Download - Artistik Magazine

VOLUME 3 | WINTER 2011 

JESSE ADAIR: JEKYLL & HYDE 

BEYOND THE LENS, BEHIND THE FAÇADE 

BATTLING THE ELEMENTS FOR ART 

FOCUS ON CATHY FRANKLIN

welcome 

We kick off a brand new year with a few new additions to the magazine, 

three exciting CS5 tutorials, some wonderful success stories and student 

artwork. Some of you may have been excited to see a new look for our last 

issue, while others were a bit disappointed not to have the regular content 

to be inspired by. Whichever the case - never fear as we are back in our 

usual swing of things and promise to keep you insipired as we move into 

a new year and begin the third volume of ARTISTIK Magazine. 

In the wake of our recent Regional Design Showcase, I have received a 

great amount of feedback from designers and employers in the industry. 

Many, in fact, have expressed a need to continue receiving the magazine. 

From the feedback I gathered, the issue was well-received here in Tampa. 

In fact, for this milestone issue we held a sexy, swanky launch event and 

design gala in St. Petersburg, Florida that showcased the design work 

of local artists from our Tampa, Orlando and Online campuses and many 

pieces from students and alumni across the country. You can check out the 

photos from the event on our Facebook page. A great time was had by all 

and it presented a wonderful opportunity for networking as well. 

If you’re not a Facebook friend by now, what are you waiting for? There 

you can have the opportunity to meet other designers, photographers and 

artists from across the country - and, in some cases, around the world. You 

can also get to know some of the students and alumni that have worked 

with us on ARTISTIK. Other items such as upcoming launch events and 

interactive training sessions will be posted there as well. So get connected 

and stay in touch. 

This issue’s cover and feature focuses on a very talented photographer 

and current Movie Production student at IADT- Tampa by the name of 

Jesse Adair. I have had the opportunity to work with Jesse on several 

projects on campus, but never found the chance to effectively showcase 

the amazing work he does. Unlike many photographers, his styles are 

unusually varied. The cover highlights the “lighter” side of his personality, 

while his “darker” side is revealed in the accompanying feature, Jekyll 

& Hyde: Beyond the Lens, Behind the Façade. It is an in-depth interview 

into the creative mind of Jesse Adair and the two diverse avenues of 

photography he excels at- landscape and horror. 

Please continue to write in and tell me what you think about the magazine 

and have a safe, healthy and prosperous new year. 

Josef Mancino 

Editor-in-Chief 

jm@artistikmagazine.com 

Photo by Paul Pelak 

focus success alumni exposed 

18 Cathy Franklin 

An electric personality translates itself on 

camera and in the classroom as Collins 

College instructor Cathy Franklin confronts 

the elements to capture lightning on film 

and shares her enthusiasm for the art with 

many of her students. 

22 Ideation 12 

Chocolate and passion are a winning 

combination for five groups of IADT- Detroit 

students that competed to develop an ad 

campaign for a new chocolate bar under a 

12-hour time constraint. 

24 Working to End Sexual Exploitation 

Working to create change in their own 

community, Harrington Communication 

Design students learn just how powerful 

design can be when it is used to give a 

voice to the voiceless. 

26 Sparkling Bright in the Big City 

Small steps can lead to big success as 

IADT- San Antonio Alumna Alyssia Perales 

proves when a design contest posted on 

Facebook gives her a big break into the 

world of fashion. 

30 Ashley Woods’ “Millennia War” 

IADT- Chicago graduate debuts her first 

graphic novel and puts her own individual 

stamp on the world of comics. Far from 

satisfied, her success and ambition have 

only begun to blossom. 

32 Bringing Art & Business Together 

In pursuit of a career she would love rather 

than one that just brought in a paycheck, 

Kristin Talbot returned to school to pursue a 

degree in Graphic Design. Her decision has 

changed her life for the better. 

34 From the Academy to Etsy 

Merchandising and marketing are very 

important skills to have and IADT- Tampa 

graduate, Rebecca Kruse proves it in all 

that she has accomplished in the last 

twenty years. 

46 Exposed 

contents 

winter 2011 

Artists in this issue: 

Randy Payne, Aaron Bauer, Patrik Rice, 

Randolph Bernardez, Danielle Mowbray, 

Ann Blanchard, Kayla Holt, Yvonne Davila, 

Megan A. Peeler, Desmond Hor Lum, Sheryl 

Burns and Denyu Grant.

exposed in this issue 

Randy Payne 

IADT- Chicago 

Danielle Mowbray 

IADT- Tampa 

Megan A. Peeler 

IADT- San Antonio 

Aaron Bauer 

IADT- Chicago 

VOLUME 3 • WINTER 2011 • PRINTED IN THE USA 

www.artistikmagazine.com 

Ann Blanchard 

IADT- Sacramento 

Desmond Hor Lum 

Harrington College of Design 

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF 

Josef Mancino 

MANAGING EDITOR 

Jennifer Roark 

ASSOCIATE EDITOR 

Jessica D. Lotzkar 

EDITORIAL BOARD 

Howard Gelman 

Jaime Pescia 

Shajan Karottu 

Brad Kisner 

Karen O’Donnell 

Patrik Rice 

Collins College 

Kayla Holt 

IADT- Nashville 

Sheryl Burns 

IADT- Online 

CONTENT MANAGERS 

Erik Deerly 

Charlie Dees 

Kirk Denney 

Lloyd Dinsmore 

Howard Gelman 

James Greenwood 

Shajan Karottu 

Brad Kisner 

Randy Olson 

Jennifer Pauly 

Jaime Pescia 

Juan Ramos 

Kathryn Sherman 

Lloyd Sigler 

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS 

James Bennett 

Jorge Diaz 

Bri Dold 

Dan Elliot 

Cathy Franklin 

Mary Gebhart 

Jessica D. Lotzkar 

Lucille Moon-Michel 

Jaime Pescia 

Matthew Phillips 

Danielle Reynolds 

David A. Rogers 

Michele Roy 

Renee Santos 

Julie Stout 

Kerstin Upmeyer 

Ron Wade 

Randolph Bernardez 

IADT- Detroit 

Yvonne Davila 

IADT- Nashville 

Denyu Grant 

IADT- Orlando 

ART DIRECTOR 

Klodiana Shehi 

PRODUCTION MANAGER 

Blanka Roundtree 

DESIGN TEAM 

Klodiana Shehi 

Olivia Scott 

Pasha Holcomb 

INTERNS 

Olivia Scott 

Pasha Holcomb 

EDITORIAL OFFICES 

5104 Eisenhower Boulevard, Suite 406 

Tampa, Florida 33634 

Phone: 813.357.2082 

editorial@artistikmagazine.com 


PUBLISHED BY 

Career Education Corporation 

2895 Greenspoint Parkway, Suite 600 

Hoffman Estates, IL 60169 

ARTISTIK Magazine is published quarterly 

by the Career Education Corporation, 2895 

Greenspoint Parkway, Suite 600, Hoffman 

Estates, Illinois 60169. ARTISTIK assumes all 

work published here is original. It is the sole 

intention of ARTISTIK Magazine to present 

outstanding student and professional work. 

It is not the intention of ARTISTIK Magazine 

to infringe upon the rights of the original 

artists or sources of the materials’ origin. Any 

reproduction of the work in this publication 

is strictly prohibited without written consent 

from the publisher and artists therein. Artistik 

Magazine is not responsible for the content 

of third-party websites within. Body copy 

throughout the publication is set in Fonce Sans 

Pro Light. Headlines set in Fonce Sans Normal. 

Career Education Corporation and its schools 

do not guarantee employment or salary. 

columns essentials technique features 

08 Design Trends 

What does art mean to you? Do all of the 

pieces you see tell you a visual story? 

James Bennett takes us on a historical 

journey from photography to art and back. 

10 Top Ten 

Do you find the thought of interviewing for 

a job frustrating and often stressful? Do you 

wonder what might be asked and frantically 

try to think up good enough answers? Check 

out our Top Ten for some tips that should 

help you on your next interview. 

12 Web Watch 

Love art and design? In desperate need 

of inspiration? Take a look at some of our 

favorite sites. 

14 App Addict 

Is there really an app for everything? Our 

very own App Addict reveals the best 

apps that are available and which ones 

are worth the download. 

16 Talkback 

Are you a photographer looking to get your 

work out there? You might need to find 

some representation. This issue discusses 

exactly what you should do. 

07 Testimonial 

Read testimonials by readers who are 

inspired by ARTISTIK Magazine, or submit 

one of your very own. 

36 Creative Exchange 

ARTISTIK’s hub of resources, events, and 

competitions related to the various fields 

of Art & Design. 

44 Insight 

IADT- Tampa Professional Photography 

student Xong Hang uses illustration 

techniques and the latest technology to 

create a photorealistic illustration based 

off of her photography. 

74 Adobe Illustrator CS5 

Kerstin Upmeyer teaches us how to create 

a two-point perspective illustration using 

some great new tools available in Adobe 

Illustrator CS5. 

78 Adobe Photoshop CS5 

Learn a few exciting tips and tricks from 

Jorge Diaz as he fills us in on some of the 

new features that Adobe Photoshop CS5 

has to offer. 

80 Adobe InDesign CS5 

David Rogers reveals some new and exciting 

techniques and tools available in Adobe 

InDesign CS5 that will speed up your layout 

and help save you time. 

contents 

winter 2011 

38 Jesse Adair: Jekyll & Hyde 

Light versus dark, horror versus happiness, 

life versus death - which is more fascinating? 

For photographer and IADT- Tampa student, 

Jesse Adair, they all play an intricate part in 

inspiring his work as he creates amazingly 

brilliant and terrifyingly dark photography.

Read it online + Connect with us. 


{ 

Experience ARTISTIK Magazine online. 

Visit www.artistikmagazine.com to read current and archived 

issues and check out the latest Exposed student artwork! 

Become a fan and connect with student artists and designers 

from across the country. Stay up-to-date with competitions and 

events and view behind-the-scenes photos including coverage 

of ARTISTIK’s latest Launch Party & Design Gala. 

Kory Stokes 

Graphic Design Student 

IADT- Chicago 

Jesse Adair, Professional Photography graduate and 

current Movie Production student at IADT- Tampa, 

created this issue’s cover. The subject matter is 

The Devil’s Courthouse Mountain located in North 

Carolina. The Cherokee tribe believed this is where 

the Devil held court in a cave found on the side of 

the bare rock. Jesse and his wife Daniela traveled 

to North Carolina to capture the image that would 

eventually grace this issue’s cover. 

To photograph this mountain in the morning, the two 

left their hotel room at five o’clock in the morning 

and traveled three hours to this picturesque lookout 

spot on the Blue Ridge Parkway. 

When I enrolled at the International Academy of 

Design and Technology, I was eager to jumpstart 

my design career. I had previously completed 

my Associate of Science degree at ITT-Tech in the 

Multimedia Program and had been freelancing, 

so I already had a bit of a design background. As 

I started to progress at the Academy, I began 

to feel uncomfortable with my designs and 

frequently thought, “There are so many designers 

out there, why is my design any better?” I found 

that the strongest and most crucial point of being 

a successful designer is that you must have the 

upmost confidence in yourself, or you will fail. 

As I started getting a confidence boost from 

my instructors and peers, I felt more and more 

comfortable showing my designs. 

With my confidence at a high, I kept thinking how 

could I get my name out there into the sea of 

designers? Later that year, ARTISTIK Magazine had 

its first published issue. I hadn’t a clue what the 

magazine was. Day by day, I walked past the table 

where the magazines were stacked but I never 

picked one up. Then one day, after passing by the 

table for the thirtieth time, I finally grabbed an 

issue and started to look through it. As I looked 

through the exposed section of the magazine, 

excitement ran through my veins. 

Jesse has photographed landscapes all across the 

country - from the Muir Woods outside San Francisco 

to Salem, Massachusetts, and everywhere in between. 

The Devil’s Courthouse Mountain photograph is yet 

another example of Jesse’s keen eye and his ability to 

find the right spot at the right time. 

Jesse Adair’s love for landscape photography stems 

from a constant challenge to capture the perfect 

shot. His work is distinctively original and creates a 

sense of surrealism using High Dynamic Range (HDR) 

photography. His landscape photography is all about 

finding the right composition in nature and being 

able to capture that moment before it slips away. 

TESTIMONIAL 

I thought to myself, “This could be me - I want to 

be in this magazine.” I then quickly asked my 

advisor how I could get my design work into 

the magazine. She gave me all the information 

and I then sent it off. A few weeks later, I received 

an email congratulating me on being selected for 

the next issue and yes, more excitement set in. 

When you’re a student, it is a great feeling seeing 

your work presented in a nationally distributed 

publication; this one in particular. It creates a sense 

of self-accomplishment. Being a showcased 

artist makes me feel that someone has taken 

notice of all the hard work that I have put into my 

designs. It has helped me gain the confidence 

I need to push myself further and further as a 

designer. I have actually had people contact me on 

Facebook that had seen me in an issue and ask me 

for opinions and help on their projects and designs. 

I really enjoy that my work has helped people 

gain inspiration and confidence to progress in their 

design career. Thank you ARTISTIK Magazine. 

Share your feedback with us. 

Email your testimonial to info@artistikmagazine.com 

and see it published in an upcoming issue of ARTISTIK. 

