My ode to the Chevy short wheelbase 4×4 van.  Just cranked this out today.  Lately on my way home I keep seeing a short wheelbase 4×4 Chevy Van of this vintage.  It doesn’t have the flames, but every time I see it my brain just says “awesome.”  The guy driving it is probably a serial rapist murderer, cause who drives something like that? Honestly.

Just a little something that I’ve been working on. I worked in Illustrator, incorporated elements made in Photoshop, and put the Bamboo tablet I have to good use. I can’t wait to get it printed & framed.

It’s back to vectors this week with a tutorial from VectorTuts+.  Although it looks involved, the hardest part was getting the shading on the ribbon to come out right. You can follow the tutorial here: http://vector.tutsplus.com/tutorials/illustration/create-a-tri-color-rosette-ribbon-in-illustrator/

This tutorial result is prep work for a larger project I am currently undertaking.  I am not sure if it produced the result that I will use in the final project, but it was worth a try.  I didn’t invest much time in this one either.  Check out Abduzeedo’s original on the tutorial: http://abduzeedo.com/super-cool-watercolor-effect-10-steps-photoshop.  The picture I used was a picture I took last summer of the Shenandoah River.  A landscape picture would work best for this.  The grunge texture is once again by Bittbox: http://www.bittbox.com/freebies/free-high-res-grungy-paper-textures, and the watercolor brushes I used are his too: http://www.bittbox.com/freebies/free-hi-res-watercolor-photoshop-brushes-set-ii

This Tutorial Thursday comes from PSDTuts+: http://psd.tutsplus.com/tutorials/create-a-detailed-vintage-television-icon-in-photoshop/ The tutorial utilizes Photoshop’s vector drawing tools and incorporates the Effects pallet for the details and shadowing.  While I would prefer to use vector software for vector projects, it was nice to be able to seamlessly incorporate pixel elements.  All in all it’s not a bad exercise, although I realize now that the old TV could use some rabbit ears.

I’ve been working off and on to complete this much needed website revamp on behalf of Moyer Motorcars, Inc.  They pride themselves on being a  non-dealer repair shop focusing on Rolls Royce and Bentley motorcars.  Customers come to them from all across the country for restorations of antique models, out of warranty mechanical work, and even routine maintenance from technicians they trust.

The website needed to reflect the high quality work they produced, but also broadcast the local mechanic aspect they were known for. Additionally, the business owner needed a way to present his extensive photo collection of cars he and his technicians serviced while attending gatherings.  The original gallery area contained only a small fraction of the photo collection, and several of those shots were of poor quality.

Original Website for Moyer Motorcars

The scope of the work incorporated Search Engine Optimization techniques to boost visibility. This presented to be a challenge, as a Google Search for “Rolls Royce Virginia” yielded results for Rolls Royce’s own Virginia based manufacturing facility. After implementing a blog, embedding a Google map directing visitors to the shop and other SEO techniques, Moyer Motorcars website appeared in the top five search results. Google Analytics data confirms additional traffic to the site due to the SEO measures undertaken. Several customers have made positive remarks on the site design as well, several new customers stated the interactive map helped them locate the shop. View the website at: http://www.moyermotorcars.com

This week I went for a highly detailed vector tutorial to follow, again from Vectortuts+ (in their Premium Collection).  It incorporated the use of gradient meshes and scatter brushes.  Both are tools I rarely use and it great to get in more practice.  The text down the side was translated via Babble Fish and should read Jczar dot com, but I’ll never really know for sure.  I’d love to get this printed out and have it hanging in my office.  The great thing about vector art is, even though I built the file small, it can easily be re-sized to fit my needs later.  Get the tutorial at: http://vector.tutsplus.com/tutorials/illustration/create-a-japanese-ukiyo-e-style-print-vector-premium-tutorial/

This Tutorial Thursday I happened across Abduzeedo’s Vintage Badge Art Tutorial.  The image was built in Illustrator, and brought into Photoshop for finishing touches. Abduzeedo provides a link to the Carnevalee Freakshow font hosted on DaFont.com or you can find it here: http://www.dafont.com/carnevalee-freakshow.font

Another Vector Tut from Vectortuts+.  This again is one of their premium tutorials.  I’m posting this one as is, but there are some details that could use fixing. The egg shells don’t appear to be pieces of the same whole.  The tutorial suggested making two elliptical shapes, and then slicing them and adding points to arrive at the desired cracked egg shape.  I suppose there is a better way to go about doing this, but I spent most of my efforts trying to get a believable egg white spread.  If you have a premium membership, or just want to do one tutorial, you can follow it here: http://vector.tutsplus.com/tutorials/illustration/how-to-create-a-realistic-egg-vector-premium-tutorial/