Evaluation

The cover itself is a bit hit and miss. I really liked the cover in terms of layout but the focal point, the image of Kat, still needs so much work. The glasses look wonky, there's clipping issues where bits of hair are still showing through or bleeding over - I had this blown up on my 1920x1200 monitor and still didn't notice any of this stuff until I went to ripo graphics. The fonts I've chose I'm really pleased with and I feel colour-wise I have corrected the colossal mess I made when I first inked the piece on paper; the colours are now a lot more complementary.

I ended up having a lot more fun creating the spread as it wasn't as serious and I could throw some randomness in there like the picture of myself doing the daft pose. I'm still uncertain which was the best image to use of the right page (Pred or Winter Games) as they both looked kind of smart.

In retrospect, looking back over the course of the project time management was a huge issue for me. I kept getting stuck trying to figure out quick ways to do minor things and in most instances these were dead ends. I did feel I learnt a lot however when it came to retouching images and in this area I think my skills have increased, but it kind of opened my eyes as to how little I know digitally.

Spread Breakdown

This ended up being a little more straightforward than I thought as I kind of went with a digital feel similar to that of a tech mag to showcase the artwork.  

I ended up using Photoshop large for my 'lifting the lid' header and again wanted to keep the text brief as most of the spreads I looked at were more introductory than text heavy; plus it's supposed to be showcasing artwork so I kinda feel that should take up more page space.

The Predator image was tweaked a fair bit with the levels being changed, the colour inverted, and then the cutout filter being used to soften the image. It was already quite detailed so I tried not to go too crazy removing the cooler looking features.

The photo of myself was taken with my cousins trillion pound camera so perhaps that why the quality is so good. We messed about with me pulling increasingly daft faces until we found one where I looked my most tossy/David Blaine-like.

I think this worked a little better as there's more going on and it looks 'cleaner'. I added a little yellow rectangle to the bottom right to tie the winter games background in and I think this might things come together a bit better.

I think overall, I am more pleased with the second but honestly quite happy using either. They're both very basic but I ended up enjoying this process more than the actual front cover as that was more trail and error.

The Spread Theme and Images

So, my theme is current and past artwork and I'll be doing a little bio type introduction of myself - oh dear, we'll see how that goes!

I'm going to have a brief look at the inspiration for my spread and some old portfolio pieces I will consider using. 

Couldn't get a proper image of this but I absolutely loved the simplicity of this spread in one of Hazzels presentations. I instantly knew I wanted to emulate this type of look for my own spread but didn't want mine to be as photography heavy. 

At the start of  the year I spent a lot of time retouching old work with the dodge tool to put my blog. This has now become quite an advantage as I can quickly swap and change to find the best fit. 

The above is perhaps my most detailed piece (even though I totally ran out of steam for the background) definite candidate to take up a full page.

I think this print could be another great candidate. I was slightly disappointed early in the year when nobody seemed to give a (care in the world) about this as I was quite pleased with the result. 

God knows how old this is now but it's still my favourite piece from my portfolio. I think in the summer I'll sort out all the poor scalpeling for the type and put a proper font in there.

I've hammered this drawing to death throughout the course. Basically, I'll use it if everything is starting to look a bit barren and/or I need more black and white imagery.