ON THE COVER 

To view more of Jesse’s work, visit his site at www.jesseadair.com 

| WINTER 2011 

07

DESIGN TRENDS DESIGN TRENDS 

James Bennett 

Dean of Instructional Technology 

online.academy.edu 

Planes, Painters and Camera-Haters 

It was obvious that the flight was overbooked. 

There were far too many of us packed into the 

small waiting area – far more than any sane 

Fire Marshall would allow. But that didn’t matter 

because this was an airport and everyone knows 

that most laws do not apply when it comes to 

anything related to air travel. Next time you travel, 

just try calculating the real arrival and departure 

time of your flight if you happen to fly over two 

time zones. The minute you enter an airport the 

act of accurately adding or subtracting two hours 

from the time displayed on your watch becomes 

impossible. In fact, the probability that a person 

could make that calculation correctly the first 

try is nearly the same as the probability that blue 

monkeys will suddenly fly out of your pockets at 

any given moment. 

What does any of this have to do with design 

trends? I’m getting to that, but this particular tale 

must begin in an overcrowded jetliner at about 

36,000 feet. Please rest assured that there will 

be no more mention of blue monkeys during the 

remainder of this article. 

After waiting for an hour that actually seemed to 

last several years, I was finally allowed to board 

the plane. My plan was to use the time in the 

air to write this article. However, my plan was 

thwarted by a man doing his best Goldilocks 

impersonation by sitting in EVERY seat but his 

own and eventually ending up next to me. And 

he was chatty – very chatty. 

“What ‘cha writing?” ”I am writing an article on 

artistic styles.” “About Mike Angelo and how he 

painted the ceilings of sixteen chapels?” “No not 

exactly.” “I hope you are not writing about any of 

those artists that make paintings that look like 

someone smeared colors around with a toilet 

plunger! That’s not Art? Why can’t they just paint 

stuff to make it look real like that Leo guy did?” 

“Leo?” “Yeah. Leo Nardo!” 

Obviously this Mr. Seat Hopper was a talker. Not 

your average, chewing-the-fat in the break room 

kind of talker, but the kind of talker that had a 

strong opinion on everything and could tell it to 

you over an hour… or over an entire lifetime. I 

knew that I only had two choices; out talk him, or 

pretend to not speak English. I chose the former. 

“So you must really hate cameras!” “Uh?” 

This was exactly the opening I was looking for, 

so I let him have it. 

“Back in the early days, photography really had 

a bad reputation. Rumor has it that back around 

1800s there were about three photographers 

that died each week in New York City alone. 

This wasn’t due to some flu epidemic that only 

infected people that touched cameras, but 

was caused by the dangerous chemicals that 

these imaging pioneers worked with. It is hard 

to imagine that anyone would be willing to die 

for the results of reflective light exposed to 

emulsion, but they did. Then again, back in the 

1800s people often died just by drinking from 

a public well, so maybe something as novel as 

photography was worth it. 

But the Grim Reaper of Shutterbugs was not the 

only thing that gave Photography bad press. It 

was also what it did to the long and respected 

tradition of Art and artists themselves.” 

I politely paused one one-hundredth of a second 

for his response. He hesitated, losing his chance, 

so I continued. 

“You see … drawing, painting, and chipping 

attractive naked people out of marble, and a host of 

other more socially acceptable practices and been 

the exclusive realm of the Artist for some time. 

Techniques, styles, rules of perspectives, and all the 

tricks of the trade were handed down from Master 

to Apprentice for generations … and it might take a 

lifetime to learn everything. 

Then, photography upset the artistic applecart by 

enabling individuals that may not have ever mixed 

their own paint to be able to capture an image or 

create a portrait as accurate (or maybe even more 

accurate) than an artist that had trained for decades. 

This new tool changed everything and the invention 

of photography forced our culture to redefine what 

constituted artistic talent – which was actually a 

very good thing … or at least a few of us think so. 

“Analyzing the trend can help you 

use it for your own work without 

being forced to merely copy.” 

The big push came when photography actually 

surpassed the best painters in the ability to 

accurately portray a scene. Ever since the 

Renaissance, painters had been trying to create 

images that were photorealistic… even though they 

didn’t know what photorealistic was since the photo 

had not been invented yet. Now painters and other 

artists were faced with a dilemma – they either had 

to figure out something new to do with their talent 

or give up eating. 

I am not going to claim that Monet, Renoir, and 

Pissarro were all sitting in a Parisian café, drinking 

wine and trying to figure out a new business model, 

but I am going to make the point that they began to 

take painting in a new direction. Instead of trying 

to portray the reflection of light as accurately as 

possible, the Impressionists began emphasizing 

the effects of light, studying it, even glorifying it. 

After that painting and Art picked up and moved 

to a new neighborhood – Art went to the land of 

Philosophy and styles were based on the big ideas 

from Freudian psychology all the way to postmodernism. 

Of course, photography came along 

too, but it didn’t matter because the promised land 

of visual communication was all wide-open spaces, 

big skies, and plenty of room for everyone. 

What the artists found was that philosophy and 

any of the areas of human thought were not only 

fertile soil but that all of the philosophers that had 

been marking their territory in these areas had not 

done so well. Sure … there was Plato, Descartes, 

and Kant, but these gentlemen were long gone 

and none of them really ever got past the nature of 

Illustration by Pasha Holcomb 

reality. In other words, they couldn’t even agree on 

what was real, what was illusion, and what simply 

might be a bad dream produced by eating too much 

bratwurst. The painters, sculptures, photographers, 

and performance artists didn’t care because they 

were showing these ideas. And the public found the 

art work much more interesting than reading the 

writings of stuffy old men with beards. 

Each new idea manifested in a style; Surrealism, 

Expressionism, Post-painterly Abstraction … on and 

on until we arrived at your personal favorite, Plunger 

Painter-ism. 

So the next time you see a design or work of art 

that looks a little different, ask yourself what is 

the piece trying to say. What big idea you might be 

missing out on?” 

Without saying a word, he looked around and then 

moved to an empty seat about five rows behind us. 

Happily, I began typing again. The camera hater was 

now the problem of a woman with entirely too much 

luggage – and they deserved each other. 

08 artistikmagazine.com | WINTER 2011 

09

TOP TEN 

Bri Dold 

Graphic Designer 

limerencecreative.com 

Top Ten 

Interview 

Questions for 

Creatives 

Photograph by Robert Brouillet 

Before you find yourself 

sitting in front of a panel 

of interviewers sweating 

in your Sunday best, take 

the time to prepare for the 

questions and the answers 

you provide that will 

ultimately decide the fate 

of your career. 

We all know the importance of preparation and 

research when it comes to the interviewing process. 

Know the company as thoroughly as the internet can 

teach you - check. Shower and dress nicely - check. 

Bring your mind-blowing portfolio - check. 

Another way to ensure your head is in the game is 

to know the top interview questions for creatives. 

For this issue, I spoke with four agencies and their 

employees about which questions they ask or have 

been asked the most. Their feedback brought 

about some interesting and valuable points that will 

hopefully help you in your quest for employment. 

Tell me about yourself, your creative process, and your experience. 

Open-ended questions like this often throw interviewees for a loop even 

though they are common in most jobs. While the interviewer doesn’t 

want to hear your life story from the day you were born to the second you 

sat down in their office, they still want to know enough about you to tell 

them if you’re a good fit for their company. As with any answer to these 

questions, never lie; instead, tell the truth in the most compelling way. 

What attracted you to this company and position? 

The incorrect answer would be, “Because none of the other companies 

I actually wanted to work for were hiring.” You’re on the interview for a 

good reason. Give it to them. 

What are your most impressive achievements? 

This is information that should be on your resume to begin with, but this 

is your chance to show off. Tell a brief story about each achievement, 

give them personality, and show how these achievements can translate 

to the position for which you are being interviewed. 

How well do you cope with criticism? 

There are very few, if any, careers involving creativity that do not harbor 

criticism. By now, this should be something we are all used to and 

actually use to our advantage. Again, honesty is the best policy. It’s fine 

to tell the interviewer that criticism is, at first, hard to take, but also 

include how you use it to benefit your final piece. 

What programs do you know? Which ones are you most 

proficient in? 

Of course, this question applies mostly to fields that involve computer 

interactivity, but it is an extremely important one. Many companies or 

agencies use specific programs as well as operating systems. Hopefully, 

you did your research and know which ones they use. 

How were certain elements in your portfolio created? 

You should know your portfolio inside and out. You should know the 

“why” behind every single detail. This should not be a hard question to 

answer. If it is, perhaps you should rethink that portfolio piece. 

What career-related volunteer work do you do? Do you hold 

any leadership positions with organizations? 

Hopefully you can regale the interviewer with a staggering list of 

clubs, organizations, and pro-bono work you have done in the past, but 

sometimes that just isn’t the case. Maybe you are just out of school and 

haven’t had time to get involved just yet. If this is the case, tell them 

about your plans to join certain organizations, why you want to join them, 

and when you plan to get involved. 

Describe a working situation where you exceeded the expectations. 

We all need and should have an “all-hail-me” moment in our career at 

some point, preferably many. Choose a story that most closely relates to 

the position you are applying for and tell away. 

Which companies other than this one are you interested in 

working for? 

Right off the bat this seems like one of those “rock-and-a-hard-place” 

questions. What are they setting you up for? It’s best not to think of this 

question like that. Impress them with your taste. Know their competition 

and use that if it is the truth. Let them know why you are interested in 

the other companies as well as why you are most looking forward to 

working with them. 

Describe the role you feel most comfortable playing in a 

team environment. 

Teamwork is almost always a huge priority for any agency or company. 

You know yourself better than anyone else. Are you a leader? Do you 

take instruction impeccably well? Are you an amazing wingman? Let 

them know and throw in a success story while you’re at it. 

10 artistikmagazine.com | WINTER 2011 11 

TOP TEN

WEB WATCH WEB WATCH 

Lucille Moon-Michel 

Web Design 

& Development Faculty 

online.academy.edu 

www.gamasutra.com 

A center of operations for professionals in the field of Game Production. Gamasutra is a website that keeps game 

developers up to speed with the latest industry news, programming tips, gaming technology, blogs and upcoming 

events. One can find helpful articles and tutorials under the five main categories of navigation which include 

Programming, Art, Audio, Design and Programming. The tutorials offer step-by-step instructions with corresponding 

screen shots. Registered members are allowed to post comments and questions after each one. Creating a Gamasutra 

account is free and especially advantageous for those looking for employment. The job database includes available 

positions from companies around the world and gives users the capability to upload their resumes and cover letters. 

Gamasutra also features a store for purchasing Game Developer Research Reports, subscriptions to Game Developer 

magazine, and audio recordings from top gaming professionals. With such a wide variety of resources, this site would 

be a valuable one to add to your favorites! 

www.photoshoplady.com 

A quaint little hub for exciting Photoshop Tutorials. Photoshop Lady is a bookmarking site for top Photoshop tutorials 

from around the world. The collection of tutorials are updated on a daily basis and stored in one of eight categories: 

3D Effect, Abstract Effect, Articles, Drawing Effect, Photo Effect, Text Effect, Texture & Patterns and UI Designs. These 

tutorials and articles are not original to Photoshop Lady; rather they are linked to other design related websites such 

as Deviant Art, Creative Overflow and PSD Tuts. Membership is free and allows users to rate tutorials and keep a list of 

favorites. A nice feature of this site is that the members’ favorite tutorials are stored in a thumbnail grid on the left side 

of the page for easy access. To delete a favorite from your list, simply drag the thumbnail to the trash can underneath. 

Photoshop Lady showcases a wide variety of interesting lessons that are easy to follow so be sure to check it out! 

www.businessoffashion.com 

A valuable resource for international fashion professionals. Curious about the latest and greatest with fashion industry 

giants such as Anna Wintour, Tom Ford, Louis Vuitton, Chanel and D&G? These are just some of the top fashion VIPs and 

companies that Business of Fashion keeps its readers updated on every day. Created by fashion business advisor, Imran 

Amed, The Business of Fashion (BoF) is geared towards entrepreneurs, creatives and other business professionals in 

the fashion industry. The opinionated yet analytical articles featured on the BoF site focus on essential topics such as 

Fashion 2.0, Emerging Designers, Global Brands, CEO Talk, Fashion Investing and Fashion Pioneers. Readers can also 

focus on news & events happening in fashion hotspots around the world including Buenos Aires, Mumbai and Tokyo. 

This site is definitely one to bookmark especially for those fashionistas interested in the business side of the industry. 

www.designreviver.com 

A valuable resource for web designers. Design Reviver offers an appealing supply of articles, tutorials, inspirational 

sources and complimentary downloads for people in the web design field. Visitors can take advantage of the editorial 

pieces that focus on popular subjects such as HTML5, CSS3 and jQuery. The site also supplies interesting resources for 

graphic design topics such as logo creation, photo effects, typography and other types of digital artwork. One section 

that is particularly helpful is the Answers page where users can either submit questions to the community or post 

answers to the listed inquiries. Founded by Henry Jones, an experienced web designer and developer, Design Reviver is 

constantly on the lookout for new and exceptional designers to promote on the site. Those who wish to contribute to the 

site are not only financially rewarded, but they get priceless exposure to a large web design audience as well! 

