I moved...!

Good day.

Thank you for visiting.  I have my own domain now.  So moved to www.stephenlew.ca and please...visit me there instead.  Thanks.

Stephen.

Here are two images that has to be reworked within a 20 minutes time frame.  I had to place the image onto the phone's screen.

Skateboarding Was Little of My Dream

About two semesters ago, I've seen students walking around the campus holding their skate decks.  Most do not have the truck and wheels on it.  Prior to that, I recall that one of the projects we will be doing is a skate deck design.  That time has come for me.  I created one that has inspirations from the late 1970's to early 1980's.

At first, I couldn't be inspired.  As far as I remember, the 1980's was mostly my era.  Ok...I just gave away my age.  I'm only 22...er...sometime ago.  Well, the era was...like it is today...for the matter that music was an inspiration in most of what we associate with.  There were discos...there were records.  Well, now we are more familiar with MP3's and downloading them.  Music had to be purchased from a record store.  No digital format.  Clubs or dance clubs nowadays are more or less still playing music.  It was more or less known as discos back then.  There is still a disco ball in the dance clubs.

Anyhow, my skate deck resembles both era with the disco lights and the records.  The following are some screenshots.  First, I took a template.

The template was in a vertical orientation.  I just turned it into a horizontal position for me to place the assets.  I also wanted it to be horizontal instead of vertical

Using the assets that I've created in both Photoshop and Illustrator, I started to place them onto the template and layout all the assets.

The background colour is a very dark crimson red

I added my initials "st" and branded it "boXkast"

These copy are raster assets that I created using photoshop.  The era had a lot of focus on neon lights.  Since I used the disco lights as an inspiration, I branded and signed my initials with a font that is very close to the movie "Saturday Night Fever" neon look and feel.

Asset of Record added

I researched some records and created a vector version of it.  Then I placed it on the deck.  I thought of adding the needle head with a stylus too.  Given the amount of "lights" that I was going to put on the design, another object would be a bit overwhelming.

Disco lights as inspired from the album of the Bee Gees' "Saturday Night Fever"

These disco lights were easy to create.  They were also easy to manage and arrange.  Just that patience would be need for tedious work like this.

Lights, copy, and record, a basic view of the layout

Final version of deck

Sent the final version to the printer and then affixed it to the deck.

The skate deck had a design painted on it already.

I just used a primer to cover the it and then placed the vinyl sticker of my deck design on the deck.

When affixing the sticker, I just peeled a little of one side and started slowly as I peel the non-stick portion from the back and firm press the sticker to ensure there is no bubbles on it.

No need to wait for the sticker to set.  Just ensure there are no bubbles in the middle or anywhere.

Using a sharp cutter, I carefully cut the excessive parts away.  The blade must be new and sharp.  I didn't bother changing to a new blade as I didn't have one.  You will probably notice that the sticker is not edge is not perfectly sliced.

...and here is my final skate deck design.  For sale.  On second thought, I'll keep it for myself.  However, if the price is right...

Fading Beauty

There is a field near my house that I've enjoyed for years.  I'm talking about since I remembered it as a kid.  Every time I passed by it, I would be taken away by it's beauty and then I wish that this will maintain it's beauty forever.  Unfortunately, this field is sold and by this time next year, the field has become a new community.  Sad, I must say...sad this really is.  However, I captured some of it's glory for my reminiscence.  I hope you will enjoy it as much as I do.

Field of Beautiful Dreams

Shallow Depths Of Field

Learning photography is great.  The techniques will take some practising.  However, the application is really cool when it's understood.  With the following photographs, although the images is somewhat under-exposed, I purposely left it as you now see it.  My focus here is the Depth-of-Field.  Here they are:

Focus on red car

Focus on black car

Focus on silver car

Focus on all 3 cars

...and no!  You can't borrow them.  Only look at them.

Balancing white

I never knew how the custom white balance worked in a camera.  Recently, I learned how to do it.  It's quite remarkable for it yields pretty nice results.  Now I'll know how to use it.  Here is a sample of what I did.

Used the Shadow WhiteBalance

Used Custom WhiteBalance to correct the white wall

Full Moon

I recently attempted some shots of the moon.  The results were satisfactorily.  In fact, I really was surprised that I could achieve these results.  I did added the clouds after.

Restoring

This is great.  Now I've jst recently learnt some tools to restore old and damaged photographs.  Here's my latest project.  Hope you like it.

Colourful creation

Created this with InDesign and with Illustrator.  Only the circles were separated in Illustrator with the Pathfinder's Divide tool.

"Bridge Over Troubled Water"

I simply wants to share a song that has remained one of favourites since I started to listen to music. This version is by Michael W. Smith which is originally sung by Paul Simon of Simon & Garfunkel. Great inspirations. Enjoy.

Big Tooth! (Part 3)

I draft a mock up for a poster to promote a fictitious display of the fossil tooth of the Megalodon.  Take a look at it here.

Image of shark acquired through Stock.XCHNG

Morlock Adventure Quest

On Monday, June 13, 2011, there were 8 of us, Team Extra, who went downtown Toronto for the Morlock Adventure Quest and took some photos of...well, a few things.  Our group had the following peers: Andrew Vizmuller, Dana Margulis, Joseph Estacion, Kermen (Kira) Tiurbeeva, Laura Zeno, Maxim Yegorov, and Monica Chan.  The list of shots is quit long to mention and to list all the images here.  Instead, I wish to link you to all the photos instead.  Here they are: http://www.flickr.com/photos/stephenlew/sets/72157627108133110/

Thanks for reading.

FlashinTO v.100

This past Wednesday, June 29, 2011 I attended the 100th. gathering of FlashinTO who is a member of DATA.  This evening, we celebrated the special occasion with beer, pizza, KFC., pop...did I mention beer...on tap?  This gathering was held at Grip Limited. You gotta see their website.  It's information overflow, but done in a very nice way.  Be sure to visit the link to see it for yourself and find out how to navigate the website.

Here are some photographs of the night.

Sitting on the stairs like it was on a theatre for the presentation.

Panelists of the evening.

Ow yea...them got a slide too.

Thinking of sushi...after the big tooth project.

After I completed the Megalodon tooth project and as I went through my photo images, I came across the photographs I took about a month ago where we had sushi-sashimi take out.  Just wanted to share some of these photos.  Enjoy or drool while looking at these images....xD.

Sketches of shapes for digital assets

A few weeks ago, I created some sketches for some assets.  The assignment's requirements were to sketch 5 shapes of triangles, circles, rectangles, and an organic shape that I refer to as a "blop".  The trick is to find these items below the knee....hmmm...challenging, isn't it?  Here they are:

Paper Zoo

There is the zoo...and then there is the Paper Zoo.  Take a look at the following where there are 6 bio zones/areas: Polar, Rainforest, Ocean, Desert, North Plains, and Savannah.  Walk through and image you were visiting this zoo.

A penguin, on a Polar background.

Polar Bear

Bush Baby

Toucan

This is supposed to be a Squid...not a rocket fish.

Sea turtle.

Desert Tortoise.

Scropion.

Buffalo.

Deer.

Giraffe.

Lion.

All these beautiful backgrounds were hand painted by my peers.  The animals were all sketches that were done by myself.