Creative Challenge 35

Good morning or afternoon,

I was reading some interviews in the book Caffeine for the Creative Mind. One interview features Brian Sack, one of the authors in the book. Brian is also the creator of a self-published website called thebanterist.com, which is fantastic and filled with photos accompanied by creative and witty captions that help spark inspiration. You should definitely check it out!

There's another fun creative challenge I found in the book, called "I'll take that double raptor meal deal, please." This challenge invites you to come up with a meal deal (similar to McDonald's Happy Meals) for kids from five different eras. The task is to imagine what a meal deal would consist of and what toy would accompany it from medieval times, biblical times, prehistoric times, the year 3000, and the Old West. I racked my brain trying to think like a kid from each era, considering what was popular and available during those times. Here’s what I came up with:

1) Medieval Times: A turkey leg with bread bites and a little knight action figure. 

2) Biblical Times: Fish and dried fruit with a toy flute.

3) Prehistoric Times: A lizard on a stick with dried fruit and a stone slate with charcoal for drawing.

4) The Year 3000: A virtual space burger with lunar Pop Rocks and a hovering toy car that really flies.

5) The Old West: Bacon and beans with cornbread and syrup, along with a toy gun and a sheriff star. 

I hope you find these ideas as fun as I did!

InDesign week 2 tutorials

Good Afternoon,

For this first tutorial, I decided to try using placeholder text, which turned out to be much simpler than I expected. I must admit that I had a bit of an advantage since I already know how to do this, but extra practice is always beneficial, right? I simply created two text frames, right-clicked to add placeholder text, and voilà!

In the second tutorial, I learned how to change the size of a document page. I did this by selecting File > Document Setup and adjusting the width and height to my desired measurements. I also discovered how to use the Adjust Layout button to ensure everything on the page is aligned correctly. This was a new skill for me, as I hadn’t learned this previously. Yay for learning!

InDesign Week 3 Tutorials

Greetings, friends!

This morning, I tackled two Adobe InDesign tutorials. I’m really glad I did, especially the first one, because I discovered how simple and helpful the interactive options are in Adobe InDesign. Having interactive features available is especially valuable for designers working on web content or ebooks. I learned how to convert text into buttons and customize their appearance for actions like clicking or rolling over with the mouse. I also figured out how to turn text into animations or add an MP4 video. Afterward, I created an online published version with a link that I can share, so feel free to check out my first InDesign animation below!

https://indd.adobe.com/view/7a04bc51-2a2d-4886-9f15-2d875bb49ff4

Next, I followed another tutorial where I used ChatGPT to find some information. I designed a new layout with a bleed in InDesign. After placing my cursor where I needed the footnote, I right-clicked, and it automatically created a footnote for the corresponding text that spans across the bottom of the page. Pretty cool!

Creating a cookbook

Good Morning!

Initially, this cookbook project seemed like a daunting task. I did my best to apply everything I have learned and make it all come together. This class has forced me to confront topics I had previously avoided and put my knowledge to practical use. I must say, it has been one of the more challenging classes, but I am so thankful for the opportunity to take what I learned and apply it in a hands-on way. What a cool idea it is to create a cookbook!

I began by creating parent pages, setting up my page numbers, and ensuring they were positioned correctly for an eBook format. I asked ChatGPT for assistance in creating recipes for four appetizers, four entrées, four side dishes, and four desserts. Unfortunately, I didn't have the premium subscription for ChatGPT, so I couldn’t generate the images I needed. Finding images online and adjusting them to fit took a while. However, using the "Fit Image to Frame Proportionally" option helped immensely, and I’m glad that feature is available in InDesign. I cropped images and applied what I learned in photography to make them more aesthetic and interesting to the viewer.

  

I then created my table of contents and incorporated my story, using the Rasa typeface, which I also used in my restaurant branding project, along with Athelas for the body text. I developed various paragraph styles for the headings, table of contents, subheadings, and body style, adjusting the leading and size to ensure clear and legible reading. I sampled colors from my logo to apply the same palette to the text in the table of contents and on the cover. Overall, I learned a lot about the importance of paragraph styles, placing images in frames, and using parent pages.

 

I was excited to see that I completed my first eBooK (what a cool accomplishment!) Once I grasped the process, everything came together much more quickly. I would have liked to add a bit more personality and creative design to the eBook, but I lacked the time. Nevertheless, I feel like I have built a solid foundation to work from going forward and am much more confident in using InDesign.

Creative Challenge 34

I took a sketch and uploaded it into Lightroom. Then, I created three masks: one for the eyes, one for the lips, and one for the pupils. I added color to each mask and adjusted the levels accordingly. It was fun applying my new skills to my previous knowledge and creating something new that felt more vibrant and alive. 

creative challenge 33

Good morning! Today, I decided to revisit a painting of my name. I applied various adjustments to the levels using Photoshop to create a black round shape and added a splatter brush to blend and give it texture. I also experimented with an oil painting effect at different intensities until I achieved a look I liked. Additionally, I tried out various cinematic filters in Illustrator, adjusting the levels and curves. I know there are some exciting effects I could explore using Adobe applications, and I plan to attempt some more complex ones soon. I'll be sure to update you with my progress as soon as I can, so stay tuned!

Oil painting effect . This one is my favorite

Brush splatter effect in photoshop 

 

Lightroom cinematic filter with adjustments to levels

Creative Challenge 32

Good evening, design friends,

After a challenging three weeks of learning the ins and outs of Adobe InDesign and creating articles for our magazine, I have been feeling quite drained. In search of an inspiring creative challenge, I ended up giving in to my emotions and allowed shapes and colors to emerge naturally from within me. This experience reminded me of my love for art, and it felt refreshing to reconnect with that part of myself. 

In the process of trying to learn new skills and technical aspects, I realized I had neglected essential elements of creativity and emotion. It may just be colors and shapes, but I really like it.