Hey Go Media faithful readers! Time for a sweet new tutorial! I always feel like it’s been WAY too long since I’ve written one of these tutorials. Unfortunately, my schedule doesn’t leave much room for writing these lengthy t-shirt design tutorials. But when my good friend, client, photographer, and all-around great guy Paul Davis from Black Ace Clothing said he was ready to move forward on his “Lady Luck” t-shirt design, I KNEW I just had to document the creation of this design.

First, let’s take a look at the final design mocked-up on a t-shirt. Yes, I DID use Go Media’s crafty little tool ShirtMockup.com to make this image. If you haven’t given it a try yet – DO. It’s free and tons of fun. Just go here: www.shirtmockup.com

For this tutorial, I thought I would also include as much of the correspondence between the client and myself as possible. This way, you’ll get an insight as to how I interact with my client on a design project. Also, you’ll get to see how some design decisions are made. All my correspondence will be in purple. The client’s correspondence will be in green. Hopefully, this will make it easier to identify what is correspondence and who’s saying what.

So, here are the parameters of the project that my client (Paul Davis of Black Ace) sent me:

PAUL:

“a) sexy, elegant, innocent, fun, flirty in the 40’s style (think bomber nose art/Vargus pinup), holding some cards with dice. It’d be cool to integrate something related to planes or to convey something with a hint of the aviation theme to it to reflect its inspiration.

b) integrates the BA spade somewhere into the design (on a playing card or something)

c) ideally there would be some element of the design that we can carry over on to the back/front of the shirt that integrates with our logo.

c) From a production standpoint for pantone colors and I would like to limit the colors to no more than 5.

d) T-shirt design to be printed on an American Apparel t-shirt with their “Army” color as the base.”

Additionally, Paul was kind enough to provide some rough comps that he pieced together. Although these are rough, they really communicated a lot to me and helped with some ideas. It is somewhat unique to be provided rough comps like this. Most clients will only give you a verbal or written description of the design they’re after.

After reading his project description and looking at these comps, here were my initial thoughts that I communicated to Paul:

Bill:

“I think I can mix a 40’s pin-up design motif with a military motif. In addition to the woman pin-up, I’m going to research some vintage Las Vegas signage and try to do a type treatment that has that 1940’s – 1950’s feel of Las Vegas. It should be great.”

The supplies you’ll need to complete this tutorial are:

• Bristol Drawing Paper (plate, smooth or vellum finish)
• Pencil, Mechanical Pencil (I used a Koh-I-Noor Technigraph 5611 mechanical pencil)
• Mechanical pencil sharpener
• Staedtler Mars Plastic White Eraser
• Scanner
• Computer
• Adobe Illustrator
• Adobe Photoshop
• Access to the internet or some source of photos

At this point the first step is to do some REALLY ROUGH sketches. Paul normally likes to see at least three concept sketches. We’re only trying to establish a general layout here. Don’t get caught up with the quality of the drawing. You’re just trying to give a gist of the elements, size, layout, etc. Since I’m doing a themed design, I am going to jump online and find some reference materials. In particular I’m going to look for some pin-up girls, dice, WWII bomber planes and 40’s Vegas signage. I will be producing the drawing by hand, but it helps a lot to have some visual references to work off of. Here is a sampling of the images I found and had tacked up above my drawing station as I drew.

This first reference image I found is just a good classic example of a 40’s-50’s style pin-up girl by the master artisan Gil Elvgren, of whom I’m a huge fan.

I thought this Ghandi design was a good example of the type of color scheme I was going to need to use.

I really liked this girl’s 50’s style hair doo. I will totally use this.

The rest of these, in no particular order are just part of the images I grabbed for inspiration: more pin-ups, classic retro Vegas signage, planes, bombs, etc. I printed these out and hung them over my drawing table. It’s very useful to get this type of imagery in front of my eyes while I’m working.

Ok, so here are the initial rough sketches I did. Yes, these are VERY VERY rough. Once again, the quality of these is really not important. It’s just to give a rough idea of what goes in the design, size, location, etc. Frankly, I’m embarrassed by how bad these sketches look. But just wait! The final design will be spectacular!

Ok, here is the e-mail exchange between Paul and I following the posting of these concept proofs:

PAUL:

“AWESOME!!!

Very, very happy with what you’ve done here Bill…I like them so much I’m thinking of a series now instead of just one…

Love the Vegas style sign in #2. I’m leaning toward #1 now but like I said I’ll be in touch here very soon.

You are the man!”

BILL:

“Ha! Glad you like them Paul…  I know they are VERY rough. Obviously… I’m just working on content, position, size, etc.  But yeah, I think these all have GREAT potential.

My favorites are #2 or #3.  I’ll admit… the girl riding a bomb – has been used a lot. It would look great… and I can execute on it beautifully if that’s the one you pick. But I think it’s almost cliché at this point.  I’m leaning towards #2.”

PAUL:

“They may be a little rough but they are perfect for what I need. I kind of like the rough comps anyway because I like to see the underlying form of things first.

Your point about the bomb is well taken…I love that design and I don’t want to be cliche but….

What happens if I do something radical and say we’ll take either two or all three of the designs? What would that cost? My thinking is that with slight text changes we could have a cool series. We try and personalize each character. I’m just thinking off the top of my head but for each design in order you could have:

1. Bouncing Bettie or Bettie Bombshell (we’d just embrace the whole cliche and run with it for this one)

2. Lady Luck – maybe add the phrase (“don’t be shy”)

3. Destiny’s Darlin’ or something like that….

Anyway – let me know on pricing and I’ll be in touch soon.”

OK! Wow. Well, this was not the response I was expecting. Sometimes Go Media can offer a “bulk discount” if a client is willing to move forward with a number of designs. After some deliberation on costs here is what Paul wrote:

PAUL:

“Ok, we’ve been back and forth on this quite a bit. I think we’re going to start with design number one. In showing this around some [the first design] seems to have the most positive initial response.

Here are some things we want to change or add.

1. We want to see what you think about adding the words “Lady Luck” into this design somewhere. Maybe it’s behind the cards and on a diagonal line going up to the right, or we might be able to put it underneath the bomb going up on a diagonal there. If we have to might be able to put it near the nose of the bomb. Think about it and let me know. If this kills the design I don’t want to do it and I trust your judgment on this.

2. On the bomb, let’s move that card that’s hiding the bomb fins and add those ( I think I can send/find you a picture if you need a reference for that). That will give you a little more room on the bomb for writing on there…..hmmmm…as I continue to look at this design more and your note on the bomb, I’m thinking that square that looked like a card to me is actually the covering that wrapped around the bomb fins….if that’s true that you can disregard my other comments about the card…(I’m slow but I like to think I’m not entirely stupid) we’ll just want to make sure it’s clear what it is and people see it that way.

3. The bomber plane is a cool idea…I’ve had a thought and don’t know if this is possible. In this comp it’s flying off into the background. What if we turn it around so it’s flying out toward you and banking up and away…almost like the bomb was dropped and she’s riding it down. It could be up in the right hand corner and you could see the front/bottom of the plane…it might make the design a little more dynamic.

4. The one thing I really like about this design is the clouds and we’ll let them run out to the edges of the shirt. Really nice job on that.

Designs 2 and 3 – we’re talking about these two and I had a couple of questions based on some feedback from some others.

On design #3 is that a pilot’s hat she’s wearing? The 1940’s little peaked hats kind of like a policeman’s cap? If so…that’s a really nice touch and I like the idea of the hat being angled low over her eyes…

Design #2 – I love the Vegas style sign. I also like the girl’s pose. After looking at this design for awhile though I’m a little concerned that might need a few more elements to make it a little more dynamic.

Is there any merit in thinking about combining the Lady Luck Vegas style sign with the #3 design? I like the different elements in that design with the poker chips, and dice with the ribbon and cards holding the girl.

Let me know what you think. Talk to you soon.”

BILL:

“OK!

Adding “Lady Luck” into design #1…    hhhmm… It sounds like a GREAT idea. Let me think on that. I definitely like the idea of putting it in… maybe just in air arching above the design – similar to what I had in mind for #3…  Of course, that would mean we need to redesign #3.  Ok, yeah, let me think on that.

Yes, those ARE the bomb fins… if you look at WWII bombs the fins are boxed in – as you realized.

No problem with the plane change! I can do that. Good idea.

Yeah, the clouds will make a great design element.

On Designs 2 and 3,

Yes, that’s a pilot’s cap/military cap she’s wearing on design #3.

I don’t think #2 needs any more elements. I know it’s spaced out poorly in my sketch, but I would tighten it up. I see the text being a big part of the design… covering a LOT of the front of the shirt… then the girl is also much larger and overlapping the text more. The girl would have plenty of details to grab attention and fill the space.

Um – I wouldn’t combine #2 and #3…   I really feel like they have their own strengths and I’d hate to not be able to execute on #2 as I have it.  Like I said, I know the sketch on #2 doesn’t do it justice. I know that one is a winner. The large Vegas looking type will be sweet! The proportions are just way off in that sketch.

Ok.. so shall I just get started with #1?  I’M READY TO DIVE IN!”

PAUL:

“Go for number #1 – I’m excited to see it. I’ll be chewing on what you said about #2 and #3. I think you make some good points and some of your clarification about #2 is really helpful – especially about the sizing of the elements. I’ll spend some time visualizing that that can look like because I really do like the basic concept and directions of both designs. 

Talk to you soon. ”

Ok, that’s it! I’ll be working on concept #1 “Betty Bombshell.” Now, in an ideal world I can sit down and just hammer out an amazing work of art in no time flat. But art, drawing and design is not as easy as mowing the lawn. I actually really struggled with this drawing right off the bat. I probably sketched for about 8 hrs before I finally got something together that looked relatively good.

Designer’s Note: If you are ever having problems with a design, falling behind schedule or something just isn’t working out on a project – talk to your client about it BEFORE they discover it on their own. If for instance, you are falling behind schedule, call your client the instant you realize it. Explain what’s going on. Explain your plan for moving forward and give them a revised timeline. If your client discovers errors, problems or time delays on their own they’ll be MUCH MORE upset as compared to you going to them and confessing a problem. So, be very proactive about communicating problems as they arise.

In this project I was taking a long time to post an initial sketch for Paul because I was just struggling with the drawing. I sent him a quick e-mail explaining that I was sorry for the delay, that I was working hard on his drawing and my sketches were just not up to my standards. I promised him the final product would be great and gave him a new deadline for the initial sketch. Of course, Paul is a really nice guy and he didn’t have a hard deadline for me to begin with, so he was appreciative of the update.

Once I did get something that I liked, I posted it for him. Here was the pencil sketch I posted for his review:

As you can see there is a lot of details missing like the clouds, cards, plane and facial details, etc.. But I am planning on “inking” this drawing in Adobe Illustrator and I’m fairly confident that I can add these additional elements later. The hard part is the girl and the bomb. Now that I’ve got those 80% down, I can move onto the computer.

But before I jump to that point in this apparel illustration tutorial, let me rewind for a second and show you a few progress steps of this pencil illustration:

I was really happy once I got the sketch this far along. I realized I had the curvature of the torso down and the placement of the hips, head and left arm were looking good.

Oh – I should mention that I’m drawing with my Koh-I-Noor Technigraph mechanical pencil using an HB hardness lead. In my experience the B hardness leads smudge too much, and the H hardness leads scratch the paper too much, so I think HB is ideal. Also, I’m drawing on a vellum finish Bristol paper 14×17 inches in size. I like the Bristol paper because it’s real thick – so it can handle a lot of erasing if I need to. I will periodically use the Bristol with the Plate (smooth) finish – but it’s almost too smooth. It doesn’t grab the pencil lead as well.

