Icemancast » Tutorials

Pen Tool Illustrator

icemancast — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 05:16:13 +0000

Did this for a buddy who was trying out the pen tool in illustrator for the first time.

If you have any questions about web design, photoshop or illustrator please comment and I will see about doing a screencast about it.

Inexpensive collapsable camera light box

icemancast — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 05:24:56 +0000

I began this journey first looking at several tutorials on how to get excellent product shots. Of course you can go purchase a light box and expensive lighting and be done but where is the fun in that. Below are several tutorials I found for creating your own light box on a budget. The only thing that troubled me was that we really don’t have much room to have a box sitting around. So I came up with a way to create a collapsible camera light box.

The tutorials I found:

Macro Photo Studio

Light Box Tent

Inexpensive Light Tent

How I approached the collapsible light box

Materials needed:

(2) tri-fold display boards, I used 28in x 40in with a white inside
(1) poster board that will curve inside the box
(1) foam core, I used a 32in x 40in
Velcro straps (you can do other ideas here)
(1) while translucent shower curtain or white sheet
Also used a small velcro tab for inside curved poster board
(2) home depot can lights
(2) bright bulbs

Tools needed:

Duck tape
Glue
Scissors
Xacto knife or blade to cut foam core
Ruler
Pencil or pen to mark areas

Step 1

Use duck tape to tape the ends of the poster boards together so that the newly formed box is still able to fold.

Step 2

I measured the size of the box over the foam core and cut it. Now it was exact but that is okay it’s main purpose mainly for support. I then attached four velcro pieces to each side of the foam core, and glued a middle foam core piece to support the folding parts of the box once it will be attached.

Step 3

I cut a foot square out of the middle of the display board on two sides of the box. I made sure to cut the sides of the display boards that do not bend. I then cut a piece of the shower curtain to tape over the square hole.

Step 4

I ducked tape the other velcro sides to the outside of the actual box. I cut the poster board to fit the width of the box. When you place the poster board inside the box make sure it has a nice curve with no creases so you can have a seamless shot. You can use clear tape to tape the bottom of the poster board but I used white velcro tabs to go underneath the poster board. You don’t need to do anything to the back of the poster board as it will naturally curve and sit on the back.

Now I just used a regular light from home depot with the brightest bulb I could find. Place each light to each of the cut squares.

Now after you have the box up it is easy to disassemble by just removing the inside poster board, the back foam board and fold the sides in.

I still have to mess around with the white balance settings and will probably run fstop on the next shots a little hotter. You have to compensate for the yellow overglow from the lights. Below are the shots after editing. The last two I posted the before and after and took a little extra time washing out the few background.

So there you have it. This was a fun project to work on and I am going to start shooting shots for my new blog design (which I know is behind schedule now). Leave a comment or idea if you would or did something different with your light box.

Logo process – inspiration to creation

icemancast — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 04:22:37 +0000

Instead of explaining how to create a logo, I am going to share my experience with my business logo.

Gather Info and Sketch

Usually when I start to design a logo I gather information from the client first (history, years in business, area located, why people buy from them) then I put the pencil to the paper. I write down the name of the business in all caps and all lowers. I then alternate caps and lowers sometimes to see if I see any odd shapes jump out at me. After I write all these down I hit a thesaurus for the meanings of some of the words in the text. Then I just doodle and doodle some more. I have to take a step back and squint my eyes to see if anything become evident. After I feel I have some ideas to work with I open up Adobe Illustrator.

Design the logo

I then start implementing my ideas in Illustrator till I get a few that are great. I present the client with a black and white version (some grays) to see if I am moving in the right direction as the one below. Why design in black and white you ask? It is quite simple, black and white design forces the emphasis to be on the design of the logo and not the color. You can have a wonderful colored logo but it still lack structure, placement and design. Another reason for the black and white is that the logo must be designed with the worst common denominator in mind. When a logo is faxed or ran through a copier these pieces of equipment will not do your logo design justice. Please read Tara’s post Do You Design in Black and White and James Dempsey post 9 rules to creating a logo you can live with and still get paid.

Structuring the Logo

I then start to structure the logo with a spacer that I create in Illustrator. I space out every character and piece of the design so there is a structure to the logo.

Coloring the Logo

I then proceed to introduce colors into the logo for the completion of the design. This is the last and final part of the process.