Computer Graphics - Summer 2012 - I (Magazine Cover)

This series of blog posts is about the collection of projects created during my Summer 2012 Computer Graphics course at Northampton Community College, taught by Dannell MacIlwraith.  The projects were completed as exercises in the use of Adobe PhotoShop and Illustrator and reinforced classroom lectures about the use of the software itself as well as instruction about important elements of graphic design and style. 

The Projects were:

1. Magazine Cover
2. Dreamscape
3. Website Interface (static)
4. Logo
5. Line, Shape, and Value
6. Architectural Illustration

Here, and in the 5 posts that follow are my own examples of the exercise results for these projects...

Magazine Cover

This exercise was performed with PhotoShop and involved the selection and re-touching of an image to function as the basis for a mock magazine cover that either was fictitious or echoed the design of an existing publication.  The important elements involved the selection of an appealing picture to draw interest and then designing headlines using fonts and styles that fit the style of the magazine as well as other typical elements of a cover, such as a barcode or burst.

The instruction leading up to this exercise involved the use of PhotoShop tools to crop photos as well as re-touching tools to change hue/saturation, adjust levels, or adjust curves.  We also worked with the text tool and type fonts and saw the relationship of the layering features of the software.  Additional re-touching tools were covered to help with photo repair, by lightening/darkening, or cloning pixels to improve the photo's attributes.

Here is my starting photo:

...and here the cover sample that I turned in: