Sual Bass's title sequence (another one)

Sual Bass's title sequence

Lord of war's title sequence: the life of a bullet

Motivators: let the world motivate me!

Ok, I don't really know if this really related to the subject but I think this might be interesting. Motivators are, can be considered a kind of posters. All of them have the same characteristics: black background, big text for the title a smaller text underneath and a picture. Mostly you can find it as a dictionary with picture (it's not entirely right though). They are hilarious (see for yourself). Can't say particularly who made them, everyone can! It's so easy to make so I can't give you any source. Here are some example, sorry I but the funniest ones are usually involve with strong language so I only post those that is worksafe.
And since everyone can do it, you may find some that you can understand at all. This one is a good example:
Clueless? Can't blame ya! But if you are curious here's a hint: N.E.R.V and S.O.S. But then:

Letterpress documentary

AIDS poster... again!

Why? Because this time, it's my poster! Well, generally, the idea is that many people think that they are quite lucky so they won't get infected. Therefore, the message this poster conveys is that they are actually, well, not that lucky at all. You can see the picture of a trail of someone walking into a hole more likely of a trap (YES, FOR THE LAST TIME, IT"S A TRAPDOOR, IT"S NOT THAT HARD TO FIGURE OUT, I'm sorry, I was just a little frustrated with all the comments like:"what's that black thing there?"). I stressed the three word "you", "not" and "lucky" (did you notice? "you" and "lucky" was in black ^^).

Business cards

creativebit.org

Some interesting ideas about business cards. I really like the fold-out one, it's really cute. The one that imitates the FedEx logo and the one that use note paper is really nice, too. Some of them are actually impractical, though (seriously, who would want to bring a bunch of plastic cards around?).

AIDS posters

You may find that I'm quite fond of posters about sex and AIDS. Why, I already skipped the propaganda thing with an AIDS poster anyway ^_^. Well, guess what, another post on AIDS posters. Yet again, it's a series of posters for a consulting organization. As you can see, most of the posting try to draw your attention and sympathy through eye contact. Messages were put in short sentences on a black background to help it become more prominent. The messages are, in my opinion, short and interesting enough to read. However, I think putting texts on black background doesn't help it to get that much attention though. Aside from that a little continuance between each sentences would really help (I don't see any in these posters at all). What's more, as I already mentioned, they have a whole series of these posters. Each of them aim for different type of people. Still, I find that they mostly concern how their family feels about it (you can see they all talk about sons, husbands, wives). Actually, there's one that talks a little about friends but in general these posters only target at people that is family-oriented. I like the way the designer play with anchorage in the first one.


Oh, and in the second one is it just me or those two' smiles looks really creepy? It remind me the kind of medicine in the Batman cartoon that the clown face guy often give his victims. These posters are published by London Lighthouse. You can find out more here (please note that there is 2 pages).

Dynamix new media's website

http://www.dynamixnewmedia.com/

Ok, this website is a little flashy, but that's what's I like about it. The layout is really good. It simple but very professional. I really like the way they list out their product package. The color bar on top is a little distracting, though. Still, it's small enough to not to draw too much attention form the viewers. Their style is really cute. The banner work well with the background color of the body. It makes me feel like I was looking at the mountains afar from a grassy field.

Persona 3's opening scene

I don't often post videos (well, I think"have never" would be more accurate) but I JUST have to post this one. It's from one of my most favourite game series of all time. Ladies and gentlemen, what you're about to watch is the opening scene of persona3 the latest in the "Shin megami tensei "series (it's a JRPG, which stand for Japanese roleplaying game, series, in case you don't know). I have to say that this opening scene is quite great. Well, it's not as great as the other opening scenes in the Final Fantasy series or any other smash hit games with flashy 3d animations. What's makes me concern here is that it's quite simple... I mean even one person can basically (BASICALLY) make that out of Flash (again, BASICALLY). Still, it looks great and very professional (well, actually, one person can easily make a MAD quite easily) . The song is catchy, too. It helps to enhance the the whole scene. Oh, a little extra more, the game is totally cool! Seriously, shooting yourself in the head to summon your innerself? How cool is that! (well, actually, that's a little...).
One more thing, here's the longer version. Just awesome. One little problem, you can make this one out of Flash, for sure(no, not even basically). It's practically an AMV now.

