Andropia Vs. The Dark Knight

The new Dark Knight film released a poster yesterday that is very similar to my book cover for Foley's ANDROPIA, which I designed in 2008/2009. My cover features a sideview of a human head with the sun located in the brain area. The Dark Knight poster uses the same concept but with some slightly more photorealistic graphics and the sky in the shape of the Batman symbol. They probably didn't rip me off; the chances they saw my cover are very small. Pretty interesting, though!

Click on the image to see it larger

Genoa Travel Poster

This is probably my final post on Jude In Italy! I've been home for over a week now and I'm glad to be back. I had one piece of unfinished business, though, and that was to finish this poster I started while in Italy. I started with a simple idea: create a beautiful travel poster that promoted Genoa and the Italian Riviera. I used the Lighthouse of Genoa on the poster because of its significance as a port city. The colors are inspired by the Italian flag, and they also kinda remind me of Gelato.

In addition to designing the poster, I recorded the whole creation process on my computer, then spliced it together and sped it up. I've seen this done before, but had never done it myself. The entire design took around four and a half hours, and the video below is 40 times the actual speed. I hope you enjoy it, and thanks for reading my blog!

Panoramas

Today is my last day in the villa in Genoa. I'm hopping a 5-hour train to Rome at 3 pm, where I'll spend a short night before flying home on Thursday. I still have some things to post from the trip, so I'll start with 7 panoramic photographs. Unfortunately, I didn't take any while in Rome, but starting in Florence, I began to capture these open landscapes. The process is simple: 3 or more photographs are taken consecutively, and they are merged together in Photoshop. Be sure to click on each photo below for a larger view.

View from Fiesole, a small town outside of Florence. Look for the Dome.

The port of Genoa at night.

Piazza De Ferrari, Genoa.

Arch of Genoa

Another view of the port of Genoa.

View of the Genoa port from the base of the lighthouse.

Outside the Lucca city wall. John is kicking the ball he stole... I mean found.

Three More Days

Three more days until I'm home! To say I'm ready to be back is an understatement. I've loved being in Italy and getting to know everyone on the trip, but I miss Alisha, Joan, and Charlotte too much. One of our favorite singers is Ray Lamontagne, and his song "Three More Days" perfectly captures this moment. Enjoy.


Three more days, Girl you know I will be coming home to ya darling
Three more days, Girl you know I will be coming home to ya darling

I know it's wrong to be so far from home
I know it's wrong to leave you so alone
I've just got to getcha this good job done
So I can bring it on home to you
So I can bring it on home to you

Genoa at Night

I (finally) went out at night to get some photographs of Genoa. I've been meaning to do it for several weeks, but because the sun doesn't set until around 9:30, my 30-year-old self usually just wants to stay in. I went down to the harbor and got some interesting stuff. In this top picture, one can see the lighthouse on the left side, and a cruise ship moving through the harbor during the 15 second exposure. I really like the way the photos turned out, perhaps I'll venture out again tonight.

The Harbor

The Aquarium

This effect is created by zooming in and out during exposure.

Piazza De Ferrari

Via XX Septembre. I stood in the street to capture this one.

Lucca

Thursday evening, after spending a day at the beach in Monterosso, several of us traveled to Lucca and stayed in a hostel there. Lucca is a beautiful town, with it's old city wall still intact. One can walk across the city in half an hour, and most people there just ride bicycles. It was a quick but enjoyable experience. I rode the train back to Monterosso Friday to spend a few more hours at the beach, then rode home to Genoa. I arrived at the villa around 9:00 pm. Yesterday, Saturday, was a mostly quiet day. I took a walk through town but didn't see anything new. Today I went to Mass at 10:00 am, and I'll probably go walk around again this afternoon. Ciao!

We stumbled upon a religious procession through Lucca. 

I later learned it was the feast of Corpus Christi.

Piazza in Lucca near Orsanmichele.

Panorama of outside of Lucca's city wall. 

Sam, London, Salena, Richard, John, Stephanie, & James.

Class, The Aquarium, & The Lighthouse

I just looked at the blog and realized my last post was 6 days ago! Sorry for the delay everyone. Here are a few pictures showcasing what we did this week. Below you'll see images of the students drawing in the Villa garden for Hans' class on Wednesday. After drawing, we went to the Aquarium of Genoa. It was fun, but because we were told it was the largest aquarium in Italy, we were a little disappointed - it wasn't that big. After lunch, I made my second attempt to climb the Lighthouse of Genoa, only to be disappointed again. Apparently it's only open on weekends and holidays, strange. At least I got a nice photo of all the students from the base of the Lighthouse.

From left to right: Mark, James, Tyarn, & London

From left to right: Sterling, Salena, Megan, & Jon

Here are all the students at the Lighthouse. We were at the base, the top was closed.

