The CAFNR Edge Opening Process Part 1

A year ago, I was hard at work creating an opening graphic sequence of all the majors in the College of Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources. I finished the project and blogged about it at the time, but recently began to think that I might want to be able to look back at the process and maybe others would want to understand how I created it. So, in an effort to make the process about as transparent as possible, here's how I did it (including other tutorials that helped me figure out how to do this):

1. It began with an idea. The idea was to quickly showcase each of the CAFNR majors in a way that related them all to each other. I gathered inspiration from a number of places, two of which I blogged about. During the process of creating, the idea had to change based on feedback, but that's ok. Regardless, I began this stage of the process with a sketch:

2. Since I knew I wanted the final image to appear like a little planet at the end of the animation, I wanted to make sure my starting image could warp properly. So, I polarized my sketch in Photoshop so that I could make adjustments and have the image on hand as a reference. (Previously, I learned how to make little planets by polarizing images from this tutorial by Gavtrain.)

Before continuing to create the images for animation, I pulled my sketches into After Effects and made a sort-of animated storyboard. I took the panorama sketch on one layer and animated keyframes, then set those to "rove across time" and added text layers. I parented those text layers to my panorama layer so that they would all move together. Then I added the polarized image to the end, seeing how that might sync up. This allowed me to see where I needed to stretch the image to fit all the text in the allotted time. As it turned out, I needed to stretch the beginning to fit all the Agriculture-related majors. (click on image to view larger)

I also parented each of the text layers to the sketch so that they all move together.

3. In Photoshop, I created a new project with the preset of 1280 x 720, imported my panorama sketch, then increased the scale of the sketch so that I could view the biochem image at full-resolution. Then I selected Image > Canvas Size and increased the scale until I could see my whole sketch. The resulting canvas size was 7129 x 3129 pixels. I decreased the opacity of the sketch so that I could see my new drawing over top. I used the pen tool to re-draw each line that I wanted to appear as if it was drawn with one stroke, as in the book path seen here:

And, creating a new layer, I set my brush so that it had a varied shape that progressed based on "pen pressure" and hit the "stroke" button at the bottom of the "Paths" panel (where you see my cursor in the image below). I learned this technique from the light streaks tutorial, which I posted about early on in my blog. For the most part, each line that appears on the final image is its own layer and has its own saved path.

 Hint: since there are so many layers in the final images, it is helpful to label all layers and paths for ease in making changes which inevitably happen.

4. Because I was thinking about this in a process similar to my experience painting, I decided to give it an overall background "wash" of colors. To make the ground, I made a layer of green and then used the gradient tool, making the bottom darkest and giving the middle a lighter shade of green as seen here:

5. Next, for the sky, I made a new document (which wasn't really necessary, you could just make a new layer), set my foreground and background colors to blue and white, then used the clouds filter to create an overall texture.

The texture was too intense for me, so I increased the scale and might even have added some blur to it to decrease the contrast. Then, I added a haze at the bottom, by creating a light-colored gradient and applied that to the bottom.

I imported the sky image as one layer into my drawing, behind the ground.

6. It looked very flat to me, so to add some overall texture, I used a photograph I had taken of a piece of dyed fabric and desaturated it:

Then I added it as a layer over my whole image, changed the blend to "Overlay". Since it did not cover the whole image, I used the clone stamp tool with a soft edge to paint the same texture over the rest of the image as seen here:

(This texture layer remained on top of all the other layers, with the exception of the biochemistry circle. I wanted the texture to have the same scale when that part was full-screen, so I colored the inside of this circle separately, using radial gradients, and added the fabric texture on top, then collapsed those layers together.)

7. Next, I needed to color the rest of the image. Knowing that I wanted to animate the coloring process gradually, I painted in one color on a new layer, then painted another color on another layer, and so forth, as you can see with the layers I've highlighted in the image below.

I set my brush based on the area I was working with, but for the most part, I used the brush presets tool and set it to "wet" edges, used a sponge brush, and set the flow and opacity below 100%, as you can see in the image here:

Next: How I transformed the final PSD image into a motion graphic in After Effects.

Creative two-ways

Every year on vacation, I "have" to get one timelapse of a sunrise and one of a sunset. It started in Glacier, the first vacation I had a video camera. Now that I have a new DSLR camera and got a timer for Christmas, I figured I need to learn to work the thing. Here's my second attempt at a timelapse (the first attempt is so bad it's not worth keeping):


So by now you're probably wondering where the second way I've been creative comes in... Well, lately have been frustrated by my big quilt that I began finally really working on last fall (Glacial Recession), but that hasn't kept me out of the studio this week. With all my curiosity about making good timelapses,  wouldn't you know it, I came across a video of a timelapse of a painter in her studio. One thing led to another, and voila, I couldn't stop myself. Once I had the timer going, I had to do SOMETHING. So here you have it, a timelapse of me working in my studio not quite every day, but often enough...


