This turned out to be more of a poster than a sign. Sign to me would be either in metal or wood somehow – but for a daily in 20 minutes – a poster is the route.
I Googled licensed for reuse flying pigs and found a rather more rat looking one with wings that was called fantasy. I took it into Photoshop and cut out the scary rat pig and then found a more piggy pig in black.
Increased the canvas size, joined the wings and the pig and then added a layer of background. From there I played with the filters using Difference Clouds. Not sure how the colors change – I will have to explore that more. First time I got cotton candy blue and while a nice contrast – didn’t strike me. Randomly I got a similar color to the wings that changed. Added difference clouds to both the background and pig. I also added a lens flare behind the pig for lighting effect.
Fonts. It is all about Fonts. Not sure I hit it – but seemed it needed a serif font. Settled on this one and then used the word art to arch around the icon.
I did end up with two versions but went with the cloud renders for the submission. And of course now have second thoughts….and also want to do more…but daily and time to move on….
I had actually started doing this design prior to the official start of #western106 back in October. I was starting to look at cowboys and media. Tom Mix was the tangent I was reading – who he was etc.
I found these in my files as I was cleaning up things. I had forgotten it was a quest to try and create a design assignment for #western106. Good community practice is if you create or suggest an assignment, you need to do the assignment and provide the first example for others to take off from and improve and extend.
I had seen an article someone suggested on Malaysian puppet art and super heroes – The visuals stood out and fascinated me and I immediately thought #ds106 could really do this justice and create many different rifs.
I started playing with the concept in the #western106 theme rather than superheroes. I had actually gotten to a point of creating some pieces, but put it aside thinking I would come back to it and actually make it into something more complete.
Just want to get it posted so I remember to get back to it. I still think this could be really cool. I have some memory of looking ofr patterns so that they were part of the design. The holes for light seemed to be necessary as well – and how do you put in the sticks??? From the outcomes I have right now – not sure I hit the concept I was going for – which is why they were probably not posted and just loaded into Flickr for keeping. I also remember using multiple applications. Photo Shop, Paper53 – so again – never figured out a path to the end result I was going for….
So here they are – maybe someone else can figure out how to make it a viable assignment or maybe I will get back to it again in the future. And with the shadows – doesn’t that shout out gif to you?
Seems I have been absent in some ways in posting and updating. But I have been busy creating and #4Life. My intent was to create along #ds106tales this fall but seems they are now in week 7 already!
I look back at the last 8 months and how much the DS106 community has accelerated my skill building and made a difference in my creations. Adopting the “Make Art Damn it!” frame of mind has been awesome. Learning from others, expanding possibilities. I started this journey to learn things so I could use the stacks of family content now in my possession and under my care due to the loss of parents and parents-in-law over the last years. The loss along with my own children now adults and starting their own life paths of careers, love, and family, I wanted to be able to start creating in ways that would be special for them and the future through digital storytelling of family.
My brother-in-law by alignment of the stars has a milestone birthday of 70 years in October. My husband and sister-in-law wanted to do something to remember and celebrate their big brother’s milestone. Deadlines and specific targets always seem to keep me focused and this seemed a good kick-start to now applying some of my learned ds106 skills to something personal.
I have created GIFs of family and events. Scanning photos, capturing audio and whatever I can. Rochelle Lockridge introduced me to Flipbuilder via the Noir106 radio programs in spring 2015. The many assignments of the ds106 assignment bank in audio, design, video, have given me lots of practice of which most is posted in this blog. The daily create has been a great source as well! Sandy Brown-Jensen has been a muse and inspiration as she shares her family storytelling creations. Thanks Sandy!
And thanks to all my #DS106 friends for your support and sharing (Twitter): @mdvfunes, @johnjohnston, @ronald_2008, and so many others – too many to list, but so important! Follow the #ds106 tag in Twitter and you will see them.
DESIGN: Created some designs to use as chapter start pages and book cover
I used Canava for these design posters. A handy tool for good graphic plates when you need several instead of one intense grand creation.
I practiced my audio and video skills and learned lots! So much it is hard to share. I used Wondershare Filmora and iMovie as video editors and expanded on tools within each. I used the iMovie map animation in a video about the places he has lived over the years – so cool! The feature was there right in front of me all the time, but I discovered it thru this tutorial.
