My new website is up!

After working on it for quite some time, I have my new design up!  Check out sylpherius-graphics 2.0!  I happily added textures into the background.  It's much different from my first design, but it's aesthetically pleasing!  I have the lightbox working perfectly now!  Since I used the old version last time, I had a strange glitch.  I fixed up nearly all the issues I had in my last design.  Everything is much better now!

Come check it out!
www.sylpherius-graphics.ca

Valentines card!

No, it's not that time of the year yet, but I wanted to play with textures and fonts!
I added some pattern overlays on top of the hearts and then made them stand out even more with the bevel and emboss effect.  I thought about how I would want the card if it could be printed out.  The hearts and striped ribbon going across the bottom would be embossed (bumpy) and velvety.  It seems suitable.  I also used a bit of texture in the background because I want the paper to be a tad grainy.  The overall look is simple but nice and I'm very happy with it! Funny because I originally wanted to do a Christmas card.

The font is French Script MT arched.

Developed in Adobe Photoshop CS3

Amazing

I think this is the first time I realized how fun and amazing colour dodge is.  Without that effect, I wouldn't have completed this little tag.  I wanted to learn how to make things more flashy in Photoshop.  Well, I know of some techniques but it never hurts to learn more.  This could also help with my skills in typography one day.  The background is actually a shrunken version of some tissue paper I scanned a while ago.  

I used a masking effect on the letters and erased using a brush tool at 40% opacity, which would leave some solid parts of the letters behind.  I then added some colour in the background (on another layer).  The letters sit on top of it which gives it that nice colourful effect.  I added some brush work using some "colour" effects in the end.  Hopefully I can continue to make some of these awesome little pieces in the future!

The font used is: Gill Sans Ultra Bold

Developed in: Adobe Photoshop CS3

Vector background for figures

Recently I learned some new techniques in Photoshop!  After using some grunge brushes in the background for both Totori (the figure with the blue background) and Milla (the figure with the burgundy background) I added some nice glows and vector shapes on top.  I must say the result is lovely.  The colours stand out nicely and they don't take away from the figures themselves.

Milla

Totori

I incorporated some vector designs created in Adobe Illustrator in both of these images. It was a bit difficult doing some of the shapes in Photoshop, so I used Illustrator.  Fortunately I could use the swirl and curve tools there.  They made life much easier.  The strokes came from stretched circles.

I used various effects in photoshop, such as colour and gradient overlays, which I don't use as frequently as I probably should.

I particularly like the Totori one because of the flask.  It's like a beautiful experiment where colours just burst from success! I also liked the additional glow effects.  I added some to her eyes to make them sparkle a bit more.

Photographs and figures belong to: Sui Chee
Developed in: Adobe Illustrator CS3 & Adobe Photoshop CS3

Professor Layton Layout

I wanted to use various designs and fonts in Adobe InDesign.  I realized I hadn't created any fake magazine covers yet so I tried that using my own photos.  Since I don't have images of models (for fashion magazines) I decided to be more creative by developing a cover for imported figures!  Inspired by Poke the Merch!

I did some editing on Professor Layton (the figure shown on the cover) so it was slightly brighter than the original.  I tried out various fonts and they seemed to work well with the cover.  There's some emphasis on more significant sections, such as orange for "figures".

I also included a spread with the cover.  I have a third page, but it's incomplete.  It's really just the final bits of my review for this figure.  The copy, which is a review of the figure, is by me.  You can read the full review at Poke the Merch's blog.  You'll also find many more pictures there!

Brown for the background seemed suitable because I wanted it to match Layton's dark hat and coat.  It also mixes well with his orange shirt.  I'm quite pleased with the final result.  I was able to play with the fonts (and sizes) and I was also able to incorporate my own photos.

Photos and copy by: Sui Chee

Developed in: Adobe InDesign CS3

Edited in: Adobe Photoshop CS3

Website

I've been learning html and basic CSS as of late! I've been pretty busy figuring out how to fix the little errors I've been making and I've come a long way, so here's a little preview

I think I'm going to change up my blog or update it, mainly because my current one is out of date and it's getting a tad wonky on me. I can't even have a regular compose/html post box...so yes, that is a sign for me to revamp! It will work out well since I'm already working on a new layout for my website. I'll go into 2012 with a bang!

I quite like the texture I used for my website because it's actually white tissue paper. I found a nice flat piece in the house and used my scanner to scan it. I adjusted the colour and added some effects on it and the result is wonderful.

The thumbnails for my works have a nice border around it. It's the same texture used for the background. The main white section is slightly faded and I used my grunge brushes to remove some sections from the sides. It has a nicer effect. At least to me it seems more interesting than plain shapes.

Most of the icons are set up now in css and html. I have some of the copy done for the about section and I believe I will be keeping what I originally had in my contact section from my previous layout.

Currently being designed in: Adobe Photoshop CS3
Additional pieces designed in: Adobe Illustrator CS3
Currently being built in: Adobe Dream Weaver CS3

Playing with InDesign

I picked up the Tales of Xillia Famitsu DX Pack early September and took some pictures for a post at my Poke the Merch blog. I took a photo of the Tipo plush and made a small page out of it. I really just wanted to get used to playing with text over images.

Edited in: Adobe Photoshop CS3
Developed in: Adobe InDesign CS3

Banner for Poke the Merch

Here's the main banner I made for the blog my friend and I are both running.

The photographs were taken by the both of us. The design was done by me.


After taking a photograph of my hand (more than once because it was a difficult task to do on my own), I vectored it and used it for our logo, which you can see at the top right.

Developed in Adobe Photoshop CS3

Splash Works!

I just felt like playing with blue (and trying out some fonts I rarely use).

I buried a bit of the text in the water and the added splash bits on top. 

The water shooting out from the middle was created using the brush tool and stroke function. After using the curve tool, I added a stroke and changed it to a brush I made using a circle.

This was quite fun to make!

Developed in Adobe Illustrator CS3

Edited in Adobe Photoshop CS3

Review Spread - "Tales of Vesperia"

I've been wanting to post this for a while, but the blog my friend and I are running together didn't go live until yesterday. Since she and I are doing reviews on imported merchandise, I decided to make spreads out of mine. I take lots of photos using my sister's Nikon camera anyway, so the quality of each picture is great! I think it'll be great practice for me.

So here is the first one! Very simple and very clean! My article wasn't very long so I couldn't add as many pictures as I'd hoped, but practice will make perfect! Enjoy.

Check out our blog at http://pokethemerch.blogspot.com/

Developed in: Adobe InDesign CS3

One More Drink for the Summer?

I vectored a tropical drink this time! I know I don't like summer as much as others, but I do like cool fruity drinks (preferably non-alcoholic). Anyway, here's one for the summer!

Out of all the drinks I found on Google, I really liked this one the most because it was very colourful. I'm really happy with the gradient used for the liquid because it has that "passionate taste" look to it. I'm really pleased with the fruit hanging from the rim as well. The gradient effect worked wonderfully with the pear and cherry.

If you look closely there's a hint of ice inside the drink. Just two little blocks. Most of the light sections on the glass are ever so slightly blurred. Finally, I lowered the opacity on the white shapes. I'm very happy with this result!

Developed in: Adobe Illustrator CS3
Edited in: Adobe Photoshop CS3

Care for a glass?

Here's a little vector piece I did of a glass of wine and a bottle. I'm quite pleased with how the wine glass came out.

It's surprisingly difficult to do a semi-transparent object. I had more difficulty with the bottle than I did with the wineglass, but I managed to make both objects look decent. By dropping the opacity and adding a slight blur onto some of the darker and lighter shapes, I get a nice smooth look. If the vector objects/shapes are too sharp, the wineglass and bottle look very cartoon-y. The blur is supposed to help with the lighting and the shade.


Developed in: Adobe Illustrator CS3
Edited in: Adobe Photoshop CS3

Green Letter Template

I did this before going on vacation, but I didn't get a chance to post it. I wanted to do a cute little letter design. I've also always liked the use of circles and swirls in a lot of vector designs I found over the internet. Also, I really like this tint of green!

This is definitely the start of something fun for me!

Developed in: Adobe Illustrator CS3
Edited in: Adobe Photoshpo CS3

"Thank You" card for Medium

Here is a thank you card I designed for Passions for Dessert. They printed one of Medium Magazine's covers onto hundreds of delicious cookies (which you can see in the picture below). These cookies were shared during the launch event.

