picaTalks

"Sweet Young Thing" Walkthrough

2012-03-17T00:20:00.000+01:00

Inspired by The Monkees' "Sweet Young Thing" I create a custom lettering illustration last week. The goal of this was to have a complete creation processs from sketch to final image.
One of the requirements I gave myself was to use/create 3 typefaces from different classificatons, in this case Chirographic, Sans Serif and Serif.

I started laying out a grid for the sketch, which you can see with the faint blue lines under the pencil drawings. Going diagonally while keeping up the impression of similar widths for each line. The "Sweet" is voluptuous and expands way beyond its line, even interacting with other letters.
The sketch on the right was traced over the first sketch using greaseproof food wrapping paper, due to a lack of tracing paper. I refined the characters of the "Thing" as they had too little Kerning in the first sketch. even more so in the blue sketch, where the word became far wider than I had anticipated at first. I also corrected the "ee"s from "Sweet" as they looked way too different from each other. Even if having them drawn individually instead of copy-pasting one e gives it a more realistic look, in the first sketch there was way too much difference. The letters in "YOUNG" were fairly uneven and in both sketches, but I shall write more about that issue later.

When starting on the work in Illustrator, I used a variety of techniques. For "Sweet" I wanted to use the Width tool (a CS5 addition) to stay faithful to the curves and variability of my sketch. Therefore I traced the shapes not on their outlines, but on their visual center adding the different widths using the tool later. It was the first time I tried it and I had to do it several times to achieve a result I was satisfied with. Especially the "ee"s were tricky and required several tries until they looked right.
"YOUNG" was created with the typeface League Gothic, partly out of laziness partly out of not being able to create shapes as good as I had in my head. However the typeface comes very close to my initial sketches, so it was a perfect choice.
"Thing" was created using rectangles and circles and combining them via Pathfinder. The serifs were created separately and attached to the single characters. The "g" took the longest, because I was not able to transform the circles I had intended to use for it, into shapes that looked good in themselves but also good with the other characters. In the end I used a Calligraphic brush. I am still not 100% convinced that it fits to the rest of the word, but it worked a lot better than using shapes.

After finishing each word, it was time to let the letters interact with each other. Therefore I created an offset on certain shapes and placed them appropiately in different orders. Some shapes were used multiple times in the end.
The main goal of this process was to create non-overlapping shape. That way I can display all of the lettering on a colored background using only one color.

Here you can see the typography on a simple teal background. I added the "-AAH" element like a button or sticker. It is not part of the title, but definetely part of the song. It is referencing '60s advertisement in a very subtle way.
This layout may have already worked, but it was too simple and not what I had in mind. So the next step was to add colors.

Here you can see several color combinations I worked with. I had applied some colors to each word manually to start with and then moved over to the Edit Colors dialogue, which allows to recolor an artwork using premade color groups. In the examples you see here, I used groups referencing Russian Propaganda poster art or art epoches like Impressionism or Bauhaus. I based my final color choices on the second example from the left.

I edited most colors only slightly, except for the "Thing" which was becoming almost invisible on the background and made it more blue then green. Having "Sweet" in a red / pink color gave a nice impression of candy and possibly girliness.
To finish off, I added pattern textures, lines that were following the baseline of the letters and a 45° turned checkerboard. A slight Vignette Effect was added to underline the aged / retro character of the whole piece.

And this is the final result. I am very happy with how it turned out and the whole process as such. I will work more with sketches from now on and focus on how letters are created and to improve my workflow.
Thank you for reading.

Font Feature #4

2012-03-15T10:02:00.000+01:00

In this series of articles I will feature free fonts, that are avaiable online.
There are a lot of talented and professional font designers out there and some of them give out their hard work for free. Mostly one style of a font is avaiable for free and more for a small fee.
Enjoy today's selection.

Vector Feature #4 – Self-Portrait

2012-03-13T09:11:00.000+01:00

Creating a Self Portrait is one of the few subjects that most artist at some point in their career have Created. Some artists have gone to long lenghts by regularly creating self portraits, other may have only done it ones, others even exclusively. There are so many things to consider, when creating a self-portrait: Will i be honest with what I show or will I create a flattering image. Will I work realistic or will I advnace into stylistic matters? How can I express who I really am in just one image? Maybe I will add metaphors and use symbols that can represent myself. The one advance you do have is: nobody else knows more about the subject than you do! use this advantage and create something amazing!
Here are some fantastic examples of self portraiture created in vector.

Typography Feature #7

2012-03-11T21:15:00.000+01:00

Featuring amazing typographic art from deviantART and the Behance Network.

New Blog Design!

2012-03-10T23:39:00.000+01:00

I wasn't completely unhappy with how this blog used to look like, but I felt it was time for some changes. I am staying faithful to a dark color scheme, but with less effects and more contrast. Here is a break down of some of the major changes!

