enhanced by photoshop.