DuoTone

I think of all the print process workshops I have had as part of this module, the session on duotone was my favorite. I think this was because it is partly a creative process in image manipulation as well as a way to print images using just two inks. We were shown how to create a true duotone image in photoshop out of a full colour picture. First it has to be converted into grayscale, then you can switch the mode to duotone (or tritone) and select colours and adjust how these colours interact using the duotone curves, all fun stuff.


This is the full colour image I started with, a rather lovely Ferrari 250 GT california spider (aka the ferris bueller model)

Duo tone using blue and green.

Blue and Red duotone, lots of curves adjustments in this one to keep the hightlighs white.

TriTone, yellow red and blue to give retro feel.

Being an astronaut is good

Well, I chose this for my 'What is Good' research brief because I remembered how exiting and interesting space travel seemed when I was a kid. I thought it would be interesting to define and research exactly what is 'good' about this subject.

This is the Powerpoint presentation I delivered during the studio session. All images are found from the internet. Many of the vintage graphics are from: http://dreamsofspace.nfshost.com/ A great collection of space artwork relating to children's books, take a look.

Being An Astronaut Is Good

View more presentations from mitch20vt.

[I have hosted this on http://www.slideshare.net I havent used this site before, please leave me feedback on how well this works]


During the course of my research I found it was the vintage graphics and the general feeling of optimism and hope for the space program in the 50's and 60's the most interesting. Even when I was a kid in the mid 80's I remember far more enthusiasm for the space program than we have today. I am slightly confused by the reasons for this lack of enthusiasm we have for space exploration we have today and I wonder if the focus of my project should be to highlight the good of space exploration and try to recapture lost excitement.

Here is some of the visual research I found,


 

Summer Postcards Brief

These are the results from my postcard brief, and my first real work of year 2. This was a quick brief to experiment with using, and understanding different commercial colour print processes.


This is a two colour logo. the 'black' is actually very dark purple ink that is also used as a tone to make the lighter purple colour. The original image was a pub stained-glass window that I traced and edited in illustrartor to create a vector graphic. I really like the lettering I can see this making a really interesting font if I designed all the letters in the same style, I might try to re-visit this sometime. Printed here on cream colour textured paper stock.




This is a full colour CMYK image, I am least happy with this one, but i wanted an image that would show a fill spectrum of colour that could only be printed full colour. This is an edit of a photograph of the view from my kitchen window, cheezy.




This one is a three colour image (plus tints). This is taken from a design on a graffiti wall near my house, again traced and edited in illustrator, This moved further from the origional image during development, the texture on the letters is the paperstock, I chose this to add a bit of 'grittyness'.




One colour pictogram, this I spent the longest developing, as making these look simple and easy takes time! I think it does the job quite well as it was recognised for what it is by everyone I spoke to and can be compressed quite small and still be usable. I chose a red stock for this but it worked equaly well on white paper.