Less text on the front page! All posts are reduced to their title and an image, no information about sharing, posting time and comments. Those elements make the layout appear cluttered and I wanted the front page to be as clean as possible.
I expanded the grid, based on a maximum width of 960 px, I decided to go with a very structured and straight 4 column layout. The marginal column is reduced in width and therefore the content gains more space. Since I have a love for clear grids, everything now aligns nicely.

Regarding Typography I am now using the Exo Family for headlines and some other elements. For body copy I am using good old Arial. There is something else about the body copy I am curious to try out: Using 16px as standard font size!
There is a current discussion about the 12 or 13 px font size most commonly used for body copy is too small. I am yet to make a final decision about that, because I think it is way too easy to follow such discussions without actually trying it out. If this discussion sounds interesting to you, you should check out 16 Pixels: For Body Copy. Anything Less Is A Costly Mistake | Smashing Magazine and Information Architects – The 100% Easy-2-Read Standard. Two very inspiring and well laid out articles regarding this topic.

I installed a new widget for the other spots you can find me online. Simple and to the point, with each site's own colorcoding.

Posts are now accompanied by big header images, providing more information about the posts content. Who doesn't like big images anyway? The new content width of 700 px also serves this purpose. More and bigger eye candy!

Who am I kidding, this blog is not 100% done yet. Since I am not the brightest coder in the world and there is a lot of html to work on here, there will still be some edits, especially regarding browser compability. If you notice a bug, error or anything weird, let me know! If you can actually help iron it out, you get a cookie!

New Vector and Typography Tutorials

2012-03-10T22:23:00.000+01:00

Two new tutorials by me have been published on Vectortuts+. They are both focused on Adobe Illustrator, but with different emphasis regarding Vector and Typography. Both are related because they make heavy use of patterns, which is probably one of my weak spots that I love to work with.
Create an ASCII Inspired Text-based Image with Illustrator
In this tutorial you will learn how to create an ASCII inspired Text-based Image. This technique will allow you to create images more interesting than you could create with mono-spaced fonts and utilize a wider array of fonts in the process. One could say what we are going to do is to create monospaced font patterns. After a short excursion to Photoshop to prepare our reference image, we will continue with our process in Illustrator, which will result in an astonishing result.
The tutorial covers theory about monospaced fonts and moves on to some preparational image editing in Photoshop. The main focus howevery lies on creating custom patterns to achieve the wanted outcome.

Real ASCII art has been around longer than the internet and digital media, it used to be created using typewriters. Most commonly ASCII fins its use in modern IMS, being more famous as "Emoticons".
It traditionally requires monospaced fonts, to obtain the grid like structure and texture that makes this artform stand out. The tutorial however manages to expand into the are of non-monospaced fonts, giving the artist so many more options in font choice. It may not be visible at first, but using different fonts, creates different results depending on the fonts character.

The second tutorial focuses on patterns and the attempt, often requirement, to produce work that is 100% vector.
Quickly Create Recycled Paper Textures with Adobe Illustrator
You will learn some easy tricks to create textured patterns in less than 30 minutes. It is easy to just use a scanned texture and apply it on your vector art to give it a used, old or printed character. But sometimes you don't have the textures in proper print sizes or you have to stay "pixel free" for other various reasons. Scalability is very often something you should not neglect when creating works in vector format. This tutorial aims at those cases.

"Typographic Snowflakes" Tutorial

2012-01-18T16:14:00.000+01:00

Today vectortuts published a Quick Tip Tutorial by me: Quick Tip: Typographic Snowflakes. I will share some thoughts about the tutorial and concept here.
As you can read the tutorial completely on their website, I wanted to share some of the thought process behind it here.
Naturally the idea to do winter inspired artworks comes from it being the current season. I am not entirely sure how I thought of creating snowflakes from letters, but it was suddenly there and I really liked it!
There is something fascinating about snowflakes… they appear so random and regular, but when you take a closer look they are beautiful and every snowflake is entirely unique. They are one of those amzing things in nature that you just have to love.

… every snowflake is entirely unique.

So it happens that I also love Typography. And some circuit in my brain made "bizz" and born was the idea to create snowflakes from letters!
Here is an image of the tutorials final result:

In the end, what you can read in the tutorial is meant as inspiration. Playing around with letters and effects can lead to wonderfully abstract results. Experimenting is the key to progress and I know, that I have to experiment much more than I do.

Great things very often come from experiments that went wrong. You may not always get the result you were looking for, but hey, if it looks amazing, does it really matter?

