This design is for a 10'x7' sandblasted HDU entrance sign. It will be mounted on the front of a wall of pylons, rope lashings etc.
What would you do to make it look better? Another shape? Typestyle? Layout? For myself, I'm not particularly elated about the arched upper/lower case John Handy font. Also, the bottom copy doen't follow the border.
Thanks for the help
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posted
Maybe change the white background to a different colour. Say a very light grey to give it that worn look. The font is a bit thin so maybe add a little thickness to it. But I ain't no arteest either.
posted
Yep, background color is too stark, and the only other thing I'd say is that the copy looks ok small, but as soon as you blow it up it's going to appear insubstantial. Copy style is ok, just needs a much stronger stroke. my .0000002
------------------ St.Marie Graphics & Makin' Tracks Sound Studio Kalispell, Montana stmariegraphics@centurytel.net http://www.stmariegraphics.com 800 735-8026 We're chiseling every day of the week! :^)
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are fiddler crabs yellow? (it looks yellow on my screen). i know they come to the table red, after the boiling water. and i'll vote with changing the background from white to something at least medium colored. otherwise it looks like a highway signs (white and yellow), which might be good at night, but might not make people think "food".
------------------ ::scooter:: :: don't blame me... i'm just a beginner
Posts: 1356 | From: Oakland (and San Francisco) | Registered: Mar 2001
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posted
On the whole I like the shape and the layout concept very much. Here's what I'd do alittle differently. Beef up the main title copy just a hair. Close in the space between the apostrophe and the "s". Make the Crab bigger, and have the bottom copy weave between his claw. As for the background colour, I don't mind it white too much. You could tone it to beige or light grey if you want too, but when the crab gets abit bigger, it won't look as stark anymore.
I can't read what the bottom copy says, but unless that's real important info, I'm not sure it's an issue.
I like it Wayne. Nettie
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I'm not too familiar with fiddler crabs, but I agree it should be bigger and more interesting. We have blue crabs here and I can tell you they are very interesting to examine. Their colors after molting are radiant and they are ballon like. There is a form of a torso of a man formed by the contors on the top of their shells. Take a good look at your subject.
What do you think if the background was blasted to two depths? The blue could be blasted with a grain fraim and would be blasted deeper than the beige. Also the crab could be hand carved. Nettie, I'm not sure just how to go about passing the small text thru the claw(is that what you meant?). I like the idea though. What do you think?
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Hey Wayne I Sometimes just cant resist putting a spin on things. Take it for what its worth. All of the advice given was excelent as you can see I've incorporated alot of it. Hope this sparks somethin for ya.
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Posts: 97 | From: Douglasville, GA | Registered: Feb 2001
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Thanks Eric, That looks really sharp. What program did you use? What command did you use to make that copy bolder and add the fades? How did you move everything around from a JPG? Too many questions?
Good job!
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posted
Thanks Wayne, I use corel for this one and in corel I used the contour tool and added a small white outline and then a thicker one to give it more weight. I have the font on my system. so I modified some of the letters so they fit together better. then I redrew the ovals etc. everything but the crab and subcopy then I took the jpg from your post and made two copies, with the freehand pencil tool I loosely traced around the elements I wanted on one copy the crab and on the other copy the sub-copy. I then used the bitmap colormask tool it alows you to block colors in the bitmap, I masked the white and light grey in bitmap basically making the the white in your bitmap transparent once i was happy with that I then Selected the bitmap and Powerclipped it inside the the shape I drew around the elements before. once it was all togehter I played with the colors a little added a bitmap drop shadow to the copy to give it some depth I also put the crab over the borders to create some depth. Any hoot I had fun doing it if ya ever have any corel questions Drop me an e-mail. If You would like the file I created I'll e-mail it to ya. All you will have to do is rplace the crab & subcopy with your originals.
------------------ "Someday I'm gonna get a real job, HEE HEE" Signs Of Life 48 Carmen Hill Rd. New Milford, Ct 06776
Posts: 97 | From: Douglasville, GA | Registered: Feb 2001
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posted
Eric, that layout looks great! Boy, would that ever be ball to carve and blast. You're makin may want to dump my computer graphics gig and get back doin fun stuff.
------------------ Don Coplen aka "SaintPete" Coplen Designs St.Petersburg, FL dcoplen@mindspring.com
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Wow.........that makes me want to get in there and learn that Corel 9 program that I bought over a year ago. So far, all I've done in it is to import and export images and try to make sense of the tutorial that came with it. I bought a set of videos which I plan to use this weekend. I'll try to load my Corel onto this computer tonight. I'm a little slow catching on to things sometimes.
Thanks, Eric, for answering all my questions. I'll be in touch.
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posted
I do like Eric,s version with copy on top of crab.Gives more dimension!Also I think it woild look good if a small part of the crab stuck up outside the oval(just a bump)for even MORE dimension!! Give it that "Out of the box"look Hope this helps
------------------ PKing is Pat King of King Sign Design in McCalla,Alabama The Professor of SIGNOLOGY
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------------------ Dave Grundy AKA "applicator" on mIRC "stickin' sticky stuff to valuable vessels and vehicles!" in Granton, Ontario, Canada 1-519-225-2634 dave.grundy@quadro.net www.quadro.net/~shirley
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Once ya start its hard to stop. Thanks for all the kind comments. Good Idea pat I think it ads alot of dimension and I started foolin with Wayne's idea from the second post. HELP I CANT STOP. I have files on my puter from months and years ago that i find myself opening and tweaking even though the signs are already installed. I thin I might need some Help!
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Posts: 97 | From: Douglasville, GA | Registered: Feb 2001
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posted
Thanks Eric, That Main copy looks like it's hovering about 3'' off the sign.....cool! You did that with your Corel? I definitely intend to get in there and learn that. Can't do that with my CAS program.
Alan, that font was chosen by either the customer or the Architectural firm who designed the image at the top of this thread. I'm not particularly keen on arching upper/lower case copy at all, and especially this one. I think all upper case usually works better. I don't think that this font would work at all in upper case. I have another one called Papyrus which looks really nice but I don't know if they'll go for it yet.
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posted
Alright I promise this is it. Thank Janet B. for the background. I just smeared it a little in photopaint. HDU dimensional letters routed red reveal outline with TC resin on the letters then guilded Mounted on Convex arched backer stud mounted to sign. Sign to be HDU blasted two levels top to emulate sand maybe footprints or somthin. bottom blasted then sanded smooth and both airbrushed to suite When Blasting Keeping Crab element covered then rout another crab out of HDU carve and airbrush. The crab will actually be behind copy element . I know I'm Just Dreamin But What a BLAST this would be to make and since I still work for somebody else wont be doin anything like that fer a while :{
------------------ "Someday I'm gonna get a real job, HEE HEE" Signs Of Life 48 Carmen Hill Rd. New Milford, Ct 06776
Posts: 97 | From: Douglasville, GA | Registered: Feb 2001
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posted
Eric, you're pretty good with that CorelDraw! Brought my VCR/TV and Corel video to the shop this morning. Hopefully, I'll be watching it tonight. For sure I'll get somewhere with it now.
Looks like you could really get into this job. These sure are the fun kind. It's gonna be a monster as far as we're concerned: 10'x7'. Perhaps I should use 2'' Hdu for it. If all goes well, I will post some pics. Thanks
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