Hmmm... another case where hate oddly turns ut positive.. ;-)
I've seen Illustrator only as a vector app but of course, as such you can make textholders, textplates, import bitmaps and yadda yadda yadda - just like Corel Draw.
But, I think I'll go for InDesign since it's turning out kind a "standard" around my turf.
Haven't given it that much thought yet, but it seems like high time to.
Sofar I've "only" been concerned with learning to handle Photoshop at the level I want and it's getting there to my utmost satisfaction.
But - I DO have a number of issues with CS2 !!
Very surprisingly is seems Adobe have managed to release a "sluggish" and buggy beast that can crash just about any computer with ease. Like - I've got this 2.2MHz P4 and 1.5 Gb of DDRam on a 400MHz ISB motherboard. With PS 7.1 I can open a 200Mb image, hold down spacebar, put the pen to the Wacom and push the image around the screen no problems. Smallest flick of the pen tip gets an emediate response. Try doing that with CS2 and you'll practice Ctr-Alt-Del A LOT ! And what with this Bridge-thing ?? Is it a Coffie Breake Generator .. ?
K' - enough of this.

And yes Ganthor - I am located in Sweden.
... for better and for worse.
There are some very good things about Sweden that I would miss if being somewhere else, but in regards to this line of work it's a pond where making waves is not seen as a good thing. A small country with too many "little minds" and scarse of space for possibilities.
But hey - now we're into politics here ...

-- Jiger --

Well, in the late 90's I did a "crash-course" (read: looser-corse) in DTP and there we used PageMaker, but I haven't used it since. Also, I must admit to having tried out.. well, you know .. ahhmmm (lowering voice to whisper).. Publisher.. but I've never used Quirk - sorry, Quark.

Not surprising that Abode wins ground with the CS package and the general buzz has it that InDesign is coming strong on the Swedish design and layout market. Most of the education given is also based on using the CS pack. We are a bit soft for package solutions here .. /LOL/
The commercials/printshop guy I mentioned is currently making heavy use of Corel Draw, mostly because the in-house layout guy is trained in it, but they're also glancing with certain desire at the CS package, so just about any day now ...

Thanks for letting me know, aprilgem !

-- Jiger --

To trust my "instincs" (= the possible positive talents I might have) and improve as well as I can, that my DVD cover (front side, anyways) would have stood a good chance of approval, I need to look into layout for printed matter (have a look at InDesign, for instance) and in the process study more Typography (never wrong since it's not a fixed science), concider how to go about creating Graphic Profiles for companies, keep kontemplating around Perceptive Psycology, break down different kinds of desigs I see all around me everywhere and figure out how they were done and why - AND - when strong minds meet there's likely to be some kind of conflict .. :-D !!

But, most and best of all - I'm not completely off in what I'm doing.
That's the largest benefit from this discussion.

Does this mean the matter is concluded ?

-- Jiger --

Just realised there are 23 messages to this thread ... and 24 now ...

I don't know how long we can ceep this thing going before retrocity (mod) says:

• Ok, enough posts to this thread now.
  But since this has not happend yet - keep 'em coming if you've got 'em.

-- Jiger --

... and this just keeps getting better !
Now I can sit back and follow up on you people talking to eachother ! I just love it !! :-D

On stockphotos/-images:
I'm with you there, bonestructure.
The stock images I used for the "Stirring Waters" was the right eye (your left) masked out from a full face, copied-n'-pasted, desaturated, up contrasted with curves and put on overlay blending mood. Then copied, flipped horiz and placed out as a left eye.
The second one is the buoy, isolated and copied from original, scaled down to less than 10% of original and Transform > Distort and -Perspective to "lay it down" on the surface followed by some curves adj and then erasing and shadows painting to "blend" with the waves.
Everything else is pure and genuine Photoshop.

