y2killustration

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-(BS) INDESIGN VIDEO TUTORIAL 3 - BEER CAN DESIGN TEMPLATE

-Works well for analogue process: drawn traditionally and continued digitally

-Open your image in photoshop (multiples way to do it but the choice is yours)

-No locks ideal. double clicking locked layers removes that lock, allowing you to edit it

- ctrl + L brings the levels box. this will allow you to edit the tones (good to double checj your happy with outlined work)

- (want to change the colour of your outline?) select + colour range. Select the white ensuring fuzziness is always at 200 and simply delete. You are now left with only your line art

- You can alter the blend mode of your layer giving you various effects.

- Double clicking nothing will bring you the options for that layer. Colour overlay, you can now change the colour with ease.

- more colour? With a new layer, change the blend mode to multiply. (with multiply, you can colour over the line art and it wont affect it (if black or really really dark)

- Shading? new layer, change blend mode to multiple, opacity to 50%. And then using the same colour, u can overlay it on the colour you already applied to create shading.

-change some colour applied? Holding command will make a small icon appear on your cursor. click your layer whilst holding command will make a complete selection. allowing you to pain the contents of that layer only.

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(FP) INDESIGN VIDEO TUTORIAL 2 & 3 - PLACING IMAGES INTO INDESIGN TEMPLATE & EXPORTING FOR PDF

-The simple process of inserting your images into the provided template

-File, open Chick Tract template.

-File, Place, to slap your images in. before hand, click the bounding box you want the image to be inserted to. each box is a page so should correspond with the images you want to insert.

-File, export, (place wherever and name) ensure format is pdf print, export.

[y2killustration]

CONTEXTUAL RESEARCH- PIZZA TRUD’S TRUE IDENTITY

If you watch Dutchgaria, you will notice that certain characters have unique appearances and designs. A theme of old art reoccurs with these characters as we see the Renaissance family and even Pizza Trud. However, his peculiar appearance was hard to match to any art pieces... until now.

After researching about Yokai and trailing into several other related topics. I stumbled upon a readable pdf for ZIlia Papp’s “Anime and its early roots in japanese monster art’. It turns out that Pizza Trud’s face matches the japanese God of wind ‘Fūjin’ from the religion Shinto.

[y2killustration]

(FP) INDESIGN VIDEO TUTORIAL 1 - IMAGES AND THE CHICK TRACT TEMPLATE

- Chick Tract template is available for download, use this when it comes to doing your design for flatpack

- Very simple process of placing images and using the band box to edit their size.

- Using the template to create your pages is advised as its the correct scale

-From this, you should have all the pages for your Chick Tract in jpeg which will translate nicely to the template in indesign (which will be further elaborated on in another tutorial)

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(BS) INDESIGN VIDEO TUTORIAL 3 - BEER CAN DESIGN TEMPLATE

- Provided is an industry professional template, a little complicated but just to grasp the idea of layout. colours on the top corners are values for the printer to refer to. Cross hairs are registration marks for ease of layering documents on top. Crop marks in the corners are cut by the printer.

-Another given thing, Indd files can be opened with the 2020 version. Having an older version of Indesign then IDML files are your go to.

-A high res version of the burning soul logo has been provided as well. you can ungroup the logo to isolate the illustration from the background for personal use. Free transform will let you rescale. This logo must be incorporated into your design in some way.

-Your design has to fit within the Bleed (Width of 230 mm, Height 122 mm). Anything outside the Bleed will be cut. Contents in the Folds must be left untouched, if there is anything within the fold, it must be behind the important features such as the bar code.

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(BS) INDESIGN VIDEO TUTORIAL 2- SOMETHING SOMETHING... FONTS

Another video, which means more notes.

- ctrl + t , type box. Gives you all the options to edit your type; kerning, size etc.

- Box must be made for your type to be inserted. Selection tool will let you edit this box. A little red x indicates you have to much type for your box.

- Sans serif (no extra curls at end of font) and serif (extra curls or extensions at end of font). These are factors to consider when using words in your work. The word should be visualised appropriately.

- Using fonts is a little tricky. whilst the crap ones are free, the good ones are expensive. You’d probably be better off creating your own or at minimum... using a free font. you know, to prevent getting copyright infringement and getting sued.

- Your font gods are: Dafont (personally used myself), Fontfabric (an advised site, probably better than my suggestion)

- Kerning is the space between individual letters. It’s pretty important when it comes to design.

- Leading is the distance between words in a sentence

- Tracking is the overall space between letters in words

-Lorem Ipsum. Staple for graphic designers. Described as dummy (no thicc...) text. Allows designers to see how the large boxes of text will look on their work.

- Outling fonts. by going to ‘type’ and ‘create outline’, the words become a shape. This allows for less issues for printing when the hardware cant recognise downloaded fonts.

Overall take from the video. Creating type sheets experimenting with the fonts you will use would not only be beneficial for your designs but is good practice.

[y2killustration]

CHICK TRACT MOCK UP WORKSHOP

In this simple and quick task, we were given PDFs to use to create ourselves little template on the publications we’d be making. This gives us a better understanding of what we’d be working with as well as the scale.

Ironically, I made my Chick Tract the wrong size as all I had access to was A4 paper. I intend to plan out my pages in a sketchbook which will then be scanned, drawn digitally and printed off. That way, it’ll be a more professional outcome and easier to mass produce.

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(BS) INDESIGN VIDEO TUTORIAL 1 - KEY POINTS AND NOTES

- Your Documents you open should have a bleed setting enabled. The bleed is a border which keeps your images on the page and ensures they wont be printed to big or off your page.

-Rectangle frame is what you’ll use to insert images or your illustrations.

-Selection tool is pretty important. If you want to move things, this is your go to.

-Direct selection tool allows you to change the image you would of placed in the rectangle frame.

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CONTEXTUAL RESEARCH - CHICK TRACTS

Named after their creator Jack Chick, an american publisher and religious cartoonist, Chick tracts are short publications that dabble on christian views and other controversies. Most released Chick tracts discuss these views via comic format and in general are quite small in size (being 12.5 by 7 cm) 

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CONTEXTUAL RESEARCH - CAN DESIGNS #2

From the source itself, “Bottle Logic Brewing in collaboration with Keymaster Games released their next Campy Creatures beer: Stealth Mode featuring The Invisible Man. It's a tart ale brewed with blueberries. They also designed some full-color, full-wrap glassware to accompany the release,”

Overall, I think this is just a really cool can design. With a name linked to the character depicted on the can, it’s art style, layout and use of colours all compliment each other. They also used a cold, blue colour palette in relation to the flavour of the beer which is pretty clever.

In terms of the design I want to do, I could use the layout and choice of colour as guidelines to my approach. One thing to mention is how the owner of Burning Soul Brewery himself said ‘I want a Badass drawing’ and will do so whilst using the characters I’ve selected (for now at least).

[y2killustration]

CONTEXTUAL RESEARCH - CAN DESIGNS #1

Main points from the source: From the Åbro Brewery was founded in Vimmerby, in 1856. For four generations, It still stands next to a river under a bridge, Bron means the bridge in swedish.

It went off the idea of "Under the bridge", a place where anything and everything can happen. Fishermen tales, submarines and lost divers, river beasts with monstrous tentacles... portrayed in their can designs.

For more images and the original text, click here. 

With effective imagery, a strong, clever concept and great execution, it is hard not to like these designs.  It’s use of colours is limited yet combined with strong line art makes the illustration really pop. 

Whilst focused more on narrative, my designs revolve more about character. Though I will take forward their process and approach to design. As no doubt in how professional this both looks and was done.

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NARRATIVE STYLES AND PROMPTS WORKSHOP

With inspiration from the book ‘99 Ways to Tell a Story: Exercises in Style’. We were set the task to use 3 images from a pre-selected few to form a narrative. Once settled, we were then given our prompt in which we’d follow or use for our story. For instance, I had horizontal and in the book horizontal was in the context of the panels and shots.

Initially the story was about a man and his journey to escape the city and see the mountains. However after receiving my prompt and struggling to create ideas, I altered the character as well as his motives. Whilst a touch morbid, it revolved around the spirit of a recently passed man who wanted to find closure and serenity.

