Movie with Popup Images

I took samples of work I've done for clients and class assignments and created a movie with popup images using After Effects. This is a self-promotion piece using a sample of photography, a business card (front and back), a poster, a flyer, one photo-manipulation, one illustration and a self-portrait. I used Premiere Pro to add music obtained from Flash Kit. In spite of technical difficulties I managed to get this done and I'm happy with the results. Spot lighting is used with a subtle increase of light for each image as it pops up. I kept running into problems with Premiere Pro cutting off either the top or bottom of the movie or the end. This was so frustrating. Then I looked at the movie window in Premiere Pro and it was set to 50%. Changing the 50% to "fit" solved the problem. It's always the little things that get you.

And Even More Fonts

Actually, these are glyphs. I had created a font set for capital letters. This time I created a font set for small caps, numbers and three symbols using, once again, an Illustrator brush.  Again, I was keeping in mind Art Deco styles, which are fairly simple with clean lines. I'm mostly satisfied with the results and this was quicker to do because I was more familiar with the process of creating glyphs.

The World of Digital Design and Clients

Clients will often say they want their design as soon as possible. Keep in mind that they are running a business and are busy.  Give them a few days to respond after you send them a design via email then followup with a phone call or email depending on which the client prefers.

Fonts, Fonts and More Fonts

I created a set of fonts that were inspired by Art Deco designs. These are all capital letters. I used Illustrator  brushes and a trial version of a font creation tool. I think they came out better than I thought. There was a challenge trying to use the trial version of TypeTool. I'll have to go to the college tomorrow and use a PC only trial version of Font Creator 4.

Illustration Using Only Brushes

I created an illustration using only Illustrator brushes. No pens, fills or geometric shapes were used. This took hours and hours of work and I learned a lot more about Illustrator brushes. Unlike a physical canvas and using paint and brush, you can change the stroke after you apply it. After all, every brush stroke in Illustrator is a path and all you have to do is click on handles or anchors to change the shape. If you use the direct selection tool, click on the stroke, select the brush tool and click on the stroke again, you can actually repaint the stroke. 

I've downloaded the artwork to this blog and I'm not completely happy with it. It doesn't match the picture in my mind. But I did manage to get an expression on the woman’s face.

Gadgets

I added two gadgets and will probably add more later. This was easy to do. I did have a challenge with adding the YouTube video because only the html was showing up in the preview. Finally, I looked at the Post Options and checked Interpret typed HTML.

My First Assignment for Class

The purpose of the assignment was to animate brushes used in Photoshop. I used one of my winter photos and several different brushes for the treatment around the window and the lights. A bevel and pattern overlay was used for the window. The treatment around the window and the twinkling lights was from a brush set I got from http://celestial-star.net. The animation was done using a masking technique in Flash. I enjoyed creating and enhancing a winter wonderland and it came out pretty much the way I wanted especially the twinkling lights.