Archive for the ‘artwork’ Category

I finished and recently launched a new one page custom website design for Accelerated Lending Group, Inc of Orlando, Florida including a special logo. The 3 separate line drawings of the custom logo for their website are shown to the left of their business card that I also designed, and were rejected.

Sometimes extracting the mental vision that a client wants in a web design or piece of matching artwork is a challenge!

The owner wanted a symbol similar to ancient Greek ruins with columns and decided they preferred a realistic building, so I created the near photograph effect which was approved. The logo was done in Xara Xtreme vector graphics software which is my choice for custom website graphics and matching artwork for print.

Once the logo and color scheme were approved, a matching 4 x 6 custom flyer post card was created, also. The website is modest yet allows them to have their www domain name on the printed materials, and new web pages will be added in the near future. A one page custom website may be perfect for other small business owners on a limited budget, or just starting up.

After paying a fee for a custom digital design such as a website, multimedia production, logo, or graphics for online or print, most customers will assume they own the contents of that project. In most cases they do not. The intellectual property and creativity to produce your project belongs to the designer with very few exceptions.

For small business clients who use independent contractors to create custom works for online or printed marketing materials, the question of copyright ownership must be understood. Except in instances where your designer is a direct employee, you do not retain the copyright of custom designs created on your behalf unless the designer specifically transfers the right of ownership to you.

Designers who produce creative works such as websites, multimedia, or printed marketing materials, establish copyright ownership the moment the work is created. Customers should consider the consequences of content they provide, also. Here’s an excerpt about copyright from the order page of the Small Business Resource Center:

Customer Provided Content and Copyright

The customer by placing an order for design services unconditionally guarantees that they own the copyright, or have permission from the copyright holder, of any content they furnish including text, graphics, photographs, audio, video, designs, trademarks, or artwork submitted for use in the website, multimedia, or printed marketing materials.

Design services are provided as an independent contractor, and projects are therefore not “work for hire” as would be the case using a direct employee. As the creative design service provider, Jim Degerstrom retains all rights to any original design of graphics, video production, or programming code created on behalf of the customer. Therefore, customer rights of ownership are limited to fair use of designs in the original intended use only, whether in print or online.

Clients using independent contractors have an obligation to provide content that does not violate copyright law. For example, the term royalty free photographs does not imply free and unlimited use of a photograph. Even photographs from sites such as those listed in my Royalty Free Photo Directory that allow free commercial use without a one-time or recurring fee do not transfer ownership rights to you.

In addition, digital works such as websites, multimedia, and designs for print carry further obligations. Once the designer creates your project they naturally deliver the results for your fair use. They still own the design. Changes or further use of that content without written permission from the independent contractor may be a violation of copyright law, also.

While this post discusses general copyright issues, small business owners and other readers must seek professional legal advice for answers to questions about their specific circumstances.

After an inquiry from another Xara Xtreme user who needed help cropping the background of a photo, I decided the reply would make a good tutorial. Here’s a lesson for masking and deleting photo backgrounds with Xara Xtreme to use for creating custom graphics for online or in print.

Update: Hate to read? This tutorial is a featured video lesson on YouTube or watch this lesson in masking a photo with Xara Xtreme on my blog.

To summarize the technique, I begin with the Freehand Pen Tool to remove backgrounds and have become quite proficient at tracing complex shapes to create the mask. Next, I use the Shape Editor Tool to drag the straight lines into precise curves going point by point around the border of the mask area. Finally, once traced you select the mask and photo (hold shift+click on each), and then crop what you outlined with the shortcut command CTRL-3. Here are the detailed steps for this tutorial.

For a small photo enlarge it 400% to make it easier to trace. Use the Freehand Pen Tool and hold the ALT key to make a perfectly straight line from two points on a curved shape on the photo. Continue with connected straight lines for each curve to the next point before it begins to curve in another direction. You’ll end up with a lot of straight lines. I usually set a contrasting line color depending on whether I have a dark or light photo.

I don’t use the handles to pull the straight line into the shape of the curve except for minor adjustments. Instead, once all the straight lines are done going around the object I use another tool, the Shape Editor Tool. Here’s more about drawing the straight lines.