You can see on this image that my first attempt at drawing the front leg wasn’t too good. Basically, I made the front leg too small. It didn’t have the right proportions to match up with the rest of the body. No problem! It’s pencil. So I just drew a new leg (bigger obviously) right over top of it, then erased the old leg.

When I’m drawing humans I almost always start by drawing their bodies naked. It’s just easier to get all their limbs and proportions right, then it’s relatively easy to go back and draw the clothing on top of them.

So again, here is the finished pencil sketch that I posted for Paul. Here was his response:

Paul:

“I think it looks great. I’m very pleased with the look and the direction. I think you’re right on. I love the nose art too.

Keep going man…it’s going to be great.”

Great! Pencil sketch done, time to scan it into the computer and start drawing it in vector in Illustrator. I would rather have too much resolution than too little, so I scanned my pencil sketch at 450dpi.

One thing I’ve learned over the years while working in Illustrator (or even Photoshop) is the value of layers. Not just layers, but well organized and well labeled layers. Layers allow me to break the illustration down into parts. Layer one will hold my sketch then I can start building the illustration on layers above that. Maybe I start with the bomb. Then after that I illustrate her leg, which is in front of the bomb, and so forth. Later I may need to go back and drop in a layer behind everything where I add the clouds. Just so you can see how I built this file in Illustrator – here is a snap shot of the final layers panel in my Illustrator file.

I know it may seem like a lot of layers. But it’s just very useful when working with a lot of vector shapes to be able to work on something, lock the layer, and work on a new part of the illustration without fear of accidentally grabbing some part of the work you previously did. At least, this is what I do now after years of trying to build an entire illustration on one layer.

So let’s rewind and look at a few step-by-step shots of me vectorizing this pin-up girl off of my illustration.

As you can see the different colors of the vector paths (bezier nodes) are different colors – that’s because they’re on different layers. My plan on this illustration is not to have any internal black ink lines – the colors of the shapes will define the drawing. But I will come back and put a thick exterior stroke on the entire girl. This will help give it that vintage comic-book/pin-up feel.

You’ll also notice that where shapes overlap, I only need to worry about the object that is in front. For instance, I don’t have to draw a foot on her front leg because the shoe is in front of that part of her leg illustration. So, I just chop off the vector shapes below the ankle.

Ok – So, here is the drawing mostly vectorized (inked.) I like to work for a while before I start dropping colors into my shapes. In case you’re wondering, I am drawing these vector shapes using a good old fashion mouse in combination with the vector pen tool in Illustrator.

Ok, so here was my first attempt at adding color to this illustration. Honestly, I wasn’t too happy with it at this point. Her blouse wasn’t working for me. The highlights in her hair feel too big. And, quite frankly, I’m completely unhappy with the face. The head feels too twisted around to me and just not beautiful or seductive enough.

Sometimes if you’re struggling with something – I suggest just setting it down, walking away from it and working on something else. This works really well. I believe that when you’re working on other things – your subconscious is processing problems in your life (including art and design problems). Several hours or even days later when you return to a project, sometimes your subconscious has resolved the problem and suddenly everything falls into place.

So, I shifted my focus to the bomb. Here is how it looked once I finished coloring it:

Now, I was EXTREMELY happy with this bomb. I love it! I decided to add the text “Black Ace” to the side of the bomb. I thought a military style stencil font would make sense. Also, I used Illustrator’s Warp Filter to make the copy look like it was curving along with the bomb.

In order to get this warp filter to work on my copy properly, first I had to convert my text to paths (Type/Create Outlines). Then I had to ungroup them (Object/Ungroup). And finally I had to merge all the letters into one compound path. For this use the Pathfinder tool (Pathfinder/Merge Shapes/Expand). Finally I used the Warp tool (see above.) Once I got the curvature just right I only had to rotate it into place. I think it turned out pretty good!

The last little piece for this bomb was adding the Black Ace spade. The spade was already created from previous projects. So, in this case all I needed to do was use the Free Transform Tool to distort the vector shape so it was in the proper perspective – so it actually looks like it is on the bomb fin.

I made these clouds a while ago on an unrelated project. I’m sure I probably found some good cumulous cloud photos and traced out these shapes. I will frequently try to get a lot of use out of background vector elements. That’s actually how The Arsenal was born. Basically, it’s a collection of extremely useful vector shapes that we were using regularly in our designs. And, as I’m sure most of you know – eventually we put them together into vector packs which are now available to you in our store. Having a collection of cool stock vectors to use as elements in your design can really improve your work while simultaneously cutting down the time (money) it takes to create. For this design I wanted the clouds to taper near the top and bottom. If you look closely you’ll see this is just two vector shapes repeated. But that’s ok because the parts that are replicated will be behind our pin-up girl illustration.

For the plane I just traced out the silhouette of a WWII bomber photograph that I found online. The most difficult part of this was just finding a plane that was in the correct perspective for my illustration.

Ok, after taking a break from my pin-up girl I come back and look at it and realize that it’s the face that needs reworked. I think her head is too contorted, she doesn’t look seductive enough, and quite frankly – she’s just not pretty enough. If there is one thing a pin-up girl needs to be; it’s beautiful.

Now, since this design is being assembled in Illustrator as vector art, I can draw the face separately and then just drop it onto the design. So, it’s back to the drawing board for another round of illustration. After a few sheets of paper were crumpled and thrown into the recycling bin – here is the face illustration I was really happy with:

And here is the vectorized version of this illustration:

You’ll probably notice that my sketch has a lot more detail than the final vector face. As a general rule you want to keep women’s faces fairly devoid of details. The simpler the better. When you draw lots of facial contours on a woman it just makes her look old and ugly. I say make the eyes and lips pop. The nose and cheek bones can just blend in.

Now I integrated my new face into the illustration. As I have a fairly limited number of colors to work with, I had to pull out the red and use a dark green for her lips.

