 |
| My finished design for Stage One: DVD Amaray Case Wrap |
As mentioned in Blog Post 11, the first element of the DVD Case Wrap that I will be explaining and evaluating is that of the front cover. The front cover consists of a large range of elements which when brought together form the finished front cover. For reference, my finished design is posted here. In regards to the different elements of the front cover, these include the following which will be discussed and explained: Background, Trio of Cars, Gene Hunt Portrait, Title, Tag Line, Miscellaneous Icons/Logos. The next element that will be explained and discussed is that of the Gene Hunt Portrait...
Gene Hunt Portrait
This particular element of the front cover was admittedly not part of my original design set out back in my design ideas in Blog Post 10. However, it was during the design when I was using Photoshop that I thought I wanted to incorporate Gene Hunt into the front cover as he is the main character. At the start I was not sure as to the placing of Gene, however to begin with I had to research and see what images of Gene Hunt were available as this of course would be the main deciding factor. Once again both Google Image Search (www.images.google.co.uk) and Bing Image Search (www.bing.com/images) I was able to search for suitable image that I could use. In the end I settled for and chose a publicity image which was of a high enough resolution that I could use effectively. Unfortunately, similar to the situation of the Quattro, the number of images were quite slim however I was pleased with my choice in the end. Even at this point of time when I had found the image I was not that sure how I was going to use it, so some trial and error was needed. Therefore the first stage was to download and open the photo of Gene into Photoshop which meant that I could start editing it.
The first stage was to double click on the Background Layer which meant that I could then unlock it from editing and begin work on the image. Once again, I opted for the Quick Selection Tool. To begin with, I decided on a 75 Point and 100% hardness which allowed me to swiftly select the majority of the car, and I once again went over the edges very slightly. Then, I decreased the point size to 25 Point and altered the settings to subtract selection. This meant that I could then precisely select the areas of Gene that I did and did not want. Once again I also used to the Polygonal Lasso Tool to carefully and intricately keep the areas of important such as his hair. Once I was happy with the selection that I had made then navigated to Refine Edge, whereby some settings were tweaked, namely the Smooth Edge to 17, which gives a less obvious "cut-out" appearance to the image. Also, the Shift Edge was set to +6, which ever so slightly adjusts the edge of selection. In this case the edge of selection was increased by 6, which I felt benefited the end result. Finally, the selection was going to be output to that of a New Document. Then, this layer was duplicated into the DVDAmarayCover Photoshop file. Once the cut out image of Gene had been duplicated into the DVDAmarayCover Photoshop file, I could then move it around and also resize it to my desired located. At this point it occurred to me that I wanted the image to span the majority of the front cover, however for this I decided to change the Opacity of the image. At an opacity of 66% I felt this gave enough of an effect so that Gene was visible, however also so that the cars were visible too. I also decided that I would place this layer so that Gene's clenched hands were where the Capri are. To enhance this affect, I selected the layer of Gene, and chose the Eraser Tool. Set to a point size of 150, with very feathered edges and opacity of 70% I decided to erase a few areas of Gene so that the trio of cars were more visible and stood out. After this was completed, I was now able to move onto the next element of the Front Cover which was the Title.
 |
| Gene Hunt Base Image |
