Cloning a Magazine to Perfection

For this assignment, we had to find a good, well designed magazine layout and duplicate it so that the audience will be fooled.

Here is the original layout:

Here is my duplicate copy:

As you can see both are extremely similar, except for the images. I had to use different images since I couldn't find the same one. The only difference is the color of the spread. Mine is a lighter gray but overall I think it came out really good.

Learning InDesign

We started learning the basics on InDesign in class. We created a 3 page magazine spread to learn how to place and link images, insert dummy texts, and use shapes.

For some reason I cannot upload the first 2 pages of the spread on the blog, even though it is a .jpg. I'll have to work that out.

Illustrator Final Project

This is my final Illustrator project! I decided to do the alphabet, and this was the most time consuming project I have ever done! I think that from doing this it has given me more experience with working with Illustrator because I had to make 26 images from scratch. I am overall happy with the end result.

Illustrator to Photoshop

Before:

After:

Here is my Illustrator to Photoshop piece. I still think I like Illustrator better than Photoshop, even when combining them together. I did some paste intos for the stars and that cupcake background.  I did enjoy doing some retouches to the image by using Photoshop. I think I just like being able to create my own work in illustrator compared to Photoshop where you are refining and changing an image.

Final Photoshop Project

This is my photoshop project! I am really happy with how it came out. I think my favorite one is the CD or the front of the CD case. For the front of the CD case I just used gradients and layer masks to incorporate Beyonce, and the two different flower backgrounds. I think it looks really pretty. For the actual CD, I just selected and pasted into the CD with a pattern I found online. I always find it hard to choose a good font, but I think that this one is the best. I decided to continue with my flower theme and for the back of the CD case, I just pasted into the case of the pattern and Beyonce.

Pen Tool

I used the pen tool for this. I found a cartoon online of a peace sign and traced it using the pen tool. It really amazes me what you can do with the pen tool. I also really like tracing images. I found the word "peace" online and traced that as well. 

Squares

I am very pleased with how my 9 squares came out. I think this really helped me get a basic understanding of tools used in Illustrator. The only square that really bothers me is the the top left square. For some reason the last one I copied on that pattern I made didn't continue and now it looks out of place. I wasn't too sure how to fix that. My favorite square is the one of the two birds kissing or the clouds. 

Color Wheel

When I duplicated the color wheel, I liked making each section of the wheel a different shade of the color. When i first started working on this I was just going to make colored pencils, but then I was goofing around and rotated and copied them so they sort of look like a flower.

Pencil

Here is my first work with Illustrator. So far I've been really enjoying Illustrator and I like it much better than photoshop. I like how you can create basically anything and it is all your own work. I'm excited to learn more on Illustrator.

I also enjoyed using the mesh tool, I really like how it makes objects have more texture to it.

Logo On Illustrator

Here is my logo I created on illustrator. It's really fun learning all the tools in illustrator and how there are differences and similarities with photoshop. I'm not sure if I like how I made the "L" and "M" a lighter blue or if I should just keep the text all color.

Retouches

Layer Masks

I really enjoyed making these layer masks and had a lot of fun with it. I really liked mixing a crashing wave with the stars, I thought it made a nice contrast. I had a hard time trying to get more of the starry layer to show though, and I wish there was more of it in the image. 

For this layer mask I did a sunset image, a cheetah, and an image of snowy mountains. I like how it looks like the mountains blend in with the cheetah layer and how to sunset layer mixes in with both.

Updated Collages

Here are my improved collages where after some revisions:

I'm happy I added more planets to this and I like that I added an outer glow also to the planets, it makes the image more complete. 

I got rid of the cats in this one and replaced them with some more a paisley pattern. I had a hard them selecting that pattern because there were so many little parts to it, so it took me some time to get it perfect. I added a ballerina with a drop shadow, and I think it looks like she is almost jumping out at you.

Selections & Collage

Here are my two collages I created by using selections. I found that I used the magic wand tool the most and it just made everything a little easier to select, especially the tricky images. I also did the online tutorial about how to make an outer space background which I really enjoyed. I just found my image to be a little dark after I added the clouds filter. I find it crazy that you can do so many things on Photoshop!

Altered Self Portriat

This is my altered self portrait! Here is a before picture:

I found this project to be pretty difficult. I probably redid this about five times until I finally got what I wanted. The instructions from the tutorial were very vague, so I had to fool around on Photoshop to figure out what to do. My hardest part was the nose. I didn't realize how gentle you have to be using the liquify tool, so I ended up going on YouTube and watched videos about using the liquify tool, which helped me out a lot.

I'm really happy with the finished product, and before I did this I had no experience at all with Photoshop, so I think that this really helped me get an idea of how some tools work.

A Little About Myself

Hello!

I am Lauren Dufour and I am a junior majoring in public relations with a minor in sociology. I am born and raised in Connecticut and have a love/hate relationship with the New England weather, but I'm pretty sure anyone from here would say the same thing! I transfered to QU my sophomore year from the University of Rhode Island, and I am extremely happy that I decided to switch schools!

I am an Apple lover, I own almost all Apple devices except the iPhone, which I hope to be getting soon once I get my upgrade! Then I will be complete. I am a bit of a technology nerd, I love any social media site and always seem to catch myself becoming apart of more new websites (my newest being Pinterest, such a good way to procrastinate).

I am interning this semester at Clear Vision Productions. It's a marketing firm that focuses on expo events. I am their PR intern and we are doing two shows this spring, a bridal show and one called fun girls night out that has all different kinds of vendors that women would love. So far I am loving it and am really excited to see how the our shows turn out. I actually work with another intern who is from QU and is doing the graphic designing for our company.

I have no experience in graphic design and I am really excited to learn a lot in this course. Even from the first class I am really bummed I didn't minor in IDD. Being a junior  it's too late now so I am definitely going to be taking advantage of this course! Maybe i'll go to grad school for graphic design? Maybe.

---
On the first day of class we learned a few ways to resize an image, and fooled around with some effects on photoshop.