Using letters or words to create an image is not a new concept. It started with ASCII and ANSI art as early or even earlier then the 80s. Due to a limitation of graphics in old computers, letters were used instead to create and image. Other examples of that art can also be created by using a traditional typewriter. Most famous examples of ASCII and ANSI are '80s arcade games.
With the a rising level of computer graphics and the introduction of programs such as Photoshop, the possibilites of using letters and words to create art rose to a new life. There are no limitations to what can be created from shapes like letters.
This is what I did here. I created a text-based image.
I used letters to create something new and visual from them. In this case snowflakes. Of course I did not only use letters to achieve the final outcome. The background is made from a gradient mesh and the small circular snowflakes are a custom vector brush. The main focus however is on letters. So I do consider this a piece of Typography.

This is what I did here. I created a text-based image.

The decision to put the snowflakes into an actual scenery, snowfall at a dark winter's night, is based on the fact that I believe simply creating a text composition is not enough. I could have put the snowflakes on a black background and called it a day. But in my opinion that working moral lacks vision. It takes a while until I am satisfied with an artwork. It is important to push yourself and your art to new levels constantly.

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Text-based Imagery – An article explaining the style and featuring a few examples from the genre.
P.S.: The piece actually is made up out of two words. Can you tell hat words?

Typography Feature #6

2012-01-03T14:02:00.000+01:00

Time for some amazing typography again! The year is still new and shiny and it's time to showcase some typographic bling.
The ones you can see here are those that caught my eye lately, either by being innovative, fresh or created with lots of sill.
Now sit back and enjoy the selection!

Vector Feature #3 – Future

2012-01-01T14:09:00.000+01:00

With the breaking of the new year, it's time to tink of the future! This feature is all about the combination of vector and mentioned future. Wether it will be scary, bright or artifical, we can't know, but we can imagine! Take a look at these pieces, thinking about a possible future. And what medium is better to do so then vector anyway?
Sit back and enjoy this compilation of awesome illustrations and get inspired for your own future!

Happy New Year 2012!

2011-12-31T18:30:00.002+01:00

I wish everybody a Happy New Year and may your 2012 be full of awesome and love!

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You can download the wallpaper at deviantART.com
Avaiable in: 1024×768 | 1280×960 | 1280×1024 | 1440×900 | 1600×1200 | 1920×1200

Font Feature #3

2011-12-26T13:42:00.000+01:00

Merry Christmas from picaTalks!

2011-12-25T13:08:00.000+01:00

I wish everyone a Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and a fantastic new year!

Typography Feature #5

2011-12-06T10:11:00.000+01:00

Back to the Typography feature, which will appear more regularly again now. The fascination for Typography is still fresh and won't disappear any time soon!
The ones you can see here are those that caught my eye lately, either by being innovative, fresh or created with lots of skill.
Now sit back and enjoy my selection!

Typography Feature #4

2011-08-31T12:54:00.000+02:00

Everywhere you look there is Typography. I searched the web to find inspiring pieces of this art in both digital and traditional media.
The ones you can see here are those that caught my eye lately, either by being innovative, fresh or created with lots of skill.
Now sit back and enjoy my selection!

"Create a Light Painting, Bokeh…" Tutorial

2011-08-25T15:30:00.001+02:00

Today vectortuts published my first premium tutorial: Create a Light Painting, Bokeh Effect in Illustrator.
In this tutorial you will learn how to create an effect similar to Light Painting. Light Paintings are created in Photography, by using a dark scene (at night or in a dark room), a camera with long exposure and a light source, like a flashlight. You are basically painting something with a lamp in the dark.
The effect is very interesting and unique. Here you will learn how to create an effect that is inspired by those light paintings. It is not intended to be realistic, but to have a visual impact on the viewer.
The tutorial is for Premium Members of the site. However a couple of preview images are shown when you follow the links in this post.
Here is a preview image of the final result in the tutorial:

Vector Feature #2 – Watercolor

2011-07-26T09:06:00.000+02:00

In this series of articles I will feature interesting, inspiring and artistic vector artworks.
In this feature the theme is Watercolors. Vector is a wonderful medium, to digitally create watercolor atmosphere in digital art. Layering colors over each other and mixing sharp and soft shapes is something these at first sight so different ways of creating art have in common.
There is only one rule: enjoy what you see!

Font Feature #2

2011-07-25T11:52:00.001+02:00

Typography Feature #3

2011-07-24T15:09:00.000+02:00

Everywhere you look there is Typography. I searched the web to find inspiring pieces of this art in both digital and traditional media.

The ones you can see here are those that caught my eye lately, either by being innovative, fresh or created with lots of skill.

Now sit back and enjoy my selection!

"Create a Stitched Type Effect" Tutorial

2011-07-18T13:23:00.001+02:00

Last week vectortuts published my first tutorial for them: Create a Stitched Type Effect in Adobe Illustrator .

In the tutorial you will learn how to create a stitched type effect. You will create simple geometric patterns, a pattern brush and use the appearance panel to create the final look.

So go, click the link and maybe learn something from me!

The tutorial was inspired by this set of type illustrations I created some time ago.

Video Inspiration – Typography

2011-06-27T13:51:00.001+02:00

Typography is not limited to the paper alone. Animated typography takes this form of art to a whole new level.
I've been collecting those videso on my vimeo account and want to share them with you.

Put on your headphones, dim down the light and enjoy this collection of amazing animated typography!

Lava Sans Avec from Bureau Bruneau on Vimeo.

Morning Glory - Free Font from aesthetictherapie on Vimeo.

114.psd Type from Emilio Gomariz on Vimeo.

Terminal from Handmadefont on Vimeo.

Typophile Film Festival 5 Opening Titles from Brent Barson on Vimeo.

Conan O'Brien Kinetic Typography from Jacob Gilbreath on Vimeo.

fontface from atipo on Vimeo.

The Alphabet from n9ve on Vimeo.

Typography Feature #2

2011-06-22T14:12:00.000+02:00

Everywhere you look there is Typography. I searched the web to find inspiring pieces of this art in both digital and traditional media.

The ones you can see in the second edition of this entry are featured for either being innovative, fresh or created with lots of skill.

Now sit back and enjoy my selection!

Inspiring Walkthroughs

2011-06-21T13:39:00.000+02:00

Sometimes even the process of creating a piece of art is interesting and inspiring itself. Many artists are afraid to share their "secrets", but I found some amazing walk throughs of fantastic art.
They come from a variety of media and each shows us some of the magic that happends behind the scenes.

Sit back and enojy!

Font Feature #1

2011-06-15T09:20:00.000+02:00

In this series of articles I will feature free fonts, that are avaiable online.

There are a lot of talented and professional font designers out there and some of them give out their hard work for free. Mostly one style of a font is avaiable for free and more for a small fee.

Enjoy today's selection.

Vector Feature #1 – Fantasy

2011-06-11T13:06:00.001+02:00

In this series of articles I will feature interesting, inspiring and artistic vector artworks.
The series starts revolving around fantasy. Wether the artworks displays a known story, like a fairytale or a book, or gives an insight into the artists own imagaination does not matter.

There is only one rule: enjoy what you see!

Comic Sans – Not so bad in the end?

2011-06-10T23:58:00.000+02:00

When you give something a bad name, you might be wrong. Comic Sans has been down-talked for years or ever since it was created. It might be the most hated font, but maybe it is just the most misused font ever?
Can you blame a design for being used wrong over and over again? Shouldn't you be blaming the people who do that to the design?
There is still the option that Comic Sans is the victim and not the violator.
Comic Sans has its own Character. It reminds of a hand-writing, which makes it casual and life-like. It has rounded characters and no edges, so that it appears friendly and harmless.
When using a font in a layout you have to aware of the fonts character. It will result in a bad design, using a fun and friendly font for a serious or important message. Anything written in Comic Sans will not be taken serious. You cannot use it for a "Beware of the dog" message. Unless the dog is a 12-year old basset. Or Snoopy.
You have to know that Typography is more than just words. A font can stress the words meaning and make it easier to understand. Before we read, we see.
Comis Sans was created by Microsoft in the mid 90s for usage in help menus that were shaped like speech bubbles. This makes sense! The font is inspired by speeh bubbles used in comic books.
Now wether you use it or not, is totally your own decision. But just calling it names doesn't appear all that grown-up, does it? ;)
I cannot recall using it myself for the last 15 years, but i wouldn't say that I will never use it. I can only reassure you, that if I should ever use it, i will do so wisely!

"If you love it (Comic Sans), you don't know much about typography and if you hate it you really don't know much about typography either and you should get another hobby."

Vincent Connare, creator of Comic Sans.

That said I had to admit that I never hated Comic Sans. I am mostly indifferent to it. I do shudder when I see it misused, but it does not make me mad. There is a time and place for everything. In this case it is not college tho.
I am really not going to dig into this much deeper, but lemme just say this:

It is better to educate people about how to do something (in this case the right usage of a font), than to see them fail at doing so and then forbid them to do it ever again.

:)
Some more input on the topic:

Are you a Comic Sans Criminal? Actually it does not even matter, just take a look at this awesome website! You may even learn one or the other thing.
Another funny things is, that Comic Sans is one of many Typefaces for Dyslexia. It is maybe not the #1 choice for people suffering from Dyslexia, but it definetely can be useful.
Now if you are a hater, you should definetely go to ban comic sans and meet some people who feel like you.

Here are some artworks using Comic Sans for you to enjoy. Yes, I am serious. They are enjoyable xD

Talking about Comic Sans... Compared to Papyrus it is mostly harmless.