Once I had this face in place I added her hair (removing the big shiny reflection in it.) And since she’s falling through the sky on a bomb I thought she should have some wisps of hair flying in the breeze. Finally, I added an ear and put some nice shadows on her neck. Those shadows on her neck really do a great job of defining her chin. Alrighty! I am really happy with this new face. She’s definitely looking hot and seductive.

Next we’ll tackle the playing cards. Now, this is REALLY basic. All I need to do is make a rectangle with rounded corners. I add a stroke to the outside of the cards and add the Black Ace spade onto the card. Also, I need to add the text: “Lady Luck” to these cards. I spent a while bouncing around the internet looking for a suitable retro font and stumbled upon this site: fontbros.com. They have a really fantastic selection of retro fonts. Eventually I selected Filmotype La Salle for this design.

Now, I really don’t need to worry about the center of these cards because that’s where our pin-up vector illustration of the girl is going to go.

So, I think that’s it – time to put all our pieces together! Let’s take a look at the first full proof of the design:

Ok, awesome. I think this is really great and I’m very happy. You’ll notice that I colored in the blouse with dark green. There were some collars and a lack of shading that just was looking bad to me. But once I went with the dark green the blouse looked fine. Also, I added the text Black Ace below the bomb. This is another design element that was already done on a previous project. All I had to do was warp it a little and rotate it into position.

While you work on your art and designs remember that there will be a great many things that look bad or simply are not working. Don’t give up and bail on your art. Pull out that eraser, move things around, recolor, redraw, re-design. Keep working it. And as I mentioned previously, sometimes it’s best to just set it down, walk away and focus on something else for a while.

Now I could proof this image as-is, but I know it will have a much greater impact if I mock it up onto a shirt. Anytime you can make your designs look REAL – it will increase how much your clients like them. Fortunately, Go Media has a wonderful set of t-shirt and hoodie templates. Dropping my design onto one of these templates only takes a second since the shirts are already masked out, and the highlights and shadows have been placed on their own layer. This allows me to mock-up a real looking t-shirt in about five seconds flat. Here are the images I posted to our Prooflab for Paul’s review.

And here was Paul’s feedback to these first set of proofs:

Paul:

“I wanted to get back to you on the Lady Luck design. I think it looks good and have only a couple of minor revisions/questions for you about the design.

Take a look and let me know what you think.

* can we add a couple of outlines around the tail of the plane so that it forces your eye to see the plane as flying over you (you looking up and seeing the bottom of it)? Right now you can see it that or as if you are looking on the top down and it’s flying away from you.

* Bomb fins…seems like there is a lot of black there around the bomb fins…again I’m thinking a simple outline give some definition to the shape and so you can see what part is in front of the other and keep the design from blocking up there.

* You’ve done a great job with the colors…I’m wondering thought if we can add a little red in there (mouth of the bomb and lipstick) just to give the whole design a little more pop.

* Lady Luck type…can we outline and/or bend that type some. I’m thinking “Indiana Jones” type on that where it starts a little larger and then gets smaller as it goes along. You may look at that idea and say “no” good. I was just trying to think of a way to make it a little more interesting.

Everything looks really good. You did a great job on the girl and the bomb is truly perfect. “

I completely agreed with all of Paul’s feedback so I shot him this message:

Bill:

“I am down with all your suggestions.  Let me go to work on it and get you a new proof.”

Ok, so these were all pretty straight-forward edits that I could hammer through. So, I’ll just go through these one at a time. First, I needed to add some directional light to this plane so you can see it’s orientation. Fortunately, the original image I used has this, so I just need to add some more details. Here is the new plane:

Next was a request to add some more details to the bomb fins to help the viewer see how these fins are shaped. I really didn’t add much here, I just made some cut-ins to show where one fin overlaps another and where the bomb cylinder ends. Here is the before and after.

Next is the addition of some RED. I was VERY happy that Paul suggested we could add another color. This will certainly help a ton and also add the much needed red lips to both our girl, and our bomb! Here are the before and after images showing the addition of red.

The last request is an “Indiana Jones” style Lady Luck text arching over the pin-up art. I don’t read Paul’s comment as meaning that he wants the Indiana Jones style font, I just think he wants that arch and a little depth and perspective to the text similar to the Indiana Jones logo.

So, I’m going to walk you through this one step at a time. Here are the 5 steps I took to make this text:

First, I start with the copy “Lady Luck” in the font Filmotype LaSalle. Before I go to the next step I use the Type/Create Outlines to convert my copy to paths. Then I ungroup the letters and use the Pathfinder/Unite tool to merge all the letters into one compound shape.

Second, I apply an Effect/Warp/Arc (Horizontal, Bend 35%, Distortion 0,0). Then I apply this effect via the Object/Expand Appearance function.
Third I apply an Effect/3D Rotate (4°, -26°, 6°, 126° Perspective). Again, I expand this appearance using the Object/Expand Appearance function.

Fourth I create two copies of my shape and apply different coloring to each of them. The top piece is just dark green. The second shape down has two strokes applied. First is a light tan at 4pts. Below that is a stroke of army green at 10pts. On the third copy of the type I’ve filled it and given it a 12pt stroke of red.

Finally, I stack these three shapes on top of each other and add a background. The top two shapes just stack directly on top of one another. You can use the align tool to make sure they’re lined up perfectly. The red one we will off-set it so it looks like it’s just an accent to the main script. By making the second stroke on the middle shape the same color as the background it knocks out the red – making it look like there is a gap between the accent red and the dark green lettering.

I was really happy how this copy came out. Now since we removed the text “Lady Luck” from the cards Paul suggested that we replace it with the copy “Destiny Awaits.”

