posted
Here's a business card I designed for Bruce "Von Ander a very talented pinstriper out of Calgary. He asked me to design him a card awhile back and of course said I could go nuts with it. Here's how it turned out. No photoshop tricks here just drew it out in Corel with a few gradient fills.
"...there are no limits when you aim for perfection..." Jonathan Livingston Seagull Posts: 7014 | From: Highgrove via Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia | Registered: Dec 2002
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Very nice Stevo. I'd like to see the eyeball toned down a tad. It seems to grab my eye and distract from the rest of the beautiful card.
-------------------- “Did you ever stop to think, and forget to start again?” -Winnie the Pooh & A.A. Milne
Kelly Thorson Kel-T-Grafix 801 Main St. Holdfast, SK S0G 2H0 ktg@sasktel.net Posts: 5496 | From: Penzance, Saskatchewan | Registered: May 2002
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Bruce is gonna wet his pants when he sees this one! It makes me a bit damp too. I love your style Babe. Everything about this is perfect for him. Love You Jill
-------------------- That is like a Mr. Potato Head with all the pieces in the wrong place. -Russ McMullin Posts: 8834 | From: Butler, PA, USA | Registered: Jan 2001
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Personally, I thought the eyeball should be bigger... but what the heck do I know? I am just a sign painter...
-------------------- Bruce Bowers
DrCAS Custom Lettering and Design Saint Cloud, Minnesota
"Things work out best for the people who make the best of the way things work out." - Art Linkletter Posts: 6451 | From: Saint Cloud, Minnesota | Registered: Jun 1999
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Really quite delicious! Grest script and pinstripes - got any detail shots? How the heck did you get those starburst highlights in DRAW, is that a vector thing? At this resolution they look like you 'airbrushed' them on in PhotoPaint. I can't figure out how you did the bevels around the main copy either. Aside from the tight design, your technical execution is inspiring. I love it when I can't figure out how something was done. I've been served.
SONGPAINTER Original Sign Music by Sign People NOW AVAILABLE on CD and the proceeds go to Letterville's favorite charity! Click Here for Sound Clips! Posts: 1974 | From: Orleans, MA, Cape Cod, USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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I like it the way it is Steve. If you did this in Corel, we're going to have to get a tutorial or two from you. How about starting with the bevel?
-------------------- Terry Baird Baird Signs 3484 West Lake Rd. Canandaigua, NY 14424 Posts: 790 | From: Canandaigua, New York | Registered: Dec 2002
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Now that's my kinda designing. I don't use the photoshop tricks either, and tend to like the control I get from doing gradients & bevel effects myself in Corel. I've got an idea how the twinkles were done ... at least how I do them. Would be curious of your technique there.
What really impresses me about this design is the way everything layers and interacts with each other, .... it's simply symphonic!
I really like the colour combos ... unique and work together great. The background's elongated diamonds is a nice departure from just doing lines.
This is VERY sharp, and a very strong design w/ impact and richness.
B R A V O! Take a bow! nettie
-------------------- "When Love and Skill Work Together ... Expect a Masterpiece"
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Kay folks here's a little step by step I've put together. It can be a little tedious but once you get the steps down you can really zip through it, and you'll be pleased with the results.
Fig 1. Here I've chosen the letter "J" cuz it has both straight and curved elements to it. I have put three outlines on it. The first outine is quite small off the letter, the second one is gonna be combined with the first to create your bevel.The distance of the second can vary depending on how thick you want your bevel. The third I added for an outline to be filled later. And dont forget when you put the ouline (contour in Corel) to break it apart or seperate it from your original object.
Fig 2. Now select your first and second outline (red) and "combine" the two. I like to duplicate a copy next to it and work on it there. Next draw small boxes and angle it on your corners. They must be closed shapes to do the next operation. Once I have drawn one box I can duplicate the rest and modify the angle for the next corner or transition point. Now select all of your boxes and combine them. With your boxes selected go to your shaping menu and select "Trim" make sure the source object box is checked. Now simply click on yer combined outlines.
Fig 3. Now your Outlines will be trimmed and you will have seperated objects. Your little boxes will remain so you will have to delete them.
Fig 4. Here I had to go in with my shape tool and curve the transtion points on the curved sections and do a little editing on the corners to fill the gap abit. I do like to leave a little gap to define the edge.
Fig 5. Now you can place your beveled edge on your letter and start adding color. You will have to "break apart" the shape first so you can seperate the shapes to add different colors to them. I chose my Fav color "Slime Green" for the beveled edge. The lightest shade of your color will be on the top and left side of your letter, the darkest on the right side. I used my base color Slime Green and mixed the lighter and darker shades myself. Now its getting to look cool.
Fig 6. Just for some added effects I like to add gradient fills on the bevels. Yer lightest spot should be your northwest corners. I added a bit more darkness to the very upper right corner to add a bit more contrast. Dont go too light with the fills or you will lose or gain too much contrast so you may have to play around with the fill for a bit to get it right. Since my bevel color is on the light side, I colored my letter a dark purple.