Each one improved IMHO. I used Audacity for audio and created audio scripts and clips first. Then imported into the video editors. For some of the videos I used features in one and then imported into the other video editor to gain the best features of each. I also used some of the iMovie templates, but to escape from the constraints, built a foundation and then changed the movie to a new project. This kept the theme transitions in place and available, but then allowed me to add and change to meet my needs.
I also was able to use family video from years past. Boy – a lot of footage and not much captured! LOL. I used a downloader to convert the DVD footage to usable digital pieces and edited in the video editors. A few I used FinalCut Pro for editing, to create content pieces much as I did with Audacity for sound. Without all the fancy interface it was powerful, but less cluttered and assisted in sticking to creating content pieces instead of production.
I also used my JibJab account and captured some video card creations to manipulate and build upon.
The Flip Book Creation:
The Flip book itself was a learning experience. Creating the WP plugin version and getting it to be accessible via a web page on a sub-domain I created for family stories.
The sub domain will give the opportunity to create something more static and approaches content differently than a straight up blog. I am going to try different versions of the theme with the sub domain over the next few months.
Flip Book Builder worked well. Things I know I will do differently are in customizing presentation and making sure the table of content links actually become links. I included the thumbnails open in the link to help family see the navigation. In the future, I would present with the option closed as the default.
The biggest AHA was that I now want to improve an develop more skill in using a page layout tool. I have access to inDesign – but will also look for some other open source options. The first flip book is okay- but being able to make the pages look more art like and not document layout will be more pleasing for reading. It is not just about the content. Content is first and critical – but presentation makes the content shine.
As I move on to the next family project – I will reflect and try to post some process and development posts.
To see the Flip book check out my Family Stories site (still working on a better title for the site – suggestions welcomed!)
Looking ahead. A little over saturated with No. 6 after the last few creations and fairy tales needing a little kick in my mind to focus. I should be working on radio show things – but sort of lost in figuring out exactly what to do or work on yet. More than anything I was realizing I need to make a new banner for the blog as the season changes and haven’t decided what it is going to be yet. So shiny object chasing for a few days!
My first direction was to start working on family stories. One of my own goals with ds106 was to improve skills so I could use the tons of photos, video, sound, and stories of family and begin threading it together for those around now and in the future. Real stories seem far more complex than creative stories. After a day of organizing files I realized I have a TON of prep work and need to figure out a strand to start creating the pieces first.
The comic book covers for Tales of DS106 for the fall UMW cohort looked interesting. As a quick practice I decided to create one for the upcoming session. I will probably follow along as I love seeing the work the students create and the twists and turns. I am not holding myself to a schedule of trying to keep up with them this round at least that is my thought at this time – but definitely follow and support them in their work. I am moving into #4life and will continue TDC and work on projects but not within the Friday to Friday schedule and maybe not even on the same areas of focus. I will let it up to serendipity as they create and find new ways to do things that look interesting to do as well.
Process:
Inspiration and style guide from: https://www.mycomicshop.com/search?TID=13291551
Paul Bond graphic from: http://ds106tal.es header
Jim Groom Graphic from his avatars
Bitmoji avatar graphic from my account
Created rectangle for upper third and filled with color
Added two vertical rectangles for side and filled with color
Downloaded and Installed PostCrypt Font from http://www.2200freefonts.com/
Added Filter>Noise to lessen the abruptness of color of the cover
Added a rectangle as a horizontal divider to separate sections. I wanted to have a drop shadow – but moved on instead of trying at this point.
Figured out how to change the line spacing by using the properties menu when in Text mode – helps a lot!!! Before I would create each line and try and place them!
Would like to have the title outlined text instead of all one color – another thing to discover and master.
I did use Photoshop – as before mentioned – I have it so use it.
And of course – had to GIF it. 🙂 did this by creating two single graphics and set them at .1 sec in timeline.
From here I may begin to create a cover for each family member for their story. I plan to use many media and assemble in a flipbook format so that each story can have all of its pieces and tangents instead of a summary like overview. Still thinking it out.Getting family to collaborate is harder than opening up to the ds106 community. 🙂
Update: My sister-in-law has been awesome at providing new content and will be visiting this month – so her help will probably be just in time to kick off something with her portion of the family story. Once that is in place I think my girls will get the idea and other family so then it will be up to me to keep up with things!