The only thing left to do now is put it all together and see how the design looks with all these revisions:

Pretty frickin’ sweet if I do say so myself.  But there is one last little touch I would like to add. If ever there was a design worthy of being a little weathered (grunged up), it’s an old 40’s style military pin-up! The quickest/easiest way to do this is to once again, dig into Go Media’s bag of tricks (The Arsenal). In this case I grabbed a few vector items out of Set 17 to help me weather my design.  Here is the final art with a good coating of splatters and grunge:

Well, that’s it folks! I hope you’ve enjoyed this tutorial and learned a thing or two along the way. Keep an eye out for a series of new tutorials form the Go Media crew coming out regularly over the next 5 months – we’re making a concerted effort here to get back to our bread-and-butter quality tutorials here on the GoMediaZine!

Tutorial: “Lady Luck” T-Shirt Illustration is a post from: GoMediaZine

Go Media is a creative agency based in Cleveland, Ohio. Besides the GoMediaZine, we also work for clients and sell stock artwork and design files on the Arsenal.

So I recently jumped the gun and upgraded to Photoshop CS5 on the Mac. And I wasn’t too happy about it.

Let’s just say that the performance levels were not to my liking. In fact, Photoshop CS5 performed worse than CS4. I was even more confused because Adobe touted the 64-bit nature of Phototshop CS5, which was supposed to bring all sorts of performance gains. I saw none of these, and in fact the opposite.

The Rotate View tool was sluggish and jumpy, brush resizing via the keyboard was jerky at times, zooming in and out was full of hiccups and lag.

Lest you think I’ve been holding on to some old outdated machine, I’m running a Mac Pro dual-quad 2.8 Ghz with 14 GB of RAM. And like I said, CS4 was blazingly fast for me. I was really disappointed in the upgrade. In fact, I was reverting back to using CS4 for my Photoshop needs.

Reaching the end of my rope, I finally did a Google search. Lo and behold I found the Mac Performance Guide article all about Optimizing Photoshop CS5 Performance.

The series of articles explains that most of the tips for CS4 were valid, but there were a few things specific to CS5 that could use a little work. In particular, the one tip that helped me was the Cache Tile Size tip. Seems this obscure little setting in the preferences has a huge impact on Photoshop CS5’s performance, and oddly it’s set by default to a number that kills Photoshop’s performance by up to 80% in some cases!

There’s also a Memory Allocation issue which — as the author suggests — is a bug and needs to be fixed by Adobe. The author Lloyd Chambers(@digilloyd) kindly offers some “warmup” scripts as workarounds to these issues in the meantime. The basic gist is that Photoshop CS5 doesn’t properly allocate the max RAM setting you’ve told it to until it’s opened a file of that size or larger (at least that’s the idea I gathered).

I dropped an @ reply to Photoshop product manager John Nack via Twitter, and waiting to see what his take is on the default setting for the cache tile preference and the performance hit.

If you’re a Photoshop CS5 user and have any other performance tips, please sound off in the comments below.

Header image background photo via Nathan Eal

Photoshop CS5: Performance Tips is a post from: GoMediaZine

Go Media is a creative agency based in Cleveland, Ohio. Besides the GoMediaZine, we also work for clients and sell stock artwork and design files on the Arsenal.

There’s been quite a brouhaha between Adobe and Apple as far as the lack of Flash on Apple’s iOS devices (iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch).

I’ve mentioned on GoMediaZine in the past that I believe Adobe’s best plan of action would be to offer development tools for HTML5 and for Apple’s iOS devices instead of trying to force their hand into Flash.

It’s obvious that Apple isn’t going to relent in the near future (if at all) and that Apple’s iOS products are a big success. Like it or not, they are here to stay.

Adobe has taken what I think is a great step towards offering designers and developers a way to use Adobe products to get content on these touch devices. We mentioned the Adobe Digital Publishing platform recently, but Adobe has just released further details, including iPad-specific information.

The tools will be released as an add-on for Adobe InDesign CS5, and will be available via Adobe Labs later this summer. The tools used will be the same tools used to create the successful Wired Magazine app.

Check out the brief video below to see what Adobe has up their sleeve. It looks pretty slick and I can’t wait to get my hands on it to try it out.

Adobe: Create Digital Magazines for the iPad is a post from: GoMediaZine

Go Media is a creative agency based in Cleveland, Ohio. Besides the GoMediaZine, we also work for clients and sell stock artwork and design files on the Arsenal.

I am frequently asked to put together logos or promotional materials for independent bands, which is fantastic, except they don’t have the budget of a signed or sponsored band. Through the years I’ve found ways to cut corners to limit design time without limiting the overall design quality. In this tutorial I’ll break down my creative process used on a logo design for the UK hip-hop duo Second Nature.

The Brief:

Second Nature had a clear vision of what they were wanting in a logo design, which can be good or bad. It does somewhat limit the designer’s creativity but on the plus side it saves the designer time trying to hit the correct style and layout. During the initial brief the group had stated that they wanted a logo that included an illustration of each member but they wanted a layout that had the focus on the text. They wanted the text to be huge and pay respects to the old school RUN-DMC logotype and layout. I started putting together some ideas and when they chose their favorite layout I had them snap some poses that would work with the layout.

Tools Used:

• Wacom Intuos3
• Photoshop CS4
• Illustrator CS4
• GoMedia Destoy 2 Vector Pack

The Illustration: Losing the Background

After I received the images I brought them in to Photoshop and made a selection using the pen tool.

I created a path around the bodies and then Cmd-click (or right click -> Make Selection) on the path to make a selection of the path.

After the image was selected I then used a layer mask to drop out the background.

I then applied the same process to the other member’s photo and saved both out as .tifs with transparency’s turned on and then placed them both into a new document in Illustrator.

The Illustration: Live-Trace

Because I was working around a budget it did conflict with my normal illustration process, which would be to illustrate in either Photoshop or Illustrator fully and if needed then live trace the Photoshop Illustration. I did not have the time to do this, so I decided to take an easy way out and then try and give it a hand drawn appearance.

I selected the image I wanted to live-trace and then opened the live-trace dialogue box from the Object menu.

The tracing options I used varied between photos, it really depends on the designer on how much or how little you want to use, as it will affect the amount you’ll have to draw in later.

