Thursday, 8 February 2018

Animated Logo


This is my animated logo that I made in after effects. To start this I had to do some work in illustrator to add in the extra parts to the logo I had befour. I new that I wanted to add in the name and a sparkeling star to this animated logo so thats what I set out to do. 

As I had chosen this logo when developing I new that I was going to animate this logo to have text and a bigger start that stud out from the rest. To start this I had to add them extra elements in illustrator so first I copied and pasted the logo into a new illustrator document so that I could addd in my extra elements in. 


The first thing I new that I wanted to do was add in the name of my company. The name is a name I picked when trying to come up with logos. As this logo has already got a lot going on I decided to put the text vertical as it would save space, to do this I used the type tool but I had to hold it down allowing me to pick from more options, then I selected the vertical type tool. I made sure that I had created a new layer for the name as I wouldn't be able to animate it if there isn't different layers. Then I carried on with typing and selecting the vertical type tool allowed me to type vertically so thats what I did, I also added in full stops to the front and the end of the name as I found that it helped show the end of the name so that people could tell that that is the name. 

All that was left to do for the name was to copy the first name we did and place it to the right of the logo so that the logo was semitropical. 





Next I created a new layer for the star and moved over to the side of the document so that I could create a star. I did this with the ellipsis tool creating a circle point. Then I used the pen tool to create triangel points and then I used the line segment tool to add small extra details so it looks like the star is twinkling. This star was white so that it stood out.


The last step was to select the whole star and place it where I thought it would look best. All that was left was to lock the layers and save the new document. 





I then opened up my document into adobe after effects, this is where I will take the layers and make them all move to create a short animation. This first step that I wanted to animate was the star. I opened up the option panel for the star then selected the opacity bar clicking on the timer button this gave me the fist diamond on my timing panel. This diamond will controlle what opacity of the star will have at the start of the animation and I wanted it on zero so that the star isn't there at the beginning of the animation.

What I needed to do next was to tell it when I wanted to opacity of the star to increase. To do this I then selected the pesentage again and put it to 100. Then I pressed the timer again making sure that the diamond was now on two seconds in so that the star fades in over a time period of two seconds. At this point of being on two seconds I wanted the star to begin to rotate so it looked like it was twinkling, to do this I have to press the timer on the rotation panel making sure that the options were on 0 degrees to 359 degrees as they it didn't go any higher so that it would create a circle rotation. When I pressed play now the star would fade in then rotate. 

I moved over to four seconds then pressed the rotation timer again so that the timing panel would no to stop rotating.






Next I added another diamond on the opacity layer. This is to indicate that the star must fade back out. I had to put the opacity back down to zero so that this would work. I was now done with the star layer and didn't needed to add anything to this layer.   

The next step was for the name to drop down as well as fading out with the star. I did this by clicking the names and dragging them up to the top of the logo so they were out of view. Then I pressed the position timer when it was on zero seconds so that its drops down the same time that the str comes onto the logo. 

Then I dragged the name pannel back down to were I usually had it and made another diamond on the two second timer. This then means that the name will stop moving down when it gets to two seconds. The last step for this layer is to get the opacity to fade out, to do this I clicked on the opacity pannal and created a diamond that is on four seconds and is at 100% opacity. Then I will create another diamond on six seconds that will be at zero opacity which will make the name fade out at the same time as he star. 


All that was left to do was move onto the bace layer. What I needed to do now was make the bace fade out with the star and name. I put an 100% opacity diamond on four seconds and then put another zero opacity diamond on the six seconds this mean it would fad out to nothing like the rest of the layers. 


In this last screenshot you can see the overall time panelling for this animation and press play so that I could see if it was all okay so that I could save it and move on to the next part of my project.                      
  

Thursday, 1 February 2018

Final Posters


MY FINAL SET OF PROMOTIONAL POSTERS



These are my four completed poster advertising my company that offers holidays to out of this world destinations. I created four retro styled advertising posters that I wanted to look like they were made together in the same promotional advertising but also have there own vibe and story behind the poster. Some of these poster might look different to the final poster I have previously posted, this is because the mars and uranus poster didn't have a top layer of the texture bored after discovering how much I liked it on my saturn and GJ-504-b posters I went back into them files and added it on. This helped make them all cohesive again. The only difference was that the uranus poster is only 20% transparent as the blue colours I used in that photo began to look washed out when it was at 30%. Overall I am really happy with my serious of posters as I believe that it meets my topics theme and brief. 

