I was asked to do some photo editing and layout design for a family album recently. All the information was provided in a simple word document, so I wanted to spice it up a little by adding some historic photos, and making the layout more similar to how a published book would look. I found a number of old photos, fixed any problem areas, and laid out the design. I did the entire project using Illustrator and Photoshop. Here it is.Family History (Proper Layout)
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.
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.
One night, I just had the urge to do something with nature as the subject. I found this desert like color scheme online and really like the feeling. To me, the shape resembled a tree, and the colors somewhat seemed sepia tone. I immediately thought of Africa. I decided to use some filtering in Photoshop to change up the style and mesh together the colors a little more. I than used some tribal tattoo designs (roots, lion, zebra, elephant, giraffe) and masked them within the design. I then added a layer beneath the design and used some brown and yellows to make the animals look like they were parts of the tree. Later, I added some leaves with the handy paintbrush tool in Photoshop; plus, some other plant life on the ground and within the design. I filtered the picture a couple different ways (wind, cutout, water paint) and added some blurring to mix it all together.
Corey Van Zandt 