Creative Development: Layers Magazine

One of the resources I use to stay relevant and creative is subscribing to LAYERS Magazine. If you are an avid Adobe® Software user, I highly reccomend this publication to assist you in unleasing your creative potential.  They even let you sample a free issue. Enjoy and thanks for viewing!

Industry Recognition: iStockphoto.com Designer Spotlight

Today, iStockphoto.com awarded Genesis Creative a "Design Spotlight Entry" on their website for the artwork used in the Spiritual Warfare series. Special recognition also goes out to Bianca Juarez of Calvary Chapel Montebello for her superb art direction. Thanks for viewing.

Video Production: JL Hoops

Each spring since 2005, Jason Ludwig, owner of JLhoops.com, goes back to his old stomping grounds—the City of Montebello, CA, to host a day-long basketball skills camp. Jason, who is now the Director of Basketball Operations at Santa Clara University, has always wanted to bring a top notch basketball camp, that's affordable for parents of the East Los Angeles- Montebello area.

With help from sponsors, college coaches, high school and youth coaches, former and current NCAA and NBA players, the camp was able to get off the ground. And for the past four years, each camp has been a tremendous success and has progressively grown, leading possibly to a tw0-day camp in the near future.

Along with stressing basketball skills and drills, Jason emphasizes the importance of doing well in school. His message is simple, "Succeed in School". As a former video coach and graduate of the beloved UCLA Bruins, I'm not surprised at all at the high benchmark he sets for his players both on and off the court.

I've had the pleasure of knowing Jason and his wonderful family over the past four years, and let me tell you folks, they're great people. Even if you live within 50 miles of Montebello, CA and you have kids in youth basketball, I highly reccomend JLhoops basketball camps!

Thanks for viewing!

Business Cards:: Summit Mortgage

When a good freind of mine approached me about redoing his business cards, I was estactic at the opportunity to do so. The previous business cards he was using were horrid. So frightning, that I dare not post the "before" image of it here on this blog. I filed it away in my "Scary" file of printed materials. 

With that said, Mike of Summit Mortgage decided he wanted to have a clean, professional and corporate feel to his business cards. Nothing too fancy. Just the facts. He was quite the minimalist. I came up with the following two concepts. 

In the top sample, I wanted to communicate the strong showing of the logo, "The Summit". In times like we're in today, when you're applying for a loan, you want to have all the assurance that your lender is taking care of your home-loan needs. I believe that solid look emphasizes that along with all the contact info upfront. The bottom sample, which was not chosen, I tended to show more of the green color to reinforce the green of the logo and to emphasize the color of money. However, in a realistic world, its best to keep the green where it belongs, in the money you're approved for to make your real esate purchase. Summit Mortgage was very happy with their final output. Hopefully the next project will be trifold brochure. Stay tuned! Thanks for viewing.

Church Design Pack

One of the great things about doing church art graphics is not only the creative freedom, but also the exposure the work gets. And with an approximate attendance of over 1500 church-goers per week at my house of worship, Calvary Chapel Montebello (http://www.ccmtb.com), the feedback I get is priceless. But most importantly, I value the references I get from those who inquire to the church staff about my work.

Spiritual Warfare: This project was exciting for me to work on because of the "comic book" feel that was requested for it. Something along the lines of a Marvel or DC Comics-"sh" look. The project manager wanted the piece to communicate the "Good vs Evil" message, but to also make it fun. However, comic book character development is not a talent that I have. And after many failed attempts to draw a super hero and villain, I was stumped. I felt like I was cornered in a city alley and no where to go by the evil "graphic design mind block brigade".

I was in distress and needed my fantabulous super hero to rescue me. That super design hereo was iStockPhoto.com! (http://www.istockphoto.com).

Needless to say that iStockphoto.com saved me from the villain of comic book design block and helped me produce the graphic look that pleased the mayor and the citizens of Gotham. Thanks for viewing... (and reading my cheesy comic-themed writing).

Here is what the project package consisted of;

1. 30x40 Posters,
   
2. DVD/CD Wrap,
3. Overhead Projector Artwork
4. Flyers in Color and B&W and
   
5. Web Art
   

Artwork purchased from iStockphoto.com:

http://www.istockphoto.com/file_closeup.php?id=8977751

http://www.istockphoto.com/stock-illustration-9031100-city-night-guardian.php

http://www.istockphoto.com/stock-illustration-9886778-lady-superhero-kicking-alien-invader.php

Software:

Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, iStockPhoto.com, and a good ol' sketch book and art pencil for comps.

Photo Retouching

One of my favorite projects that I love doing is working on photos. I truly believe Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom are manna from heaven in this designer's world. In the photo above, I simply used Photoshop's filter affects and Kubota's "Burn Edges" Artistic plug-in to get my desired look. As you can see from the original image below, I removed some of her hair that was brushing against her cheek.

About the photo: That's me on the left along with my dear friend Liz who's friendship I think, is manna from heaven. She's been a true friend through thick and thin.

