feature

David Mascha's New Work

abduzeedo — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 03:41:43 +0000

David Mascha has updated his portfolio with some new work and of course his new pieces deserve a feature here on Abduzeedo. For those who don't know David, he is a Vienna based designer and illustrator. Since 2005, he has been working for several design studios in Vienna as well as developing projects for international clients, fashion and design labels, magazines and books.

For more information about David, visit his website at http://davidmascha.com. Also there is a great interview that David did for the DEPTHCORE collective, check it out.

TypeTreatments 2011

AT&T

IBM Systems

About the author

Abduzeedo is a blog about design. There are all sorts of articles for those who want to look for inspiration. Also you will find very useful tutorials for the most used applications out there, with a special selection of Photoshop Tutorials and Illustrator Tutorials. You can get in follow us via Twitter at @abduzeedo

Artwork Feature #3: Rob Shields - Until There's Nothing Left

aloa — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 23:02:10 +0000

This is part of our new weekly series of posts. Here we feature a selected piece of art and have a little chat with the designer who made it. They give us a bit of background information and details about how the work was conceptualized and created.

This week's pick is Rob Shields "Until There's Nothing Left". Rob Shields became a good of mine after we worked together a couple of times. I wrote an article about him and we collaborated for a personal piece. Two months ago he made a simple but great design with a nice shining typeface. Because it shows the universe it fits perfectly to the abduzeedo homepage. Rob Shields sat down and wrote a useful description about the background of the image. Enjoy.

Rob Shields about "Until There's Noting Left":

Ok so if you're familiar with the whole "indie" music scene you might recognize the title of this piece as it is borrowed from a 2006 album by the artist Kill Hannah. Then again you might not, to tell you the truth I do not own nor have I listened to the full album. I just know of the band and decided to borrow their album title to offer a jumping off point for a piece of art. That being said this image was not intended to represent any outside emotional state or statement, basically I took this phrase and internalized it. I didn't do this with the intention of making a piece of art per se, it just happened naturally. This to me was an indication that, if I wanted to, I could make a piece of art based on the title that would seem somewhat genuine (at least I hoped). Of course this all happens within one or two seconds and is definitely much simpler than I am making it sound. You know you see something that you identify with, a statement, a sentiment and you want to express it in your own personal way.

This was a personal project but it started out differently than most of my personal projects. Since this piece was based on a phrase, I decided to make the phrase the main backdrop of the piece. The difference for me is that usually I create the image first and title it once it is finished. With this I had the title first, and this had a big impact on the composition. Given a choice between having an idea in mind and not having an idea, I'd choose not having an idea any day. For me if I set out to say something specific nine times out of ten what I end up saying is false. If I set out with nothing and try to discover what I want to say nine times out of ten what I end up saying is true. I think I got that idea from an old book on how to write fiction. That particular book was all about telling you to never write the ending of your story first but hey whatever works for you is what I say.

Now actually working on the project was really straight forward. The title suggests emptiness so I decided I wanted my canvas to be outer space because, well, "space is a lonely town". Next I picked out my text and started to mess with lighting effects until I was happy. I had no preconceived drafts or sketches, I just like to jump right in and see what happens. I believe that the image of the girl I ended up using was not the original image that I chose for the piece so for a while it was not working and eventually I decided I needed to scrap my original stock photo and use another. That was the only real problem and once I had the all important center piece of the image I just added a few more textures and effects until I was happy with the overall depth and complexity of the image.

As far as knowing when the image is finished I'm going to echo some of the other designers and say you just have to wait. Actually the longer you wait the more obvious it will be whether or not a piece is finished. Sometime I think it would be nice to put my designs away for an entire year before looking at them again. Obviously this is a bit unrealistic but you get the point.

Rob Shields just released his new homepage. His portfolio can also be seen on his DeviantArt-account

About the author

Aloa is the moniker of the german/greek graphic designer/filmmaker & musician Alexis Papageorgiou. Im glad to share great artistic work with the readers on Abduzeedo. Contact me on aloa@abduzeedo.com or follow my Twitter and Facebook page

Artwork Feature #1: James White - Robot Rock

aloa — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 18:59:38 +0000

This is part of our new weekly series of posts. Here we feature a selected piece of art and have a little chat with the designer who made it. They give us a bit of background information and details about how the work was conceptualized and created.

So I finally started publishing this new series. I was browsing through some designs I found on Deviantart and started thinking about the details. I wanted to know what tools the designer used to create them. And I wondered why so few artists decribe their developing process. This thought inspired me to create this new series of posts. Hope you all enjoy them. You can suggest artwork for the following week in the comments.

James White about "Robot Rock":

I was very late getting into Daft Punk's music, the first full album I heard was Alive 2007 so I missed the boat by about 10 years. When I discover something that really appeals to me, I tend to listen to it full tilt for a week or so and naturally this influenced my artwork. I wanted to do something in the cosmic style I had been experimenting with at the time, but also wanted to keep the essence of Daft Punk intact, namely their live show. The result was my Robot Rock piece which used subtle elements from the Alive 2007 cover.

Since this was a personal project, I was my own critic. I wanted something that combined the series I had been working on, as well as something that (hypothetically) would fit into the design and branding that surrounds Daft Punk. They obviously have a very sharp eye for the materials that represent the group and I wanted a piece of art that would feel at home with their existing brand.

I always start out sketching some general compositions of how I would like the elements to sit (grids, logos, effects, etc). I sometimes sketch up to 40 thumbnails before I land on something I think might work. I then move to Illustrator where I create some general color and composition layouts using simple vectors. This helps me see very quickly if my sketch will work as a digital piece. I then construct my real vector elements in Illustrator, then construct everything in Photoshop where I add lighting, texture, effects, etc.

The only real problems I encounter with my works are how overlayed elements react with what is beneath. I tend to spend hours adjusting opacities, blending modes, color treatments, levels, etc to get things working the way I want. Every little adjustment throws all elements into flux, so I have to be very patient as I tweak things in Photoshop.

I treated this design the same way I treat all my designs: if I wake up the next day and I still like it, then it must be finished. The Robot Rock piece took around 2 and a half days to complete because, as I said, it wasn't sitting right with me the next day :) But eventually everything snapped into place the way I had originally intended. - James White

Buy this design as a 18" x 24" poster in the SignalNoise Store and visit the artists website.

feature

David Mascha's New Work

TypeTreatments 2011

AT&T

IBM Systems

About the author

Sponsored Links:

Artwork Feature #3: Rob Shields - Until There's Nothing Left

This is part of our new weekly series of posts. Here we feature a selected piece of art and have a little chat with the designer who made it. They give us a bit of background information and details about how the work was conceptualized and created.

Rob Shields about "Until There's Noting Left":

About the author

Sponsored Links:

Artwork Feature #1: James White - Robot Rock

This is part of our new weekly series of posts. Here we feature a selected piece of art and have a little chat with the designer who made it. They give us a bit of background information and details about how the work was conceptualized and created.

James White about "Robot Rock":

About the author

Sponsored Links: