I was asked by the Chamber of Commerce, to create a “Cartoon” map of the downtown area of Ballinger for visitors. I really like the designs that Fun Maps USA creates, so I took their style and adapted it to the City of Ballinger. I already had the layout of the streets and lots created in Autocad, so I decided to create the buildings. Once I had the lines created, erased the ones that were in the way, and checked it a dozen times or so, I moved the file to Illustrator, and traced it to remove some pixelation. I then used Paint Shop Pro, (only program I had at work), to add the colors, signs, text, and any other touch ups. All this was done while virtually “driving” down the street in Google Earth. I added the map to the city’s website and the Chamber is currently distributing it in the city attractions brochure. Here is the finished product:
I created these for a TSTC project to gather interest from both upcoming High School Graduates as well as older/non traditional prospective students. The Billboards were each a basic design high lighting the students and future jobs that could be in the future. I wanted to keep them clean/simple, as well as use the red, white, and blue from the TSTC Logo. The Postcards are a little different. The first design is somewhat of a take on the new Windows phone app Flipboard, as well as the basic look of the text message thread on the iPhone. The target audience for this one is for the younger crowd. The second postcard design is geared to the Technology fans, and I was hoping to get some attention with the neon lights against a steel pegged background. Finally, the first facebook post is geared to really any age group, and people who really want to make a difference in helping others. The second is geared once again the the tech savvy crowd, or even the art lovers. Bright images against a slick silver background I thought would be attention getting.
Billboards
Postcards (Front and Back)
Facebook Posts
I can’t take full credit for the idea of a Beatles’ Christmas card, because I have seen some in the past, but I did wanted to make this design all my own. My Mom is a huge Beatles fan and is going to see a pretty recognized cover band in January. I thought I would create a card to celebrate both Christmas and the upcoming concert. I used Photoshop to design it. First, I found a great photo of the band setting around in heavy coats so I thought that would be perfect for Christmas. I had to cut around each member to delete the original background. Next, if found some vector Santa hats, re-sized, shaped, and angled them to fit properly. I found a fireplace background and attempted to make them look like they were setting around listening to a Christmas story. With some shadowing and dark strokes, I managed to put them into the scene. On the inside of the card, I used an old cursive font that closely resembled Lennon’s style. With it I wrote “Look forward to seeing you at the Rock Box soon! Merry Christmas!” Next, I found each of the member’s signatures online and added them to the card. I printed both sides and the project was complete.
I like to create personalized cards every once in a while and decided to do so for my mom’s birthday. I found a Photoshop template online for the average card measurements and went to work. I knew pink and purple would be my main colors so the background was easy to do. I added a texture filter to the main area and then created a beveled border with a glass filter around the edges. The flowers I found online were all the same color, so I adjusts the color balance to get more of a variation. The vines originally had their own background but I adjusted the opacity to lighten it. Lastly, I chose a feminine cursive font and proceeded to the inside of the card. I left the vines the same and took out the flowers to leave some room for a personalized written message. I liked the poem that I found online so I added it to complete the card.
My niece helps my Mom with the desert making at Christmas every year and a good opportunity came up to make her a nice photo for her hard work. My mom took this photo with her phone camera so it was not the best quality, but I figured I could toy with it and make it in to something memorable. I used Photoshop 5 to do so. I knew I wanted a white background to symbolize winter and I also wanted to erase the cabinets in the background. I decided to use a star shaped brush to mask the unwanted area and trimmed out a candy cane frame I found on the internet. I also cut out some pictures of random Christmas cookies I found as well. I thought the font I chose added to the time of the season.
I sincerely enjoyed creating this image in Photoshop. I knew from the beginning that I was going to use the Parthenon. This is another image where I did not like the coloring of the sky, so I found another, darker one to bring out the foreground image. In the sky, I decided to overlay a number of statue of Greek gods, goddesses, and warriors. Additionally, I added a statue of Zeus, and made a stained glass style border at the bottom. The “A” and “G” are textured in the name, and the color of all of the text is taken from the statue of Zeus.
I wanted to capture the color and beauty of a San Antonio New years in this design. I found some pictures from the Riverwalk and some wonder firework images that I thought would express the fun that the celebration creates. I used a border of blue-green lights to separate the images and chose to use San Antonio’s official “Celebrate” logo from a few years back.
I actually took this picture myself, but the sky was a little overcast that day. I decided to find a better picture that had a brighter, bluer look. Photoshop has a great selection of brushes to add something special to any design. I loved the dark green color of the trees and decided to add a border of leaves throughout. The text just has a simple texture in it that I thought looked like waves or ripples in water.
Made in Photoshop for one of my classes, I wanted to capture the feel of summer and the tropics. I used a Spanish style font for the lettering and added some layer masks in order to get the most viewing of the images surrounding it.
Corey Van Zandt 