Further PhotoShop and InDesign skills developement

Further PhotoShop and InDesign skills developement

Background Ideas

These backgrounds were made with the help of a program called 'Hexels', whereby individual pixels, or trixels in this case (3 sided shapes, basically triangles), can be coloured individually and applied with a glow, such as the rainbow hex glow I applied for this image. As well as the preset pixels and trixels, custom shapes can be made and applied upon flattening the image created onto a background layer and dragging vectors into position to create a shape, followed by the ability to draw with this new shape. I used this to create the rain effect.



The one below was a more creative attempt, utilizing cube shapes, as well as a range of colours, which could be used incase the calmer image above is not as appropriate for the theme of the page or area chosen, though it would be considerably harder to apply text due to the many colours and shapes involved.

 
The pictures to the left and right are both more experimental ideas, combining Hexels and photoshop. The mountain, clouds and glow were all created through Hexels, though the tree and bird were added on a new layer, but were drawn free-hand in the polygon style already shown throughout the style of work I have been creating. The 'Rainbow Pillars' I made to the left were created in Hexels, and the glow was also added inside the software, however I used Photoshop to apply a filter, brightening the colours shown and increasing the glow. I also managed to use Photoshop's eraser tool to clear any random spots or anomalies drifting around in the black space.

These images were experimental, and the program did have potential, however I am unsure if i will incorporate them into my magazine; some where used in the college magazine, but my music magazine has no need for images such as these. However the program does make nice backgrounds, and will be considered greatly for this purpose.

Photoshop Editing Skills Development

Photoshop Editing Skills

'Pulse' title concepts - Adobe Flash Professional CS6

First, I set up 2 masking layers using the new layer button, and right clicked the layers to transform them into masking layers. I then placed one under the other to bind them together, and create the ability to have a 'revealing' layer and a 'background' layer.

After this, I created my title using the line tool and fill tool, as well as as double clicking the outline afterwards to select it all for removal, leaving behind an unoutlined title. After ensuring the title was 'broken apart' and not in a group or converted to a symbol, I locked the layer (Green was chosen due to it's visibility, plus colour won't matter as the shape and fill are the only important objects here).

I then imported an image as the backdrop for the text on the layer below the text's layer. After positioning, the only thing left to do was lock both layers, allowing for the top layer to reveal the bottom layer's contents where there was colour.

I then experimented with this technique with many different patterns and backgrounds, each possessing some link to the genre and tone I aim to create. This can also be done with brush strokes, as demonstrated on the right of the below image. I believe this to be an easy and straight forward way to create detailed text with ease, and may carry one of the designs on to my magazine.

(The backgrounds used here were downloaded from www.Google.com, with the exception of the centre-left texture, which I made quickly using Photoshop, and have only been used for planning and testing purposes and will not be used or incorporated into my work).

The images below, however, were taken and created by myself, though I believe that only the top few (so far) are appropriate for use.

About me

Hey, my name is Brandon March, a media studies student just starting at City College Norwich. I've set up this blog to share my ideas and progress, and I hope that I will be able to take what I learn and achieve in media studies to be able to understand and use media within business.