For the card, I wanted to use pink because of the MEDIUM logo, and white was appropriate for the background. For the top I made the pink slightly darker.

Developed in: Adobe Illustrator CS3

The Medium Magazine launch party was yesterday (June 13, 2011). Even though it drizzled here and there, the party was an absolute success. It was a pleasure just being there, seeing everyone interact with one another with lively music playing int he back. The members of Oddly studios were hard at work! I was able to say hi to them every so often as they kept moving back and forth between the rooms!


Unfortunately, I was only able to capture a few shots with my digital camera. There was dim lighting and I had my hands full for most of the night. I managed to take a few pictures of the team members, but you'll have to catch pictures of the event on the Medium site.

I'll consider taking a better camera with me next time, of course. But I have to be able to look fancy and still carry a giant SLR around.

I also got all dressed up for the event as well. It's rare for me to wear dresses, but this one was comfy and pretty. Plus it was an awesome fashion event!

The picture was taken by Jesse using my Canon Camera. (Thanks, Jesse!)

It's Summer Time!

I felt like ice cream because it's summer and it's gotten bloody hot this year (so far). Then I figured I'd vector a cute little ice cream banner/theme/logo (or whatever you would like to call it). It was actually very fun. I had to experiment with a few colours first before I was satisfied.

I then altered the ice cream picture just a little. My friend mentioned that it would suit the summer theme if I added glasses. So I did, and it turned out to be pretty awesome.

In addition to that, I made one with silly faces. At least they're happy being eaten, right? Hopefully it warms up soon (and my cold disappears). I can't wait to devour the mint chocolate chip and cookies n' cream ice cream in my freezer!

Developed and altered in: Adobe Illustrator CS3

Second Fairy Vector

I did this one two months ago but didn't upload it until now. I like it the way it is but I'll add an extra spray of white in the background next time. Originally the sketch was really messy, but I was able to adjust the body shape with the anchor and vector points. The flower I made is the orange version of a second lotus vector I did a long time ago. It came out much better than I expected because I used gradients again.

Here are the original (super rough) sketches:

Sketches by: Me

Developed in: Adobe Illustrator CS3

Edited in: Adobe Photoshop CS3

Little Bunny

I finally managed to export the HD version of the 3Ds Max project I did in school in semester 3, which was about three months ago. I spent one week working on this project for my final assignment and boy did I have a blast. At first I wasn't sure what I really wanted to do, but eventually I decided I wanted to do something simple but cute. Since I learned about textures, I was able to apply them to all the background objects. So the bricks, the wood, and the cement all look a little more realistic. Also, the skylight really helped.

I think the hardest part was putting the bunny together. I had to put many shapes inside his body so I can attach all the limbs together and they would all move in fluid motion (whenever I needed, anyway). I am pleased to say I am very happy with the final result. It is short, but cute, and I enjoyed working on it very much.



Man, I love 3D!!

Developed in: 3DS max

Vectored Myself

I chose to vector myself for the "about" page of my previous website. It was my first time vectoring a person and I'm quite pleased with the outcome. The colours came out better than I expected. I personally thought it was going to be somewhat difficult because of the way the sun was shining on me the original photo. I definitely had fun with it, even though vectoring the image took a few days. All of this was done in Adobe Illustrator using the pen tool.

Here are both the original photo and vectored piece

Developed in: Adobe Illustrator CS3
Edited in: Photoshop CS3

Theta

Here are some designs from semester 2's typography class. The assignment was about hierarchy so I did three pieces that emphasized on the word theta, the symbol, and its definition. I'm only uploading two because these are the ones I really liked out of the three.

The first one emphasizes on the word "theta" rather than the symbol.

The symbol for theta is emphasized in the second one.

Developed in: Adobe Illustrator CS3

Design Practice

I wanted to practice designing website layouts (home pages, product pages, etc...) because I wanted ideas for my own website. The first idea that came to mind was flowers. The layout is meant to be quite basic since I didn't have too much time to work on it. The sidebar lacks more information but that requires some more research before it reaches completion. I'd probably extend it vertically and insert some more options and ads...but only if it looks nice.

