"Design for Life" CorelDRAW

Design for Life - Live for Design

"Design for Life - Live for Design" Again - CorelDRAW - Plus

Design for Life - Live for Design [click on for larger view]

Continuing with the "Design for Life - Live for Design" phrase I selected in CorelDRAW the fonts Bodoni MT Black and Arial Narrow. Using them I created all capital rectangles of the phrase. I duplicated the Bodoni phrase and used Red as my main color and a black shadow behind.

I just used Arial Narrow on its own to complete the phrase. I duplicated again with the phrase placed within the other making one large rectangle. Grouping that I duplicated it and made it a smaller size. I ended up with the phrase five times.

I browsed for an Art Nouveau background in my Dover Publications Samplers and found one I liked. I lined up the five to dominate the floral design. I grouped the entire thing and copied it to the clipboard.

I opened as New from the Clipboard in Corel PhotoPaint. I saved that iteration as a jpg file. There I used the plugin Filter Forge's Photo Effects Grunge to add a linen effect to the piece. I had also added my signature very small in the lower left hand corner.  Saving that as a different large iteration I resampled in PhotoPaint for display size and saved another file.

"Design For Life - Live For Design" Art Nouveau - CorelDRAW - Plus

Design for Life - Live for Design [click for larger view]

I browsed in my Dover Publications folder using Picasa 3.9 and found this Art Nouveau floral square. I copied to the clipboard and pasted into CorelDRAW. In DRAW I lengthened it into a rectangle and converted to a bitmap. I adjusted the colors to a subtle Sepia tone overall.

I selected the Font AucoinExtBl, then designed the two phrases: Design For Life and Live For Design. I have used these before for image pieces. I applied Force Justify to create a square look for the phrases, adjusting line spacing to 70% the original.

I grouped the objects and copied to the clipboard and opened with New from Clipboard in Corel PhotoPaint. There I resampled for display size and added my signature in white.

Design for Life - Live for Design - Art Deco - CorelDRAW - PhotoPaint

I opened CorelDRAW and scanned in two pieces of Art Deco from E. Benedictus' Art Deco Designs book to begin this image. I continued with my Design for Life and Live for Design motif for today's image. It's beginning size was approximately 7" x 8".

I adjusted the Tone curve and saturation of the colors. I used the typefaces A Bite, Basketcase, and 321Impact for the text. I looked for some interesting words for the text to include and opened a Text file named simply 98.txt.

To my surprise it was a Project Gutenberg text of a A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. The opening words so aptly described the creative process, as it is an up and down roller-coaster at times, that I selected them for this piece. I saved the large file. Converted it to bitmap and reopened in PhotoPaint.

I added the ladies faces from some Dover Clip Art samples I found browsing my Dover folder in Picasa 3. They add some balance and a classy touch to the whole image.

I added a thirty pixel border of blue and my signature. Re-saved the large file and resampled for display here.

Listening --- Gordon Lightfoot --- The No Hotel [Live]

Design for Life - Live to Design - Art Deco - CorelDRAW - PhotoPaint

A simple fairly clean designed image for today's Design for Life theme. It may have taken more time than it appears to have to create this piece.

I started out in CorelDRAW by acquiring and scanning in a cropped Art Deco floral motif from E. Benedictus' Art Deco Designs book. I added the text phrases after some thought. I wanted to encourage creative thought as I worked at each phrase.

I used the following fonts, not in any order of appearance: Twentieth Century Poster 1, Colonna MT, Banjoman Open Bold. I worked to fit them for a lively design.

After I chose and placed the type I selected all and grouped the objects and Converted to Bitmap. Then I copied to the clipboard and opened with PhotoPaint.

Here I browsed my Dover Clip Art and found the Megaphone Man whom I copied and pasted into the image. I used Replace Color on him and Multiply for transparency. I stood him balanced with one foot on the "L" in "Live," placing the large end of the megaphone at the center of the pink flower.

I had saved the large file and then resized the image for display. I did add a twenty pixel border to frame it.

Listening --- Creed --- What's This Life For?

Art Deco - Design for Life Series - Digital Collage - CorelDRAW - PhotoPaint

For an Art Deco Design for Life image I chose two differing designs from E. Benedictus' Designs book. I opened CorelDRAW and acquired the first one cropping it in the Canon scanning software.

I rotated it 180 degrees to place it as I chose. Then I did the second design the same way. Placing them in close proximity. Then using Abadi MT Condensed typeface I added the Design for Life phrase, grouping them I duplicated and placed the duplicate upside down on the opposite side.