And a very big thank you aprilgem and bonestructure for the stockphoto/-image links !
Yes, aprilgem, I am an iStockphoto account holder and have seen your image there. I've used a couple of images from iStock but non in this piece.
The Morguefile I already knew of, but the other two are new to me, so If you'll excuse me I've got two new stock image sites to scout.

A million thanks to you both !

-- Jiger --

BTW - if someone know anything about this Eclipse software I would be very happy to get a pointer to aditional info.

-- Jiger --

Message edited on: 09/27/2005 12:12

Aaahhmmm ....
Budding in a bit late here and also might be completely off.

The only thing I know I've read about this (or similar) is from Markus Klinko & Indrani's site - somewhere in the "Press" section.

http://www.markusklinko-indrani.com/photoGallery/main.htm

It is mainly a Photography-and-Retouch site and there is a mention of a software called "Eclipse" used to do some magic stuff even Photoshop can't handle without elaborated operations.
Now, I've been looking around for this "Eclipse" thing (ones distributed by Alias), but haven't found anything.

This may not be at all helpful for you, but is it possible that what you've read deals with this Eclipse-thingy ?

-- Jiger --

Man! This is just awsome. Think I've got more valuable info in these messages than from several weeks at any class. Great body of knowledge in this community for sure.

bonestructure:
I'm very pleased and happy to see you join in the debate here. Just the man for the job and if you think it's a good cover - then I'm fully satisfied with it.
Not very original - no - and my thinking was more to go for mood than "shouting", bearing in mind the kind of productions I've seen from "Frantic Foam Gobowler" (c'mon - can't use the real name without getting sued).
Kind of surprised myself with "pulling it off" with two stock images (one eye and the life buoy) and getting the rest done in Photoshop solely.

Perhaps I should explain what I ment with "finding examples of really bad cases" in a previos message.
I don't know if this is general practice but when a "non Swedish" production hits our domestic market, the artwork with it have to be translated - and here, shit can really hit the fan.
It's a must to put in how many stars/wasps/cows/whatever that this-and-that newspaper have given it, litterarely putting the bloody stars/wasps/cows/whatever in - over the design. Also, at the bottom it's an absolute have-to to make a border in (at best) red and yellow to put some text saying something in Swedish about whatever. But don't be surprised if the border is pink stripes with green dots ore something alike. Also, the distribution company have to put their incredible ugly logo in and then some independent critic must have his/her space to say whatever they feel they need to.
Then, the video rental must put at least two - preferably more - round shaped stickers in pink/yellow/orange etc, saying "new" or "hot" or "49:- a day" or something really enlightning.
So, trying to figure out what the original design actually looks like can be a darn right decryption job.

...there are actions that will create templates for several DVD cover requirements.<
Now how did I miss that..?
Getting right at looking into it at this very moment.
Thank you very much for that pointer. :-D

And, I will certainly look into all your suggestions presented.
Thank you very much! A pure pleasure.

Ganthor:

Create a fake company (Continental Lint, for example) and create...<
Actually, when you mention it, this is a process just taking place, but not for a fake company since I need this for myself. And is that a learning - oh yes sir, it is !
Never thought of a billboard though (you rarely see them around here except when election for government) but I'll put that in my To Do. I see the "problem" with it being viewed for 8-10 sec's in 70 mph. Nothing for text based info using Times 12 with minus-tracking .. ;-)

Sans 2012:
...and a concidered suggestion the outer glow was.
Thing is I had already put an outer glow to it with default settings but thought it worked better when set closer to a solid outline, so basically our thinking was the same.

Well, this subject have generated quite a number of messages now, but I'm still very happy about and interested in further opnions - about good or bad, if it works or sucks and why it does any of that.
This is damn right hard core education.