The Illustration: Hand-Drawn Effect

After I had my image traced I began shading and filling in the empty spots with line work. I used a single brush preset for all of the illustrations to give it a uniform feel and make it look more hand-drawn. I placed the image in a second time and used it as a reference for shading.

(Tip: When drawing a lot of lines in a close area in Illustrator the default presets can be very annoying. It defaults to “Keep Paths Selected” and “Edit Selected Paths”. If you draw in a line close to where your last was drawn, it will disregard your last line and keep the new one, as it thinks you’re trying to edit the original. You can shut this off by double clicking the the brush icon in your toolbar and uncheck “Edit Selected Paths”.”

Once I have my brush set up and my reference image in place I create a new layer for my linework. I begin filling in and shading as you would any other drawing, but I start where the the live-trace leaves off, using that as my maximum shadow source. I shade densely from the shadow outward letting my lines get more and more sparse as they reach the light sources.

Though, it may look tedious, keep in mind you do not need to be a perfectionist. The customer was wanting a hand-drawn look, therefore uneven lines, messy shading and little oddities sometimes add to the design rather than take away from. They weren’t wanting a clean precise vector piece, so get I got messy, had fun and went really really quickly.

Within a few minutes I was done with the first illustration and moving on to the other member. I used the exact same presets and technique for the second illustration to keep them consistent.

Once both were done I was extremely happy with the result. I knew from my sketches of the layout that the illustrations were not going to be the focal point, and they would never be viewed at very close range compared to the rest of the logo, and these would work just fine.

The Layout: Implementing Text

As I had mentioned above, Second Nature was wanting some giant bold text in similar respects to the old school RUN-DMC logo. They had only wanted a solid color, but needed the text to stand out more than anything. I knew I wanted a bold sans-serif that paid respect to RUN-DMC, but I also knew I wanted some minimal distressing that would reflect the hand-drawn feel. I’d don’t frequently use stylized typefaces, however when designing on a budget I didn’t have time to do the custom distressing. I took a look on dafont.com and found Uptown, which is exactly what I had in mind when I began the search.

I put the text in place and inverted the colors within a bounding box, that I created out of two shapes, to help pay homage to the RUN-DMC logo. Though, the font could use some adjusting on the tracking, I really didn’t want to adjust anything as I thought the inconsistency between the letters added character.

Once I was happy with the text layout I dove in to the GoMedia Arsenal to add some quick character to the type. I wanted to enhance the type treatment so it didn’t look so much like a free font. The Arsenal packs are great for when you’re working on a budget and don’t have the time to custom draw in type treatment or create paint splatters.

I grabbed the first one in the destroy 2 vector pack, which is my all time favorite for distressing type or backgrounds. I dragged the file over to my logo document and sized it appropriately.

Once I was happy with the placement I then used the eraser tool to erase any part of the Arsenal file that was outside of the bounding box. When I created this logo I wasn’t aware of the wonders of Pathfinder, so I chose the eraser route. Once I had cleaned up the surrounding area, the text portion of the logo was done!

I then pulled a vector splatter from one of my archives and used it to show the size and perspective of the text.

The Final Layout

Once I was happy with the text and added elements I added in the illustrations. It all came together and Second Nature was extremely pleased with the final result.

Logo Design On A Budget is a post from: GoMediaZine

Go Media is a creative agency based in Cleveland, Ohio. Besides the GoMediaZine, we also work for clients and sell stock artwork and design files on the Arsenal.

Have a creative project that needs funds from supporters to get things going? Not sure where to start or how to get the word out? Look no further than Kickstarter.

I can’t do a better job than Kickstarter themselves did explaining their service:

“Kickstarter is a funding platform for creative projects. We’re a great way for artists, filmmakers, musicians, designers, writers, illustrators, explorers, curators, promoters, performers, and others to bring their projects and ambitions to life. Project creators inspire people to open their wallets by offering products, benefits, and fun experiences.”

Kickstarter is not an investing platform – creators retain 100% ownership of the completed project. Kickstarter does take a 5% cut of the funds generated however.

Projects are hand-curated, although they say that projects aren’t chosen by taste, but rather by being appropriate to the service. In particular they are looking for “projects that offer rewards rather than begging for help. Projects with a history of effort or a path to completion. Projects that fit our focus on creativity. And don’t worry whether your project is “important” enough. Small, fun projects that a few friends knock out on a Saturday are some of our favorites.”

Some of the projects Kickstarter does not support are: “charity projects, raising funds for business expenses (rent, payroll, etc), soliciting donations to causes (medical bills, etc), or having people fund your life (travel, living expenses, etc). Additionally, Kickstarter can not be used to solicit investment or loans; projects may not offer financial returns under any circumstances.”

This sounds like a killer setup for creative types. Just a quick browse of the featured projects page and you can see how useful this service has the potential to be. I love the aspect where similar to a “pledge drive”, contributors are offered exclusives from the project as a thank you for larger contributions.

Kickstarter is currently in beta, but you can sign up to have your project considered.

Kickstarter.com: Fund Your Creativity is a post from: GoMediaZine

Go Media is a creative agency based in Cleveland, Ohio. Besides the GoMediaZine, we also work for clients and sell stock artwork and design files on the Arsenal.

They say David Carson is the “father of grunge” because he rejected typical type layouts and played with non-mainstream techniques to achieve different results. He surrounded himself in the Southern California surf/skate culture in the late 80s and early 90s where he began to make his mark. This went on to help define the visual aesthetic for surf/skate culture as fans began to identify with it.

When I was in college from 2000-2004, I flipped through music magazines and read through the liner notes of my favorite albums, I noticed something that caught my eye. Here was “smart” type layout combined with illustration, dirt and grime. Something my newbie designer eyes had not seen before then. This helped me discover that design wasn’t ONLY about creating ads with a clever tagline like my friends who majored in Graphic Design did in college (I was an 3D Animation major).