Next I grouped all the pieces and converted to bitmap, copied to the clipboard and pasted into PhotoPaint as a large file.

I then added the scanned images of the People at Work from North Light's book of the same name. I used the property Multiply for transparency and Color Replace for compatible colors. I placed the clip art and merged with the background. I placed a light blue twenty pixel wide border around the work.

I saved the large file and resampled for display here.

Listening --- The Beatles --- A Day in the Life

More Design for Life - Art Nouveau - PhotoPaint - CorelDRAW

An Art Nouveau based collage for the Design for Life theme. I acquired a scan in PhotoPaint of two designs from R. Beauclair's book Art Nouveau Patterns and Designs. I cropped the first one to a large size and copied it to the clipboard and pasted it in CorelDRAW.

Using the freehand drawing tool I created a pink curve. I duplicated and shrunk it twice to add to the design placing them within one another. I used the font Yukon Gold for the text phrase.

Back in PhotoPaint I rotated the pattern and shrunk it down to a smaller size, copied and pasted that in CorelDRAW. Then in PhotoPaint I cropped a second piece of Art Nouveau pattern, copied and pasted that in CorelDRAW and duplicated it placing
a column down the right hand side.

I grouped all the pieces together and Converted to Bitmap and pasted it into PhotoPaint with New From Clipboard.

I wanted to add a bit of Victorian design to the corners so I selected a sample page from the Dover Clip Art folder and cut out the designs. I resized and placed them in the corners using the property Multiply for transparency.

I added a black border to the image to match the Victorian pieces and added my signature in black as well. I had adjusted the Tone Curve of the large image and saved it and then resampled for the web.

Listening --- Kirk Mathew Gatzka --- The Last Good Cowboy

Design for Life - Art Deco - Digital Collage - PhotoPaint - CorelDRAW

Another image in my Design for Life series. I used an Art Deco Design from Edouard Benedictus' book of designs. I scanned the image in and cropped it to the size I wanted. I acquired the image in PhotoPaint and cropped there.

I used the Tune Blur to smooth the Art Deco design, with the Directional Smooth. I browsed my Dover Clip Art folder for the Trees, and all three young people colored images.

With the trees I used Multiply to make the white backgrounds transparent. On the young people I used the wand to mask the white and inverted the mask and copied and pasted the images from the clipboard.

I scanned in the Dad and Daughter on the bike from North Light's clip art series People at Work book. I copied and pasted using the property of Multiply for transparency.

I then merged all the objects to one layer and copied that to the clipboard and opened CorelDRAW and pasted the image. I created a rectangle and filled it with tiled colored symbols. Then placed to back to create a frame around the Art Deco image.

I used the font Curlz MT for the Design for Life text and changed it's color to a bright yellow and placed it in the image.

I grouped all object together and converted to a bitmap and copied it to the clipboard. In PhotoPaint I pasted the large piece as New from clipboard. Using the Tone Curve once more I added some depth to the piece. To finalize it I added my signature, saved the large file and then resampled for the web and saved that file.

Listening --- Everclear --- I Will Buy You A New Life

Design for Life - Art Deco - Digital Collage - PhotoPaint - CorelDRAW

Part of my Design for Life series I am sharing another Art Deco based image. Art Deco Designs by Edouard Benedictus is the source of the background design of this image. I scanned in the main background which looked jungle like. In PhotoPaint I cropped it.

Still in PhotoPaint I used the Tune Blur on it smoothing out the colors. Applying the Tone Curve for depth and increasing the saturation a bit for color.

I browsed my Dover clip art folder in Picasa 3 and selected the Lion, Rabbit, Butterflies and Birds. I opened each one individually, and used the Wand tool to select the white backgrounds, then inverted the mask and copied the color clip art to the clipboard. I then pasted and resized each according to need, placing them on the Art Deco background.

I copied the merged piece to the clipboard and opened CorelDRAW, pasted and added the frame. I used a gradient and selected the larger line size for completing the frame. I placed it to the back. I then placed the type Design for Life onto the gradient selecting the line color differing from the text color. I placed that type to the front.

I grouped the pieces all together and Converted to Bitmap and copied to the clipboard and reopened it (New from clipboard) in PhotoPaint to add my signature. I saved the large file first then resized for the web and saved the iteration.

Listening --- Bruce Cockburn --- Wondering Where the Lions Are