Fairytale Writing – DS106 All the Way – AKA “We can’t all be @JimGroom” Thanks to all who share and contribute for making my DS106 world real. I hope you enjoy the Fairy Tale of the journey so far. I created this while hanging out in my bungalow in the Village for the Bovine FairyTale Festival (hoping it counts for credits in both!)
Well – the week to stretch some skills has come a little heavier than others. Writing. Writing a fairy tale. I am much more verbose online than in person – but it usually is in trying to have an asynchronous discussion or going through steps in training – not stories and not fiction.
I have enjoyed the reading of the resources so abundantly provided by NanaLou. But I tend to enjoy the moment of the story and not diving in and trying to pull it apart and figure out the meanings and inferences. Hans Christian Anderson – well, I have always loved Danny Kaye and I remember the movie as a kid – but the dark and sad stories do become a little depressing when you don’t have the slapstick and singing to go along with them.
Rocky and Bullwinkle were a childhood favorite – so Fractured FairyTales high on my list. My Dad also had a teasing and dry sense of humor – so it was something we shared and I would listen to his stories. I was a fine arts specialist at the elementary level when is was in the classroom as one of my early career assignments. I would collaborate with classroom generalists as they would teach the writing and I would connect the fine arts in lessons. Students were guided in steps to story writing by taking things they knew or happened in their own lives and changing them up to fit a story. A theme along with a book was often retelling The Three Little Pigs from the wolf’s point of view. So I decided to use things that have happened in the last 6 months and follow the pattern of a fairy tale – so my version of a fractured tale – combining different things that may or may not be considered as being connected.
I was surprised the drafts came quickly. After reviewing – I think the Elves and the Shoemaker may be the format behind the DS106 and the Ed Administrator.
After recent weeks with design, visuals, audio, video – it seemed sort of plain and not too exciting to just have black and white words on a page.
I decided it was time to push my audio -not the editing part – but the part about not using my voice for recording. I have a few different mics – but haven’t been happy with the sound. Plus, I have to find a way that I don’t think anyone is listening when I am doing it – sort of like dancing – I can have lots of fun if I don’t think anyone is looking.
I used iRecorder – an app on my iPad – went down in the basement to my laundry room and closed the door. With the script on my ironing board – so I was standing – I hit record and read. The app then connects over wifi to my computer and transfers the file – pretty slick!
In Audacity I just cleaned up some gaps and breaths – not too much editing or effects. I found some piano music on Jamendo to add to the background and left it at that. No sound effects at this time.
In March of 2015 – Rochelle Lockridge had assembled the work of a radio collaboration on the NOIR theme. She presented it in a FlipBook. I was fascinated by the Flipbook format and have decided it will be a good way to assemble my family stories in a better way by allowing different media and narratives to be included – better than endless slideshows with music or audio. The format will give the chance to weave the stories together as our life actually unfolds. I opted for the buy – Rochelle’s reasoning of pros and cons made sense for what I needed. In order to start making use of my investment I thought the fairytale might be a good learning project.
A PDF is created first (at top of the post) – so that happened. I thought I was going to tackle inDesign – but after an hour gave that up! I will come back to that on another project. I opened iBooks and created there first and exported as the PDF. This also had me look at font, layout and some graphics – so stayed in line with design week – even though that is in the Village.
This is okay – but the audio and GIF and some other things don’t come through. It is a way to distribute the writing.
I imported into FlipPDF Pro and began exploring. I found how to add the audio and video, get the GIF to be running. Then came exporting. I don’t want the $9.99/month subscription for hosting. @RockyLou22 embeds her flipbooks in her websites and had a way to share it with others. I spent about an hour with the directions – they don’t offer much because they really want you to upload to their pay site. After little success – I put it aside. I will go back and solve it, but wanted to get this post done while it was still a fresh memory. I will connect with @RockyLou22 for some hints when things slow down a little.
For Apple devices – it is in iBook form – even this is not smooth or clean. It comes in Google and you have to ignore the screen and download – and then open in ibooks
click to download as iBook
I need to get the FlipBook version working…..maybe as the night goes on it will come. 🙂