I was soaking up the designers and artists responsible for this refreshing hybrid including Asterik Studio (now Invisible Creature), Eduardo Recife, Damnengine, THS, and the Bau-da Design Lab. To me it was the anti-mainstream and rejection of pop culture, boy bands, and the slick MTV aesthetic. I was all about it.

These are just a few of the many pioneers of the modern grunge style. They stood out because they were able to move between stunning photo manipulation and hand drawn illustration without neglecting their typography.  Of course, the icing on their collective cakes were the dirt, stains, spills and splatters that symbolized the underground and alternative design sense.  Their combination and skill of putting it all together was what made them great.

For the rest of us just getting started, we hadn’t yet learned or trained our eyes for type or had the resources for pro photography.  However, we knew Photoshop and we had the tools to help us LOOK like we existed in the same realm.  Around that time, Photoshop brushes, textures, and grungy fonts were tools developed to achieve that counter-culture vibe that so many of us found refreshing and relatable. At that time it seemed like everyone I knew was hording brushes, textures, and grunge fonts from sites like Misprinted Type and Dubtastic. Clean “corporate” design was so “pretentious” and “boring” and our young energetic selves needed to destroy all that was clean and too “business-like.”  It kind of went with the territory when you listen to metal and punk rock and watched films by David Lynch or Harmony Korine.  Also, adding “aged effects” was an attempt to make your designs feel less digital and more realistic and natural.

We found beauty in the grotesque and solace in the sinister.  We found comfort in nostalgia and we smile when we see something that visually takes us back in time to our childhood.  We wanted to make stuff in the same vein and the availability of these “tricks” made everyone who had Photoshop be able to put together a “grunge design.”  Copy, paste, boom you’re done.  Easy.  And the popularity of those resources encouraged designers to create and share their own as a way to get exposure.  In fact we did this in 2006 when we launched the Arsenal and sold hundreds of “vector packs” and were featured in magazines like IDN and Computer Arts.

So what has happened since?  It’s exploded and because it’s so “easy” to find and download tricks to create a dirty and grungy design, you have young designers “grunging shit up” all the time because they can.  What’s happened is that you’ve got an overabundance of awful and messy collages of used and reused free grunge brushes and vectors.  Apparel brands and department stores are making loads of money selling tees using heraldry emblems, eagles, wings, skulls, splatters, etc.  4-5 years ago it was an emerging trend.  2 years ago it was a tired cliché.  Today your grandmother owns a garment with a skull or dragon on it and a few copy/pasted splatters.

So where is the “grunge movement” going today?  There are certainly designers still doing great work out there. A few years back, you had designers like Ronald Ashburn (Electrik Suicide) making waves with his futuristic retro style and Scott Hansen and Mark Weaver setting trends with a more minimal and Swiss approach.

On the music design side, you have Kyle Crawford, The Black Axe, and Sam Kaufman perfecting their craft and building upon the rich visual history of the bands they work for.  I don’t see the trend ending any time soon, but I do see a more mature approach as designers grow and appreciate subtlety and get sick of the messy clutter or design objects often associated with grunge.

In reality, whatever the mainstream is doing, look for the new pioneers to reject it and create something entirely new.  If grunge design is mainstream and ubiquitous by now, there’s certainly an undercurrent of young rebellious designers looking to destroy it.

If you have some inspiration for a refreshing take on the “grunge” movement, please post it below.

State of the Union: Grunge Design is a post from: GoMediaZine

Go Media is a creative agency based in Cleveland, Ohio. Besides the GoMediaZine, we also work for clients and sell stock artwork and design files on the Arsenal.

“The Brads” is a webcomic by Brad Colbow for designers, web developers and techies. See more here.

The Brads: Interface Design is a post from: GoMediaZine

Go Media is a creative agency based in Cleveland, Ohio. Besides the GoMediaZine, we also work for clients and sell stock artwork and design files on the Arsenal.

For this installment of Blank Canvas, I’d like to hear from our readers on the topic of learning new design and illustration techniques and software.

Obviously here at the Go Media Zine, we offer plenty of design and illustration tutorials, however not everyone learns best from a computer screen.

Creative types have a wealth of information online nowadays, however many out there learn best from a classroom setting, one-on-one tutoring or perhaps even good old fashioned books.

If you are one of those who keep up to date and expand your arsenal online, what do you prefer as the format for your content — step-by-step tutorials, video walkthroughs, “quick tip” articles or in-depth analysis of techniques?

For our student readers, do you augment your classroom studies with outside sources? If you’re already a degreed pro, what do you use to keep current, and have you considered going back to the classroom?

Blank Canvas: How Do You Learn? is a post from: GoMediaZine

Go Media is a creative agency based in Cleveland, Ohio. Besides the GoMediaZine, we also work for clients and sell stock artwork and design files on the Arsenal.

We use icons every day, but usually they are made by others. So when we know exactly what we need, it is better if we make our very own icon. Here is how to make a 3D book icon, that we can use more times, with some modifications.

Open a new document, i’m working with a 800×600 px workspace, and CMYK colors.
Draw a shape with your Pen tool (P), as you see in the image below (1). If you’re not familiar using the Pen tool, than you can try to create a rounded rectangle with the Rounded Rectangle tool, and with the help of a rectangle you can cut out a shape that you need (Window > Pathfinder > Alt + Subtract). Add a point to the right side of the shape, and delete it. So you have the shape. As you can see, it’s more easier to draw with the Pen tool. The final shape has a 115px width, and 26px height.

Set the stroke size to 4px. Go to Object > Expand, and click OK. Now the outline transformed into an outline + a shape you just need to ungroup them, and delete the outline.
Go to Effect > 3D > Extrude & Bevel, and set these settings:

Go to Object > Expand Appearance and press OK. So you converted the 3D object into a simple grouped object. Ungroup this group of objects, until you have all separated.

