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• Sneak Peek

  Monday, Nov 24, 2008 9:12PM / Standard Entry / Members only

  First drafts for the December front cover.
  

  
  

  

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• Reflecting.

  Friday, Nov 14, 2008 8:42PM / Standard Entry / Personal Projects / Members only

  Boy I can't remember the last time I uploaded so many posts in one week... But I can remember the last time I uploaded a post about being disappointed. I think this is the first.
  
  Two major blows today. The first was seeing my first issue of BEATS come out.. and I wasn't as impressed as I hoped I would be. I guess it was too much to expect that I could make it look sh*t hot on the first issue I did. Organization, graphical layouts and composition and just plain ol' colour co-ordination all came into play here. I was a little distraught with the final print and the fact that it was 13 days late too. A bit of an anticlimax but you live and learn 'ey?

  
  

  My editor said I shouldn't beat myself up over the issue and that alotta people thought it looked great. However, I myself (as I'm sure all creatives will agree) will always be the first to criticize and put down my own work and I believe now that is what makes you progress. I guess that was one of the good things that came out of today. I reminded myself that I still have much to learn and that I KNOW I can make it. Even though sh*t may get you down at first you gotta use it as your drive to make sure you can make the next one better. I don't want to ever look at my work and be totally satisfied because once you hit that point, you become complacent.

  
  

  The second blow; the 'Classy Dirty' image I have been working on for g4 lately. If it were a page in a comic or a standalone image I guess it would have worked out... but I don't think it does for the title, 'Classy Dirty'. I think somewhere along the line I just got lost in the illustration, just so hellbent on making it look good but forgetting the title... It's a little too dirty with little class. If I could do a before Illustration that showed him CLASSY, Now that would be neat. If only I had the time.. I guess I would have made the 'Classy' Image in Illustrator rather than have it hand sketched, to show the contrast.... why oh why are good ideas like buses? when you want one, it never shows but then when you don't need it, like, 4 come at once!  

  
  

  I wasn't happy with the original image in my previous blog, so i therefore decided to start again. Anyway, I have added put in the basic four steps as to how I created the image below.

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  Stage 1:  Inking. 

  After sketching using a 2H pencil, I decided to go for my favorite tool, the biro (0.5). I would have used a traditional dip pen and ink, however the paper was not the quality for this method. I find that the finer the nib, the easier to sketch. The dark blocks were filled in with a fatter nib of the same biro. 
  

  
  

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  Stage 2: Detail.

  Using the 0.5 Biro I started to add detail to the image, much inspired by McFarlane's & Capulio's work from Spawn, to give it that 'dirty' feel.

  
  

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  Stage 3: Block Colours:

  Its been a while since  I last coloured in Photoshop on a hand drawn illustration and it is something I need to brush up on. Here I just put in the basic block colors of the image. I didn't want anything to strong but rather more faded and weak to enhance the feel of 'dirty'.

  
  

  
  

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  Stage 4: Brushes, Masks, Layers & Effects.

  Each section has four separate layers, in total thats about over 100 different layers. Shading was complete using mostly the brush tool, but a few masks were added and some effects were used on the wall and for the fag smoke too.

  
  

  
  

  
  

  Thats it!! Looking pretty scummy 'ey? I am really considering buying a light pen with my first pay cheque (whenever that will be) and learning how to use it as using a mouse can get quite frustrating...   Now I'll just have to see how it goes. 
  

  
  

  I also realized that illustration is still my passion & I cannot lose sight of it no matter what my job is. It's something that will never be taken away from me and something I will always work to perfect because that is what I do. It's what keeps me occupied and most importantly, I love it.
  Another really important lesson I learned today is that I still have much to learn and much to improve upon, and I will. I'm gonna bring BEATS mag up to scratch,- streamline it, simplify it, and make it sweet. For a free mag, I want it to have the impression of a mag you pay for.
  