+ Pros 

The contributors to the site 

are from well-established 

companies and form a solid 

community for members to 

take part in. 

- Cons 

Some of the articles are a bit 

outdated and are not unique to 

each category. 

+ Pros 

The site is easy to navigate 

and the tutorials are for all 

experience levels and give the 

approximate time to complete. 

- Cons 

The advertisements are distracting 

and can be confused with the 

tutorial thumbnails. Sometimes 

the links on the favorites list do 

not work. 

+ Pros 

The design of the site is very 

elegant, banner ads are listed 

sparingly and information is 

easy to access. 

- Cons 

The scrolling on the home 

page is rather long and could 

be changed to hold only a few 

articles at a time. 

+ Pros 

This site offers a supportive 

community for web designers 

of all levels to interact and 

learn from each other. 

- Cons 

The advertisements take 

up a large portion of space 

on the pages. Perhaps the 

announcements could have 

priority over them. 


13

APP ADDICT APP ADDICT 

Matthew Phillips 

ARTISTIK ARTISTIK Columnist Columnist 

matt@artistikmagazine.com 

matt@artistikmagazine.com 

Every so often an app comes along that enhances the use of your 

mobile device in such a way, that you may wonder how you were 

able to ever function without it. With a multitude of apps to choose 

from, how do you know what’s worth the download? 

One of the great things about mobile applications is the capabilities that it opens to you that never 

existed before. Before the use of this technology, who could have imagined that one day you will be 

able to do just about anything by tapping and swiping? In this column, I will be reviewing applications 

pertaining to the categories of productivity, business, entertainment and reference. 

DropBox 

FREE 

Category: Productivity 

Compatibility: Android, BlackBerry, 

iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch 

Rating: 10 

DropBox allows you to seamlessly sync and share files from your 

computer to your mobile device via Internet connection. You can 

share just about anything including music and word documents. 

When you first open DropBox, you will be prompted to create an 

account. Creating an account is fast and easy; there is no wait and 

it can be done directly from the device you are using. The service 

comes in three versions: Basic (which offers 2GB of storage at no 

cost), Pro 50 (50GB of storage for $9.99/month or $99.00/year), or 

Pro 100 (100GB of storage for $19.99/month or $199.99/year.) 

This app gives you three menu options which are located at the bottom 

of your device screen: Favorites, My Dropbox, and Settings. Favorites 

contains files that you have marked to view when your device is offline. 

My Dropbox lists all of the files that you have stored in the Dropbox cloud 

storage facility. The Settings option lets you link your device to your 

Dropbox account and the email you use to register with Dropbox.com. 

The interface is simple, clean, and is loaded with all of the necessary 

tools for file sharing. There is also a memory bar that lets users know 

when they are about to exceed their storage limits. 

Timewerks 

$9.99 

Category: Business 

Compatibility: iPhone, iPod touch. 

Rating: 7 

TimeWerks is a mobile billing app that allows users to keep track 

of time spent on client jobs and the cost of materials used. Using 

TimeWerks is easy enough for most tasks. The main screen 

gives you access to see your clients at a glance, projects you are 

currently working on, invoices set to go out, and a list of materials 

used in the project. Adding a client is easy. If the client is already 

in your phone book, TimeWerks will automatically pull all of their 

information for the invoice (e.g., name, phone number, email, and 

address) into the app. You can create a variety of invoices which 

include different rates for different tasks, factor in taxes, and use 

different currencies to figure out the bottom line. 

Once the job is done, you can email the client an HTML or PDFformatted 

invoice. One of the best features of TimeWerks is its 

ability to track time spent on a project even if the app is closed. If 

you happen to need assistance, there’s a comprehensive help file to 

guide you. 

Brushes 

$9.99 (iPad) 

$4.99 (iPhone and iPod touch) 

Category: Entertainment 

Compatibility: iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch. 

Rating: 10 

Brushes has a simple purpose: to create dynamic artwork on your 

iPad, iPhone or Pod Touch. Notably, Artist Jorge Colombo used 

this app to create the cover of the June 2009 issue of New Yorker 

magazine. When you launch Brushes, a large thumbnail gallery of 

all of your paintings is displayed. By touching one, you can begin 

editing. The Interface is truly simple. The bottom houses a toolbar 

which features a color picker, eye dropper tool, and paint bucket. 

To the left you will find the brush, brush styles, and an eraser. In the 

middle, are the all-important Undo and Redo; while all of the layers 

you create can be found to the right. A unique feature in Brushes is 

the fact that it will save all of your artwork automatically so if you 

happen to leave the app for whatever reason, your work is not lost. 

Just launch the app, tap on your project and continue. After you 

have created your image, you can upload it to Flickr or e-mail it to 

friends and family. The app even allows you to connect your iPad to 

your television via a VGA output where you can display your artwork 

as a slideshow. Nothing is too hard to understand with Brushes. Just 

select a tool and begin creating your very own masterpiece. 

Color Expert 

$9.99 

Category: Reference 

Compatibility: iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch. 

Rating: 8 

Color Expert helps artists and designers identify, translate, and 

show color using their iPad, iPhone or iPod touch. You can use 

the interactive color wheel to identify a target color and then 

find several palettes backed by color theory. There are several 

color schemes supported including Monochromatic, Analogous, 

Complementary, Split Complementary, and Triadic. 

This app allows users to photograph colors on anything and then 

capture the RGB values of colors within the image. A unique feature 

of Color Expert is that it gives you the RGB or the closest Pantone 

CMS equivalent which makes this app ideal for photographers and 

graphic designers who work in print. Once your color is in samples, 

Color Expert displays the color on an adjustable color wheel 

where you can create color palettes from a built-in library of color 

harmonies. When you’ve created a color palette that you like, you 

can then e-mail it to yourself or to a client. This app is great for 

beginners and professionals alike. 


15

TALKBACK 

Kerstin Upmeyer 

Illustrator & Instructor 

kupmeyer.com 

“What does it take to get a good job? What if I’m not sure what type of job I want? Can I, or should I consider working for myself?” 

As a rising, creative professional, you’re likely to ask yourself many questions. Sometimes it’s tough to know where to go for 

answers. As both a seasoned instructor in a design college and a professional in the industry who keeps her ear to the ground, 

I’ll do my best to provide you with the straight scoop when it comes to this crazy, yet fulfilling world of design. 

For this edition, I’ve chosen to respond to a question from a professional photographer and old classmate of mine living and 

working in Germany. She asks: 

“ As a Photographer, how do you find work and representation? 

How do you represent yourself and your work to the best of 

your abilities?” 

These are great questions, but since I am an illustrator 

and designer, not a photographer, I knew I’d need 

some expert advice for answering this one. So I 

looked to a colleague of mine from IADT- Online, Glen 

Perotte. Glen is an award winning former advertising 

photographer who in recent years has turned his 

attention to art education and fine-art photography. 

Glen explained that first you have to consider what 

aspect of the field you are talking about. There is 

commercial photography, Fine art photography, and 

Wedding/ Event/Portraiture photography. Considering 

his own experience and what we both agreed most 

readers would be interested in, Glen filled me 

in on the basics of successful marketing for a 

commercial photographer. 

Commercial work, like taking photos for magazines, 

ad agencies and design companies has a few standard 

ways you can market yourself. First, you need to have a 

portfolio, both a physical book and an online website. 

Initially an interested business may look for you via 

your website. If they become really interested they 

may call you in to be interviewed. In some instances, 

clients may commission you solely based on your 

web-site, however a hard copy portfolio is still 

required. Leave behinds like picture postcards are 

also a great idea to have in your arsenal. 

You can contact various agencies by searching out 

services that list agencies in USA and Europe and use 

it to contact the art buyer of an agency. This is the 

most important person for a photographer; they are 

the gatekeepers for the agency when it comes to 

buying and commissioning art. A Creative director 

will brief the art buyer on what they are looking for 

and the buyer’s job is to find a match. They may look 

through industry standard directories, like The Black 

Book and the Creative Handbook. These are places 

where you as a photographer, might pay to be listed 

(be warned however, it is not cheap!). 

Photography Agents are another method of getting your 

work sold. Either they find you, or you can try to get hold 

of them. If you are looking for an agent, you want to do 

your research, both to make sure they’re reputable and 

are familiar with the kind of work you do. You would 

promote yourself to them in a similar manner as to an 

agency. Once you are in with a good agent they can take 

a lot of that work off your plate. They find work for you, 

and promote you through their website and other means. 

They have connections you may not, and can be a buffer 

between you and the art buyer/client. A good agent also 

does all negotiations (checking with you for agreement 

of course). It’s in their best interest to get you a good deal. 

An agent has a vested interest; usually an agent takes 

25% commission on your fees. This does not including 

markups on expenses you get paid for that work, like 

hiring models, make-up artists, and stylists. All in all, an 

agent can free up a lot of time for the photographer so 

they can do what they’re good at, being a photographer, 

and not get bogged down in business details. 

As to the question of networking, Glen suggests you 

embrace it all! Links through Social Networking sites 

such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn are examples. 

Also joining professional industry and trade groups 

can be very smart. Any platform that makes you 

more visible, he says, do it! One final suggestion is 

the importance of winning awards. Awards are one 

of the best ways to promote you in the photography 

field. When a client sees the connection between you, 

good imagery, and the recognition of your ability, it’s 

definitely a potent combination. 

Concept: 

“Reality Check”, created by Professional Photography student Xong Hang, is a 

combination of photography and finger-painting illustration. This piece is meant 

to create a new perspective of an artistic collaboration showing a photograph 

transitioning into an illustration. 

Materials: 

Original photography combined with hours of intricate finger illustration using an 

Apple iPad and the Layers Pro application. 


17 

INSIGHT

FOCUS FOCUS 

Battling the Elements for Art 

words by cathy franklin & michele roy 

portrait by fred boye 

Cathy Franklin has taught at Collins College 

since May 1996 when the college was Al Collins 

Graphic Design School. Over the past 14 years 

she has taught everything from Graphic Design 

to Animation, Game Art, and even Interior Design 

where she led classes in drawing and rendering. 

But for a few months out of the year, this desert 

Sooner becomes a monsoon maniac in search of 

thrills under electric skies. 

While most storm chasers are after scientific data, 

Cathy has a very different goal. She takes the 

opportunity afforded her every monsoon season 

here in Phoenix to battle the elements armed only 

with a tripod and camera. Cathy’s after school 

hobby is capturing lightning on film. Her lightning 

images have been the subject of numerous articles, 

TV reports, and gallery exhibits. She also enjoys 

landscape and macro photography. Cathy’s love 

for storms and lightning stems from her youth 

and experiences while in Oklahoma. As a young 

girl, she spent many a night petrified under the 

covers hiding from the fierce storms pounding 

her home. Somewhere along the line, the fear 

turned to curiosity and eventually to a strong 

fascination with lightning that stirred her passion 

for storm chasing. 

The early ‘60s brought Cathy’s family west. Her teen 

years included the regular activities associated 

with attending high school in Scottsdale, Arizona, 

but they also included making many journeys up 

Camelback Mountain to watch the monsoon 

storms. “It is quite an inspiring sight to see 

dust storms literally roll across the desert 

while lightning is bouncing off surrounding 

mountains,” Cathy recalled. After high school 

she returned to Oklahoma for college. She 

became a third generation Sooner, graduating 

from the University of Oklahoma with a 

Bachelor’s Degree in Fine Arts in 1975. While 

in college, she studied photography. She 

experimented with lightning photography 

during the great spring storms of the Midwest 

and then returned to Arizona to capture the 

summer monsoons. Storm chasing was not 

what it is today and, of course, all of her 

friends thought she was crazy. 

Thirty-five years later Cathy’s husband, children, 

friends and neighbors still think she is nuts. For her, 

however, there is a genuine inner peace when she 

is on a mountain looking out over the city dodging 

rain, hail, dust, and lighting in pursuit of that perfect 

picture. Nevertheless, she is quick to point out that 

this is not a hobby for the faint-hearted. Taking 

lightning photographs can be extremely dangerous 

and you must use common sense when you are 

out acting as a human lightning rod with a metal 

camera and tripod. 

Cathy shares some advice, “Always pay close 

attention to the weather and look for nearby 

shelter before you are in trouble. The safest way 

to catch storms is when they are either coming 

in or going out. When storms are right on top of 

you, it is time to stop and live to chase another 

day. And don’t forget to go prepared not only for 

shooting but also for long stints in the elements. 

Fill your car with gas at the beginning of your 

excursion. You may find you have to chase after 

a storm if it is moving quickly. Take plenty of 

water, a flashlight, a cell phone, and some 

nutritional, high-protein snacks in addition to 

lots of film and an extra camera battery. A little 

luck and a lot of patience will also help.” 

Once you venture out you will experience a unique 

and rewarding adventure. The best part is that 

you just might meet other crazy, die-hard storm 

chasers and you’ll have new friends. 

Cathy uses an old, trusty Canon A-1 with Fuji 100 

ASA film. The 2010 monsoon season was her first 

attempt at shooting digital, using a Canon 5D. She 

greatly enjoys the instant gratification and the 

delete button. One drawback she found with digital 

is that you cannot have the camera exposed to all 

the elements like you can with film. Digitals have 

too many electronics that can get damaged in 

the heat, dust, and rain. She feels that the digital 

images are sharper, but that film is better for color. 