Poster

Can't blame me for the photo's quality, I took it with my phone's VGA camera. Besides, it was raining dog and cat at that time and the only thing I want is to grab any chance I have and get back home where my blanket and 5 chapters of Marketing principles is waiting for me(yep, mid-term T_T). Anyway, it's a poster encourage people who concern about HIV can call and ask for advices. I think it's pretty good. "When you need advice, we are the specialists. When you need to talk, we are your best friend", I like it. It really strike toward the vague minds of those who in need for advices. Besides from that, people like these also need someone who they can share their thought with, that's what the second phrase is for. Besides, best friend mean they are reliable and they can keep secret. The picture shows a female specialist talking to someone. "Someone" can mean anyone (female, in particular). She looks calm. That's gives an impression that's she's a professional. She also looks friendly enough to make you feel that you can trust her. In general, I think this poster is quite effective.

Text layout

Those are text layout. For the word "floating", I choose a script font with as much curve and as organic as possible because I think when talking about things that "float" people often think about things like balloon or something like that. I think that it should looks cute, too so I made as colorful as possible. For "explosion", I made the part "plo" bigger because it sounds like "blow" and I choose some hot color for it. For "collapse", I found this font quite long ago so I can't remember who made it. It called "caveman" and it looks great. I choose to stick with black and white because it the font looks best in this color (I tried some other colors but it didn't work well).

Xtrabold

http://www.xtrabold.net/home.html

Xtrabold is a portfolio website of Nelson Balaban Jr. His works are really great. I think you should check out this site. One more thing, I think the guy is unemployed (man, RL is no fun T_T)

Closure, closure, closure

Just feel like making something with closure so I created this. Well, not the best I can do. I think I'll some more times working on a better version of this. Uh... Not much to talk about it actually. Oh, the font is quite nice, the name is "creaminal".

A web layout

Anyone wonder why so many people posting web layouts this week (^^)? Anyway, this is mine. The colors is not very suitable for a jobsearch website, I admit but I think it's still good because it's still seem to be quite bright (thanks to the gradient wallpaper, I guess). Besides, the photo is definitely appropriate for the site's purpose(a keychain and a compass is a great idea)The slogan is nice(I guess?). Oh, and that's my photo, too (yay me ^^!!!).

帰り道

What I like about this photograph is the lines that separates the road's blocks. The road itself is also a line that balance out the the two part of the picture. I find it to be very interesting. The colors here is mainly green, a little pink and yellow, too it help to enhance the photo because without it, all we have left is a gray road which is quite boring. As you can see, in the picture, the road is still the main focus here. At the far end, we can see the sunlight which help to create a warm and familiar feeling. The small bush of follower to the right also add to this feeling, too. Without it, the picture will be so empty. It also create a balance between the left part and the right part. Well, that's it. Oh, forgot to cite, uh..., wait..., oh, yeah, I took it, it's mine. It's not that it is that much of a great picture, but you know, I rarely take any so each time I find some pictures that is interesting enough, I think it's great to share it out. It's really rare though )I'm so poor I don't even have a camera ^^). Oh well, daddy said that if I keep complaining about my financial condition like this, he'll buy me a Canon EOS, soon. Wait, when did he said that again? Oh, last night, in my dream T_T.

The secret sex life of plants (plants? *yawn*)

This is the layout I made. The image create a continuance for the eyes to follow the article while it also help to somehow help people to feel a little more comfortable since they will get the feeling that it have less text. The title with the word "secret" and "the" blend to each other trigger the curiosity from the readers.

Yes, I drawed it, but I just don't know what it is

Yup, no idea what it is. The idea I begin with is a dragon (Asian style). Then, I add a fish tail because I think it's kind of strange and therefore, it's great (don't you think?). The black part (on the body) is the part I like most. It's looks like tatoo (some dragon, eh?). I also added some thorns along the body so that the viewer don't lose track of the body (can I say that I used closure on this one?). The last thing is the wing. Well, I don't think much dragon have wings on its head, right? and it looks real cool, too but somehow it make the head looks like a horse head. Well, one conclusion, I don't know what it is but I'm sure proud of it. It's a very simple work that took less than 3 hours to make (mostly because of the trouble I got from using pen tool to draw the body).