  Looks like I'm gonna be real busy for the next few weeks.... sleeping at the office all over again hehe. I kinda like it though. Like a little adventure... But I gotta remember to make time for my family, my friends, my girl, and the gym. God I need to get back to the gym!
  
  'Till next time True Believers.
  
  Peace.
  
  L
  
  

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• I Need An A3 SCANNER

  Monday, Nov 10, 2008 11:17PM / Standard Entry / Members only

  Would be helpful at times like these.

  
  

  
  
  
  

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• The BEATing Lunatik

  Tuesday, Nov 4, 2008 7:27PM / Standard Entry / Work / Members only

  This is gonna be a looooong blog so prepare for some reading. That's if you can be bothered... :P
  
  When asked about how it feels to be starting a full-time job after freelancing for such a long period, I can't help but think of Wayne's World when Garth says
  
  "Well it's like a new pair of underwear. At first, it's constrictive, but then, it becomes a part of you..."
  
  Well that's exactly how it feels. I recently became Graphic Designer at BEATS Magazine. Within the first two weeks I already became comfortable with the office, but I wasn't really doing much as there was nothing to prepare, no one to tell me how to do it and so on. I was working on revamping the mag and giving it a makeover but I soon found out that this was gonna be alot harder than I expected... 
  
  The workload tripled in the space of two days. Stories were thrown at me left right and centre and I was royally f*cked. Due to various factors [being new to the job, Mac issues, Output problems and editing delays] the magazine won't actually be out until the end of the week. Hell I even missed the goddam AND Halloween party and I was only across the road from it!
  I actually slept at the office for over a week.. which wasn't too bad cause my gym was just across the road so showers were available hehe.
  
  I realised that I had so many plans for BEATS as I had been researching alot into magazine layouts and formats. Among them my favourites were GQ. Esquire, Playboy and Gourmet. As much as I love my graphics magazines (IDN, Juxtapoz, CA), I cannot really use that style here. Then again I learned that I am very limted to what a can do due to a number of factors like having too much text, the layout of half & quarter page ads, the graphics I can and cannot use, etc. 
  The good thing is that this job has forced me to learn something new. Unlike JUICE magazine I have rules and restrictions here in terms of layout, graphics and formats. At JUICE, anything could go and that's what I loved about it. BEATS has actually made me look at magazines in a different way. I really wanted to blow people away with this issue, which I think is alot tighter than previous issues of BEATS but still needs work and will receive the treatment in due time. I was really happy with the front cover, even if it is of someone who, in my eyes, is a bit of a sap. 

  My target was and still is to make BEATS look f*cking sh*t hot. It ain't there yet, and we'll see how it goes... but yea. HK Mag and Time Out better watch there asses.
  
  Anyway ever since I got back from the UK I haven't stopped working.. but I need to start drawing again. It sucks that graphic designing is taking so much of my time, but then again at least I have a few breathing days now just to catchup on freelancing. I really wanna do an image for the G4 galleri in December so I gotta get crackin' on that too.

  
  

  

  
  

  Last week's Decadance was the last one.. as much as I loved that gig it was hard to maintain the detail at the same time as my new job plus the other freelancing I have going on. To be honest right now I don't feel like doing anything for a few days as I'm just burnt out from the last week or so. Some sleep is needed, and a visit to the gym is long overdue.

  
  

  

  
  

  I wanted to take this opportunity to give a big shout out to my bro-in-law PAT for getting the new job, and my wonderful sister for being her, my nephews KJE & Logan for being the coolest nephews in the world and my little bros'. Miss you guys so much.
  
  Anyway I'm leaving you with a sneak peek at next weeks delayed issue of BEATS... so be there to pick it up and let me know what you guys think
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  Goddam Rain huh? whatagay. hehe.
  
  Until next time true believers...
  
  PEACE.

  
  
  
  

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• ''I fell in lo- it's a guy??'' [cheapskate]

  Wednesday, Oct 15, 2008 7:31AM / Standard Entry / Freelancing / Members only

  
  
  
  

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