Despite these drawbacks it was rewarding to try 

digital and she will likely take both from here on 

out. To her, it’s like fishing with two poles. You 

double your chances for catching the big one. 

Whichever medium someone may choose, she 

recommends a sturdy tripod and a reliable cable 

release. Lightning moves fast which means you 

need to be able to as well. 

When she is not out stumbling around on a mountain 

enduring the relentless heat, growling animals, 

and the occasional police officer, Cathy uses 

her photography skills in the Graphic Design 

department at Collins College. She loves the 

challenge of trying to get students to see things 

differently and to understand what it means to take 

good photographs. “They are so used to snapping 

pictures with their cell phones they don’t realize 

that there is so much more to it,” she says. She 

helps them see the difference between pointing 

and shooting to get a picture and composing a 

picture. “Good photography is about the lighting 

and good composition. It is about seeing with our 

eyes. How our eyes see things is much different 

from how our minds do. Our eyes see everything 

that will be in the picture, where it will be, and 

how the lighting affects the scene. Our minds 

compartmentalize and we need to add the 

creativeness to it. Good photography is showing 

our minds how to see.” 

The most rewarding thing about teaching is the 

interaction with the students. They are so excited 

when they are successful and they have achieved 

some extraordinary work. She learns as much from 

them as they learn from her. Of course, many of 

her students want to learn how to take lightning 

photographs as well so she cautions them along 

with her encouragement. Most of the students’ field 

experience takes place on the school campus due 

to time constraints although Cathy will occasionally 

take them on a field trip to the zoo or other local 

places if time and weather permits. 

“Lightning photography is 

much like fishing...It’s an 

extra bonus when you catch 

something!” 

“City Lights” (Film) “Split Ends” (Digital) 


19

FOCUS FOCUS 

One of the most memorable field trips was 

an evening trip to Rustler’s Rooste, a popular 

restaurant perched on a butte overlooking the 

East Valley of Phoenix, to photograph the full 

moon rising over the city at sunset. “It was a great 

trip. They got to see just how hard it is to get good 

pictures of the full moon.” 

She loves to share her enthusiasm for her work 

with her students. It is an honor and joy to share 

their pride when they see their work published or 

printed. Even more so is the wonderful feeling of 

being paid to do something you love. There are not 

too many people out there who can say, “I can’t 

believe they are paying me for doing this.” 

Cathy started in the Graphic Design Program, 

switched to Animation, and has now returned to 

Graphic Design. In addition to Photography, Cathy 

currently teaches Illustrator and Typography. When 

asked if she had a favorite subject, she said it was 

a toss-up between the Graphic Design classes 

and the Animation classes. Animation was a fun 

change of pace, but she is really enjoying being 

back teaching Graphic Design. Each of the subjects 

offered different students with unique skills and 

drawing abilities. It gave her a chance to use 

and create with different equipment. Animation 

was great because she could see the students’ 

faces light up as they created and watched their 

animations come to life. 

Of course, there are always students you just never 

forget. For Cathy, these include Nathan Frigard 

and Ryan Heuett whom she taught years ago. Both 

went on to work with George Lucas at Lucasfilm on 

Star Wars. The rewards can go beyond teaching. 

Cathy has gone to movies and stayed for the film 

credits just to watch her former students’ names 

flash by on the big screen. As a result of how 

influential she was in their lives, Nathan invited 

her to tour Skywalker Ranch while George Lucas 

was there. She also had the pleasure of teaching 

Chris Nicks, Stevie Nicks’ brother, in graphic design. 

After his graduation, she was invited to Stevie’s 

home, a concert, and a band party where she met 

Don Henley and other famous musicians. It was an 

incredible experience that Cathy won’t forget. 

Still, those perks don’t outweigh seeing your 

students succeed in their chosen field. Student 

success is a daily occurrence for her. All she 

has to do is to pick up a magazine, turn on the 

television or play a video game, and she can see 

their handy work all around. 

1 

2 

1. “Palm Trees” (Film) 2. “Many Branches” (Digital) 3. “Charge” (Film) 4. “Dead Center” (Digital) 

5. “Power Hungry Too” (Film) 6. “Twilight Time” (Digital) 7. “Sky Stalker” (Digital) 

“She loves to share her 

enthusiasm for her work with 

her students. It is an honor 

and joy to share their pride 

when they see their work 

published or printed.” 

3 4 

7 

To see more of Cathy’s work, visit her website at www.electricskies.com 


21 

6 

5

SUCCESS SUCCESS 

Ideation 12 

Twelve hours, five campaigns, one amazing experience. 

words by jaime pescia & mary gebhart 

photography by jaime pescia 

What is the result of putting five highly creative 

graphic design students in a technologically 

equipped room, giving them a creative brief, and 

for twelve hours turning them loose to design an 

ad campaign? Nothing short of creative magic. 

On July 21st, Graphic Design students from IADT- 

Detroit participated in the first Ideation 12 event. 

Drawing on trends in, and the popularity of, designrelated 

competition shows, IADT- Detroit students 

conceptualized Ideation 12 as an event in which 

teams of Graphic Design students would compete 

against the clock and each other to create and 

launch a campaign for a new product. 

When the students pitched their idea to Graphic Design 

Program Chair, Jaime Pescia, she agreed that the 

competition would be an excellent learning experience. 

The challenge would offer students the opportunity 

to experience the realities of working on an advertising 

campaign, demonstrate their design knowledge, and 

build relationships with their classmates. 

The competition was open to all levels of Graphic 

Design students, including incoming students, so in 

order to ensure an equal distribution of skill level 

the groups were selected by faculty members who 

were familiar with students’ abilities. 

On the morning of July 21st, 26 excited students 

arrived at the IADT- Detroit campus ready to 

roll up their sleeves and take on the challenge. 

The only instructions students had been given 

prior to the competition was that they were 

to bring their basic design supplies with them. 

The competitors did not know who their group 

members would be, what the topic was, or what 

they would be creating. All they knew for sure was 

that they would have twelve hours in which to create 

a concept and campaign. 

In the classroom, tensions ran high as teams 

were finally announced and the creative brief 

was handed out. The creative brief contained 

the following specifications: 

Overview: 

Mars is launching a new candy bar to compete with 

Nestlé’s Crunch and Kit Kat. The candy bar appeals to 

consumers when they crave a specific type of sweet 

snack - chocolate taste, but with a light crunch. 

Objective: 

Create awareness of the new candy bar by launching 

the product into the marketplace. To do this, a new 

name, logo and package will need to be created. 

Additional promotions should be developed to help 

increase awareness. 

Target Audience: 

The target audiences are males and females, ranging 

in age from 15-40. They are very cognizant of their 

health, but still like a sweet treat. 

Primary Message: 

When you are craving a sweet chocolate snack, but 

conscious about the nutrition, have an UN-NAMED 

CANDY bar. 

Spread out in rooms around the school, groups 

feverishly worked to create a smart, marketable, 

creative concept. After a few hours, Jaime Pescia 

checked in with each group for creative guidance. 

“Some groups were pleasantly discussing their 

ideas, while in other rooms groups were tense 

and anxious. I found it fascinating that three out of 

the five groups were working in the same creative 

direction without even knowing it.” 

Tension grew as the deadline drew closer. “It 

was challenging because we had designers on 

our team with all different levels of experience. 

We figured out who did what best and went 

from there,” shared senior Sarah Bills. Some 

groups struggled with the group dynamic. Senior 

Brad Petrinec recalls, “There were definitely 

differences of opinion, and at one point we even 

stopped all progress because a member of the 

group thought we should go in a completely 

different direction.” 

In the end, all of the groups finished on time and 

beginning at eight o’clock in the evening each 

group presented and pitched their campaign idea 

to a panel of judges consisting of Gary Pascoe, 

Team Detroit Creative Director; Rick Dennis, Goody 

Silverstein & Partners Creative Director; and Jaime 

Pescia, Graphic Design Program Chair. After the 

groups had finished presenting their concepts, 

the judges engaged in an intense discussion of 

the presentations. Each judge was impressed with 

the creativity and professionalism of the work that 

had been created, and Gary Pascoe commented, 

“Twelve hours to brand an entirely new product from 

the ground up; it’s not crazy, it’s the real world.” Rick 

Dennis reflected, “I wasn’t surprised by the quality of 

the work. They had really good teachers.” 

The judges finally acknowledged that while 

each group had created concepts that contained 

successful elements, there were two groups that 

hit the design mark – Lift and TerraBite. After 

much deliberation, TerraBite was selected as the 

most successful overall campaign. The branding 

and design were consistent, and the creative 

ideas, which utilized environmental advertising, 

gave them the edge over the competition. 

TerraBite’s winning team members were Sarah 

Bills, Sarah Lunsford, Shane McCallion, Jeff 

Scholnick, and Robert Laster. 

“It was an awesome experience to be put under 

pressure with a team and real world professionals 

to present to. Not only was it fun and exciting, 

it helped me to push myself as a designer,” 

remembers student Donna Moy. The industry 

judges were so impressed with the work created, 

they were inspired to stay after the winning team 

had been selected, and provide constructive 

criticism to each team. Gary Pascoe commented, 

“I went in not knowing what to expect, and left 

after hiring an intern.” And Rick Dennis echoed the 

sentiment, “The students were like a tonic restoring 

my own desire to create. I found myself ready to 

jump in and start concepting!” 

Senior Julie Schichtel recalls, “It was the perfect 

experience; given such a tight deadline, working as 

a team and presenting your idea does not get any 

closer to a real world experience. Ideation 12 was a 

great taste of what the real world is all about starting 

at ideation, sketching, narrowing down your 

message, making comps, and presenting to the 

clients. This was all around a great experience and I 

am so grateful that I could be a part of it.” 


23


Working to End Sexual Exploitation 

Harrington Communication Design students work with a local community organization. 

words by dan elliott 

photography by joe byrnes 

Harrington Communication Design students 

Rachael Pobst, Katelyn Smith, Elise Weiler, Cari Hogan, 

Allyson Murphy, and Hailey Ransom-Schultz; of 

the Senior Design Studio 2 class instructed by Dan 

Elliott; had the opportunity to work with the Chicago 

Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation (CAASE) in 

the 2010 Summer Semester. CAASE was looking 

to develop a series of designs that would raise 

awareness to the client’s cause and gain support for 

their “End Demand, Illinois” campaign from the local 

community. These designs would work as posters 

as well as bus and “el” ads that did not employ 

“stereotypical” imagery to convey the message. 

This project allowed the students to work with a 

non-profit organization and witness first-hand the 

effect design can have on and for a community. 

One of the goals for the students was to effectively 

raise awareness of the client’s cause and attract 

attention to the “End Demand, Illinois” website 

(www.enddemandillinois.org). The website offers 

a definition of what CAASE is trying to accomplish. 

“The ‘End Demand, Illinois’ campaign is a multi-year 

organizing and advocacy effort to transform Illinois’ 

response to prostitution and sex trafficking; 

advocate for the creation of tools and resources for 

law enforcement to prosecute traffickers, pimps, 

and those who profit from prostitution; deter men 

from buying sex; and create social supports and 

services for trafficked and prostituted individuals.” 

According to caase.org, that is what reinforces their 

overall vision. “CAASE is committed to building a 

global community free from sexual exploitation. 

We know that all forms of sexual exploitation, 

including sexual assault and the commercial sex 

trade, are detrimental to a healthy society and 

undermine the dignity of all people.” 

Directing attention to these websites is only part 

of the problem the students needed to solve. The 

other issue was to give insight into the gravity, 

weight, and nature of the issue. The students began 

by reading over a packet given by CAASE containing 

startling figures about sexual exploitation and their 

goals to proceed in realizing their vision. With this 

information, the students researched previous 

examples of campaigns aimed at increasing 

awareness about similar issues. They gathered 

images and videos to use as inspiration on how to 

approach such a heavy topic. Rachel Durchslag, 

Executive Director at CAASE, impressed with the 

students’ process and work commented, “The 

class was one of the most thoughtful and creative 

that we have worked with to date. They thoroughly 

researched issues of sexual exploitation before 

they started their work, and they developed poster 

designs and concepts that were some of the most 

powerful, innovative, and impressive that we have 

seen.” One of the problems the client had with 

previous campaigns done by other organizations is 

that they relied on imagery depicting prostitution 

laden with stereotypes. This was not a direction 

the client or the students saw as being socially 

responsible or beneficial to the cause. The intent 

was to raise awareness about the problem, not 

reinforce categorically false ideas. Katelyn Smith, 

one of the design students, commented on this 

saying, “Before working with CAASE, I had a 

different (misinformed) understanding of what it 

meant to be in the sex trade. Hopefully, we will bring 

light to the subject for many other people too.” 

Avoiding the use of stereotypical images and using 

their research as a guide, the students began 

brainstorming new ways to engage viewers with 

their work and interact with the information. 

The students took several different approaches. 

One student used information graphics as a way 

to show the enormity of the statistics. She created 

a series of posters representing different types of 

Design by Katelyn Smith 

information all pertaining to the sex trade. One 

poster illustrated the amount of men purchasing 

sex in a single minute in Chicago alone. While 

dealing with the realization that this information is 

hard to approach as a viewer, two students chose 

to personify the information to make the message 

emotionally connect with the audience. 

