Over the last couple months, I've been working to acquire some new images. My aim for v4 is to upgrade all the artwork, and create a final draft for the tile graphics. Yesterday, I finished the redesign of the first two tiles. Pink lines show where the pieces will be cut:
[caption id="attachment_805" align="aligncenter" width="625"]
Notice the feet? The bear in the v3 tile was walking through ankle-high grass, and all four feet were hidden in the grass. The bear in the v4 tile was walking across a road, and three of the four feet were visible. With a bit of work in Photoshop, I was able to give him a fourth foot. Can you tell which foot is stitched in?[/caption]
[caption id="attachment_806" align="aligncenter" width="625"]
I love the depth of field effect on the blackberry patch. It makes the whole thing look so much more alive.[/caption]
In all this, I have relied heavily on the kindness of strangers, and been pleasantly surprised. The problem is that a typical license for commercial usage of a photograph (e.g. Getty Images or iStock) runs something like $200-$1000. Given that I need 50+ images, if I were to go the usual route, I would need $10K+ just to pay for images. As a startup and an idealistic indie, I can't afford that. Fortunately, a number of skillful people have kindly agreed to share their work with me out of a desire to support the mission of Mindful Mammoth. When the Puzzle of Life website goes live, I'll have a page to give them the credit they're due. And when the Puzzle goes to print, I'll include a 'contributors' section in the printed guidebook.
But I'm getting a bit ahead of myself. My current task is to finish the final draft of the Puzzle tiles. As I'm relatively new to both Photoshop and Illustrator, this is a slow job, but I'm feeling pretty good about the results so far.
Notice the feet? The bear in the v3 tile was walking through ankle-high grass, and all four feet were hidden in the grass. The bear in the v4 tile was walking across a road, and three of the four feet were visible. With a bit of work in Photoshop, I was able to give him a fourth foot. Can you tell which foot is stitched in?[/caption]
[caption id="attachment_806" align="aligncenter" width="625"]
I love the depth of field effect on the blackberry patch. It makes the whole thing look so much more alive.[/caption]
In all this, I have relied heavily on the kindness of strangers, and been pleasantly surprised. The problem is that a typical license for commercial usage of a photograph (e.g. Getty Images or iStock) runs something like $200-$1000. Given that I need 50+ images, if I were to go the usual route, I would need $10K+ just to pay for images. As a startup and an idealistic indie, I can't afford that. Fortunately, a number of skillful people have kindly agreed to share their work with me out of a desire to support the mission of Mindful Mammoth. When the Puzzle of Life website goes live, I'll have a page to give them the credit they're due. And when the Puzzle goes to print, I'll include a 'contributors' section in the printed guidebook.
But I'm getting a bit ahead of myself. My current task is to finish the final draft of the Puzzle tiles. As I'm relatively new to both Photoshop and Illustrator, this is a slow job, but I'm feeling pretty good about the results so far.