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Happy Halloween! Pumpkin Cat Coloring Page

Preliminary Sketching

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Happy Halloween Pumpkin Cat by Max Williams is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
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This year marks the 40th anniversary of graphic design at Chico State. Having graduated from Chico State’s design program I’m happy to be able to return to my former school for the alumni reunion this October. I was even excited to have a homework assignment again! From the Chico Design Reunion site:

Of course, it wouldn’t be school without homework – we’d like you to send samples of your best work to be included in an alumni show and archive. Also, we’re inviting alumni to design a poster commemorating the 40th anniversary.

Pictured above is the poster I designed for the anniversary. I chose to use a bold typographical approach using the copy provided by the school along with a minimalistic illustration of Kendall Hall, the iconic administration building easily recognized by the many repeating arcs in the architecture.

Ideation Sketches and Printouts

Poster Variation

An action is a series of tasks that you play back on a single file or a batch of files—menu commands, panel options, tool actions, and so on. For example, you can create an action that changes the size of an image, applies an effect to the image, and then saves the file in the desired format.
—Adobe.com

I recently found myself with the task of cropping, resizing and adding a reflection to hundreds of cell phone images. Following are the steps I used to automate most of the process using a Photoshop action.

Open Image

The first step is to open one of the images I am creating the action for. The cell phone images I was using were not cropped, so I used the crop tool to crop the image to the edge of the cell phone.

Create a New Photoshop Action

Next I open my Actions window. It can be found under the Windows menu in Photoshop. I click the small square in the bottom of the window to create a new action. This opens a window where I name the action and designate the action set where I would like the action to be stored. I then press record to begin recording the steps in my action. With the action recording I go ahead and perform all the steps I would like the action to include.

When I am finished I click the square stop button at the bottom of the Actions window to stop the action recording.

Now all I have to do to use the action is open an image, select the action in the Actions window and press the play button (little triangle) at the bottom of the Actions window.

Cell Phone Reflection Action in Use

The first thing I needed the action to do was to resize the image to 900 pixels tall at 72dpi. While recording the action I open the Image Size window, changed the dpi to 72 and set the height to 900 pixels making sure that constrain proportions was checked. This is the first step the action will perform when I run it.

Next I press command-A(MAC) to select all and command-C to copy my selection. After changing the image size my action performs these steps as well.

I then open the Canvas Size dialog box to add space to the bottom of my image for the reflection.

After changing the Canvas Size I paste the image I had previously copied by pressing command-V. This creates a new layer with a copy of the cell phone that I will turn into the reflection.

I flip the new cell phone image by choosing Flip Vertical under Transform under the Edit menu.

Using the Move Tool I move the flipped cell phone image below the original image of the phone. Holding shift while dragging will keep the image aligned vertically.

Using the Marquee tool I then drag to select the flipped cell phone image.

Next I select the Gradient tool and choose the Foreground to Transparent preset. When I use this preset on the flipped cell phone image it will make a nice transition from the background color (white) to transparency leaving a nice reflection.

The final steps are to Save for Web and close the image. I then press the Stop Playing/Recording button in the Actions window, and my action is ready to use.

Final Image

Below is the final image on a white background. This is a fairly complicated sequence of steps, but using Photoshop actions I was able to make the whole process much easier. Instead of going through each step for every image I only had to open each image, crop them and then play the Photoshop action. It may take a little extra time initially, but in the end using Photoshop actions can save you a lot of time, something we all could use a little more of.

Here in my field I dream of far away lands, of monsters and robots and dragons and magic. I can almost hear dinosaurs thundering by and the sound of rocket engines as space ships blast off on missions to other galaxies. My friend hears the dinosaurs too, and instantly we’re up and running, jumping through the grass as we flee from the tyrannosaurus rex into the oak trees growing all along the creek. We scurry up one of these trees and into our lookout built from old scraps of wood. The threat of dinosaurs seems to be gone, so we take off our backpacks, unpack our lunches and discuss our plans for the rest of the day while eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

We didn’t know who really owned that land at the end of our street, but in our minds we owned every square inch. We knew every tree, every rock, every twist and turn the creek took while winding it’s way through our land. It was ours, and we loved it.

Whether it was running through our field, hiking with my family in the surrounding hills, setting up camp at Medicine Lake or fishing with my grandparents out on the water at dusk, those experiences of being out in nature are some of my favorites. These childhood memories are one of the main reasons I love to photograph nature. When I’m out on a trail, backpacking through the mountains or even just out in our garden admiring the flowers, I’m taken back to my childhood. That sense of freedom and the feeling that anything can happen and anything is possible returns. For a moment I forget how complicated life has become and feel completely at peace.

During those moments I wish that I could feel that way forever. Of course that isn’t possible, but having a camera with me helps a little. Every photo I take of nature is a small piece of that feeling I’m able to capture and take home with me. It’s not always easy to capture what it was truly like to be there in person, but I do my best to at least offer a glimpse into what I was experiencing at the moment.

When I look back through the images I’ve taken I’m reminded of something bigger and more important than me. Suddenly all my problems don’t seem to be such a big deal and I’m a kid again running through my field with the wind blowing in my hair and the world just waiting for me to explore.

When it came time to send thank you cards for all the wonderful gifts my son received my wife asked if we could make our own. Following are the steps we took to create our own personal cards without spending much effort or time. And now that we have a two-year-old son we can use all the extra time we can get!

Step One
We had some old bristol board in the garage and decided to use it for the cards. This is a great material to use for cards, but I could have just as easily used card stock, poster board or any other kind of thick paper.

