it's basically witchcraft.

I'm assembling a small 8-page book of various photoshop techniques I have mastered, and I'd love to share with you what I have so far!

First off we've got the front and back cover spread.

I went through a number of different ideas before settling on this one. I had initially wanted to design the book to have a retro candy-shop feeling to it, though I had issues finding the right stock photography for the layout, and ended up ditching that idea. I'd also toyed around with a picnic theme and a scrapbook theme.

What I ended up on is a sort of old-timey photo album look. The pages pinned onto the back cover will eventually have some information about myself and this project inserted into it, and the front cover still has some editing to be done to it.
But it's pretty, and I like.

Page one is a twofer project! It's the first page of my book, as well as my new header! Multitasking for the win!

Not all of the pages in the book will have that papery manilla background, but I liked it on this one, and since it was so similar to the cover, I thought it would be a neat idea to make it seem like it was the same piece of paper, viewed from the front and the back!

Page two is very much not like the first page.

Did you know photoshop had something called the "Puppet Tool"? I didn't. It's not something I was taught, or even something I'd heard of, really. I found a lovely tutorial on how to use it and reproduced this! It was very fun, but a little fiddly to actually manipulate. I did, however, LOVE that you could arrange the points of manipulation, and the image would follow that arrangement.
ie: I sent one of the nodes on the overlapping necks to the back, and it took that section of the image and moved it behind the second neck.)
It's a little hard to explain, but I definitely recommend trying it out!

The third page I have up as of tonight is some photo manipulation.

I started out with a photo of the model holding the gun, and through about a zillion adjustments and filters and new layers, turned her into some comic art! Halftones for everyone!

I still have 5 more pages to work through, so keep your eyes open for the rest of them in the near future!
:D

Thanks for reading! And thanks to photoshoplady.com for the excellent tutorials and stock images and textures!

-JessB

Shady Shades

So the illustration Friday word I was given this time was "Shades" and my brain took to that word like a terrier to a plastic rat.
I was all over the place with ideas, ranging from moody paintings to papercraft monsters. I found it a bit trying to settle on one idea, though eventually, after sleeping on it for some days, I knew exactly what had to be done.

The image "Shades" conjured in my mind was one of those horrible 'Shutter Shades' that were really popular a few years ago.

Pictured: fashion mistakes being made

I can't properly articulate how terrible these shades make me feel.

So what better use for them than an odd juxtaposition between something I loathe, and something I love!

Ah yeah, the good stuff hits at about 1:00 in.

I adore old movie monsters, Dracula to the Wolfman to really poorly thought out zombie movies.
So I wanted to assemble these two things, and hopefully create an image that was both humorous and iconic.

I had stumbled upon a piece of art by a Mr. Milton Glaser, and wanted to take some of his blocky colours and limited palette and spin it into my own style.

I left my heavy lineart behind, once more, for this piece, and I have to admit I'm really feeling it.
Check out my process video below, but to hold you over until then, here's my initial sketch and the final piece!

aaaaand-

And now the video!

Enjoy and thanks for reading!

-JessB

I'm still alive!

In a manner of speaking...

Just a quick update to let everyone know what I'm working on as of late!

I'm working with Mohawk College to design a couple advertising posters for their Programming Competition "A.Maze.Bot"!
I got to draw a pretty lady robot and everything.
Here's where they are now, I'm waiting on some client/peer feedback before they go to print, so they might still change!

I've also compiled which shirts I want to print!

If you're interested in purchasing any of these shirts, get in touch with me ASAP at jessica.bryers@gmail.com
Tell your friends!
I'm still trying to find the least expensive blank shirts, since I will be supplying the shirts for printing, so prices are still in the air.

end-prices will probably be around 20$-25$ cdn
(This price is subject to heavy change. Probably in the downwards direction, depending on where I get my shirts.)
Feel free to supply your own shirt though! then it would be much cheaper, haha :D

I've also been mucking around with a personal illustration.
It serves no purpose yet, but I love it to pieces.

See Full size here

Other than that I'm working on a number of other less exciting things, and even more things that have slipped my mind! It's all going to be wonderful, though.

Busy busy!

-JessB