At the beginning of the project, the client made a 

comment about how every prostituted woman is 

someone’s daughter, sister, friend, etc. This made 

the message more than mere facts and fueled 

the desire for the students to convey that emotion 

through their work. Both students working with 

a similar motive came to two distinctly different 

solutions. One photographed a 15th birthday cake 

and a birthday present juxtaposed with facts on the 

average age girls are first purchased for sex. The 

other student represented the facts as doodles in 

a teenage girl’s sketchbook. They both created a 

connection with the viewer and the innocence of 

youth with very powerful solutions that allow the 

audience to emotionally connect with the message. 

Another direction one of the students took was to 

directly change the definition of prostitution. This being 

one of the main goals of CAASE and their campaign, 

the student felt it was important to address the issue 

upfront. The posters show a definition torn out of 

paper and the word “victim” taped over the definition 

for prostitute. Breaking the silence for the prostituted 

women and giving them a voice. 

Design by Elise Weiler 

This project, from the research to the completion, 

was a tremendous experience for the students. 

Elise Weiler shared about her involvement stating 

that, “Working with CAASE was a great experience. 

Through this project, we were able to increase 

awareness for an important organization and also 

have the benefit of working with a real client in a 

classroom setting.” Katelyn Smith also commented 

on the value of the project stating, “CAASE was 

such an amazing client that gave us an opportunity 

to work towards a great cause.” One thing that 

Harrington College of Design takes pride in is giving 

its students real world experience and this project is 

no exception. The students were able to work for a 

great cause and could see how their work can create 

change in their local community, city, state, country, 

and even the world. This experience, among others, 

prepares the students with the knowledge that design 

is a powerful tool that can give hope and voices to 

the voiceless to make the world a better place. 

“ This project allowed the students 

to work with a non-profit organization 

and witness first-hand the effect design 

can have on and for a community.” 


25 

Design by Cari Hogan


Sparkling Bright in the Big City 

IADT- San Antonio Alumna Alyssia Perales wins big in New York City. 

words by renee santos 

photography by juan ramos & elizabeth ray 

“After winning an esteemed 

design contest, a whirlwind 

trip to New York, and the 

potential of a future in her 

favorite industry, she is on 

the right track and headed 

in the direction of 

her dreams.” 

Social media is a powerful thing. It is useful for 

networking with colleagues, reminiscing with old 

friends, and promoting events, among other things. 

For one student at the International Academy of 

Design and Technology in San Antonio, the use of 

social media resulted in a chance-of-a-lifetime trip 

to New York City. 

Alyssia Perales, a Fashion Design and Merchandising 

student at IADT- San Antonio, was browsing the 

social networking site, Facebook, when she found 

a Novero jewelry design contest that intrigued 

her. Novero is a nationally-known jewelry line that 

is worn by countless celebrities in Hollywood. The 

Novero design contest called for a stylized design 

sketch, look page, or collage illustrating how a 

woman styles her apparel to coordinate with her 

new Novero jewelry from their latest Victoria 

line. The grand prize of the contest was a trip 

to New York City to partake in Novero’s Victoria 

Collection Launch Party. 

Novero is a bluetooth solutions company that 

also creates luxury consumer products, including 

jewelry. The company challenges the conventions 

of today with imagination and high-design. The 

Victoria line focused on creating mobile lifestyle 

products that move effortlessly with your life while 

complementing your style. Perales submitted an 

entry via email the night before the deadline. One 

week later, Alyssia Perales was declared the winner 

of the national contest. On June 23rd, Perales was 

flown to New York City for the launch party. 

She was accompanied by her aunt, and they were 

picked up by a driver, who coincidentally was 

the driver for Mr. Big’s character in the popular 

sitcom, “Sex and the City.” They were taken on 

the scenic route and arrived at the beautiful 

Ganseevort Hotel in Manhattan. 

Then, it was off to the party. Perales met with 

many of Novero’s corporate employees and 

enjoyed the launch in style. She described it as 

beautifully simplistic and made-for-TV. The evening 

included video montages of the development and 

creation of the jewelry, fabulous food and drinks 

and entertainment provided by a melodious 

opera singer. Chic models showcased the 

variety of necklaces and ended the evening with 

glamour. One of the most interesting parts of the 

Victoria line was the La Premiere Collection, a 

set of custom-made necklaces made with pearls 

and gold. The necklaces are handmade by fine 

craftsmen. The pageantry and jewelry exhibition 

truly added to the unforgettable visit. 

This was Perales’ third trip to the city, but 

definitely her best. She was offered a design 

job opportunity upon graduating from IADT- 

San Antonio. The possibilities of a future in 

fashion design inspire Perales. “I have always 

been interested in fashion,” she said. “I took 

an apparel class and fashion class in high 

school, and I knew a career in fashion was 

absolutely something I wanted to pursue.” 

Perales, 19, is a focused young fashionista. 

She began her education track at the Academy 

in June 2009. She was set to attend another 

educational institution in San Antonio when 

she received a call from IADT. She jumped 

at the opportunity because she knew it would be 

best for her aspirations and future endeavors. 

“I realized that a career in fashion is exactly what I want 

so I was ecstatic for the opportunity to continue my 

education at the Academy,” said Perales. 

Her investment in her education and future is 

clear. Perales has provided assistance in the 

production and design of a variety of local 

fashion shows. She was recently nominated 

to be vice president of IADT- San Antonio’s 

Stitch Fashion Club. Perales hopes to make a 

positive impact on the campus at IADT and 

on the fashion scene in the Alamo City. She 

strives to learn everything she can, technically 

and creatively, and apply that to creating a more 

fashionable community. 

Perales’ favorite designer is Zac Posen and she 

loves that she can find his designs at Target. His 

designs are a showcase of curvaceous, flowing, 

feminine designs that are making waves in the 

fashion scene. Perales draws inspiration for 

her designs from designers like Posen as well 

as from everyday simplicities. The blossoming 

designer uses anything and everything to help 

formulate creative ideas in her sketches, and then 

the fashions come to life in the development of 

each of her fashion garments. 

“I can find elements of design and fashion in 

everything I see,” said Perales. This gift is a great 

one to have, particularly for an aspiring fashion 

designer. Perales has her sights set high, and she 

is looking forward to a fashionable ride ahead. 

After winning an esteemed design contest, a 

whirlwind trip to New York, and the potential of a 

future in her favorite industry, she is on the right 

track and headed in the direction of her dreams. 

Her ideal job is to work for a designer in the 

Big City. After earning her degree, she would 

like to settle in New York and experience 

working for a designer. Her sights are set on 

potentially designing her own line, but she also 

wants to learn from the best. Alyssia Perales is 

determined. She knows challenges will lie ahead, 

but regardless, she is excited to keep moving 

forward. The fashion industry is not an easy one 

to break into, but Perales seems to be doing just 

that. “You have to be assertive, go for it and not be 

shy. You have to make yourself known,” said Perales. 

She is doing just that and inspiring others around 

her to do the same. Perales knows the value of 

working hard and gaining hands-on experience 

down road to success. She also understands the 

magic of the New York City fashion industry. 

There is a sparkling sense of possibility that 

lies in the hopes of designers everywhere- to 

reach the highest level of success in the 

world of fashion. 

According to Perales, making yourself known 

is exactly how you can reach that high level of 

recognition. After all, participating in simple 

networking, such as Facebook, can lead to the 

most unexpected opportunity of a lifetime. But 

taking that first step, no matter how small, can 

pave the way for a successful future. 

“ Perales hopes to make 

a positive impact on the 

campus at IADT and on 

the fashion scene in the 

Alamo City.” 


27

ALUMNI ALUMNI 

Ashley Woods’ Millennia War 

IADT- Chicago Graduate builds a career in the Independent Comic Industry. 

words by ron wade 

photography by richard liu 

A recipe for success: take two parts artist, one part 

writer; stir in equal amounts of vision, motivation 

and hard work; spice with a touch of cosplayer, 

gamer and fangirl; pour into a well-chilled 

personality. The result: International Academy of 

Design & Technology- Chicago graduate Ashley 

Woods, an up-and-comer in the independent 

comic field whose growing string of credits include 

her own title Millennia War, guest artist spots on 

Dziva Jones, gallery showings, and a traveling 

panelist at comic conventions. 

When you first meet Ashley Woods, you’ll be met 

with a bubbly personality, effervescent smile, and 

willingness to talk about almost any topic. However, 

those who know her understand that she is always 

plotting – no…not the evil dreams of some master 

criminal bent on world domination – plotting as 

in writing about her experiences to dramatize 

the world of Millennia War. These opposing sides 

of Ashley’s personality form the framework for 

two lead characters of MW, the twins Hannah 

and Saya Hayashi (“Hayashi” means “Woods” in 

Japanese to the Otaku out there). Currently in its 

7th issue, Ashley is the creator, artist, and writer of 

a story line that blends fantasy and sci-fi elements 

with compelling results. Millennia War picks up 

in a world where humans have all but forgotten 

a war fought 1000 years ago; a war where man 

has driven legendary races such as elves into the 

realm of myth. The story begins as these legends 

re-emerge, beginning a campaign of retribution. 

As Ashley puts it, this is “not a frilly fairy story.” The 

story arc, currently planned at 20 issues, drops the 

common distinctions of good and evil focusing 

instead on how the characters develop against 

the backdrop of impending war which reflect on 

Ashley’s own development and values. As Ashley 

phrases it, “You can’t just talk about the bad things 

in life. You have to change the things you don’t like.” 

Setting goals and figuring out how to achieve them 

is one of the things that sets Ashley apart from most 

young artists. Millennia War started as an idea in 

2004 when at the age of 18, she developed the full 

story line for the series. In 2006, she published the 

first issue and later brought on co-writer Michael A. 

Smith II. This year, the first seven issues were bound 

into the Millennia War Graphic Novel Vol. 1. It has 

been a long road producing and self-publishing 

the project, especially considering how Ashley has 

also managed to find time to finish her Bachelor’s 

degree in Video and Animation Production from 

IADT- Chicago while working on the project. 

How does someone studying video and animation 

make the jump to publishing her own comic series? 

Ashley summed it up quite simply. “It’s really the 

same as preparing for video. You are telling a story 

with images. When you get down to it, it’s really 

the same as working on storyboards.” The fact 

that she wanted to visually tell her tales meant 

that as her skills in video developed, her ability to 

compose frames for comics grew. She sees the 

development of the two as symbiotic. The two 

media complemented each other as she developed 

stylistically. This has really allowed Ashley to 

individualize her own style, with cinematic panels 

that fuse her Eastern and American influences. 

The production process she developed for her 

coursework carried into starting the Millennia 

War Project. “You have to take the time to do it 

right,” is her simple advice; Ashley knows from 

experience that the urge to jump straight into 

a project can be your downfall. Something she 

impresses upon current IADT students when she 

conducts workshops on illustration techniques is 

that planning is a key to success. 

Through the summer 2010 term, Ashley returned 

to the campus to conduct seminars on illustration 

techniques and provide students with an industry 

insider’s look at the comics’ field. Somehow in 

between appearances, making sure her book went 

to print, and the summer convention schedule, 

Ashley was able to spare Friday afternoons for 

current students because to her “it was like 

coming home.” That feeling is what drew her to 

the Academy in the first place. “I liked the vibe. 

It was more like a family.” Even after graduation, 

Ashley has been in constant contact with those who 

mentored her. Coming back as an alumni lecturer 

was a logical step, but technique was not the only 

thing Ashley was willing to share. She pushed 

students to set goals and act on their dreams. You 

have to do the work. There are those who dream 

of being comic artists, but dreaming can only take 

you so far. Ashley devoted her efforts to doing and 

making sure people knew what she was working on. 

A proponent of networking, Ashley is a fixture 

at comic, anime, and gaming conventions never 

missing an opportunity to talk with anybody in the 

industry. As she made the shift from being a fan to 

a professional, those networking skills provided 

her with opportunities to become known as more 

than an illustrator. Her work has been included in 

the Out of Sequence show, a traveling exhibition of 

minority and female comic artists, and was featured 

in Black Comics: African American Independent 

Comics Art & Culture (Jennings and Duffy). She has 

been featured as a panelist at conventions across 

the US and in 2008 was invited to speak in Japan. 

The professional experience this has afforded her 

has pushed her awareness of the media and is 

driving her to frequently learn new skills. 

So what does the future hold for Ashley Woods? 

Millennia War has always been planned with a 

definite end to the story arc and Ashley looks 

forward to expanding her horizons. Her work on 

Dziva Jones allowed her to break the mold of the 

action hero genre which is something she wants to 

continue to explore, pushing own story lines down 

new avenues. Ashley is also considering returning 

to a motion comic idea she started as a promo for 

Millennia War while she was developing the first 

issue. We know that the sky is the limit and with 

Ashley you can be sure that whatever she chooses, 

it will be fun and successful. 

Check out Ashley’s work at 

millenniawar.com & ashleyawoods.blogspot.com 


31

ALUMNI ALUMNI 

Bringing Art and Business Together 

IADT- Detroit Alumna Kristin Talbot’s artistic interests pay off. 

words by danielle reynolds & mary gebhart 

photography by jaime pescia 

“My experience at the 

Academy provided me with 

a great foundation so I could 

hit the ground running once 

I was let loose back into the 

real world” 

Kristin Talbot is always examining and questioning. 