We also had 5×7 inch envelopes, so I cut the bristol twice as large as the envelopes so they would fit inside when folded in half. But I had to keep in mind the card should actually be slightly smaller than the envelope so that it would easily slide inside.

To do the cutting I used an X-Acto blade guided along a metal ruler. Self-healing cutting mats make great surfaces to cut on, but I’ve used old card board in the past when I didn’t have one around. Once I had one card cut out I used it as a guide to easily measure and cut the rest of the cards.

Step Two
Next I scored the card to ensure it had a nice, straight fold. To do this I measured to find the exact middle of the card then, using the metal ruler as a guide again, dragged my X-Acto very lightly across where I wanted the fold to be making sure not to cut all the way through. This allowed me to fold the card in half very easily.

Step Three
I used a Pilot Rolling Ball pen to quickly draw fire trucks on the front of the cards. I have many different types of pens, but I like the feel of the rolling ball and it was perfect for the look I was trying to achieve. I spent about a minute on each card, giving each truck it’s own unique look but keeping the illustrations fairly simple to save time.

Step Four
My wife had a “thank you” stamp which she used on each of the cards with black ink. The “thank you” gave the cards that final touch that brought everything together. The cards could have been finished at this point, but we wanted to get our son involved. He was more than happy to help out!

Step Five
To add color I considered colored pens, watercolor paints, colored pencils and highlighters. I decided to give my son different colored highlighters to add his own artistic touch to the cards. As you can see below he really got into it!

My Son’s Own Artistic Touch

Logo in Black and White

Ideation Sketches

I began the ideation process by looking at many images of hippos and sketching them in a variety of styles. I simplified the features as much as possible to allow for easy reproduction in a variety of mediums and sizes.

Through the use of curled eyelashes, fluffy bloomers and shirt and a bow on the head the final logo has a feminine quality that will appeal to mothers. The hippo was created in the style of a cartoon character which should help babies and children identify with the logo.

Other Logo Ideas

Client Testimonial
“I have really enjoyed working with Max and love the logo he designed for my business.”
—Juliana E Hall

Logo Color Ideas

Logo in Black and White

Replacing the “O” in the word “FOCUS” instantly lets the viewer know that the site has to do with photography. I tried many different type configurations along with the shutter, but they all felt a little too formal. Eventually I tried tilting the logo on an angle, and that gave it the extra element of excitement and fun that we were looking for.

Lens and Shutter Ideas

These are some of the lens and shutter ideas I tried while working on the logo. Although I liked the idea of showing the camera lens with a flare, it just wasn’t as recognizable as the image of the shutter blades.

Beyond the Focus Website Header

I created the header for the website by first sketching the characters in pencil then scanning the sketch and importing it into Illustrator. From there I created the vector art, colored the characters and created the rest of the illustration.

Various Logo Ideas

1. COMMUNITY
Represented by the people joined together, holding hands around the church. The pathway leading up to the church serves as an invitation for anyone in the community to enter. The church depicts Berkeley Covenant Church’s actual church allowing the community to further identify with the logo.

2. SPIRITUALITY
The cross on top of the church represents Jesus’ death for the sins of all people. The image of the cross is repeated in the white space in each of the two windows. The church rests on an open Bible, and the pages of the Bible may also be seen as angel wings.

3. DIVERSITY
Represented through the use of different types of people including a girl and young boy.

Logo in Black and White

Logo Ideation Sketches

Logo Color Exploration

The logo had to ooze fantasy and magic while being somewhat playful and fun. Many fonts were explored, but ultimately I decided on Zapf Chancery which has that old, fantasy vibe I was looking for. Adobe’s website says of the font:

Designed in 1979 by Hermann Zapf, ITC Zapf Chancery is a contemporary script based on Italian chancery handwriting. The chancery hand was developed during the Italian Renaissance and originally used for formal and informal work by the scribes in the papal offices. ITC Zapf Chancery is highly legible, making it useful for short texts as well as for adding flair to invitations, awards, diplomas, and greeting cards.

Logo Before and After Modifying Zapf Chancery Font

The “R”, “H”, and “W” were all heavily modified to give the letterforms a more friendly and inviting feel reflecting the nature of the main character and the film in general. Small chunks were removed from the logo making it appear weathered like an old wizard’s scroll. I added a swash under the word, “Wizard” and swirls to the “H” and “W” to lend a feeling of whimsy to the logo. The long swash on the “R” descends into the white space between the first and second lines and helps brings the logo together as a whole.

Logo Ideation Sketches

Sample of Sketches

Some of the ideas in these sketches include the image of a tree to represent nature and being grounded in the earth. A tree is a living plant and also stands for life and growth. The roots can represent any number of things including: the Natural Pages reaching out to the world, stability, nourishment, etc. Another idea I explored is that of wind or water. Again, like the tree, both are elements of nature and bring us back to the idea of “natural”. Water is necessary for life and living. Air, represented here by wind swirls, also allows us to live. Other ideas include a majestic tree living in harmony with the city.

Logo in Color and Black and White

In the end the company a chose clean, simple and straightforward logo in a rectangular format which can easily be applied to any design. The word “Natural” is bold expressing it’s importance. An organic image of a flower reinforces the idea of nature and planetary health. The five petals of the flower represent individuals coming together to form a larger whole or community.

Various Logo Options

These logo ideas were created by scanning sketches and refined by creating vector artwork in Adobe Illustrator.

City Spirit Design Studio Logo

The City Spirit Design Studio is an extension of the Natural Pages that offers graphic services to its advertisers. Being part of the same company, the logo needed to have a similar look to the Natural Pages logo but also have its own distinct feel. A new color was chosen and the text was applied to the same format of the Natural Pages logo. A swirling vine replaces the flower representing the growth of clients’ businesses.