Fig 7. Here I've added an off white pinline to seprate the dark letter and edge abit. A gradient fill on the letter and an inshade for some dimension. I also beefed up the outside outline.
Fig 8. This where we can add some "Twinkles". Select your polygon tool, Hold CTRL and draw an 8 point polygon. Get your shape tool while holding CTRL grab one the nodes and drag it inward to your desired radius. Now you have to convert your object to curves, once you have done that you extend the "arms" on it. Fill it with white and place it on your brightest spots. Its a neat little effect.
Your pretty much done! I added a dark background with a hot spot in it and a drop shadow with a transparancy on it to give it that natural look.
Remember to have fun with it and do some experimenting because "CTRL Z" is your friend.
"...there are no limits when you aim for perfection..." Jonathan Livingston Seagull Posts: 7014 | From: Highgrove via Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia | Registered: Dec 2002
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I like everything about it Stevo. The tutorial was cool too. One question for this illustrator man, how do you acheive the inshadow? I do have corel and can use it some. Thats a cool effect.
-------------------- Maker of fine signs and other creative stuff. Located at 109 N. Cumberland ave. Harlan, Ky. 40831 606-837-0242 Posts: 4172 | From: Ages-Brookside, Ky. Up the Holler... | Registered: Jul 1999
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-------------------- Terry Baird Baird Signs 3484 West Lake Rd. Canandaigua, NY 14424 Posts: 790 | From: Canandaigua, New York | Registered: Dec 2002
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Does he want a phone number on there anywhere? Or is the info going on the back???
-------------------- Phil Steffen, 29 Van Rensselaer St City of Saratoga Springs DPW Saratoga Springs NY 12866 Posts: 563 | From: beautiful Saratoga Springs NY | Registered: Aug 2001
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Wow. Awesome of you to take the time to diagram all that Stevo. THANK YOU! This MUST go in the tutorial archives.
Actually I am very familiar with all the steps you used and would have done it almost the same way with a couple minor variations. I was hoping to learn some shortcuts but I guess there aren't many. When you need to pull this off kids, plan on a couple hours of intense concentration and save often. The payoff will be razor sharpness that can be reproduced at any resolution for a modest file size. (and it can be CUT!).
I did not expect a simple polygon 'star' could make such an effective twinkle - I'm definitely going to find some uses for that.
SONGPAINTER Original Sign Music by Sign People NOW AVAILABLE on CD and the proceeds go to Letterville's favorite charity! Click Here for Sound Clips! Posts: 1974 | From: Orleans, MA, Cape Cod, USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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posted
Kay one more for John on how to achieve the inshade. This is actually quite easy to do.
First thing ya do is duplicate your letter off to the side. I prefer to move it on axis so placement back on top of original letter is easy. Duplicate another letter in front of it and move it down and to the right.
Select the front letter. Now go to your shaping menu and select the "trim" function with the source object box checked. Now just click on the letter in the back and there ya have it.
Place you trimmed object on top of the original and now you can add color and effects to it.
Pretty easy and it looks cool!
Have fun!
Stevo
-------------------- Stevo Design Illustration Logos Sign Design Clip Art www.stevo-design.com Posts: 1680 | From: Edmonton Ab Canada EH! | Registered: May 2001
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You've got all the bells and whistles and still have a legible, clean design. That is what is the stumbling block on a lot of tricked out designs I see. You made the right decisions. Very well done.
To do the inset shadow, using CorelDraw you can also just powerclip the offset white letters inside the grey letters, or in Illustrator it's called a clipping mask. Trimming them as Stevo's done would be a little safer for Postscript files though - if it's being sent out.
-------------------- Bob Darnell London, Ontario, Canada
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I'll re-install my Corel if you'll come down and give me a personal tutorial! Love...Jill
-------------------- That is like a Mr. Potato Head with all the pieces in the wrong place. -Russ McMullin Posts: 8834 | From: Butler, PA, USA | Registered: Jan 2001
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AWESOME! The colors and design all work great together. I also like the eyeball, and would even love it bigger. Thanks so much for sharing the way you did everything. Again, Looks Great!
-------------------- John Duckett Strike Creative Greenwood, South Carolina Posts: 277 | From: Greenwood, SC | Registered: Feb 2004
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Man Stevo, that is really nice. I wish I had a card that looked that nice. I have a pretty cool t-shirt design that John Duckett did for me, but my cards suck.
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Thanx again everyone for all the compliments! If anyone needs to reference the tutorial in the future Barb has added it to the step by steps page.
Stevo
-------------------- Stevo Design Illustration Logos Sign Design Clip Art www.stevo-design.com Posts: 1680 | From: Edmonton Ab Canada EH! | Registered: May 2001
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