One week just slipped past me in a blink of an eye, and I am around 1.5 weeks away from my first paper. The past week was nothing but full of business, uneasiness, nervousness and a serious case of sleep deprivation. I barely manage to get a shut eye of 3 hours a day, and what I can afford at most is taking 30-minute power naps in the school library, waking up weary eyed and completely zonked.
There were a few occasions where I woke up in the middle of my sleep, dreaming that the exams are over / I’m late for a paper / I missed a lecture / I lost my tutorial sheets and etc, then only to realize that it’s a dream after panicking 15 minutes for nothing. The anxiety attacks are not debilitating, but definitely very, very annoying and disorienting.
That’s all personal updates! I’ve been wanting to write something more personal this week, but since it’s Friday, I think it will be nice for me to share with everyone things I’ve came across this week.
Fonty Friday: Second run
So here we go, the second run of Fonty Friday. This week, I’ve chosen Fertigo Pro. It’s just too lovely to resist, and exudes this vintage charm but not losing some modern appeal:
You can download Fertigo Pro here. Although it’s free, you’re required to sign up as a member in order to proceed to check out. A little annoying yes, but the font is something that many would die for.
Some of my design works
I’ve been reading up on tutorials – special thanks to the people I follow on Twitter who keep churning out links to awesome design tutorials. Here are some of my works – to view them in a larger solution, simply click on the thumbnail.
1. Colour synthesis
Spirograph - Colour synthesis
One of my personal favourite so far, and is best viewed on black. Fabio (from Abduzeedo) wrote an amazing tutorial last year about creating a spirograph of sorts using a combination of Illustrator and Photoshop. I didn’t dare to dive into it the first time because Illustrator sounded too remote and vague to me. I was so worn out by my revisions this week that I’ve decided to give his tutorial a try, to keep my brain ticking.
2. Earthlink
Earthlink - If I change, the world changes.
Earthlink is an environmental club in my university, and I’m proud to be part of it. I’m the publication officer of the club, will be retiring at the end of the semester but I’m considering going for the publicity post next year. Anyway, back to the poster itself, it’s inspired by Collis’ tutorial on PSDTuts – Create a Spectacular Grass Text Effect in Photoshop.I’ve used a stock photo of mine (the angel) to give some extra punch, plus some lovely brushes.
3. Starfield
Starfield
You can actually cretae a starfield from scratch in Photoshop! No graphics needed – you’ll be playing around with filters and a few other simple adjustments, that’s all. Gred’s tutorial, Make a Realistic Star Field, walked me through the amazingly simple steps (although it takes time to get familiar with it), and it’s all about letting your creativity go wild.
Videos of the week – Zapping, Steel Life
Fubiz posted this cute animation titled Zapping, a few days ago – check it out!
Zapping from Aritz Aizpurua on Vimeo.
Thanks to @fredyatesiv for the thumbs up – this video demonstrates what one can achieve using CG effects. Simply mind-blowing!
Steel Life from Mathieu Gérard on Vimeo.
That’s all!
Have a great weekend, folks! I might be late in replying your comments and leaving comments on your blogs – my life will be dominated by endless revisions until my last paper on the 28th. Wish me luck!
How do you manage to squeeze in time to make such brilliant designs? I am clearly slacking on my time management. :P
Gorgeous work, Teddy! We seem to have similar taste in art. I love all three of your designs. :) Very impressed by the grass illustration. That is a great tutorial, I must try that sometime. (have tried the star/galaxy concept once but have failed miserably) — you captured it well. :) Makes we want to go live there. (I am easily intrigued by astronomy.. clearly :P)
The spiral design is impressive. I don’t think I would have the patience for such a design! Love the colors & contrast on the black. Thanks for sharing. :)
Sorry to hear you’re so swamped with class work! It is even invading your dreams, eh? Terrible. Hopefully you’ll be able to afford a break soon. :) Good luck and do enjoy your weekend!
Check out Latrina’s latest blog post » Hidden obscurities.
I knew I forgot to mention something.. I loved the videos! The first one was soo cute and funny. The last was.. wow, so stunning! It gave me chills even. My two favorite things: astronomy & trees. :D The music really went well with it too.
Check out Latrina’s latest blog post » Hidden obscurities.
Thanks for the compliments, Trina! The designs are actually made using small breaks over a period of a few weeks since I couldn’t devote hours for each project. I’m just too happy to know that we share similar tastes in art – stars and trees are also two of the many things that I really love.
The spiral design is actually quite simply – I just create four ‘petals’ with four different colours, and the spaces between them are blended automatically using Illustrator. It’s quite easy, actually!
They’re starting to invade my dreams, yes. Sometimes I find myself waking up in the middle of the night thinking that I’ve missed an important paper, and the fact is that the exams haven’t even started. Sheesh.
I love that Earthlink pic :)
Colour synthesis is gorgeous. I’m going to be bookmarking a few of the tutorials to try as well. I shall post my results when I’m done with it. But I doubt I’m able to do it as nice as yours though. Illustrator is rather difficult to use and get used to after using Photoshop for the past 5 years. :(
Good luck to your exams preparations as well. You should take a break and relax one day to refresh your mind. Maybe it’ll be more efficient to study after that. :)
Check out Dayna’s latest blog post » Little trinkets from Bangkok
I have to say that Illustrator is not easy to use. I’ve been so accustomed to the way how Photoshop works that I’m very irritated by the lack of clear layer distinction in Illustrator. The colour palette is hard to use, and layers are not as important as they are in Photoshop. Paths and vectors, things that I’ve never ever dared to touch are the key features of Illustrator… eeeks!
Thanks for the encouragement! I take breaks frequently, like on afternoons to sneak in a nap or something. I would’ve gone mad if I didn’t rest and take a deep breath.
看到那只蓝色天使我吓了一跳，哈哈，原来是它嘛～你拍得很漂亮。
我家还有更多的小天使呢，下次再来拍啊～
Check out yong yong biaoyi’s latest blog post » 大清货的战利品@popular’s summit
You given it to uncle Ah Kee, right? I miss it so much because it’s just so lovely! Sure, next time when I drop by your house I’ll take photos of your cute little angels. And oh yes, I’m yet to pass you the photos we’ve taken during our Lunar New Year gathering!
I hate that as well when you wake up from a dream that your exams are over, or that you bombed it pretty bad. I’m pretty discouraged for bombing my last one and didn’t make it to submitting my paper…. *sigh* but I know that school’s not the place for me… but I’m glady ou’re still going at it!! :)
Check out Destiny’s latest blog post » Time Flies By
Destiny, don’t give up hope so quickly! You might have bombed the paper, but at least, you’ve given it a good try. Don’t stop trying and don’t be discouraged – you’ll grow stronger eventually ;)
omg! the earthlink poster is so cute!!
Check out Mingyun’s latest blog post » Corny me
@Jas: Thanks :) teehee!
@Mingyun: Awwww thank you! I bet it’s the angel that made you love it!