Archive for February, 2006
Class notes on Photoshop
These notes are good for line drawings…
Problems with old lithographs, wood carvings, line drawings….
- foxing: discoloration due to mildue, etc.
- yellowing of paper
- creases, folds, etc.
Things to try (tying to get rid of the background color):
- crop the image and put it on a layer.
- Auto color, see if you can do the auto colors.
- change the color levels (little graph thingy showing levels)
- add layers below the image, put the background as a bright solid color. A middle empty layer helps with the blending.
- Blend the layers so the bright color permiates the previous background. Then change the layer’s background color.
- You can erase any foxing, or other blemishes in the background from the image layer.
To play with and change the colors:
- Use the Selective Color tool, where you can slide the values of the colors in the image.
- To change to black & white use ‘Desaturate’ not gray scale.
- To switch colors, use the ‘Replace color’ tool. Mess with the fuzziness, and then the replacement options…
When changing the image size:
- Use ‘Image Size’ and set the Resample Image option to ‘Bicubic Sharper’.
- Change the size by using the ‘percent’ option, not ‘pixels’.
- to make sure it hasn’t lost any of detail, use the ‘Unsharpen Mask’ in the Filter menu.
Uncle Tom’s Cabin picture
- There are letters bleeding through in the background
- The faces are too dark.
What to do?
-Try the background trick from above.
Redo! on the typography.
Despite spending a couple of days in the hospital with my 3 year old son, I totally revamped my project. The new typography project (with no changes happening during class time, I promise! I’ll sit on my hands the whole time!) can be found at http://gmu.mossiso.com/697/assignments/index.php?page=book The text for this page is taken directly from the introduction of Strauss’s book. I’m using it as a filler, so that I can focus on the typography side of the project. The “Home Page” has a brief introduction to the project.
I couldn’t resist using a little bit of PHP to make my life a bit easier. Just simple page includes and an if…elseif…else statement. Elementary stuff…. 
Colors and such
The color sites intrigued me the most. It always fascinates me how the change of colors can affect so many things. And how the good sites use only a few colors effectively.
The ideabook.com article had a lot of good points: KISS (keep it simple stupid), low tones, and few colors. Everything we read seems to point back to the first thing anyone learns about architecture: Form Follows Function. But I like to add Frank Lloyd Wright’s insight to that:
“Form follows function—that has been misunderstood. Form and function should be one, joined in a spiritual union.â€
—Frank Lloyd Wright [source]
Mr. Wright is a great architect, although I do think a lot of his stuff (like modern ‘art’) was a bit wacked, but I totally agree that form and function aren’t separate things that fight for the outcome of the project. Like so many things in life, it takes a combination of things to make a whole. (Boy, that sounds deep. I sure am on my way to being a scholar with comments like that. 
)
Anyhow, the more I code and design, the more I like things to be simple and plain. This is for a couple of reasons. One, it makes it easier to read, follow and learn. Two, it’s easier to build and maintain. Three, I can’t design worth beans anyway. Hence my awaiting the future classes with great anticipation.
It’s awesome to see everybody (especially me) turning clunky first drafts into blooming works of art. Keep at it y’all!
Critique of typography project
Here are some notes I’ve taken during the critique of my project.
Well….
I got shafted because it was done so late….
I’ve been given a second chance. Make it look better by next week.
To Do:
* No footnote on the sub header.