Create a rectangle with the Rectangle tool (M) with sizes: width=105px, height=22px. Go to Object > Envelope Distort > Make with Warp, select the Squeeze  style and set the Bend to 10%. Press OK. Go to Object > Expand, and press OK. Now we have the inside part of the book.

Go to Effect > 3D > Extrude & Bevel again with this object selected, and set the same settings, you used on the cover. When you have the 3D object, expand it, and ungroup the resulted objects. You only need the margins, so you can delete all others. We have the papers from the book.

Group and place this to objects over the book’s cover. Now we have to make some modifications on the cover.

Select the left part of the cover and merge it (Windows > Pathfinder). Do the same with the front part of the cover too.

We want to hide the papers (Green object) below the cover. Select the front side of the cover (You can select more object while pressing Shift). When you have all objects selected, bring them to the front (Alt+Shift+]).

The papers are covered by the book's cover.

If you need, you can adjust the paper’s position to fit the book’s cover perfectly. We need a book that has  rounded corners. To round the corners, select the book’s front part, and duplicate it (Ctrl+C, Ctrl+F). Select the new objects right corners with the Direct Selection Tool (A) and move them to left.

Now you can select the first object. Select it, and go to Effect > Stylize > Round Corners, set the Radius to 5px, and press OK. Go to Object > Expand, press OK. Now you rounded all 4 corners of the object, but luckily we made a copy of this, that covers the other two corners from the left side. Now you have to merge these two together.

We have to take care the margin of the book and we need to round this too. We will do this with the help of the Pen (P) tool and the Direct Selection Tool (A). With the Pen tool add two points to the margin.

Select the two anchor points from the right side, and move them up. When they are on the right place, convert them to  curved anchor points with the Direct Selection Tool.

We need to make these modification on the bottom side of the cover  too. To do that select the bottom side of cover, and add two point with the Pen (P) tool. Convert the anchor point from the corner to a curved anchor point, and move it to get this effect as you see on the image.

Make the modifications on the border as we did on the front part.

Here is the final form of the border:

Hurray! We’re done with the book :)

We just need to color it so let’s start.

Select the paper and color it with gradient from white to black, to get this nice, smooth effect.

Let’s color the left side of the cover.  Select and fill with gradient from white to black.

You can play with the color settings, to get the effect you like.

Select the front cover, and go to Object > Path > Offset Path. Set the offset to -1px, and press OK. we have now a border.

Fill with radial gradient the cover. I used a gradient from light blue to dark blue, and placed the center in the upper right corner.

Don’t forget about the bottom border of the book.

Select and resize the cover. After you resized it, place on the upper right part of the book.

Drag this object down, while pressing the Alt key. So you can duplicate it. Make as many tabs, as you want, and fill them with bright colors. Select all (Ctrl+A), and group them (Ctrl+G).

So we have a book icon, and with small modifications we can reuse in our webpage, presentation or print.
Look at my ideas with this 3d book icon on my iStockphoto portfolio.

Let’s make a magnifying glass!

Create a circle with the Ellipse tool (L), duplicate (Ctrl+C, Ctrl+F), and resize it. Select the smaller circle, and Copy (Ctrl+C). Select the two circles and go to Window > Pathfinder, and press Subtract. So you get a ring. Now paste the smaller circle (Ctrl + F) back to its place. Duplicate the ring (Ctrl+C, Ctrl+B – Places the copied object Behind the original) and move it down.

You can set the transparency (Window > Transparency) to 75% on the smaller circle to see the lens effect.
Create two rectangles, and place them below the circles.

Select the second rectangle, go to Object > Envelope Distort > Make with Warp. Select the Shell Lower style, and set the Bend to -18%. Press OK.

Create another two circles with the same size (Create the first, and duplicate it, then move it to right), and Window > Pathfinder > Subtract.

Create a rectangle and repeat the last step subtracting from the other object.

Add some colors to the magnifier. I’ve used gradients from white to black, and for the lens I’ve used a radial gradient with white to blue.

Place the magnifier over the book, and duplicate it. Delete the lens from the duplicate so you have only the frame.

Select the frame, and merge all its content (Window > Pathfinder).  This will be the shadow of the magnifier. Fill with a linear gradient with white from black, and set on the Transparency panel (Window > Transparency)  the blending mode to Multiply.

Place the shadow to its place, select the magnifier, and bring to front (Ctrl+Shift+]). We only have a little problem. The shadow is bigger then the book, but we need it only over the book.
Select the book’s cover (if it is inside in a group, so double-click on that group, until you get the cover), make a copy of it (Ctrl+C), (get out from that group, clicking twice outside the object), and paste it over the book (Ctrl+F).  Shift + Select the shadow and Intersect (Window > Pathfinder) the two objects.

This is how it looks after this:

We’re done! Good work! I hope, this tutorial was helpful.

Create A 3D Vector Book Icon is a post from: GoMediaZine

Go Media is a creative agency based in Cleveland, Ohio. Besides the GoMediaZine, we also work for clients and sell stock artwork and design files on the Arsenal.

Inspiration Sea is a worldwide community spreading inspiration through art. It allows designers of all kinds (graphic designers, illustrators, web designers, photographers, etc.) to showcase their best work. Users can sign up for a free account to gain access to features like commenting, the message board, the job board, favorite designs they like, and more.

To be able to post inspiration on the site, you must have an invite code from someone on the site or win one through contests that will happen.

If you go to the Launch Giveaways page, you will be able to see that started this coming Monday, there will be a weekly contest for 5 weeks. Giving out prizes like Arsenal Coupon Codes, invite codes, and 2gb flash drives.

Inspiration Sea looks like a great new way to share and discuss your creations with other creative types, kind of like a Flickr for creativity. Users can vote and comment on each creative work, allowing for interactive community-based critiques.

Inspiration Sea is a post from: GoMediaZine

Go Media is a creative agency based in Cleveland, Ohio. Besides the GoMediaZine, we also work for clients and sell stock artwork and design files on the Arsenal.