Gabriel Rocha - a motion designer

Gabriel Rocha

During the beginning of this semester, I found a book on motions and title sequences at the library. I decided to do some more research on this. Upon many sites that I stumbled on, Gabriel Rocha's site is one that is, to me, seems to be very interesting. From his site, you can tell that the guy must be quite a famous motion designer. His works include some for famous brands like Nokia, Malboro, The Weather channel (do they love to talk about weather that much?) and ESPN. These motion look pretty cool, you can tell. Not only they look good they but also successfully deliver the impression of what the whole show is about ( the mood, the theme, the content...). That's really great.

Creativebits

Creativebits

Creativebits is not only a blog but also a great website. As stated in the title, it is a website dedicated to MAC users. Therefore, the website also has a collections of many nice tips, news as well as free programs for MAC OS. Don't worry, they won't bite you if you are using windows. What's more, the site is also a source for people to seek advices and critiques as the site has a nice community of amateur and professional designers. This is my favourite part since I feel that these comments are actually helpful compared to the other websites. There's a joblisting page, too. Pretty much useless for people in Vietnam, actually but it's a nice feature to add up to this great website.

One of my works

It's a small present for one of my friend who had gone... to America (did I got you there?). I made it for DIM2's Final Flash project (well actually it turns out to be useless, since our project was a video/flash project). You might find this style is quite identical to Sadako (that's Samara in the American version. "Of what?" you might ask, "of the super hit movie/novel "the ring"" I will answer, "where did you've been all these time?", I might continue). Actually, it's quite easy to make a ghost image. All I did was quite simple and doesn't require much Photoshop skill. Well, might as well telling you the steps that I took. First, change the color, if the picture not dark enough adjust it to make it darker depend on how your eye see it you might adjust. Then, do a little modification to the model. What I did was adjusting the color of the skin to make it brighter until I receive a white-ish skin like what you see, for the othe part especially the hair, will be made to be darker (even darker than the environment, the main purpose for me in doing this is to hide away parts of her face that haven't been covered by the hair). I also use glow but with black instead of bright yellow to create an evil aura around her. Next, I use one of my favourite affect to create the dirt on her shirt ( quite easy, new layer> gradient> cloud filter> overlay> done). Last thing I did was to use burn tool to make the photo a little more scarier (I don't think it's a wise move since the picture doesn't look any better, but then, I'm too lazy to fix it, sorry). Oh, one thing I haven't said, the "ghost" should be created in a different layer from the background, it's much easier that way. Last thing, the original image:

Should you find this post confusing and quite annoying to read, that's because I made it so (just kidding, this is the first time I try to do something like this so...). If I receive any request for a clearer version, I will gladly re-edit it (so please, please don't request it, I'm a very lazy guy, again, just kidding). One last thing, I want to express my thanks to Giang who is the model of this photo. Every best wishes to you.

Ghost city

www.ghostcity.com

During the preparation for my DIM2 presentation on "virtual urban", I stumbled on this site. There isn't any detail about it nor the artist that created it. Still, to me, the site is very interesting. It's a bit weird. The artist sure used a lot of text, pictures and many kinds of effects. It don't have that kind of sleek presentation but it create a very distinctive looks for itself. The first time visiting the site, you might feel a little confusing browsing around or you will even think that the pages was arranged randomly. Well, in fact, it's not. Each of the squares in the frontpage will lead you to a sets of pages related to a subject (you can tell by looking at the link). But well, at least that's what I think because, until now, I still don't have a clue about that site. But hey, that's the reason the site is great. The feeling of lostness when you are in this site is just the same as the feeling you have when travel into a city that's you completely unfamiliar with (it's just one of many objectives that the virtual urban project try to accomplish, the other objectives does not appear as clear as this one. May be that is the reason it was not as popular as that project). It triggered the curiosity of the visiters. In short, this isite is very interesting and you should pay a visit to it. Curiosity never kill a cat, you know (well sometime it does, for the other times, it's the the mouses that'd been killed but that's another story).

Switch zoo- create your own anmal

http://www.switchzoo.com/zoo.htm

This is a great Flash application that can be found in the switch zoo website. The application lets you create your own animal based on the list of existed animals. Parts that can edited are legs, tail and head. It's a really fun process. The list provided is quite plentiful so your animal will be distinguished from the others'. There's also an RTS (that's real-time strategy, in case you are a non-gamer) game that have similar idea which is called impossible creature that had been released a few years ago (in 2005, I think). The game let you alter DNA of the existed animal to create some kind of hybrid creature. That game is quite fun (the AI's pretty dull, anyway, again that's artificial intelligence although I know that this term is more familiar than the other one). Back to the main topic, in general, the application is quite fun and creative. What's more, the main site itself (switch zoo) is also a very interesting website. It provide a lot of information about the animals and our surroundings. There's also other games that you can try and they arre really fun.

Afterglow by Pariahblue

What really makes this work great is the epic scene that it creates. I can imagine how vast and beautiful the sight is. It would be awesome if I can see this in real life (it will never happen anyway). The color is very bright it help to convey the heat and the mood of the picture. Still, if only the artist pay a little more attention to the sea. It somehow don't work really well with the whole picture. It's just my personal opinion anyway. Aside from that, the sky is just beautiful and the whole picture is breathtaking.
Afterglow by Pariahblue (deviantart.com)

Off the map

http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/offthemap/

Off the map is a website created by a group of visionary artists who turn out to be just ordinary people. Still, their works can range from a decorated garden to a field of 300 sculptures. The is quite fascinating. My favourite part is the travelogue where you can take a look (with a video clip) at some of the most amazing works that I have ever known. It's may not be as impressive as some of the works by real artist (yes, SOME) but what amazed me is that these works was created by ordinary people with extraordinary effort. It really inspired me.

http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/offthemap/html/travelogue_menu.htm

The tree, the sky and the grassy field

Another great work I found on Deviant art. I know there are many other works which have similar idea (one single tree with amazing sky on a plain field...). However, it is an undeniable fact that each time I see one of these kind of works, I still have to say "wow" for the sensation it bring to me. For me, these works are very expressive. The sky and the tree are the two important in these kind of work that you can use to express yourself. For example, for the first picture above, I think the sky is what impress you the most. The cloud shapes like an eagle ready to capture its prey, which is, I think, the reason why it is named Predator.


While for the second picture above, I think it is because of both the sky and the tree that the work gain its name (Fallen).

Reference:
Predator by Galce (deviantart.com)
Fallen by Metalstorm (deviantart.com)

Typorganism

http://www.typorganism.com

Typorganism is a great website. I really love the design of this website. It contains many interesting flash applications. For example, there's a page where you can type a letter or a number on the keyboard and the circles on the screen will form into that character, there's also a ASCII picture converter which convert pictures into ASCII pictures(you can upload your own picture too!)... What I really love about this site is the sense of interactivity. In every page you go, you can fully interact with it either by mouse or by keyboard. what's more, it was created with a very interesting idea that it doesn't make me feel bored at all . The news section is the one I like most. Although it kind of hard to navigate, but it was presented in a very creative way that it makes this disadvantage become just a minor setback.

Bookcover

OK, so now that I'm positively sure that I'll receive a zero for this assignment, I think that at least it worth a blog post (WHY? GOD, WHY?). There're not much to say about this post, I think the cover itself is quite good in the self-explanatory term. The photo I used for this cover was taken by me (of course, or it'll be a double zero for me ;). This is the original one. I took it in the school's frontgate:

Virtual urban presentation layout

Ok, I'm quite desperate right now since I running low on time. I'm waaaaaaay behind schedule. All because of my laziness. This is the layout I made for my group's presentation on virtual urban. I made it in photoshop. The resolution is quite low because my intention was just to make a layout not a wallpaper or anything. These are images that I had used. I don't know if these people would ever read this post but, thanks:
Skycraper by Gerhard Lenerz (g-lenerz.de):
Grid by digitalblasphemy (digitalblasphemy.com):

Woophy.com-photos from all over the world!!!

http://www.woophy.com/map/index.php

Woophy.com is another great example of how internet can be a way for people to work together in a great project. The idea of this website is that people from all over the world can upload their photos taken in different place in the world then upload it on this page. As you can see, there's a map of the world and the red dot is the place that the site have pictures of. People can sign up to be a member and post comments or upload photos. There's also a forum and contests will be held once in a while. However, you can just sit back and enjoy the photos. It is a great way to learn about other cultures in the world.