Magazine Covers Before/After

I was approached by this magazine to redesign the cover of their magazine. As you can see from their previous cover (pictured below), an upgrade was necessary. However, they still wanted to keep the magazine's title/header but in a slightly updated graphical look. I replied, "Sure. I can do that without compromising the design." I kept the look but just added more of a California sunshine look to the word, "California". I softened the text shadows, added some solid bars at top and bottom, bolded the magazine text, and wala! A new look that they were very happy with. I used Adobe Illustrator for the title and Adobe Photoshop for final output. Thanks for viewing!

T-Shirt Design

This project was to model the shirt design I did for SUBWAY© resturants. Subway sponsored a "Christmas in July" event at Union Rescue Mission. It was a simple design done in Adobe Illustrator CS3. These quick snapshots are of my dear friend Liz who was kind enough to accept my invitation to be my model... and a good one at that!

Video Production: Social Work Advocacy

I created this video also for Union Rescue Mission. Whenever the temps in Downtown Los Angeles hit 85 degrees or above, a group of staff and volunteers gather together to pass out cold water to the people on Skid Row. They call it , "A Water Walk". Water is not necessarily given to those who are homeless either. Construction workers, police officers, postal handlers, and anyone else who is working in the community.

As a faith-based organization, Union Rescue Mission goes by the following verse for their or Mark 9:41: "Truly, I say to you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ will by no means lose his reward." ESV.

Video Production: Social Work

This short video was done for Union Rescue Mission. I covered their annual "Easter Box Outreach". An outreach that counts on volunteers to help pass out hygiene boxes to the people who are homeless and poor in the community of Skid Row in Downtown Los Angeles, CA.

Software used, Apple, Inc. LiveType, Soundtrack, iMovie and Final Cut Express. The video camera I used was a simple "Flip Video" http://www.theflip.com/ This little handy USB camera works great for small clips like this. Perfect for uploading to any social networking site you prefer.

Thanks for viewing.

Photography

I walked the streets of Skid Row in Downtown Los Angeles and found this man smiling amidst the chaos of the streets. His name is Charlie. A veteran who served our country but is homeless. He's just one of many. He was in great spirits and thanked God for life. I was so humbled. Software: Adobe Photoshop, Lightroom and Kubota Artistic Actions.

Photography

Here is a potential shot for an album cover. I decided to play a bit with this in Lightroom and Photoshop. I had my daughter take a picture of me walking on the beach (which was cold at the time), with my guitar. I used Camera Raw from Adobe Bridge to "pop out" the brown from the guitar. I used the sloppy border plug-in from Kubota Artistic Actions. Thanks for viewing.

Photography PR Before/After

Here is one more set of images from the same event spoken of below (Golf Classic). This wonderful set of mommy and daughter were volunteers at the charity event. Turns out, Selena (pictured on the left) is a model. Her mom, Silvia (pictured at Right) is where she gets her beautiful looks from :). Thanks to both for the great pose and granting me permission to post.

I used Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop to edit. Plu-in included, "Sloppy Border" from Kubota Artistic Tools. (http://www.kubota.com)

Photography PR Before/After

These are images I worked on from a photoshoot I did for Union Rescue Mission's Annual Golf Classic Fund Raiser. PR photography is a favorite subject of mine. I used Adobe Lightroom, Photoshop and filters from Panos Efx to create the border image. Thanks for viewing.

Magazine Covers

Here is a design I pitched to Newport Beach Magazine, a new publication scheduled to come out in Aug or Sept of this year. I was down in Newport Beach, CA and took several shots of the waves crashing against the rocks. The sounds of the ocean waters hitting the rocks was like hearing an angelic chorus... at least to my mind's eye. I chose the image below to work on. I imported and modified the photo in Adobe Lightroom and continued the editing process in Adobe Photoshop. That's where I added the headline and text. I used text from another magazine, by same publisher only for comp purposes. Thanks for viewing.

Automobile Magnets

Here is a snapshot of my vehicle magnet. Why not take advantage of being stuck in traffic by advertising? My print vendor, Wet Ink Printing (http://www.wetinkprinting.com) bartered with me on this project.

Before/After... Easter Flyer

Here are two Easter flyer projects I did for my church, Calvary Chapel Montebello (http://www.ccmtb.com). The first above is the general Easter Service flyer. The second, is the "Passion Week" and "Good Friday" flyer.

This is a picture I took of a wall in Downtown Los Angeles. I was headed to a game at Staples Center, and adjacent to the parking lot, was this stucco wall that caught my eye. I included it in the first flyer above. I colored the yellow spots to red and used it lightly in the background and also on the Cross to emphasize Christ's blood.
This image, I removed the small nail because in the 1st century, large spikes were used in Crucifixions by the Romans. I could not actually find an image so I enlarged it quite a bit and spread the blood splatter a bit more. Used B&W for a more somber look. These images were purchased from iStockphoto.com. I highly reccomend it!