Photoshop: Anthony Weis

This is as much about the layout as it is the control of Photoshop, which is as it's supposed to be.  This is a poster design for a fictional film of David Mack's Kabuki, one of the best designed comics of the last 20 years, and that's saying a lot!

This design is clean and effective but poses some intriguing challenges. The support text gets lost a bit in the white space, as it's light on light at that point. However, the polarizing solution, the inversion of the background color, offered below, makes the masks in the sun/Japanese flag less effective. I tend to prefer the white background, and want to find a way to resolve the text issue.

Consider the black background version below.

Anthony Weis is a challenging student, in the best way. He questions ideas, is eager to learn, works very hard and has a natural affinity for the arts as a discipline. He genuinely cares about developing a stronger aesthetic. He's also unusual in that he began his education training to be a pilot, and is double-majoring in digital art!

addendum, Rob Cardinal

Strolling through Rob's Deviant Art site, I find he's posted his portrait shot for the class assignment.

What fascinates me about this image is the emotional impact it has on most people. In crit, we found ourselves composing stories about them, only to discover that Rob had just asked them and snapped their picture, and that he didn't even know them!

Shows just how much art really does come from interpretation, even when you're dealing with human beings as subjects and something as supposedly rooted in "reality" as photography.

But we know better.

Don't We?

Digital Photography: Rob Cardinal

I haven't posted here for a while, as I'm waiting for promised work from some students in a current class.
However, just to keep things moving, here's a digital photo by Rob Cardinal done for the Macro assignment.

Since I don't want to get into a rut and only post digital work here, I will find some past storyboards and post them very soon.

Rob trained as an animator, but decided his path lies elsewhere, and is beginning his career as a freelance photographer, specializing in Macro. He works as a prison guard for now, and is skilled, knowledgeable and driven. You can see a bit more of his moving work at his MNArtists page, which he sorely needs to update. Let's go, Rob!

Photoshop: Tracey Logelin

Tracey is a talented designer with an eye for precision and aesthetics. Her work and her attitude were always very professional.
This piece was done for a very direct assignment, a thematic collage in Photoshop. She chose to forego the usual mundanities and explore a theme less travelled of late.

My only problem with it was that she used a satellite dish for an old time radio antenna! Still, the contrast of the sepia and the grayscale works well, and draws the warmth out of the cool grays.

Tracy is still hard at it. She graduated about a year and a half ago, and we had an e-mail exhange recently about issues around Web clients and designers.

Fpr more on Tracey, visit her MNArtists page.

Graphic Design:Business card, Kou Lee

I can't recall which class Kou was taking when he created this work. I believe he had just completed Graphic Design and was in Pre-press.  I do recall commenting on his ideas.

This was submitted for a design contest. It won!

Kou just graduated. His body of work is substantial, versatile, controlled, elegant and quite impressive. Look for further postings of his work in weeks to come!

Until then, to see more of Kou's work, go to his impressive website, Magiq Umbrella.

addendum, Matt Hensche

I posted this image as part of an announcement of this space on my personal blog.  However, the reduced color image was much too interesting to not re-post here. The light, the muted tones, the textures- all in all,  a very successful image.
Last I checked in with Matt, he was diligently working as a photo clerk at a job for which he's substantially over-qualified in every sense. Here's hoping his situation has improved. Anyone who combines such a strong aesthetic with such a fierce work ethic is entitled to commercial and creative success!

Matt Hensche, photography

Matt was a student in the first Digital Photo course I taught- has it been a year and a half already?
Always a keen eye and a solid work ethic, not to mention a quiet positive attitude, Matt's work has a confidence about it that invites the viewer in.