Another morning by Chaos Kaizer

I love it. First, there is the balance between the land and the sky. Then, just look at the sky, it give a sense of freedom. In the sky, there's a kite (I guess) and it add up to the sense of freedom , too. The quirky grass looks really interesting. Yup, definitely like it. Oh, and by the way, "Chaos Kaizer", such a cool name ^^!!!
Reference:
Chaos Kaizer, Another morning, Deviantart.com

Business card

Ok, that's my business card. I tried to use only black and white and I think I did a good job (at least that's what I think). If you noticed, yes, I changed my logo color because somehow I think I would be better this way (I hate changing my original design just for the comfort of something else but really, I don't think the original color would work well on this one). Also, somehow, I couldn't make the background into deep black instead, it looks more like gray. Because of this, you can see the black brush strokes. However, I think it look better like that. Besides, I don't know the print version would either makes the background black or gray but both works fine for me though.

BellZ's waiting

It's an emotive portrait. What I like about this work is that it create a sense of endlessness. I can feel the anxiety in his eyes. The way the artist present this work is also very interesting. The way I see is that wether you look from the top to the last picture or the last to the top picture, it gives some different feelings. From top to last: it looks like the man is a little bored. From last to top: I can feel that the man is quite disappointed or may be he's worrying about something. It's very interesting.
Reference:
Waiting, BellZ (Deviantart.com)

Shirotsuki's whispering

Ok, the first thing that I like about this works is that there're a lot of graves. Yeah, death is always one of my favourite topic. But of course, that's not the only reason. What makes the work interesting is that somehow, I can feel the warmth from it. Perhaps it is because of the angel statue (notice her beautiful smile?). Red is a great choice, it makes me feel both the cold and the warmth. And in case you haven't seen it, there's a girl that lies on the ground. It makes me think of the forgiveness of god(?...er....may be I've gone a little too far).
Reference:
Whispering, Shirotsuki (Deviantart.com)

Simple and clean

I remember when I was in the L6-2 class. My lecturer often remind me to “KISS” (keep it simple, yes, yes I always want to understand it in another way but it is just not possible) because that mean I can say more with less. Until that time, I still belive that in order to make something looks marvelous, I need to make as much complex as possible. But as I started to learn design, I feel that my taste for art have change a lot. Now, works with less detail interest me more ( or may be I just become lazy but this is true). I also find it interesting because it give the works an elegence look. However, the hard part is that how can you represent your idea with such limitation and the mass still understand it.

Reference (I’ll edit these to Harvard refencing system it is required to do so but for now let just it like that):

Happy Halloween by smashmethod (deviantart.com)

In love and lonely (I can find the name of the artist yet I’ll edit this post as soon as possible) (deviantart.com)

Coherence and rhythm

Well, this is what I want to talk about in this post. Now, I’m sure everyone have a good idea of what these term mean (I guess?). Still, I get a little confuse sometimes. Please look at these two exemple, I’m sure you can easily point out which use rhythm and which use coherence, right? (If not, don’t worry, I’m not gonna bite you, just relax and stop reading this post because it will make you become more confused, just be honest to yourself and don’t try to push yourself too hard, ‘kay? ;-) ).


But how about these:

Somehow, I found that both coherence and rhythm exist in these picture (may be there’s just one but I just can figure it out which using which). Because of this, I find that these works are very interesting.

Reference (I’ll edit these to Harvard refencing system it is required to do so but for now let just it like that):
Furioso deluge by sc0pe (deviantart.com)
Electrical stuff by GNARSTOKEULAR (deviantart.com)
The Midnight Sun by Isilmetriel (deviantart.com)
Down the spiral by gregersn (deviantart.com)

Kensei99's Belladonna

Well, according to what I've read in the reader, I have to talk about things that have inspired me. Then I think this post is appropriate. The work is from Kensei99. The work was a submission for a design contest (I think the contest's name is designary). The subject was "passion" and I think he has indeed describe the main subject through this work. That is also the reason that makes me really love it. I have always I like the idea of combining real-life photos and CG elements (I think this genre was called surreal photography). It give the feeling that the border between reality and fantasy has been blurred out. I also like the way the artist draw the hair (or grass or whatever it is but it is hair right? I mean, there's no way grass can grow on her head, right? unless,>_>... Well, just forget it, this is an artist's work anyway, everything can happen). It makes the work looks so complex, so chaotic just like when an artist passionately work on his work. In short, this is a great work. However, it absolutely does not inspire me or anything at all ......... errrr ......... >_> ........ wait ...... O_O ........Well, well, well, how silly of me, of course it has inspired me a lot. I mean, with all of those reasons above and then saying that this work is meaningless would be quite stupid isn't it? THEREFORE, you must believe me, this work has really inspired me a lot....You believe me right? right?