Ever so thankful for all your opinions:

-- Jiger --

Wows!
Things are really happening here now .. :-)

Ganthor:
Oh yes, how it prints is really important.
Well, I did measure up a real cover to get a template and the original is made in 300 dpi. I do all of my pieces in 300 dpi and print them out on a fairly good printer - HP Deskjet 1220c - to show clients a hard copy rather than a screen image. I've also got a contact with a guy who runs a commercials business with it's own printshop, so when he's in a good mood I can do a "real thing" test print of my stuff.

aprilgem:
I perfectly understand your (and Ganthor's) point there about doing the whole thing, back cover, spine and all. I did a book cover ones for a book on food from our region which was approved and went to print.
Had I known then what was coming - with the "skills" I had then - I doubt I would have taken it on, but on the other hand I sure learned a lot in the process.

About other projects.
What you suggest is exactly the kind of practice work I've lined up for me to get into and I'm perfectly aware that Design isn't just making fancy covers, posters, ads etc etc.
There's a whole lot of meat-and-potatoes work to be done and I'm perfectly comfortable with it.
Since you people sure seem to know the business I take it I'm at least somewhat on track and I'm very greatful for every opinion and pointer I can get.

Thank you all very much for taking your time.

-- Jiger --

tantarus !

I'm not sure wether you're comenting Sans2012 or something you've seen in my design...
On effects in general I absolutely agree with you and particulalrely so when it comes to more "hi-class" designs. I wouldn't think an AD at Elle, Cosmo or any fashion house would approve (tho, I might be wrong).
Tho, in this case it's a (fictive) DVD jacket for a thriller-something-reel so I wouldn't be surprised if given at least a bit of slack with moderate effects.
Did some "research" at my local video rental just to see what goes.
... and found some examples of really "bad cases" /LOL/.

So - yes, Sans2012 - there is an outer glow (seen better in the large image) but with a hard edge, more like an outline. This to make the typography stand out better from the darker blue tones in the background.
Sure I could have made it easy for me and used a contrasting (opposite) colour, but I thought a good part of the challange was to keep it within a cool blue(-ish) scale and allow only one eye-catching exception.

Thank you all for careing to comment ! :-)
I really appreciate it very much and I hope there will be some more opinions coming - from you or others.

(ok - I'll step down from soapbox now... )

-- Jiger --

Aaahh! Opinions !! :-)

Thank you, tantarus!
Yes, it's blueish. /LOL/

aprilgem:
You're quite right and the only defence I've got for making this is I wanted it to stay within a colour scheme biased to blue. Exception - the drifting, empty life bouy in an opposite color.
On the other hand, it is originally ment for print and as such there is better tonal separation. Seems downscaling and jpeg-ing makes bad things ...

-- Jiger --

Hope you like.

-- Jiger --

Ganthor ! >I've never understood why a client... < Well, think you can safely see it from the bright side. If a slam-together gets the client excited and make him/her/them pay you for it, you'll have lots of time to do what you really feel for and put your heart into it. I was a photographer myself for over 30 years, working hard on building up a stock image library. Now I find it's a lot easier to buy images (for around $1.00 - 5.00) and use them for designs, so instead of carrying bulky and heavy camera equippment around I focus on working from the comfort of my home environment. Can't really say I miss the camera work and I can keep fairly "regular" hours now ... Laters !

Thanks, Gantor!
I scouted the site you pointed to and found a link that had a good ammount of Serifs that was TTF's. I'll dig deeper into that one when time permits.

I'm glad I don't have to explain it<

Well, that's the good part with art/design.
When a piece works such that the viewer doesn't require any explanation but can freely associate around it - then it's a good piece.
Significantly, many good pieces do just come together "by themselves".
I can't explain the Lumina-design either since it presented itself when I was fooling around with a stock image and some typography. Tho I'm not entirely so, the client and the exhibition arrangers were happy all over the place.

Laters !

Ganthor! Thanks for the link. I'll sure check it out. No problem with digging here since that is a perfectly normal activity when you look for that very special thing that does the trick. Had a look at your gallery too and I especially like the "Why I Can't Sleep At Night" image. Tells a good story there and I don't think I could sleep that well either with an active vulcano that close...