Please make note that none of the floral images belong to me and they have only been used for practice. They are not used for sale and belong to their respective owners.

Developed in: Adobe Photoshop CS3

Shoe Ad

Here is a shoe ad I did for photography class in semester 2. I had to take several pictures my shoes, so I could choose the best one to use for a fake poster/ad. I chose Aerosoles because I owned a pair of their shoes, which were still new (in my original box) and were very nice. The logo was hard to do at first, but I vectored half of the letters afterwards to match one I found on Google. I had to place in shadows of my own with a brush tool because I couldn't keep the shadows from the original photo.

Developed in: Adobe Photoshop CS3

Typography and Lyrics

In semester 2, one of the assignments in typography required me to choose some lyrics from a song (in this case, Bring Me to Life by Evanescence) and emphasize significant words in a design of my choice. I always liked the middle part of the song so I chose it and placed it in my second design. The black and gray give it a darker feel, which I used to match the tone of the song.

Developed in: Adobe Illustrator CS3

Vector practice

I am currently using vectors on old images I drew. I also learned how to do swirls along with nice, but simple designs in Adobe Illustrator. I certainly love the colours.  I haven't used green with a hint of yellow in the background before, but I'm pleased with the result.  I thought the pink butterflies complemented the green as well.  They're easy to see and they stand out nicely in the picture.

Here is the original sketch, which was done in high school.  The vector image outlines the fairy.  The swirls and background were included because I wanted to experiment.

Sketch done by: Me
Developed in: Adobe Illustrator CS3
Edited in: Photoshop CS3

Matt of Hetalia

I vectored a figure from the insanely popular anime series Hetalia Axis Powers. My friends adore Matt from Canada, so I decided to vector him and make a wallpaper with it. For now, I've finished the vector, which came out much better than I expected. I adjusted the tones a little because of lighting, but I'm very pleased with it.

Vectored

Original Image

I did a snowy background because it suits Matt's outfit. Nothing special or complicated about it. I contemplated on adding a few more things to it, but I'll leave it as is for now. Maybe some trees and a pattern in the back, or a snow bear and a snow Matt will do in the future. Click image to enlarge (1280 x 800 pixels)

Vectored in Adobe Illustrator CS3

Flash backgrounds

For my Flash toysite assignment, I created a few backgrounds to match the Socorian I designed a while back. I designed an abandoned factory (from the outside) at night. It gives a dark feel to the toy. It's appropriate considering the fact that this toy was the predator of the project I did with Gabby. I created a school setting as well because I couldn't think of another theme at the time and school was frustrating me. I figured it'd be fun to destroy some imaginary pencils and paper.

Here's a link to the original sculpted Socorian

Developed in: Adobe Illustrator CS3
Edited in: Adobe Flash CS4 and Photoshop CS3

Vector for Video

I vectored this spooky background for a video assignment (Semester 3). It's part Tim Burton, part spooky owls. It was fun making it. I added texture to the ground so it wouldn't look so flat. I'm happy with the outcome, and it looked very nice in the film.

Developed in: Adobe Illustrator CS3
Edited in: Adobe Photoshop CS3

Flowers

I wanted to use a blossomed flower as a logo for myself, but I had some difficulties deciding on the design. This was one of them. I developed two versions because I wanted options. I used an image of a lotus flower I quite liked over the internet and began playing with some gradients. This one actually looks really nice from afar. I was tempted to keep it but decided my final design should be simple. Here's what it looks like anyway. It's still something I'm proud of.

Here's a different design for the blossoming flower.

Developed in: Adobe Illustrator CS3

Digital Painting

Here's a digital painting I did of my sister a year ago. We were in France and she posed for the camera. I thought it was a fun picture so I used Photoshop to dot out the picture. I'm very pleased with the outcome.

Reference Photo

Digital Piece

Developed in: Adobe Photoshop CS3

Flare Flower

This was a sketch I did a few years ago. I always wanted to colour it in, but I didn't do it until the winter holiday of 2010. I'm not that great with tablets, but tablet PCs (where you can draw touching the screen itself) made it possible. I had fun colouring this in. Using multiply modes, I was able to make a darker and lighter version.

Sketched by: Me

Coloured in: Adobe Photoshop CS3