Comment entries

Observations of the design and publishing industry by Nicholas van der Walle of Astute Graphics, as well as general comments which do not fit into any other category.


Creating some new demonstration artwork

14 Sep
2010
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Rocket title image

Here at Astute Graphics Towers, we always try to demonstrate our Illustrator solutions with relevant artwork examples. Sometimes we use example artwork supplied with Adobe Illustrator, such as Vonster’s fantastic Loyal Order of Wormwood which appeared with Illustrator CS4. Other times we create very technical and targeted Illustrator files such as the Drink Carton example (PDF may be found here). However, occasionally new eye-catching artwork is required for specific demonstrations… which is what happened recently.

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New Illustrator CS5 WOW! Book

26 Aug
2010
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Illustrator CS5 WOW! Book title

Looking on the office shelf, I can see a copy of Illustrator CS WOW! books ranging from CS through to CS4. I only joined the Adobe Illustrator crowd at version 10, and when CS appeared back in 2003, I wanted to learn a little more and it was Sharon Steuer’s book that I reached out for. I found it invaluable and it became part of a process which culminated in the launch of the Phantasm CS plugin for Illustrator.

Today is a good day because this morning I received the latest incarnation of the long-running series: The Adobe Illustrator CS5 WOW! Book published by Peachpit Press.

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Free pass registration to Graph Expo, Chicago

24 Aug
2010
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Graph Expo

The folks over at Pemla Inks have passed on a link allowing those intending to attend the major US print technology trade show, Graph Expo, to obtain the passes for free (normally $30 in advance). Simply click on the following link:

www.xpressreg.net/register/GASC100/hallonly/start.asp?sc=GPH1R1A

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The basics of anaglyph stereo images

4 Aug
2010
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I’ve managed to find some time since my original blog post regarding the adventures into stereo imaging for Adobe Illustrator. Typically, Google is a great hunting ground, but as the good old colored glasses technique apparently reached its peak of interest some years ago, there is little current stuff. Many seem to have moved on to modern 3D movie techniques which typically make use of polarised glasses – not much use here.

Vimeo 3D section

Wading through the dead links and websites which, frankly judging by their design were created when the war raged between the newcomer “Internet Explorer” and Netscape, some nuggets were discovered explaining a little more about the classic red/blue or, more commonly, red/cyan glasses versions of anaglyph imagery. Read the rest of this article »

 

The vector 3D experiment begins (dig out your old red/blue movie glasses!)

2 Aug
2010
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3D GlassesLet’s gloss over the matter that “Stereoscopy” sounds slightly medical… this is the the beginning of an experiment into making vector artwork leap out of the screen or page.

“This” being a personal quest by Nicholas van der Walle – founder of Astute Graphics. In an ad hoc manner, tweets and blog postings will chronicle this subject and methods to create and manage anaglyph images that require the classic red/blue or red/cyan movie glasses within Adobe Illustrator. There is no goal in terms of final outcome or deadline and no commercial product is being considered specifically for producing this kind of art. Instead, new Illustrator techniques will hopefully be developed using the same curiosity that led to the creation of the popular Phantasm CS color toolset for Illustrator, and this is hoped to be of some use or spark the creativity in others. Hope you enjoy!

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We asked for new Illustrator features… and we got them

27 Jul
2010
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Adobe released their CS5 suite a few months ago and the dust has since settled. The development team at Adobe – especially the Illustrator crew who are now largely based in India – face a relatively unique situation; they have to develop to a rigid arbitrary timescale as their software is bundled with all other Creative Suite applications. This cycle is now typically 18 to 24 months. And undoubtably this timespan is derived by accountants. After all, Adobe are a company, and all companies have the key goal which is to make as many $$$ as possible.

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Interview with Josh McKible – “MCKIBILLO”

26 Jul
2010
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Josh McKible iconWe’re very pleased to bring you an exclusive interview with Josh McKible, a very talented and internationally-published illustrator. Josh’s striking style is cuttingly sharp vector and greatly suited to Adobe Illustrator. Josh is also a user of Phantasm CS and his recent work reflects this, as may be seen in a selection of his designs shown here.

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Vector Halftone Week: the Halftone designs of Daniel Kopton

21 Jul
2010
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Having started our Vector Halftone Week, a Phantasm CS customer got in contact to share a couple of his wonderful posters created in Illustrator with the use of the plug-in. Daniel Kopton is a designer based in the United States, specialising in photo retouching and has kindly allowed us to show his personal work.

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Illustrator users: Knowledge is Power

14 Jul
2010
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[Updated 5 April 2011]

There are many lists of resources for Adobe Illustrator out there, especially tutorials which have had a real resurgence over the past 12 months or so. However, beyond just tutorials, there is now a wealth of websites which offer dedicated or categorised help and learning resources for Illustrator users and related topics. Here are just some of the key sites – by no means exhaustive, but each a leader in their own section of then internet – you should be aware of to extend your knowledge and skills…

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Sign of the times… SPAM

5 Jul
2010
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There have been so many spam entries to this blog’s comments section, that the manual daily cleanup process is becoming a chore. Therefore we’ve added a new CATCHPA system to the comments form. Apologies that this may slightly inconvenience the genuine reader, but this is the sign of the times that no corner of the internet is free from spammers…