GJ-504-b Poster With Process

Simple GJ 504 b Poster
I left this poster till last as I always new I was going to do this planet but as you can probably tell there isn't really much information about this planet that was extremely exiting that would inspire a new idea for an activity so when I was looking at all my other posters that I had created I though about how they were quite masculine as racing, camping and exploring can be seen as quite masculine prone activity so I wanted to make a planet that could be seen as more feminine. This is why I came up with a planet that would be similar to New York but on another level. I wanted to create a planet that is like a new futuristic city that would be like no other city shopping trip out there. I new that I would be adding in pink and purple colours as the planet is pink and it also is more feminine colours to.

The first step like always was to add the texture bored with it 30% transparent. I made sure to make this its once layer.






The next step that did was add in the bace, this bace was the same size as all of the rest of my posters. I made this a blue gradient like a night sky. I did this as I new that I wanted to create city skyline with the night sky in the background but I new that I wanted to have the city have way up the posters so I only bothered to fade the top half of the gradient. The gradient is also vertical which I did with the gradient tool making it like a sky would be. This look every bold at first but i new that it would be covered up a lot by the bottom design.  

I created a new layer for the city skyline which I new exactly how I wanted it so I went straight into creating my art deco inspired buildings. The building that I created weren't meant to be exactly art deco but they were meant to be similar and I hoped that people got the link when looking at the overall skyline. I created this building by using the pen and line segment tool. I made a stranded 3D box shape but then added on unique shaped windows. The windows also had white detailing that I though helped bring detailing to the windows, it also showed highlights in the windows. In this screenshot you can also see me creating windows for the side of the building but they are slightly slanted so it helps brings the 3D aspect to life. I made all my building a shade of purple as I wanted a similar colour pallet. I also added in roof detailing to how that it is a building. After creating this building I went on to make another building that was rounded at the top and didn't have sharp edges. 

In this screenshot you can see my final sky line. I added a bottom border to the skyline with a range of purple rectangles. I did this because I new it would be a good place to put text as well as made the city stand out in my opinion. After I created the first building and then the second rounded building I decided to create one piece that is one full block of connecting buildings.

This next screenshot shows me adding in a sun that is setting. The reason that I wanted to add this in is because I felt like the sun a good filler for the sapce that was needed as well as setting the mood for a night setting seean showing that the city still gose on at night. The way I did this was by adding in a large circal with the elipsis tool making sure I was holding down the shift key so it stays a perfect circel. I then made the circal a gradient shape and added in warm colours to help show the dusk of the sun. As I was adding the sun in last minuite the circel was on the top of the skyline layer which ment that the sun was above the building so to fix this I went into the skyline layer and moved the elipsie down to the bottom of the layer so it went behind the buildings. Once I did this I was happy with this layer so I locked it up and when onto my next section.


In this screenshot I opened another layer which was for my planet, like all my planets I had already made them all and was happy with them all so never wanted to redesign it. With this planet I could design it any way I liked it as all that is really known about this planet is that the planet is pink. I made sure to pesition it all right so that the poster looked cohesive. I then locked this layer and moved on.


One of the final steps is to add in the planets titels. This name is abit longer which means it takes more space up but its still centered with the rest of the poster. I chose a purpul and blue toned colour as it went with the rest of the poster. If I added in another bright contrasting colour I think there would of been to much going on which is why I brought in colours from the bottom of the poster to help bring all of the colours together, then like always I locked this layer and moved on.     

In this next screenshot I put the logo and the long text into the same step as I have done the same every other poster just adding in a new layer for the logo and copying and pasting it in as well as creating another new layer to add in the slogones. The wording I used for these was to convince people to come to this planet to have an out of this world shopping experience. I used the a link to New York witch is know to be one of the biggest city's and shopping districes of the world. It is known as the big city so I used a play on words to say come to the new big city as this world will blow New York out of the park. I also added in a grabbing guaranteed that this trip will be like no other, all of these are in the same font as well as being in black. The reason that I placed the text at the bottom of the poster as well and right in the middle of the poster so that they were noticalbe but not to much standing out. This is because this poster has the most going on with limited free space so I wanted to add it into places it fit and not take to much away from the design of the poster.               


In this next step I added in stares to the darkening sky. This was easy as I had my star brush that I made for my last poster. I made a new layer for the stars as I wasnt sure i would like them and this makes it more simple when getting ride of them but I did want to get ride of them once they were done as I really liked the outcome. The stars were quick and easy as all I had to do was select the brush tool as well as clicking the strs brush which is what I named my brush. Once these were selected I draw were I wanted them in till I was happy, then locked this layer and moved on.



The last step I did was add in the top texture layer. I added this in as I really liked the outcome from when I did it to my last poster. I copyed and pasted this layer from the bottom texture layer. They were both on 30% transparent. I locked this layer.


Overall, I am happy with this poster and how it works well with the other posters. This poster to me is exactly what I wanted when thinking of this in my head. This poster is definently my favorite out of them all as it works in my option the best with how its still got this simplisic vibe I wanted as well as being really detailed with lots going on, the popster is full of different things that make the poster work.      


Saturn Poster With Process

Simple Saturn Poster


When I was researching the planet saturn I was trying to find interesting facts about it that could help me spark ideas for the marketing point of this trip. This was probably the hardest planet to come up with as the planet is mostly just a large gas planet, so I came up with a more sporty option. What I mean by that is racing as you know is very popular as the formula one racing championship is in the top ten protectional sports leagues in the world so when I saw the famous rings around saturn I new that I would used them as a kind of race track. When I was thinking about how realistic it would be I though how race cars wouldn't be realistic so I decided to use rockets as the mode of speed. I think that this would be a grate selling point to lots of adventures racers and speed fanatics as they would love to see if they could be the next championship of the racing world.  This was my focus point of this poster. 

This first step is the same as the other poster as all I am doing is creating a 30% transparent texture board with its own layer. 
     




Once again I added in a new layer that was for the bace and made a rectangle bace that left a border showing the last layer. I made this bace a cream neutral colour so it could go with the colour planet. 





This screenshot shows the start of the bottom feature. This like the other poster will have the design on it that links to the planets attraction. This is why I created a cartoon like race trace, I know that on saturn the rings wont be this shape but there could be new rings and features added to make more interesting race. I wanted to make it look cartoon like as all my posters have that type of vibe. After making a new layer I created this using a mixture of the pen tool and the line segment tool. I used both of these to create the constant curves of the racetrack. I filled this in with a solid black with the fill and stroke colour. To make this more curved instead of having slight jagged lines I used the direct selection tool to help reshape my lines to make them more smooth, when looking at the poster once I was happy with this I moved onto the next step to creating the race track. 

What I did next was create a cut of point for the bottom part of the poster that was showing of the track and the top half that would be promoting the planet. This is why I wanted a background of a different colour for the track. I created this by making a rectangle that covered the space I wanted a s the background, then I went into the layers panel and pushed the racetrack layer above the new layer that we were working on called side of track, this is shown in the second screenshot. This puts the track over the top of what I just did. I made the background colour a more orange toned cream to show the difference between the original bace layer and the racetrack background. Then when I was looking at it I though it was looking quite plane but as its meant to be the planets rings I knew there wouldn't be rocks and plants to place on the side of the track so I used the brush tool to add dotted texture so that the bace can have some dimensions. This is more realistic as its could be coloured gas stars that have formed
on the rings. I used the mop style for this brush in the bottom screenshot for this stage you can see the setting I had the brush on. I used a two colours with this brush. When I used this brush I only did slight clicks on the file as it created slight marks which is the look I was going for.                








Next I wanted to play around with some of the brushes more so I ended up using another brush stroke tool in this poster which is shown in my screenshot on the bottom left. This was a simple styled brush that u sed to draw around the black racetrack, this was also for detailing to make the track stand out more, thats why I use a bright yellow for the stroke colour so that it had contrast agented the black and orange but it also went well with the orange toned cream as I didn't want to to be to contrasting as its not a main feature. I made sure that the brush strokes were smooth because I was doing this with a mouse instead of a digital drawing table that would of made it easier to create a smooth stroke, but I got there in the end with using a  mouse.








The next step was to make the rockets, this was very important that these were right as they were one of the main focus points of the poster so I made sure to have a google page opened helping me with inspiration to help me get the details right. I wanted the rockets to definitely have a retro vibe as it would help bringe this poster to its targeted theme. I used the pen tool mainly for this as well as the ellipse tool to help create the rockets windows. Once I was happy with the way my rocket looked I colorer it to look like a rocket. The rocket has black detailing with the bace being a rustic red. I chose this colour as it wasn't to bright that it didn't go with the mellow tones of the poster. All i had to do know was to resize it and place it onto the racetrack.


What I did next was copy and past my rocket that I created and re-colored them then made them fade out on the track by sizing them down. What I mean by this is that the rockets looked like they were coming from the back of the track up to the front to the finish line. Another feature I added in here was the finish line. I did this by using the pen tool with a white fill and stroke to create thick striped lines. This was very simple and helped add in extra detail that I feel like was needed. The last detail I added was the lines behind the rockets engines. This was to show the fire trail that is left behind after the rockets speed past at the high speed that they are going. Then when I was happy with this layer with the rockets and the finish line I locked it and moved on to the next stage. 


The next layer I created was the planet layer. This is where once again I copied and pasted in my already made saturn planet. This was quick and easy but as this planet is such a dull colour in my opinion I wanted something going on with it. What I did to do this was create my own brush. I did this so that I could create a scatter brush to help me create a star effect in the sky of the planet. What I did to create my own brush was make a small circle with the ellipse tool, once I did this I selected it and clicked on the new brush table on the side brush bar. Then it comes up with what type of brush I wanted to make I clicked on the scatter brush then I put in the option that you can see in the screenshot to the left. When I made this I then used it to scatter on the empty space around the planet.



In this next screenshot I placed the titel for the planet. This was also in the same font as the rest of my posters and this time I chose to put it with a yellow colouring. I chose this as I was using quite neutral colours so I wanted to somethings to stand out so I used the same colour that I used for the yellow track lines that I added for detailing. I though that it would stand out as well as making the poster more easy to look at as the colours would be more coordination and flow nicely. In this layer I also decided to place some more stars, I made these new once slightly smaller which I did by adjusting the brush settings. 


One of the final step that was left to do then was add in the small text that is meant to help sell the destination. As this trip is based around the rocket racing I used them key words in my slogans. I used the same font as all my other posters.              





I quickly added in the logo for my company into the bottom left corner like the rest of the posters this was copied and pasted into a new layer for the logo. This would of usually been my last step but when I was looking at the poster overall I though I could do better and that there was room for improvement. 



This is why I went back into my bace layer and decided that i wanted it to be a galaxy gradient. I chose this as I though i went well with the overlook of the planet and the stars in the galaxy. To do this I selected the bace layer and placed a gradient on it, this was then a generic black and white gradient that I went and changed into a dark blue to dark purple gradient. I decided that that I wanted a bit of pink in the middle of the galaxy, this is because the galaxy isn't just a plain gradient of two colours so I though adding this in helped show that it was meant to be a galaxy.


Finally I though that the poster was getting better but I still wasn't happy as I felt that the colours were all a bit to bright so I tried a new though out and placed a top layer of the 30% transparency texture bored. I did this to see if it would tone down the colours so they weren't as bright and it worked so well that I wanted to tried it out on my next poster. I felt like it made the poster more retro and old fashioned. 

Overall, I am very happy that I decided to keep going on this poster as this poster was by far the hardest to create as there was so many times I hated it and wanted to delete it all and start again but I think adding in the galaxy gradient and top texture borad definitely brought it all together. This poster has a lot more going on then the last posters but I don`t think its overdone as the style of the drawings and text makes it still have that simple vibe as there isn't lodes of realistic designs.      


           

Tuesday, 30 January 2018

Mars Poster With Process

Simple Mars Poster


For this next poster in my series of space posters I new I wanted to make it simultaneous and relocatable to my previous design. This is why they have the same tital font as well as the same size border and panelling. The theam for this poster as well as the selling point of this travel poster is that Mars is a explores planet that you can bring your kids and have an out of this world camping like expiration. This holiday from my company is meant for more of the masculine family trippers. This idea came from my research as I found that Mars has the biggest volcanoes in the solar system that we know of as. This fact triggered my idea of a wild camping and survival exporting adventure that will be planned out and completely safe that the company would of created but to the family will be out of this world. 