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LOTUS FLOWER CREATIVE THINKING WORKSHOP

A small workshop to help us gather ideas on any of our current projects. The idea was to create a grid-like mind map that would then expand into more mind maps. Thus creating a huge word bank to get your project going.

Whilst i could see it’s uses, the ideas for my modules have already been thought about or set. Though i admit it did help refine my ideas for the Flatpack brief, now having an idea behind the Chick Tract and its contents.

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ONE DAY BRIEF - 3D EYES FOR FLATPACK’S COLOURBOX

For an upcoming event, Flatpack have asked 1st year illustration to create 3D eyes for their exhibit.

During the allocated time I had to make these eyes, I used the materials provided to create 1 human and 1 reptile-ish eye. The materials used ranged from cardboard to other coloured pieces of card to promarkers and various ahesives (like sellotape and glue). Overall the results came out decent, tho from the eyes that other members of the course made, I feel as if i could of done better.

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BRIEF RESEARCH - VISITING BURNING SOUL BREWERY

To try get a better understanding of who we were working for and what they wanted, we visited the location of the company. Allowing us to have a friendly chat with one of the co-founders who worked behind bar. And yes, they set up a little bar in front of where they brew the beer. It’s all in one!

From the talk, i managed to document several pointers which should help direct how I’ll design the can for the brief. These points are:

-A Badass name and design. High contrast in colours, possibly monochrome.

-A few drinks that already exist have names referring to shōnen anime and games (Halo, Dota 2 .etc). 

-Since this is a one-off occasion, it’s open in terms of whats on the can.

-The drink itself is a standard IPA, no particular flavour or anything special.

These notes open up for even more ideas in aesthetic, name and design. Though I’ll keep into consideration complicated copyright issues when it comes to using sources such as games I’ve played and other references. Let’s not get the company sued...

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CONTEXTUAL RESEARCH - MYTHICAL MONSTERS AND MAIDENS, THE IGNIS AND JABBERWOCK

Looking through the words Burning Souls website used to represent their company reminded me of some encyclopedias I owned, that has information on a wide range of monsters. Using those monsters on a beer can design would be pretty cool, right?

The Ignis, a fire elemental born from corruption of demonic enegry and concentrated “fire elements" monsterizing. They are violent like a raging flame, and have an indiscriminate disposition with a lack of regard for minor details. Many of them inhabit places of comparatively high temperatures like volcanic and desert regions.’

The Jabberwock, dragon kind peculiar to "Wonderland," are high-ranking monsters that possess powerful bodies, and high intelligence. Under orders from the queen, they block the paths of those who wander into Wonderland. Originally sharing the traits of most dragon species, their sense of pride has been corrupted by the work of a spell. With the ability to overpower others, Instead of absolute strength, it is now their reputation on being lascivious.

Other monsters are always in the picture, however these 2 will be the first to receive designs based on them. 

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CONTEXTUAL RESEARCH - GREEK GODS AND GODDESSES, APHRODITE AND EROS.

What not a better way to represent a good drink with imagery of gods and goddesses? 

Using the words Burning Soul advertise on the website, I managed to find Aphrodite and Eros, deities in relation to passion and desire. Lets look into it...

Aphrodite is an ancient Greek goddess associated with several things: love, beauty, pleasure, passion and procreation. Her major symbols include myrtles, roses, doves, sparrows, and swans. Aphrodite was worshipped as a warrior goddess but was also the patron goddess of prostitutes, an association which led early scholars to propose the concept of "sacred prostitution", an idea which is now generally seen as erroneous.

In Greek mythology, Aphrodite was married to Hephaestus, the god of blacksmiths and metalworking. Despite this, Aphrodite was a hoe, frequently unfaithful to him and had many lovers; for instance, in the Odyssey (some old text), she is caught in the act of adultery with Ares, the god of war. Aphrodite has been featured in Western art as a symbol of female beauty and has appeared in numerous works of Western literature.

Eros is the son of Aphrodite. His counterpart was cupid and... well that’s it really. However, i found that one of my own sources mentions Eros and his portrayl differs greatly to his greek background. in short: she (yes, she...) is a neutral god, known to reward mortals who perform good deeds with one of her many servants. Said servants include Houris, Cupids, Gandharvas and Apsaras.