Poke the Merch business card

For Anime North 2014 (a convention) , I designed a business card for the blog my friends and I run called Poke the Merch.  Last year we had convention goers ask us for a business card during our giveaway and unfortunately we didn't have cards to pass out at the time.  This year we were more prepared!

The colours of the card are meant to match the colours of our logo and blog. The printed version is fantastic!  The Poke crew couldn't be happier!

Developed in: Adobe Illustrator

Poke the Merch

Poke the Merch is now over a year old and it only just occurred to me that I had never posted the progress of how I developed the logo for that blog.  Since "Poke the Merch" was the original title my partner and I thought of, we decided we wanted a finger in our logo (to emphasize on the poke).

I took several photographs of my hand in certain poking positions.

 

Eventually I vectored over the one that looked best in Illustrator and tried out various designs.  Below are some results.

We used this one in the end as a watermark for our photographs.

This one is used for our banner so it's easier to develop a design around the hand.

You can check out the blog here!

Developed in: Adobe Illustrator

Cyber-Seniors Banner

Whew, it's been a while since I've updated, but I'm back with a nice banner I designed for the Cyber-Seniors booth at the Healthy Living Fair 2012 (located at Christie Gardens).  I wanted to keep the images around the logo circular so I used round masks on the photos provided by Cyber-Seniors.  To keep the banner nice and bright, I stuck with blue tints as well.  I'm quite happy with the way it came out.  Originally I had some facebook/youtube/twitter icons at the bottom left corner, but it didn't work out, so I replaced them with a nice swirly design.  The result was great!

Also, I used the Verdana font for the website link because it was easier on the seniors' eyes.

Developed in: Adobe Illustrator CS3
Photos and logo belong to their respective owners.

Icons

I think it's time I made some icons using the Adobe programs.  At first I couldn't decide which ones to start with.  Then I looked at my Android and thought I could try different weather icons.  It gave me a chance to think of various designs since the weather is ever changing.

I thought about three different versions for each.  One large one, one gadget for the computer, and one small icon for the phone.  I'm pleased with how they turned out.  I used various gradients for the background, the clouds, and the sun.  Then I created symbols out of the sun and clouds.

Developed in: Adobe Illustrator CS3

This way or That way?

Here is another vector piece I developed a short while back. I originally made it a red vs blue theme, but then the colours (mixing with white) reminded me of some flags... So I changed up the red and made it green. I'm still pleased with the outcome. I've always liked vector arrows along with nice, round shapes.

Developed in: Adobe Illustrator CS3
Edited in: Photoshop CS3

Vectors

Boy, do I love blue gradients.  They feel so cool and icy sometimes.  I just felt the need to do something with blue in Adobe Illustrator, so I went right at it!

As you can see, there is a lot of blue in this vector.  The circles overlapping reminded me of pulses or beats, so I chose to include some notes, which spread out.  I also had fun turning the star shapes into flowers.

Developed in: Adobe Illustrator

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

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

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

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

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

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

Vector Sketch

This is the first character design I've ever vectored and I quite like the final result. It was originally a class assignment in the first semester of Digital Media Arts. The goal was to colour in a sketch using vectors in Adobe Illustrator. I tend to like oriental outfits so I wanted to draw something similar to one.

Sketch: By me
Coloured in: Adobe Illustrator CS3