Photoshop: Emotions

Objective: to develop a reflective image that best illustrates the type of Human Emotions that you have chosen from the lists. Specifics: your collage image must incorporate Photoshop masks along with some Adjustment layers. overall, no less then 3 images should be included. more are encouraged.

Mad as a hatter. Digital media.

Typography: plakatstil poster

Dutch Candy Cane Co.
Gouache, acrylic and watercolour on paper

Form & Space: room in one point perspective

Colorado timeshare, pen on paper

Typography: what's in a name?

Luciano Sormani in Kabel, final.
Pen and marker on illustration board.

Luciano Sormani in Kabel
pencil, pen, marker and highlighter on paper

Luciano Sormani in Kabel, sketch 02
pencil, pen and marker on paper

In researching typefaces that represent me, I thought of a couple of criteria that would have to apply. First of all I wanted a font that was modern and not tied too closely to a specific era or style. That pretty much excluded most of the serif and decorative fonts, even though there were a few of those that had attributes that I really liked; the stylishness of Mucha, the sturdy severity of Kelmscott. I decided it had to be a sans serif font. I’ve always liked the family of fonts that include Twentieth Century and Lucida, they have a very modern feel and I like their geometric simplicity. Yet I didn’t want something that was purely rational and mechanic. That’s when I settled on Kabel. Its geometric shapes are very well balanced and yet the angled edges of the strokes give it a certain playfulness. It’s like it tries to be severe and perfectionistic, yet at the same time it’s highly inconsistent. There’s a lot of variation between the widths of the letterforms and the way the ends are slanted gives the impression that they are dancing over the page. As Wikipedia puts it: 
 “Stroke weights are more varied than most geometric sans-serifs, and the terminus of vertical strokes are cut to a near eight-degree angle. This has the effect of not quite sitting on the baseline and making for a more animated, less static feeling than Futura.“

The C’s and O’s are perfectly round and safe, but the M’s and N’s have sharp points that almost give them a dangerous edge. The only thing I don’t like about this font is the dots on the lower case I’s and J’s, but it’s a small imperfection that gives it character and is easily forgiven.To me, Kabel gives a sense of uncluttered geometry that inspires clean, simple designs and yet is quirky enough to be fun. For this project I decided to do something with geometric shapes that give it an almost constructivistic feel, yet also reminds me of an 80’s style. It is the era that formed my esthetic sensibilities after all. 
Kabel, like me, is serious and rational at first, but on closer inspection reveals a quirky and humorous side. It aspires to perfection but only succeeds to a certain level, it’s balanced and adapts to different uses. It’s modern and yet retains a timeless quality.

Typography: Letter collage

K-thedral
ink and marker on illustration board 8"x13"

Form & Space: hallway perspective

Hallway, one point perspective
 pencil, charcoal, marker and gouache on foamboard.

Color theory: Pandas

Pandas, color pencil on paper.

How the monochromatic pandas escaped from the Emerald Kingdom, braved the terrors of the Grayscale Mountains and found a new home in the Hills of Complementary Colors.

It’s not easy being green, but in the case of the monochromatic pandas that lived in the emerald city it was definitely not easy not being green. If it wasn’t bad enough that they were monochromatic (some would even go as far as to say achromatic) they also managed to eat all of the bamboo in the Emerald Kingdom. This to the great chagrin of its ruler, Hue, who was very fond of everything green. Also, the fact that looking at the pandas for too long always gave him horrible after-images didn’t help much. So he gave the pandas two options: either be turned into rugs, or brave the perils of the Grayscale Mountains in search of a new home. Not wanting to be turned into any kind of upholstery, the pandas went on their way, guided by the light of the three primary planets in the sky. First they had to traverse the treacherous and dangerous path through the Grayscale Mountains that lay at the edge of the yellow brick road. The mountains were not particularly high or steep, nor were they inhabited by anything more dangerous than the common Char-kole, yet their apparent calm was deceptive, for inside the mountains lay the biggest danger anyone could face: utter boredom. Many travelers who took that path simply perished from the lack of color. The pandas however did not find the lack of color disturbing and would have happily shared the Grayscale Mountains with the elusive Char-kole, were it not for the fact that there was nothing for them to eat; no bamboo, no pencils, not even a tough little crayon. So they decided to try and cross the misty river to the fair and multicolored lands beyond. It was a dangerous path, and they almost lost a handful of pandas, but soon they reached the beautiful analogous shores. From there it was only a short trek towards the sanctuary of complementary colors, where the food was bountiful, and animals of every color were made to feel welcome, including those that didn’t have any color at all.

Luciano Sormani

Color Theory

11/16/2010