Penguins at the Aquarium.

Manateeeeeeeeeee

Tigershark, I believe. I did not see any tiger bait, though.

Photography in Genoa

I've made an effort to spend more time taking photographs around Genoa the last few days. Walking around here is a real chore, considering that there's rarely a level stretch of road or sidewalk. We recently acquired a new camera, and it does an amazing job. The photos below were shot in color, and were adjusted to black and white in Photoshop, along with a few other small tweaks. Hope you like 'em.

Father's Day

Enjoying a Mississippi State Basketball game.

Well, it's Father's Day, and unfortunately I have to spend it without my family. Alisha was kind and forward-thinking enough to get me a present to bring to Italy before I left (isn't she thoughtful?). I haven't opened it yet, I'm waiting until we can all get on Skype. Being a father is absolutely wonderful and way more awesome than I ever imagined it would be. I love Joan and Charlotte so much, there isn't anything I wouldn't do for them. They give me so much joy. Some of the things we love to do together are sing, attend Mississippi State sporting events (maybe that's just me), watch movies, go to the pool, play outside, and draw. I wouldn't be a father if it weren't for Alisha, so let me tell you that I love you and I thank you so much for my beautiful daughters.

They're just too cute!

I have to wish a special happy Father's Day to my own pop, Ross. I love you so much, you're one of my best friends, and you are the example I look to when it comes to being a father. I wish we had more time to spend together fishing, cooking, and just joking around. I can't wait for you to come to Starkville for the LSU game in the fall!

There's only one man who's generosity matches my own father's, and that's my father-in-law, Poppa John Guilbeaux. One of the many benefits of marriage is that you get a whole new family, and it has been such a pleasure building a relationship with Alisha's father. Thank you Poppa John for treating me as a son and friend.

Happy Father's Day!

Here we are with my parents and my in-laws enjoying a baseball game.

Alisha loves this picture: Proof that I'm a redneck Dad!

Gelato Lettering

Just spent the last 2-3 days completing this Gelato lettering. It started as a sketch on a train ride, and when I got back to the Genoa, I knew I had to digitize it. I think it would look great on a t-shirt. Below the final lettering, you'll see a nice animation of the process in Illustrator. I simply took a few screen grabs along the way, then sequenced them together so you could see how I did it.

Torino

Yesterday we traveled northwest to Torino (Turin in English) for the day. Torino is perhaps best known for the Shroud of Turin, a relic claiming to be the burial cloth of Jesus. The shroud is rarely on display, so I didn't get to see it, but it was in a reliquary in a chapel near the back of the church. Unfortunately, A special domed chapel that was added to the Cathedral specifically for the shroud was closed due to construction. I really loved Torino's clean, wide streets and piazzas. The gelato there was excellent too. I didn't take too many photographs of the city, but I did get some good shots of Hans and the students. Torino hosted the Winter Olympics in 2006, but we didn't have time to see the Olympic park.

Quiet

Here's a shot of some lettering I've done as a demo for my class. I've never lettered much using a pencil, but it's easy to understand why so many designers recommend drawing by hand over the computer. For the word "Quiet," I wanted an upright script with some swashes and a ligature. After getting the drawing into a satisfactory place, I scanned it and redrew it in Illustrator. The pencil sketch probably took an hour and redrawing in Illustrator took no more than 30 minutes.

To The Lighthouse!

I had a very good day today. It included a productive morning and an enjoyable class in the afternoon. Around 6:00, though, a bunch of us set out to find the Genoa lighthouse. It's viewable from a distance, but we had no clue how long it would take to walk to it. Well, it took about an hour! Unfortunately the Lighthouse was closed, but we could walk around the base. In the first photo you can see the large shipping yard with thousands of containers ready to go in and out of the port. Photo #2 features Mark, Josh, Sam, Jennifer, and London. Finally in the third photo you get a good view of the Lighthouse itself. According to Wikipedia, a lighthouse has stood on this location since 1128, although the current structure was built in 1543. It is also the second tallest masonry lighthouse in the world. 

The Genoa Coast

Today I went for a long walk by myself down the Genoa coast to an area I haven't been before. It took about an hour from our villa just to reach the shore, and then from there I was able to walk another 30 minutes along the shore. The first photo you see is the sidewalk that runs parallel to the shore. On the other side of the walking area are private beach areas, complete with swimming pools, tennis courts, football (soccer) playing areas, and restaurants. I also found this beautiful arch, though I know nothing about it. I'm sure it celebrates a military victory, as most of them do. Also, you'll notice the beautiful anchors made from flowers. Look for the girl modeling for her mom in the picture. The total walk took about 4 hours, good thing the high temperature was only about 75 degrees today!