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So I stumbled across a method in photoshop recently that in a few quick steps can make just about any image (provided it has enough detail and contrast) appear to be hand drawn. There are built-in filters that can approximate this effect, but I found this method produces better results and can be fine tuned a bit more. All you need to do is apply a Gaussian blur with a radius of at least 3 pixels (and up to 10 or so, I had good results at 4.5 on many historical images) to the image layer, then fade the filter effect (shift+ctrl+f) using the Darken or Darken Colors mode to dial back the blur. You can play with pixel radius of the blur and the opacity of the fade effect, as the best results seems to vary from picture to picture. I had great fun messing around with this on historical color images from Wikimedia Commons. Here’s couple examples of the historical variety, and one of my more successful modern ones.

Soldiers at Leisure on a Tank

Original Photo

Arc d'Triomphe

Original Photo

California Surfer (Credit: Mila Zinkova)

Original Photo

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Lifehacker featured a piece that I created during my old job at the National Geographic Green Guide. I re-purposed some flash used for creating Nat Geo maps to put together a visual guide to beef certifications. Check it out on Lifehacker and the original on the Green Guide.

Beef Label Decoder

Beef Label Decoder

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This is the first figure from a larger piece that I am going to be working on with quai-realistic drawings of video game characters with animal names. First up: King Hippo of Punchout fame.

King Hippo

King Hippo




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I’m not sure why I’m so drawn to natural imagery for design, but I certainly skew that way when left to my own devices. Thought I’d share this logo I made when playing about with the pen tool.

LEAPfrog, a ficticious design firm...

LEAPfrog, a ficticious design firm...




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So a while back I heard a story on NPR about taking photos with well defined levels and making them into “planets” through a process in Photoshop. I decided I would try my hand at them. I made quite a few, but these were some of the best examples.

  • My tiny Venice

    My tiny Venice

  • Mayan Ruin in Mexico

    Mayan Ruin in Mexico

  • MiniManhattan

    MiniManhattan




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I suspect this design will be a bit too out there and harsh for the people here at my job. They will want something more colorful and “happy”, but hey, I like it.

Boston... 2010

Boston... 2010

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This was for a charity auction item… it’s probably best that you don’t ask exactly what that item was.

Hoppy...

Hoppy...

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This is an idea I’ve been toying with for a t-shirt. I think it works better as a shirt in the simple black on red, but I like the more colorful one as a standalone graphic. For those wondering about the spelling, it is how Ovechkin is spelled in Cyrillic (not to mention a nice play on Shepard Fairey’s Obey).

Plain Version

Plain Version

Colorized version

Colorized version

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A poster I made for a comedy show.

A poster I made for a comedy show.

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