22 February 2008

Moons and color breaks

I've got a couple of things for you today, mostly it's just school work, but it's still cool.
I've been very busy lately (what else is new) So I'm just going to get right into it.

First of all I finished my latest Ad Design piece, it's a cover for the "Tucson Weekly" magazine about the lunar eclipse that happened this past Wednesday.
(Sorry for small quality, it just makes things easier to upload)

My Teacher really liked it, which is saying something. It definitely turned out better than I expected, which is the best, because I always feel that I've gotten better and learned something when I pass my expectations.
The strongest point in this piece is what most people really, severely, painfully lack in: Typography.

Take a closer look at my headline:
It's readable, bold, it has nice colors, simple yet interesting effects, and it represents a feeling of what it says, it's just all around awesome.
I only say this about this piece because it does not happen often for me to make one so clean and spot on. The funny part is that it was partially an accident.

I went in knowing that it needed to be bold, and semi futuristic, but also give off a mystical feel.
I tried doing a fancy delicate "lunar" and a bold "Eclipse" which was too busy. I came across the dark red shadow from REFERENCE! I searched places on the internet that had a special type for a "Lunar Eclipse," NASA's website had a neat blue feathered glow behind the word "Eclipse" so that's where I got that idea.
The gradient that pretty much makes this type, was an accident. I tried gradient from 'blue to red' because that's what the moon does, I did that to both "Lunar" and "Eclipse" When I switched "Eclipse" to an 'orange to red' gradient it matched up with "Lunar's" 'blue to orange,' and it blended nicely, so I kept it.

So yeah, this piece turned out pretty well, special thanks to my friend Sean down at The Junkyard, for helping me make an awesome star-filled sky.

By the way, I went out to see the lunar eclipse that night, it was a real drag, here's a picture of it in it's full glory.It was cloudy =(


Yeah....Damn you clouds, the only force that could stop me from enjoying a night time spectacle.

Now I said I had a couple of things to show you and it's true, here's the next batch of J Cola awesome goodness.

I have a book I'm working on, it's a fairy tale that I wrote. I'm not going to give too much away but I will share for you all my color breaks, that I find very helpful and VERY IMPORTANT with character development.

These are the three sisters.

I ended up with this set up, and I could go on and on about how those colors are the best choice, (though I am still working on the flesh color) but I don't feel like it.

Here is the middle sister, a little more defined, took my hours to do it, but it was worth it.


Well, that's all for now.
It takes me more than an hour to post this because of all the pictures I have to resize and upload, so I'll only be updating about once a week, probably on Fridays.
Thanks for reading.
~J Cola

2 comments:

Nico said...

ahhhhhhhh!!!!! How COOL.

i love how your version of Weekly came out! The shades of the moon, and yes the font, as my favorite parts. I think we are beginning to become a little obsessed with typography. OR maybe the rest of the world needs to become a little more educated!

I also love the refinement of the sister.. That's one of the nicest color and shadow jobs I've ever seen you do. Plus the character is VERY solid and weighty!

great jobbbbbbbb

Sean Thurlow said...

Ah, I had to leave a comment on this. Loved that Tucson Weekly piece Jenna. It rocks!

Your characters are coming along great! Really strong start and I think it's going to keep getting better and better.

See you in class Monday:)