Skills Development & Experimentation

- Made in Inkscape, an open-source vector graphics editor.
Updated image with Illustrator (29 Sep 2020)

Smugness

Added a smug face to a heart .svg I made in the past using the 'Trace Bitmap' tool in Inkscape. (I forgot which program I made the initial bitmap image in) 

Media Passport Project

Page 1 / Cover v1 - Front of Passport. Made in Inkscape. The Emblem was made by rotating the heart 8 times using GIMP (because I found it easier) and putting it back in Inkscape using the 'Trace Bitmap' tool. The "Media Passport" text is unedited as I ran out of time. 

 

 

 

Page 1 / Cover v2 - Changed the Logo's colour and made a very minor edit to the 'P'.

I did not edit the text any further as any changes I made did not look right to me.

FYI, there is a curvy pattern in the background. It was also in v1 but I should have mentioned it as it's very subtle.

Pattern for Page 2-3 of Passport. Added white BG for convenience. The process of making this is a doozy, so bare with me.
First, I used a program called spacescape, a tool for making space skyboxes.
Example Cubemap (10% size)
I then used a site, 360toolkit.co, to turn it into an Equirectangular image (10% size).
I then opened the equirectangular image in GIMP (A raster graphics editor) and a plugin called G`MIC-Qt with a filter (out of about 500~) called 'Kaleidoscope Layer Cake' to degrade it. I then used another filter in the plugin called 'Oldschool 8bits' to further degrade the image.  The result is this mess.

I actually made this mess a few months ago for something else and decided to re-use it for this.
So I cropped the image to fit the A4 Landscape template and opened it in Inkscape so I could once again use the 'Trace Bitmap' tool.

 

 

Page 3 v1 -  I didn't have an image of myself readily available. The image of King Dedede is temporary.

I tried to replicate an actual passport as much as I could. (But except in portrait because reasons?)

I assumed the date of issue and passport no. to be chosen at random, so let me know if that's an issue.

I personally think its an eye-sore so I might improve it in my own time, maybe. 

Page 3 v2 - I made the image/portrait border visible and added slight colour to the background.
I will look into the BG colour later as i'm not 100% sure with it.

 

 

 

Page 2 v1 - I added the text required and a border. I will add a logo and replace the placeholder text later.

 

Page 2 v2 - I have added the accomplishment text and added an icon at the bottom.

I also made the border around the page smaller and added a 'Bevel and Emboss' effect to it.

The BG Colour change mentioned in Page 3 v2 is also present here.

 

Advert - I was told to take images at home as I couldn't take images of the College as I was not on-site.
It was never specified if I needed to put down 'Stanmore College' specifically (and would be weird if I named it 'Stanmore College' when what is shown clearly isn't) so I put my own spin on it.
Whoever reads this, let me know if that is an issue.

 

 

Photoshop Introduction: Two flowers were removed with Quick Selection and Magnetic Lasso.

Hue Edit: The image was made purple.

Selection + Hue Combined: The two above images were combined with layering.

Spot Healing and Clone Stamp: The wooden base was smoothed with Spot healing and the flowers at the bottom were Clone Stamp'd. (I used the purple hue edit cause I wanted to 🙂)

 

 

 

Photoshop Lesson #2:
Original, unedited image.

 The bridge was removed using the Clone Stamp Tool in this image.

  

 

 Image of a Godzilla Toy layered on the mountain image using Quick Selection to get rid of the white background, Quick Selection again to select the mountain and switching to Godzilla to remove his bottom half (to appear behind the mountain), changed Godzilla's opacity to 70% and added slight blur and edge of shadow to make it a tad more realistic.

Summary/Reflection:

 

The techniques and tools I learned are: Spot Healing and Clone Stamp Tools.

 

I created an image of flowers with some that are purple, an image of flowers thats completely purple and an image flowers with some extra at the bottom.

I also created an image with a bridge edited out and Godzilla added to the background.

I found using the Clone Stamp Tool the most difficult, as i'm a perfectionist.

I found layering to be the easiest.

I'd say every outcome was successful (as I technically achieve what was asked of me), but not perfect.

For example, I had to tweek the grass in the Clone Stamp task numerous times.

Photoshop could be used in the media industry for multiple reasons, like making an image more vibrant to make it look better or editing someone in an existing image for clickbait purposes.

 

 

Travel Video (Using Premiere Pro)

I took the videos listed in the credits (Using youtube-dl to aquire them) and clipped them together, trying to match it to the tone of the music. I couldn't think of many interesting places I'd want to visit, so I included Bikini Bottom as a gag. The Moon on the otherhand is more of a fantasy location.

I'm pleased with the result, but I could have used footage I shot myself - as impossible as that may be.

 

 (Also uploaded in 'Final Production')

 

InDesign Exercise WIP (Up to "Fill each shape with a different gradient")
I used tools such as: Type Tool, Shape Tool, Shape Frame Tool, Pen Tool and Gradient Tool.

I also used multiple of the panels on the right when the 'Typography' workspace is selected.

Indesign Magazine Spread Design

Version 1: 

 

  Version 2:

v2 Feedback / Comments:

Purple tint & Tonal Contract: Fixed. Changed to almost pure black. (Hex is now #080808 instead of #202020)

Body Text Size: Fixed. Changed from 12pt to 10pt.

Text & Heading alignment: Compromised - Lines up with x-height instead.

Heading & Columns Spacing: Fixed.

Indents: Fixed. The Large-Cap ["S] is not actually indented, both the speech mark and S are large to avoid making it look strange.

Right Image Text Alignment & Space: Fixed.

Landscape Composite

Self-taken Images:

 

Version 1:

• The moon was self-taken, using a 3D Moon Lamp/Night Light. It was cracked so I had to patch it up using 'Spot Healing Brush'. I then cropped it using 'Quick Selection' and then added an 'Outer Glow' effect.
  
• The plush on the first roof was self-taken, cropped and colour adjusted.
• The top of the tower was extended by a simple copy&paste job.
  
• A Purple Cosmos image was overlayed over the sky and turned down opacity (to blend better).
• I didn't add a building in the back as I had planned because I thought it would have ruined the image's uniformity.