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Graphic Design

Anti Aliasing

In the example above the letterform on the left shows the pixel layout of a lower case "r". There are only black and white pixels side by side with a very unnatural square shape. This is fine when the pixels are very small. However as you can see, when enlarged the left image looks very pixelated.

On the right the image has been anti aliased. Instead of pure black adjacent to pure white there are blended gray pixels on the border. This makes the transition from white to black more subtle and makes the image seem sharper and less blocky.

Generally you don’t want to anti alias lineart, because it has to be reproduced at high resolution anyway. Anti aliasing a 600 dpi block of small text will just make the printed result seem fuzzy. However, a sketch or photographic element will benefit from it.

REPO Tickets

This project took awhile to get completed. It was, simply enough, a double sided ticket for entrance to a film festival. The front was to be designed with the film’s visual feel and the back was a custom illustration with an allegorical scene that represents the themes of the film.

The project took several revisions to get right, owing I think to my deficiencies as a portrait artist more than any problem with the project or client.

The back started as a pencil drawing then some vector elements and finally a digital painting. As I said earlier, my skill as a portrait artist isn't very high currently, so it took some massaging to get the likeness sharp.

What is Graphic Design?

I was neck deep in an illustration project today and it set me to thinking about all the stuff that goes into design. It made me think about this video. It also reminded me that I want to start mind-mapping on a whiteboard.



My version of this probably wouldn't be to the backdrop of fiddle music. I think this would be playing in the background.

How does Print Size, Pixel Dimensions and Resolution work?

Raster images refer to the way computerized photographic images are saved and displayed. On the web the most common are JPGs, GIFs and PNGs. In the print world raster data is generally saved as EPS or TIFF files.

Image Attributes
Aside from the color mode, there are three attributes that define a digital image. Print Size, Pixel Dimensions and Resolution. They are interdependent and with any two you can define the third.

Print Resolution
Resolution refers to the number of pixels in each inch when printed. The higher the resolution the sharper the image will resolve to be. Generally DPI for printing is 300 for photographic images and 600 for lineart.

Web Resolution
Monitors are a lot more forgiving than the printed page. A monitor only needs 72 dpi to show an image flawlessly. One thing to note is that if an image is over 72 dpi it will still display at 72 dpi, it will just be bigger on the screen. For example, an image that is 360 dpi will display five times larger than its Print Size on screen. It has to show each of those pixels, and since only 72 will fit in each inch, it adds more inches.

Print Size
This is how large the image would be if it were printed directly on paper. The Print Size is the Pixel Size divided by the DPI resolution with the result being in inches. On the first sample pic below the Pixel Size is 400 across. Divide that by 72 and you get 5.556 inches, the Print Size. It’s important to remember the Print Size of a document, because if the client needs something at 300 DPI, but the Print Size is half what it needs to be, the file is only 150 DPI when enlarged to the correct Print Size.

Pixel Dimensions
This refers to how many pixels across and down make up the image. For instance the sample pic below is 400 pixels wide by 300 pixels tall. On the web the Pixel Dimensions are of primary importance since the browser will show all the pixels.

The first of the images below is 400 pixels by 300 pixels at 72 dpi. The image below that is also 400 x 300 pixels, but only 40 dpi. The only real difference between the two files is the Print Size and Resolution. Since the Pixel Size is the same both display at the same size on a monitor.

Promotional Postcard/Flyer for Short Film

I recently got a project to do a promotional flyer for a short film. After viewing it to get a feel for the mood I got to work on a pencil illustration. It took going over the film several times to get details of both the room and costuming correct, particularly the blouse.

The mood for the piece was cold and tense, with the pic ambivalent as to whether she was predatory or afraid.

After getting the approval on the initial sketch I incorporated the copy and sent the first round proof. The angle of placement was used to create tension and motion and it was balanced out by the blots of red for the tagline and title logo.

The client looked it over and was mostly happy with the general feel. She did want a change to the illustration where the girl’s right hand would be holding a pair of shears. I modified the sketch and changed the rotation because of the way the scissors would interact with the logo. This orientation still kept the motion and the moving of the tagline maintained the visual balance.

The client was pleased with this one and I proceeded to the actual illustration. For this project I dropped the sketch into Adobe Illustrator and vector traced the important elements, added color, gradients and hard lines (including the white stroke around the figure) and then did some coloring and shading in Adobe Photoshop.