After earning her first Bachelor’s degree, she worked 

in mortgage sales for two years. While lucrative, 

mortgage sales did not allow Kristin to utilize her 

creative skills, and when she found herself asking, 

“What’s next?”, she knew she needed to make a 

change. Kristin recalls, “I figured if I was ever going 

to go back to school, this was the time; I needed to 

do something that I loved. So, I did some research on 

Graphic Design programs in the area and found The 

International Academy of Design and Technology in 

Detroit.” Kristin’s family and friends gave the extra 

encouragement she needed and she decided to enroll 

in the Graphic Design program at the Academy and 

never looked back. 

Kristin was a quick study so the concepts and lessons 

came easy for her. She was able to combine her life 

and educational experiences to become a tutor and 

mentor in the Graphic Design program. This benefitted 

both Kristin and the students she was tutoring as she 

drew on the skills and advice of her own instructors. 

According to Kristin, it was also a huge benefit to 

have instructors that currently worked in the industry 

because they were up on the current trends, knew 

the most up-to-date technology, and had a large 

network within the local design industry that they tied 

into the educational experience. She states, “You have 

to master the basics skills. The principles of design 

are not only the core of what we do, but also how 

designers communicate with one another.” 

Kristin exhibited strong leadership qualities 

and took advantage of every educational and 

professional opportunity offered. In addition to 

her tutoring services, she also served as AIGA Vice 

President for the IADT- Detroit student chapter 

and was a contributing member of the student 

creative team for Interfaces 2009, IADT- Detroit’s 

Annual Design Conference. While in her last year, 

Kristin tapped into her past career in the mortgage 

industry and combined her connections with her 

design knowledge. She approached her previous 

employer for an internship in the Marketing and 

Design department, which they gave to her. Her 

internship led her to her current position as Art 

Director at Quicken Loans. 

Kristin is enthusiastic about continuing to work at 

Quicken Loans since it has been ranked as one of 

FORTUNE Magazine’s “100 Best Companies to Work 

For in America” and Computerworld Magazine’s “100 

Best Places to Work in Technology.” Kristin works on 

a variety of projects including both print materials 

and interactive projects, and says, “My experience at 

the Academy provided me with a great foundation 

so I could hit the ground running once I was let loose 

back into the real world.” Dave Garant, Creative 

Director at Quicken Loans and Kristin’s boss, says, 

“Kristin is a valuable team member. Her willingness 

to pitch in on any project and be an active participant 

in discussions is a great asset.” 

Kristin continues her advocacy for the Academy 

after graduating by participating in a faculty 

development session on classroom management 

where she voiced the student perspective. She 

also volunteered her time to be a part of an alumni 

panel discussion at Interfaces 2010 and recently 

helped develop an internship opportunity at 

Quicken Loans for Graphic Design students. 

Kristin’s enthusiasm and determination are paying 

off, and she offers advice to current students, “In 

the big picture, I’m still a young designer. However, 

I’ve managed to gain a tremendous amount of 

experience by diving into new things. I’ll always be 

growing; however, I know I have a strong foundation 

thanks to my great mentors at the Academy. I 

think it’s important for students to recognize the 

importance of truly immersing themselves within 

the design community versus just showing up to 

class to earn a piece of paper. You can be a great 

designer, but you need to be able to relay your 

message, too. Don’t underestimate the power 

of having good communication skills and how 

important interaction with others can be.” 

Kristin Talbot’s experience and ambition have 

placed her head and shoulders above her 

competition and when combined with her interest in 

her education, it’s obvious that her investment in the 

future is going to provide her with big returns. 

“ Her internship led her to her 

current position as Art Director 

at Quicken Loans.” 


33

ALUMNI ALUMNI 

From the Academy to Etsy 

IADT- Tampa graduate, Rebecca Kruse, takes her knowledge, experience and designs 

in a new and exciting direction- online. 

words by julie stout 

portrait by xong hang 

When Rebecca Kruse graduated from high school 

in 1989, the only thing she had on her agenda was 

travel. She was out of high school and ready to 

explore the world and experience it the way she 

always dreamed of. She left Tampa and her part-time 

job at as a salesperson at Contempo Casuals to soon 

find herself in California where she dropped anchor 

and landed a job on Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles. 

The European military and steampunk-inspired 

boutique, International Warbabies-L.A. was filled with 

the hottest fashion-forward trends. Steampunk, a Sir 

Alfred Lord Tennyson meets cyberpunk fashion was 

perfect for her. 

She had no idea that working as a retail salesperson 

would be so fast-paced and demanding. When asked 

why she left International Warbabies-L.A. after eight 

months, she simply said, “Why be a small fish in a big 

pond when I can be a big fish in Tampa?” The time 

she spent on Melrose taught her many things, but 

the biggest lesson was that she had a lot to learn. 

Rebecca moved back to Tampa and Contempo Casuals 

agreed to take her back as an Assistant Manager and 

Visual Display Coordinator for the Westshore and the 

Tampa Bay Plaza locations. “Never burn bridges,” she 

said when asked how she managed to not only get her 

job back, but also get a promotion. 

A few years later, she was approached with a better 

opportunity. At the time, luxury department 

stores were rare in Tampa - especially ones that 

were family-owned. Going from a small retail 

store like Contempo Casuals to a much larger, 

high-end department store like Maas Brothers 

was exactly what she needed. “Contempo was a 

great experience, but when I was approached by 

Maas Brothers to be a Handbag Specialist making 

more money with a merchandise allowance, how 

could I pass it up?” she said. It was 1993. She was 

anchored again, back in Tampa. Life was good. 

In 1994, she started school at the International 

Academy of Design and Technology in Tampa. “I 

was attracted to the school mostly because of the 

courses, the staff, and the teachers. The school 

offered the classes that would actually prepare me 

for the jobs I saw myself wanting in the future.” 

While in school, Rebecca met with the Career 

Services Department and they told her about 

an opening at a boutique in North Tampa called 

Euphoria. Within a few years she was promoted 

to the Merchandising and Visual Display Manager 

position, Buyer and eventually the Store Manager, 

until the owner decided to close the store in 1998. 

That same year, Rebecca graduated and opened 

Ultra, a trendy boutique located in beautiful 

downtown Tampa. “Starting a business wasn’t easy. 

There was a lot of risk involved,” she said. “I still had to 

work to earn a steady income. My husband worked at 

the store during the day while I worked at Burdines.” 

After winning the Best of the Bay Reader’s Choice and 

Critics Choice Awards from the Weekly Planet and 

being recognized as one of the 100 Most Influential 

People, Rebecca decided to close Ultra. The city 

had torn up the streets around the store, making 

it impossible to attract business in addition to an 

unfortunate incident where Rebecca and her husband 

were robbed at gunpoint at the store; the dream of 

being a boutique owner quickly became another part 

of her past. Again, she was ready to move on. 

In 2001, Rebecca was hired at Betsey Johnson. 

Betsey’s whimsical style was very popular at her 

boutique. From 2001-2004 she was the employee of 

the month several times for managing one of their 

top 10 stores. “I enjoyed putting together my sales 

team. The key is to recognize people’s strengths,” 

she said when asked how she over achieved her 

sales goals. When offered the opportunity to take 

over the Madison Avenue store, she declined. After 

all, she was a big fish now. 

A few doors down from the Betsey Johnson store 

was Wolford, a luxury hosiery boutique. Through 

a little research she found that a management 

position was open. She applied and accepted a 

position that paid more than what she was making. 

When asked why, she simply stated, “If you want to 

move up, don’t wait for them to ask you.” She once 

again put together her team, bringing her top sales 

associate, Jill Triplett, over from Betsey Johnson. 

Her Wolford manager’s meetings were based out of 

Austria, where Rebecca would travel to meet with 

the CEOs of the company. “They toured us around 

the manufacturing facility. The machines reminded 

me of Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. The 

place was spotless,” said Rebecca. 

After working for Wolford for a few years, Rebecca 

decided she wanted a family. In 2009, when she was 

ready to get back in to the industry, she contacted 

her much-trusted associate, Jill Triplett. After 

six months of tedious research, their company, 

Bijou Bloom was born. “Bijou,” says Rebecca, “means 

jewelry crafted with love and care which is exactly 

how we feel about each piece we design. Our 

main thought process was to have a product that 

looks eclectically high-end, but at a much more 

approachable price point than the luxury products 

we were used to selling. Whimsy-Vintage Girl is a 

great way to describe the Bijou Bloom customer.” 

When asked why she decided to take her business 

online to etsy.com, Rebecca explained her shift in 

wants and needs. “When I was younger, I wanted to 

be and do everything fashion, but now my passion is 

my family. Starting my business online gave me the 

opportunity to grow a business from home. That’s 

the beauty of owning an online business. I can be 

with my children and not have the risks involved 

with signing a lease, hiring employees or any of the 

other various business-related costs involved with 

having a brick-and-mortar store.” 

She went on to say, “Another thing about etsy.com 

is that it’s affordable and easy to start-up. All you 

need is a business license to get started. The world 

is our customer. We have twenty-two pieces listed 

on our online store and we have over a hundred that 

we bring with us to the craft shows. Shows are great 

because people come with intent to buy. If you 

make amazing pieces and keep the price points low, 

people can afford to fall in love with your creations. 

We use materials from Canada, China, Ireland, and 

Lithuania - all in which we find through etsy.com. 

You’d be amazed at what you can find: one-of-akind, 

vintage materials – brass folding fans, Czech 

beads, Vintage Bakelite beads, anything you can 

imagine,” Rebecca excitedly shared. 

Rebecca’s advice to someone starting a business is 

to, “be open to learning, value all of your resources 

and network! You never know who you will meet 

and how they can play an integral part in your 

career.” She shared that her education helped her 

understand that merchandising and marketing 

are extremely important skills to have. “Marketing 

classes really help you think outside of the box.” 

Rebecca also works as a part-time Visual Merchandise 

Coordinator for Lacoste. A typical day for her when 

she’s not making jewelry consists of working closely 

with managers to make sure they have what they 

need more and less of so that the Lacoste standards 

are properly executed. She is responsible for eight 

stores in the Tampa Bay area including Macy’s, 

Nordstrom, and Neiman Marcus. In addition, she was 

also hired as the Sales Representative for Jessica 

Simpson Dresses. 

Although she keeps herself involved in many areas 

of fashion, when asked what her ultimate goal was 

she said it would be to focus on the jewelry and be 

entirely wholesale. When asked what her greatest 

accomplishment was in life she simply stated, 

“I’ve found the balance of being a wife, a mother, 

and an entrepreneur.” “Don’t limit yourself,” she 

advises. “Dip your toe in several pools and find the 

quality of life you deserve.” 


35

CREATIVE EXCHANGE CREATIVE EXCHANGE 

Creativenerds.co.uk 

Creative Nerds is a designer’s resource with 

inspiration content, freebies, news, tutorials 

and great articles on all things pertaining to 

graphic design from web design to branding 

and much more. 

Designioustimes.com 

On this blog you will find tutorials, design 

resources, articles about vector illustrations, 

t-shirt designs and more. This is a great 

resource for all types of designers AND it 

has freebies! 

Freelancereview.net 

Freelance Review is a design magazine that 

has created crave-worthy content since 

2009! They enjoy producing some of the 

world’s best design inspiration, resources, 

tutorials and original articles. Now in version 

4, Freelance Review continues it’s quest for 

excellence. They are dedicated to providing 

excellent content that graphic and web 

designers look forward to reading. 

Freelancefolder.com 

Freelance Folder is a multi-authored blog 

dedicated to helping entrepreneurs and 

freelancers. Whether you’re a blogger, writer, 

publisher, designer, artist, small business 

owner or entrepreneur, Freelance Folder 

is for you. At Freelance Folder you will find 

articles that provides you with the tools and 

information you need to succeed! 

Sixrevisions.com 

Six Revisions is a website that publishes practical 

and useful articles for designers and web 

developers. They seek to present exceptional, 

noteworthy tips, tutorials, and resources that the 

modern web professional will appreciate. 

Speckyboy.com 

Speckyboy Design Magazine launched in October 

2007, as the personal freelance web design 

home page of Paul Andrew. Somewhere over the 

following months this site dramatically changed 

direction, and evolved into the great design 

resource magazine that you can currently see. It 

offers insightful tutorial, time-saving techniques, 

fresh and useful resources and inspirational art, 

covering web design and development, graphic 

design, advertising, and mobile applications. 

Inspirationfeed.com 

Founded in 2010, Inspirationfeed provides useful 

information about design, inspiration, tutorials, and 

other web related topics. Their goal is to inform 

their readers about the latest trending topics on the 

web and they strongly believe that quality is better 

than quantity. 

Yfpondvd.webs.com 

Yellow Fever DVD Distribution is an independently 

owned and managed firm that is run by film 

makers - for film makers. Their aim is to bring a 

mass number of the best independent films from 

around the world, to DVD for everyone to enjoy. 

Their mission is to give other indie film makers a 

fair deal in a bid to show their work to the world. 

Along with their own movies, Yellow Fever hopes 

to find the best of the best and extend the Yellow 

Fever catalogue in many area’s. They also hope 

to bring back the glory days of yesteryear when 

independent films had a place in the cinema, and 

take what’s on their label, to the big screen. 

