Brandon James Art

  Here is the original image, which I got from here . I initially tried to use one of my own images but I chose one that I was having some issues with.      The first image was really just me playing around. AI hasn't been something that I've used a lot in this course so it was fun to just see what it could do. I added in some people on a fishing trip as well as a fish. It was interesting to see the way that the AI interpreted certain things. There was a lot of using Generative Fill and trying to be particular with my prompts.  For my second image, I wanted to do some more subtle changes. I cropped the photo, using Generative Fill on the side of the plants. I had to scale it back some because the trees on the bottom didn't look real. I removed the single surfer and added in a beach. For some reason, AI added in a person on the beach but it helped with it looking realistic. You also might not be able to tell, but I added some stuff to the coastline.    ...

  In designing this cover for They Both Die At the End by Adam Silvera, I wanted to stick with a few themes. I went with my fourth choice. TBDATE is a Young Adult novel that's very popular. It's likely to be adapted into a series or movie of some sort. For my cover, I leaned into the movie aspects. Using two stock photos of teenage boys as the two main characters, I  had a few things in mind. After removing the backgrounds and cutting the objects, I did some really light feathering and smoothing of the pictures. I also had to convert the pictures of both young men into smart objects, as resizing them completely ruined the quality the first time around. I also had to cut out portions of one of the young men as well as play around with their sizing, as the proportions of the initial photos were different.  I looked up a few movie and book adaptation covers to get a feel for how I wanted to place the main characters on the front. In placing them, I realized that I didn't kno...

  I chose to redesign the cover of one of my recent favorite reads, They Both Die At The End. Its the story of two young men who both get a notification that they are going to die within 24 hours and what they choose to do with that time.  This first sketch leans into the theme of time and minimalism. The clock on the front will have the title on the hands. The bike on the front is a significant thing from the story itself. The back cover would depict an hourglass, further leaning into the theme of time.  My second sketch leans into typography. The main focus of this cover would be the title. I'd find a way to make the words look more 3D and add in some breaking line effects that can evoke emotions.  Sketch number 3 is a whole story on the spine of the book. The front cover depicts a dead or dying tree. The colors and background will be muted but the back cover will show that same tree, full of life before dying.  The fourth image is more along the lines of a mo...

For my event poster, I chose the 80s style, themed after the YO! MTV Raps logo from their classic TV show. In choosing this option,I knew that I would be relying heavily on color. I wanted to design something that was reminiscent of the 80s.  I had to search to find the logo for the show. After doing so, I removed the background and erased the original text. I then searched and downloaded a font that was similar to the original text. While couldn't find something that matched exactly, I tried out a few that matched the style before landing on this font called Badaboom. After installing the font and typing my text, I used the stroke effect to add a yellow highlight.  I searched for 80s backgrounds and noticed a lot of geometric shapes and bright, vibrant colors. The backgrounds were usually plain or just one color. I played around with the stroke effect to add some more texture to some of the shapes. I also had fun making my own shapes and squiggles from the backgrounds. 

  I am creating event posters for Harlem Week, a yearly celebration of Harlem music, culture, arts, history, and more that has taken place yearly since 1974. I wanted to choose an event that felt personal to me.  1. My first two sketches are 80's inspired. Inspiration for this one came from the old TV show, YO! MTV Raps . The background elements are not just squiggles, but classic 80's style shapes and designs similar to those here .  2. My second design was also 80's inspired. This picture serves as the biggest inspiration. The style of the font would be different. I would also want to incorporate elements of the city within the background of the circle.  3. Both of these sketches are inspired by the arts. On image three, the sides of the page are lined with tickets that say admit one. I would lower the opacity of these so they don't stand out. There would be barricades and a red carpet, providing an upscale feeling.,  4. The 4th image is inspired by music. Ha...

Typically whenever I’m writing or designing something, my sketches and the final look very different. This time was no different. I decided to go with the Horsemen and Herdsmen, as I wanted something with a lot of open space for my first Photoshop project. While I initially had ideas involving depth and scaling, I realized it felt too ambitious for my first project. I leaned into elements of my favorite animated movie, Alice in Wonderland (1951). I still played with scaling, using their famous potion as the reason I am so tall in the background. While I initially tried using the oil painting and other filters on myself, I decided to add some noise and other adjustments to the photos to give it a grittier look that more closely matches the original photo. I liked the parallel between the animated elements and the original painting and left the colors mostly alone, but I did add some drop shadows for a realistic feel. It was interesting to play around with depth. I used layer ...