Y'know, I really should put some music under this for interest....oh well, next time.

Creative Environmental Ads

What Lies Under by Ferdi Rizkiyanto

(First, I saw it on Facebook and tracked it down via Advertisers Without Borders)

Global Warming Ad by Ferdi Rizkiyanto

Beached "Whale" for Miraflores Municipality found on Advertisers Without Borders

Whatever you do to the world, you do to yourself by Advertisers Without Borders

Breathe In, Breathe Out from Greenpeace

Struggles of the Creative, or just a Lack of Tenacity?

I will never be a Mozart. I have come to terms with this and have realized that my continual need to change may not be a bad thing so long as I know what to do with it. Nevertheless, I ended up watching this TEDx talk by Angela Lee Duckworth, questioning whether my desire to move on before my 10 years of constant work and study takes me to the pre-determined "mastery" stage is really ok. In a New York Times article, one quote was really poking me in the brain as I wrestle with the question of whether it's more important to stick with something I have lost interest in or knowing when to throw in the towel:

People who accomplished great things, she noticed, often combined a passion for a single mission with an unswerving dedication to achieve that mission, whatever the obstacles and however long it might take. She decided she needed to name this quality, and she chose the word “grit.”

This is something I struggle with. In college I ended up with my major because I decided I didn't really like taking tests and visual communications was just one of the many things I was interested in. By the end of my five years of college I was so ready to move on to something else that I really didn't quite know what to do. I knew I wouldn't do advertising - three years of vis-comm classes taught me that - and since film/video was an area we merely dabbled in and I found that I enjoyed, I wound up searching for jobs in the post-production field. Fortunately I landed a job doing what I wanted.

I said I'd give the job two years. After that amount of time I could start looking for other jobs if I wanted, but I felt like I needed to at least give it that. Reality hit when I was rejected for a job I really wanted, then was told I wasn't ready to pursue a master's degree by the one person who would make that decision should I apply, after which my art was rejected from a couple of juried exhibitions. Don't get me wrong, I did get some encouragement from other places, but this succession of rejections were like pouring salt on open wounds. *They* say that rejection is what we need for growth, so I keep trying to make sure that's true.

Amidst all this self-doubt and worry, I searched out lots of self-help books on making career and life choices. There was one book that really sang to my innermost questioning: The Renaissance Soul: Life Design for People with Too Many Passions to Pick Just One by Margaret Lobenstine. (From her site, you can download the first chapter of this book and related articles.) In this book she talks about being on a scale with Mozart on one end and Ben Franklin on the other. I would venture to guess I'm somewhere in the middle. I don't lack the ability to follow through, but I also lose interest after reaching a certain level of accomplishment. As she put it, renaissance souls like the uphill climb, or as I would say, the act of learning. Oft-times when I have a real hard-core goal that I'm after (getting good grades in school, finishing college, saving money for something I really want, etc), I can maintain the grit so long as that goal continues to be desirable. Once my interest starts waning, so does my tenacity.

I think it's definitely time to set some "hard-core" goals. Rather than new years resolutions, I'm taking up all the advice I keep reading about setting some year-long goals and stepping stones to those goals. Now let's just see how well those stick!

Note: I began this post in October 2011...

Chain Maille Jewelry

I have always dabbled in jewelry-making, and occasionally I've seriously considered taking it up to the next level, but then I always lose some interest and move on to something else. Case-in-point: the week after Christmas 2011, I really wanted to make some earrings, so I pulled out my box of beads, wire, and other such nonsense. Once again (this happened the previous Christmas, but in time to make gifts for people, and then lost interest after making three items), I gravitated toward the jump rings and thought I'd find a new pattern and to make. My first few attempts were not successful - most patterns rely on you having the right size rings which I did not - but I started to work on a pattern called "Aura" and discovered if I changed it a little, I could get the little rings I had to work with the big rings. And then I added beads to the middle. Here's the result:

And then I ran out of small silver rings, but I had some slightly-larger gold ones, so I again changed the design just a bit and made a bracelet:

I had fun making these, and after the last time I made something and was unable to recreate it, I took notes this time and made myself some directions. They are PDF, so if you want them, send me a note and I'll email them to you! Enjoy!

All photos copyright Katrina Kouba Boles