Thedphoto.com 

The D Photo is a great resource site for 

photographers. This site provides articles 

and tips, information on gear and equipment, 

inspiration, as well as some great photography 

techniques. Created by a photographer and web 

developer, this site is definitely a worthy follow! 

Fromupnorth.com 

From Up North is a design blog focused on 

design inspiration and news from around 

the world. Inspiration galleries feature 3D, 

Advertising, Clothing, Drawing/Painting, 

Logos, Motion Graphics, Packaging, 

Photography and so much more. 

Feedgrids.com 

Feedgrids.com provides quick access to 

creative resources while exposing new and 

lesser-known feeds all in one place. Their 

goal is to join the thriving online creative 

community and become a helpful tool for 

the user to find inspiration, education, or just 

be a source of interesting information. They 

contribute their own original content to the 

site but are also always looking for people to 

help with contributions. 

Freshome.com 

Freshome’s aim is to inspire you to find the 

ideas for the house you’ve always wanted. In 

order to accomplish this goal they seek to 

present exceptional interior designs, latest 

trends in architecture and noteworthy tips that 

will help create the home of your dreams. 

This is a great resource for interior designers 

or those with interior design aspirations. 

10steps.sg 

10Steps.SG is a blog written by a full-time 

Art Director from Singapore who has always 

enjoyed doing and reading anything design 

related. He started this blog in order to share his 

random experiments with Adobe Photoshop and 

inspirational articles he comes across daily. It 

has expanded to include news, tips and tutorials, 

freebies and other miscellaneous information. 

Dzinepress.com 

From Graphic Designing, Web Designing to design 

mechanics and even Interior Designing, Dzinepress 

has everything that the world of design has to 

offer. Using the platform of new media technology, 

Dzinepress provides the design community with an 

opportunity to discover and re-discover the design 

world through quality articles, tutorials, how-to’s, 

resources and inspirational material etc. Dzinepress 

posts interesting and useful content coming from 

the industry experts and relating to the topics like 

Blogging, CSS, Fonts, Wordpress, Tutorials, Web 

Designing, HTML, Inspiration and Joomla. 

Pvmgarage.com 

PV.M Garage is a Web Design Blog/Community 

that spreads information for web designers and 

developers. The website includes a Community 

News Section, a Web Design News Aggregator and 

it weekly delivers useful resources, freebies and 

awesome stuff for your inspiration. 


37

Beyond the Lens, 

Behind the Façade 

Words by Jessica D. Lotzkar 

Cover artist and International Academy of Design 

and Technology- Tampa student, Jesse Adair, 

presents us with an image of such astounding 

beauty and grace that the world wouldn’t know 

beneath all of its light could hide a darker side. 

People as a whole tend to present themselves with a face of the 

most amiable nature, but as we all know there are layers much 

deeper than the surface may appear. Jesse explores two extremes 

in photography from the radiant and glowing to the sinister 

and gruesome. He is one person, but there are two artistic souls 

residing within. The tale of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is the epitome 

of the internal battle between good and evil. It is an attempted 

fight to oust discovered wickedness amid the angelic. Jesse Adair, 

rather, chooses to embrace these conflicting parallels in his work, 

creating both the beautiful and the beast.

There are two distinct personalities 

to Jesse Adair’s photography, horror and fine art. 

They call for very different styles and influences. 

He first dabbled in landscape and cityscape photography, finding it to be a 

natural fit. A fan of the big picture and a wide-angled eye, Jesse very rarely 

sees things with a narrow point of view. His fine art photography is heavily 

influenced by Elizabeth Carmel and Peter Lik. Their images possess intense 

color, depth, and talent. Like Elizabeth and Peter, Jesse loves to make places 

look beautiful even amidst a world that has experienced so much tragedy, 

war, and loss. His horror photography, however, began as an experiment. 

He discovered that he not only enjoyed taking pictures of landscapes, but 

of people as well. Quite different from his fairytale-like landscape 

photographs, his horror imagery features people that appear dead or in 

a state of dying. Fascinated with horror for his whole life, Jesse has been 

largely influenced by Joel Peter Witkin and all of the Friday the 13th movies. 

Witkin creates unforgettable images that are instantly recognizable, an 

effect that Jesse has come to produce in his own photographs. Growing up in 

Iowa, he helped at haunted houses throughout October, always looking for 

the next big scare. It could be said that the seed for his horror photography 

was planted back in his childhood. 

Humble, cow-riddled beginnings in Southwest Iowa might not seem 

like the birth place of a great, dual-minded artist, but 29-year-old Jesse 

Adair has defied the odds of his small town start to flourish in his field. 

Documenting stock car racing in his Iowa youth was the first step in his life 

as a photographer. At 22, Jesse moved to Florida with his northern life in his 

back pocket and after much deliberation, suggestion, and the coaxing of a 

newly purchased Nikon D70 DSLR, he began to look at schools to set forth 

in motion his Professional Photography career. 

The internet served Jesse well in his search for a school, finding the 

International Academy of Design and Technology in Tampa with ease. 

Touring brought hope to his eventual career; IADT was the only school 

that spoke of the instructors’ artistic accomplishments. To learn that these 

instructors worked within their field showed Jesse that he, too, could find 

success after schooling. The instructors in the Professional Photography 

program were genuinely interested in their students’ life after graduation 

which would bode well for Jesse’s future. The Professional Photography 

program fit Jesse perfectly; the combination of hands-on instruction and 

business was exactly what he needed. Knowing that every instructor he 

had, including the Program Chair, Paul Pelak, shot jobs outside of teaching, 

really kept Jesse motivated. The talent level and professionalism made 

him want to be present. His photographic journey through the program 

was fast-paced, exciting, thrilling, and a ton of work. He has found that it 

mimics photography in the real world. 

An alumnus of IADT- Tampa for over three years, Jesse has used most 

of what he was taught at the Academy in the professional world, but the 

program wasn’t easy. Hairs were pulled, but in the end every minute 

was worth it. All of his photographs came from blood, sweat, and tears. 

Currently, Jesse is pursuing a Bachelor’s Degree in Video Production. Two 

important factors went into his decision to return to school. Canon put a 

video sensor in a DSLR and Jesse realized that photography had changed 

forever. To stay relevant in the industry, he would have to know the insand-outs 

of Video Production. He has been able to use his photographic 

skills, while sharpening and expanding them with new tricks, techniques, 

and skill sets. Secondly, and most importantly, Jesse hopes to teach and this 

degree is the next step in that path. He has been given a new life after being 

taught by such amazing instructors and he wishes to give back to the next 

generation of students. 

40 artistikmagazine.com | WINTER 2011 41

We interviewed Jesse and the following series of 

questions seek to explore the inner workings of his 

artistic mind. To view Jesse Adair’s entire body of work, 

please visit him on the web at www.jesseadair.com. 

Some people might not understand the concept behind the grungy, 

darker aspects of your photography. Explain why you possess such 

an interest for the gorier side of art and from where your ideas and 

inspirations for gory projects originate. 

The horror side of my work comes from things that I have to get out of my 

head. It’s a scary thing, but most of my ideas and images come from my 

vivid dreams and nightmares; I take a lot of inspiration from them. My wife 

also comes up with a bunch of ideas. We are a perfect match for sick and 

demented ideas. Our last holiday card was us burying Santa Claus. But we 

are very normal people. Some actors just love to play the bad guy. In real life, 

I like to think I’m a normal, very well adjusted person. So I guess it’s a part 

of playing the bad guy that leads me more to the darker side of photography. 

I have a real knack for making people look really bad; the horror photography 

just plays into that hand. 

Tell us about your photographic process. 

My process involves a bit of post-processing. I try and create or find light 

that is at its absolute best. I take an amazing image and enhance it using 

Photoshop. I never take a bad photograph and try to fix or make it better. 

Specifically, I use High Dynamic Range (or HDR) photography. I try and 

achieve an image that has a higher dynamic range than what a camera 

can capture. I will usually take three or more photographs, combine them 

together with a separate piece of software, and then tone map the image. 

This is where I get my “look.” 

How do you decide on locations or subject matter when you are 

preparing for a shoot? 

When I’m preparing for a photo shoot, the subject matter and location all 

depend on the concept which usually begins while brainstorming with my 

wife. After we’ve come up with the initial concept, we start working on set 

design and location. If we need props, we visit yard sales and flea markets. 

For the subject, I tend to use real people rather than models. I’ll usually 

spend more time on set than I will on the actual photo shoot. I always have 

a special makeup artist on hand, but in some of my earlier horror photos, 

I did all of the makeup myself. Then it all comes down to what the Academy 

taught me; the use of light and camera angles to create a story in one shot. 

I take everything that I’ve learned to create something that looks cool. 

Your photographs have a delicate sense of surrealism. Is this an 

effect you always aim for and how did you decide on this look? 

I aim for something different with each photograph and it was about my third 

quarter into the photography program that I decided to find a technique that 

would make my stuff unlike anyone else’s. High Dynamic Range was what 

I discovered. My photographs are either true HDR photos or have the HDR 

tone mapping done to them. This has allowed me to create pieces that didn’t 

have to look like real life; they have more of a fantasy feel to them. I live in 

real life. Sometimes we get tired of seeing real life and want to be taken to 

another place. That’s always my goal. If you look at my photographs, you’ll 

find that I either want to transport you to a really beautiful place or one that 

would scare the pants off you. 

Do you feel a strong sense of attachment to any particular piece 

of your artwork? 

Is there one piece that I’m more attached to than any other? I don’t think 

so. Each piece I create is something new and different. Every piece is my 

baby that I’ve nurtured and breathed life into with light, subject, and postprocessing. 

You’d better be attached and care about every single pixel or else 

people will notice. The more time you take making the image better before 

it’s shot just means it’s going to be that much better afterwards. If you’re not 

attached to your work, you’re nuts! 

| WINTER 2011 

43

What are your aspirations for your career? 

I have several aspirations; the first of them being to create the next great 

piece of art. I like knowing that after I’m gone my photographs will, 

hopefully, live on. I want to have my own gallery and to win a big award 

for my movie making. It doesn’t have to be an Academy Award, but that 

would be nice. To be featured on a billboard and a full-page spread in an 

international magazine are also high on my list. Other than that I just want 

to work and create. If I can have a 20-year career, I’d be satisfied. 

Were you ever discouraged in the past from pursuing photography 

and how did you overcome it to become what you are today? 

I get discouraged all the time, but I think it’s a part of growing as an artist. 

You can’t get better if you don’t fall on your face once in a while. How do 

I overcome it? The next photo shoot or the next movie shoot. It’s my next 

chance to create an amazing piece of art because the next shoot could be 

my best. If you don’t take the chance to create that next piece of art then 

what’s the point? You can’t do this to please other people. You have to do 

this because of that burn that comes from inside. I’ve worked my cameras 

to death. So far, I have taken over two million photographs in five years and 

have about 100 photographs that are portfolio worthy. 

If you could have any career with your artistic skills, what would 

you be doing and why? 

I already have it. I wake up each day and have the chance to create something 

with my skills. My camera follows me everywhere. I’m a photographer and a 

movie maker. That’s basically all I can ask for. 

Sum up in one to a few words the way shooting a new piece makes you feel. 

Satisfied and Excited. 

“ Jesse Adair 

has been able to use his 

photographic skills, 

while sharpening 

and expanding them 

with new tricks, techniques, 

and skill sets.” 

| WINTER 2011 

45

exposed. 

+ randy payne 

+ aaron bauer 

+ patrik rice 

+ randolph bernardez 

+ danielle mowbray 

+ ann blanchard 

+ kayla holt 

+ yvonne davila 

+ megan a. peeler 

+ desmond hor lum 

+ sheryl burns 

+ denyu grant

RANDY PAYNE 

Graphic Design 

International Academy of Design & Technology - Chicago 


49

AARON BAUER 

Game Design 

International Academy of Design & Technology - Chicago 


51

PATRIK RICE 

Film and Video Production 

Collins College 


53

RANDOLPH BERNARDEz 


International Academy of Design & Technology - Detroit 


55

DANIELLE MOWBRAY 


International Academy of Design & Technology - Tampa 


57

ANN BLANCHARD 


International Academy of Design & Technology - Sacramento 


59

KAYLA HOLT 

Professional Photography 

International Academy of Design & Technology - Nashville 


61

YVONNE DAVILA 

Professional Photography 

International Academy of Design & Technology - Nashville 


63

MEGAN A. PEELER 


International Academy of Design & Technology - San Antonio 


65

DESMOND HOR LUM 

Interior Design 

Harrington College of Design 


67

SHERYL BURNS 


International Academy of Design and Technology - Online 


69

DENYU GRANT 


International Academy of Design & Technology - Orlando 


71

TECHNIQUE TECHNIQUE 

ADOBE 

CS5 

TUTORIALS 

ADOBE ILLUSTRATOR CS5 

Gaining Perspective 

By Kerstin Upmeyer 

Among the exciting new additions to Adobe 

Illustrator CS5, the Perspective Grid may be my 

favorite. As an artist who always struggled with 

perspective, I find the new grid to be a wonderful 

way to quickly and easily build objects in one, 

two or three-point perspective, as well as create 

flat, two-dimensional illustrations and then snap 

them into perspective. So in this tutorial, we are 

going to explore the basics of the perspective 

grid by creating a building in two-dimensional 

perspective from flat art. The illustration I will 

be working with is that of a candy store created 

by ARTISTIK Magazine intern Lauren Piper. 

| WINTER 2011 

75


01_ We begin by opening up the file and then 

turning on the Perspective Grids. Simply clicking 

on the Perspective Grid Tool can turn on the grid. 