This first screenshot is very self explanatory as I did the same as my last poster creating a new layer for the texture and placing down the texture file and putting it to 30%, to save time I copy and pasted it on this layer from my last poster document as i wanted it to be the same anyway.  
This next shot show a new layer that I created and placed on top of the last. This layer was to find the coloured that the base will be. I new that I wanted a orange colour as the planet is know for being a dark orange to red colour and having them colour in this poster would help bring relations easier.      
I new that the next step was going to be putting the attraction on the poster. This as I already explained was going to be centred around camping and exploring in a volcano dessert planet, this is why I created a new layer for the volcanoes and rocky mountains. As you can see in this screenshot I had already played around with creating the rock cray-tors. I did this by using the pen tool. This tool can create curves but also leaves sharp state lines, this was the look I was going for as I wanted a type of harsh cartoon look. I really liked how these came out as there is a kind of retro feel to me which helps me with the retro vibe. The main focus of this layer was going to be a big volcano which I wanted some help with as I could get it quite right so I downloaded an image from google and used it as a guide line for my main volcano. This really helped me with the right structure for the volcano.

Once I had ranged my volcano landscape how I liked it I needed to make the volcano more in your face, so to do this I wanted the volcano to have fire and steam. To do this I used the same techniques as the pools in my last poster. This was done with the ellipsis tool and making them gray and turning down the transparency. This was then layered behind the flames I created so I looked like it was from the volcano. 


In this screenshot you can see the me placing the smoke were I wonted it. In this shot you can also see that I added in more detailers onto the rocks and volcanos. I also created a new smaller more rounded volcano that I placed behind my main volcano. Once the fire and smoke was done all i had left to do on this layer was make sure I was happy with all the placements and sizing then lock it so it cant be moved by accident. 


The next layer that I added was named mars, this was because I was adding in the planet that is being advertised. As I did with the last poster I had already made the planet that I was happy with and wanted to use the mars I used in my joint poster. I copied and pasted this from the original document. Then I re-sized it making sure to hold down shift so that the circle stayed perfect. this was then locked in.


Now that all of the objects were placed i just needed to add in the text, this was when I added in the titel. I made sure to make the font the same as well as the stroke and letter size. This was very important to me as I wanted these to be recognisable between my posters. The reason for the blue colouring was because as I discovered when making my last poster is that orange and blue are contrasting colours which helps the titel stand out which is my goal. That is why I went with blue for this posters titel colour. I then placed this central to the planet and locked in this layer to moved onto the next step.  


At this point there was only small details to add in, one of these were the logo which I did in this screenshot. This is very easy as it all i had to do was copy and past it into a new layer on my poster document and place it into the bottom left corner. The reason I place it here was because thats the same place I put it in my last poster and once again I want my posters to have similarities so it looks like they are from the same company and I feel like having the logo in the same place is important to that as it represents the company overall. 
   
Then finally all that was left to do was add in the smaller text that helps sell the trip. As I said in the intro I wanted to make this trip a family based trip that involved camping and survival skills that would be pre plain so that it was safe for young children and adults. This is why I spoke of camping and exploring in my pull slogans. This will grab the attention of thoughts who do enjoy camping and exploring which means they would most likely look more into the poster and travel options to see if they would be interested in the trip. This is important as its necessary for a campaign poster. When I was happy with the message I was sending with the slogans I put it into the same font once again that I used for the titel, once again this helps with the posters looking like a set that a company have sent out. Then when I was happy with the placing I locked it gave my poster another look to make sure i was happy with all of my layers, when I was I saved the file then exported it into a jpeg file so that I can display my final work. 

Overall I was really happy how this came out and was happy that I went for the more simple look. This poster to me was easy to tell that it was in a promotional package with the Uranus poster and I am happy with how they fit the theme to be retro but at the same time promoting holidays on far away planets. I will be using the same layout and overall theme for my next poster as well so hopefully that turns out just as good as this one.