Images
I sourced my images from the online search engine Google and my own purchased copy of the game. I checked and the images I have sourced using Google are potentially under copyright which would be a problem if I were to do this professionally. Because I am at risk of breaking copyright I would need to find other images however I am using these for educational purposes and will not be making any profit, therefore, I will not be breaking copyright law. Whereas the images I have sourced from my own copy belong to me and there are no copyright licenses for those images.
Copyright is a problem when working professionally because when someone has created something it is copyrighted as theirs and no one else can use it for any purpose, allowing the creator to take legal action. A copyright license can be assigned to something which states the terms and conditions of how the piece must be used without breaching the contract. Creators such as myself will spend hours searching for assets that are copyright free, under a creative commons license or negotiating with the owner of the material what it will cost to receive the licensing.
Resolution
Resolution is the number of pixels contained in an image. To achieve the best quality images in my images I changed the resolution of all my images to 300. Which means that there are 300 pixels contained in my images.
CMYK
Changing the colour mode doesn’t actually affect my images however it gives me the closest representation of how it will look once I have printed it. Although I changed the colour mode there will still be some elements that are different on the printed copy since I am viewing my designs on an RGB monitor.
My Illustrations
Carmine_edit_#1
The blurred figure in the slideshow above (Image #2) is a new skill I have learned to do in photoshop. I wanted to create the illusion of movement with this image and I also wanted it to stand out a lot more than the others so I used the ‘Channels’ tab and move tool to manipulate every existence of my selected colour. Due to the colour mode being changed to CMYK I could only manipulate all instances of those 4 colours (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and black). Moving these colours created that messy distortion effect you see however all the colours were very sharp and the sense of movement was still missing. This is when I used Photoshop’s Blur tool to create my blur around the character.
Adjusting the image data
When I edited and created my own images I made sure to adjust their size, resolution and colour mode by going into Photoshop and changing the values in the ‘image size’ window.
Sourcing My Images
I obtained my images from the search engine Google and my own purchased copy of the game I am reviewing. I used Microsoft Xbox Services to capture images of me playing the game and although I used their software Microsoft do not have the copyright to those images meaning I can use these ones freely, Although the images obtained through Google are subject to copyright and are not owned by me or the corporation Google. Luckily for me, I am using these images as a student for educational reasons and will not be making a profit, therefore, I cannot be sued for Copyright Breach.
If I were to use images like this in the real world I would need to either pay for the wrights, source my own images or find other non-Copyrighted images to use.
My Content Draft
Below is the link to a word document I created to draft the text within my article.
Proof Reading
To ensure that no one had made any errors each of us proofread someone else’s article in the class. We were able to say what needed to change without actually editing the other person’s article by using the comments function in Microsoft Word. Click the bubble icons to view my comments.
Source Images
Below are the source images I am considering to use in my article layout.
Mistake I have Made
This layout above is an absolute monstrosity and is incredibly displeasing to look at although it was my first attempt at designing a layout. I learned many things from spotting the mistakes that make this layout so bad, For example, I now know to be careful about my stroke size and my text colours.
I really like this layout because you can read the text clearly but can also see the landscape image behind everything. You can still see the landscape because I turned down the opacity of my rectangles behind my text however they make it feel squashed and it should have some space around the text.
The Finished Layout
The Game Recording
This is a video of me playing through the first 10 minutes of Gears of War 3.
Evaluation
I am happy with the end results of this project and although my work at the start wasn’t how I would have wanted it I learned from those mistakes and produced something that I am happy with.
I think my layout appeals to a more creative audience as it is filled with colours and images rather than an elegant white background with a few coloured bars. This will attract creative people who enjoy looking artwork more than information.
If I were to attempt this project again then I would spend more time trying out different layouts and illustrating my images.
Cory Robinson <_o-o_> 