This will automatically bring up a default, twopoint 

perspective grid on the page (there can only 

be one grid per document). 

04_ Now we’re ready to put the walls of the 

candy shop into proper perspective. This is 

accomplished using the Perspective Selection 

Tool, located as a pop-out under the Perspective 

Grid Tool. 

05_ With the Perspective Grid Tool active, 

choose which of the three planes you want my 

art to pop into. You can use the Perspective Grid 

Widget, which shows up in the top left corner of 

the document when the Perspective Grid is in 

use. Note that double-clicking on the Perspective 

Selection Tool and changing its position from the 

dialog box that comes up can move the widget. 

Here, I clicked on the right panel in the widget so 

that the front side of my store snapped into that 

plane’s perspective. Note that the panels on the 

widget are color-coded to match the planes of the 

perspective grid. 

06_ Next, select the artwork with the Perspective 

Selection Tool and drag it into place along the 

right side of the grid. Note that Illustrator will only 

show you a wireframe box for the graphic while 

you are dragging, then will render out the artwork 

in perspective once you drop it in place. 

02_ To adjust the settings or change the 

perspective from two-point to one or three-point, 

go to View>Perspective Grid. From there you have 

access to all of the Perspective Grid settings, and 

can even save a customized grid as a preset. 

03_ You can also adjust the settings of the grid 

manually by using the access points on the grid 

itself. These include the ground level line (A), eye 

level line (B), as well as the points to adjust 

the three planes of the grid (C). There is also the 

access point to control the size of the grid cells 

(D), the length of the grid (E) and the height (F). 

Here, you should take a moment to set the grid the 

way you want it using these control points. 

07_ After that is completed, click on the left 

plane of the Perspective Widget, and then use the 

Perspective Selection Tool to move the side of the 

artwork into place. 

10_ To finish the sign, click on the bottom plane 

of the widget and then draw a rectangle along the 

top to give it depth. 

08_ Next we’ll put the sign into perspective in front 

of the store. Here, we choose the right panel on the 

widget and use the Perspective Selection Tool to 

place the sign in front of the store. Notice that the 

sign does not have to be on the visible grid itself. 

When you have the Perspective Grid on, the entire 

document lives in perspective. In fact, you have to 

go to View>Perspective Grid>Hide Grid to draw 

anything basic shape that is NOT in perspective. 

11_ Now that the candy shop is done, I added in 

a few other buildings. Again, use the different 

panels on the widget to snap pre-drawn, flat 

elements into the proper perspective planes. Use 

the Perspective Selection Tool to both place and 

scale the additional buildings sides in perspective. 

09_ In order to give the sign depth, click on 

the left panel of the perspective widget and 

then draw rectangles for the side of the sign 

and the post. When drawing basic shapes with 

the perspective grid on, everything is put in the 

perspective of whatever plane you have chosen 

on the widget. 

12_ The final perspective work is to draw two shapes 

for the street using both the left and right planes 

of the grid. Here, I overlapped them slightly, then 

using the Pathfinder Palette (Window>Pathfinder), 

choose “Unite” to merge them into one shape. I send 

that shape to the back (Object>Arrange>Send to 

Back) and now I have my road. 

13_ Lastly, I choose View>Perspective Grid>Hide 

Grid to turn off the grid and do some simple 

background illustrations of sky, clouds, and grass 

to complete the illustration. 

CONCLUSION_ All in all, the new Perspective 

Grid feature in Adobe CS5 will be a wonderful tool 

for environmental graphic design work, isometric 

illustrations and architectural renderings, and for 

those, like myself, for whom perspective is not a 

strong suit. It takes a bit of practice, but creates 

some really impressive results. 


7 7


ADOBE PHOTOSHOP CS5 

A “Warped” Sense of Reality 

By Jorge Diaz 

In this age of new digital technology, 

there are endless possibilities for image 

manipulation. The newest arsenal available 

for tech-heads comes (without surprise) 

from Adobe, with the release of CS5. They 

have really amped up the capabilities of the 

program and expanded on an already beefy 

suite. All of the cool new features we will 

explore in this tutorial will be found in the 

latest version of Photoshop, so if you are 

on the fence about whether to buy it or not, 

maybe these features will help you decide. 

For this tutorial, we need a game plan so we don’t just 

start hitting buttons for the sake of doing something. 

What we are going to do here is remove the man from 

the image and replace him with the background. We will 

then manipulate the female model and place her into 

the image. Finally, we’ll take the snake and reposition it 

to make it appear as if it was wrapped around the 

model’s neck. All of this using two of Photoshop CS5’s 

features: Content Aware Fill and Puppet Warp. 

01_ We’ll start by cutting out the model from the 

original image. To accurately cut her out, we’ll 

use the Quick Selection Tool and refine the edge 

of the selection. Once the desired selection has 

been made, copy the selection and paste it into 

the destination document (the image with the 

man in it). Quick tip - for a more realistic looking 

feather, use the refine edge option. By selecting 

this, it will minimize the harshness of the 

selection and produce much better results. 

02_ Now that we have our model in her new 

environment, we’ll work on bringing this image 

up to snuff. We will do this by removing the man 

on the right using Content Aware Fill. To begin, 

turn off the model layer and select the man using 

the Quick Selection Tool. Once the selection is 

made, we’ll modify the selection by choosing 

Select>Modify>Expand. It is important to expand 

the selection as the content aware fill needs a 

little bit of space to function properly. Adjust 

your settings and click OK. To fill the area using 

Content Aware Fill, access the Edit menu, select 

“Fill” and wait for the pop-up box to appear. Once 

the box is up, select content aware in the contents 

section drop down. 

NOTE: Each image will be different so the number 

for expansion will depend on size and resolution 

of the image. 

03_ Now that the man is removed, we can 

focus on the model. We want to make her look 

as realistic as possible, so we need to reposition 

her a bit. Let’s start with a basic transformation to 

scale her down so she fits proportionately in the 

background image. And now the fun begins. The 

main objective here is to straighten her front leg 

a bit so that it appears natural on the concrete. 

To do this, we will use another new feature in 

Photoshop CS5 called Puppet Warp. To access this 

function, go to Edit and select Puppet Warp. 

04_ Once you select Puppet Warp you will see 

that a grid will appear over your model. This will 

apply the object on whichever layer you have 

selected, so it is important to pay attention to 

your layers. There are many ways to control the 

functions of this tool and make it work more 

efficiently. Before diving right in, let’s adjust some 

settings. First, we’ll visit the Density drop-down. 

Here, Photoshop gives us options to adjust the 

grid. By default, it will be set to normal but you 

have the option to have fewer points or create 

more points. The more points you have the greater 

the accuracy becomes with this transformation. 

For this Image, we’ll choose “More points.” 

07_ Now let’s take that leg and position it to 

appear more natural. You can do this by selecting 

the pin you want to move. You will notice that only 

the pin selected is highlighted and is displayed by a 

black circle in the center of the pin. You can select 

multiple pins by holding down the shift key and 

selecting the pins you desire. While selected, the 

pins will move together rather than independently. 

10_ Once the girl has been positioned, I decided 

to add a snake around the model’s neck and body 

to enhance the image and give it a different feel. 

To do so, the same steps and technique 

explained above were used. To give the image a 

more realistic look, a few lighting and contrast 

adjustments were added, along with some visually 

interesting graffiti, which also makes the image 

more dramatic. 

05_ Now that our mesh is adjusted to reflect 

more points, we need to create some new points. 

The points created work like anchors and will be 

used to keep the image from altering in those 

spots. The image we are using has significantly 

more points than we need and will prove to be 

effective as we modify the front leg without 

warping the rest of the body. 

08_ Now that we have moved the leg, it seems 

a bit “warped” in the middle of her shin. To add 

a point, all you have to do is click on the spot 

that you wish to alter. You also have the option 

to change the pin depth. Changing the pin depth 

allows you to choose if the leg is in front or behind 

the other leg, creating a sense of depth. 

06_ Now that we have the points, let’s hide the 

mesh so we can work on the image without any 

distraction. To do this, Photoshop has provided 

a check box in the tool preferences that says 

show mesh. If it is checked it shows the mesh if 

unchecked you get the points but no mesh. 

09_ Now we’ll position the model the way we 

want her and apply the transformation by hitting 

the return key. Once the Puppet Warp is applied, 

the model is scaled within the image to fit in 

proportion to what’s going on in the background. 

CONCLUSION_ In retrospect, this tutorial 

covers a few of the new functions Photoshop 

CS5 has to offer and how they function. These 

instructions should give you a better understanding 

of the Puppet Warp and Content Aware features 

and hopefully get those creative juices flowing so 

you can utilize these features in your workflow. 

By no means is this an accurate reflection of all 

the new features in the program, but a taste of 

what Photoshop has to offer. So, if you were on the 

fence whether to buy this version or not, hopefully 

this tutorial gave you more insight into CS5. 


79


ADOBE INDESIGN CS5 

10+ Tips to Speed Up Your Layout 

By David A. Rogers 

If you’re wondering if the upgrade from CS4 to 

CS5 is worth it, you might want to ask yourself 

what your time is worth. While Photoshop and 

Illustrator were bestowed some sexy innovative 

features, InDesign got its fair share of features 

that are sure to save you enough time to 

charge more or go home early. Some of these 

features deal directly with the placement and 

manipulation of images. In this tutorial, we’ll 

explore these features and see what they can 

do to speed up our workflow. 

MINI BRIDGE_ From the Window menu, you can 

now select Mini Bridge: a panel that will give you the 

visual search capabilities of Bridge without leaving 

InDesign. Images can be selected individually or in 

groups from Mini Bridge and dragged to existing 

frames or you can create new frames simply by 

dragging them inside your document. 

PLACING IMAGES_ If you load up with 

multiple images you can change the order in 

which they are placed by using the arrows keys 

to scroll though the previews before clicking on 

the document. Using the escape key will release 

images from the loaded cursor individually in 

case you picked up too many or change your 

mind. 

Holding down Shift + Command keys will place all 

images in a grid pattern. The default grid is set for 

nine frames, but you can increase this on the fly 

with the arrow keys to increase or decrease the 

number of columns or rows. Note: The grid is not 

a table but individual frames. 

ARRANGING IMAGES_ Another time saving 

feature is to use the move tool to select multiple 

frames and rearrange them without grouping 

them. Using Smart Guides helps to position 

elements evenly on the page. 

LIVE CAPTIONING_ For those of you 

who work with Photographers or use captions 

under your images, a new feature specifically 

designed for captioning will no doubt streamline 

your workflow. Live captioning draws from the 

Metadata inside an image to be used as a caption. 

To add Metadata to the images go to Bridge or 

Photoshop and Choose File > File Info. Locate the 

Title field and enter the data there. 

Once you have chosen the data you want from a 

list in the Caption Setup dialog box, you can format 

it with a paragraph style. To apply a caption to an 

image, select the image frame and from the menu, 

choose Object > Captions > Generate Live Caption. 

In this case I chose to use the Title as the caption 

so I need to enter some information in the Title 

section of the image Metadata panel. 

CONCLUSION_ The combination of Mini 

Bridge and the improved image frame navigation 

in Adobe InDesign CS5 is so powerful that even 

an inexperienced user should be able to save 

a significant amount of time while working on 

projects and be able to focus on refining a layout, 

rather than fumbling between unnecessary tools 

and extensive keyboard combinations. 

One of my favorite features with respect to the 

placement of images is the new Content Grabber. 

Hovering over an image reveals a double circle in 

the center. Simply click and drag to reposition an 

image within the frame. No need to change to the 

content tool. Live screen drawing is enabled by 

default so there is no need to pause before seeing 

the entire image outside of any framed area. 

Clicking on the Content Grabber will access the 

content for resizing, again, without the need to 

use the content tool or remember any keyboard 

shortcuts that size only the content and not the 

frame. Double clicking the content of a frame 

no longer selects the content tool, meaning you 

don’t have to reselect the move tool. 

SCALING IMAGES_ Using the move tool, 

we can resize both the frame and content by 

checking the new box Auto-Fit in the options bar. 

This checkbox is frame-specific so it doesn’t have 

to apply to all frames in a document. 

If all the boxes in a group use the Auto-Fit feature 

they can be scaled without creating a group. This is 

yet another speed feature for the “power user.” 


81

Technique 

Alumni 

Success 

74_ Illustrator CS5: Gaining Perspective 

78_ Photoshop CS5: A “Warped” Sense of Reality 

80_ InDesign CS5: 10+ Tips to Speed Up Your Layout 

30_ Ashley Woods’ Milennium War 

32_ Bringing Art & Business Together 

34_ From the Academy to Etsy 

22_ Ideation 12 

24_ Working to End Sexual Exploitation 

26_ Sparkling Bright in the City 

VOLUME 3 | WINTER 2011 

www.artistikmagazine.com

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