Basically you trace the object you want to keep completely with straight lines until you return to your starting point and connect the ends. This fills the traced object with your default fill color to create the mask. The filled shape confirms you have a continuous line without any breaks. Next, and with the filled outline active (selected), find the small white square with diagonal cross lines in the lower left of the work area of the Xara screen. Right click on it and select “Clear Fill Color” so you’re back to just the outline of straight lines that you just drew around the object.

Next, select the Shape Editor Tool which is the next one below the Freehand Pen Tool and use it to form curves out of the straight lines you’ve drawn. With the Shape Editor Tool your cursor turns into a plus symbol until you actually move it over a line, then it turns into the standard pointer cursor. If you left click on a line and release the mouse, it adds a new point. You don’t want that. Instead, press the left mouse button down and hold it onto the first line you want to change to a curve without releasing the mouse button. This allows you to drag the line into a curved shape. Depending on the shape you need to outline, you learn over time the best spot for “connecting” on the line before you drag. If you make a mistake just press CTRL+Z to undo the error.

Once a curve is added to one straight line segment in the outline, continue dragging each straight line segment to fit the shape you want to keep as you move around the object. With experience you can do this quite quickly. Experiment with the point of contact on the straight line where you want to drag. Connect on the straight line close to the curve you just created, try the middle of the straight line, and connect away from the last curve to the opposite end before the next point. In time you will be familiar with the best point to drag for a given curve, and in what direction. Once the outline has been dragged to precisely trace the object, select the line and photo (hold shift+click on each) then use the CTRL-3 key combo to cut the traced object.

Once the object you want to keep is cropped, I usually hold the CTRL button and drag a dark color (usually black) onto a blank place in the work area. The default white background becomes all black and any errors in the tracing jump out at you. You can easily pull and push the outline of the cropped object using the Shape Editor Tool, also. If you see a piece of background that didn’t get cropped properly, you can use the cursor to “push” the offending line in towards the object you intend to keep. With the dark background you can see immediately when you’ve pushed the line just right to remove the unwanted segment.

This may seem complicated at first. The person who inquired about how to mask and delete photo backgrounds in Xara Xtreme initially had problems, but eventually solved it and contacted me again within 24 hours. They successfully created their custom graphic, and it didn’t take weeks to learn. It was done in a day.

You may have noticed the very small icon in your browser address bar as you visit some websites. This is called a favicon as in “favorites icon”. When you bookmark a site, the tiny logo, or favicon, remains next to the listing in your favorites as a reminder of the website.

These are not complicated to create and add to your website. You can easily create a JPG in Paint if you don’t have a graphics editor, and then you will need to convert it to the ico extension. Fortunately, there’s a free resource for doing just that at www.chami.com.

From their browse button search your My Documents folders for the graphic and then select “Create Favicon” to have yours done instantly. Their page displays the favicon as it will appear on your page. Download the zip file, extract the new favicon, and then upload it to your server. You will need to add a line of code to your META tags on every page in order for the favicon to actually appear.

For HTML use For XHTML use

Upload your revised files and check your site. You may need to do a hard refresh CTRL-F5 to see it.

A blog post at EzineArticles.com shows the mug illustration from the graphic tutorial I posted on August 17, 2007. After reading the warm comments, I decided to create a custom high resolution version of the mugshot available for download for EzineArticles platinum authors, and others.

View the tutorial and custom photo illustration used for the wallpaper from my previous post, or right click and save target as to download the free EzineArticles mug desktop wallpaper here (250kb JPG zipped folder). Unlike some free downloads, you do not have to register or reveal your email address.

Article writing is a great way to increase backlinks, and the desktop wallpaper is a friendly reminder to keep writing.

Small business website designs that depend on uploading photographs for online stores or sites like real estate will be more effective with photograph optimization. Too often site owners upload original digital photos taken at high resolution, and then the load time is intolerable for visitors on dialup because of the file size. They won’t stick around waiting for pix to load.

Fact: More than 50% of USA internet users are on dialup. This number dwindles as high speed options become more affordable. Why disappoint half your visitors with slow loading photographs and increase the chance of losing a potential sale?

For this tutorial you may want to read the IrfanView photo edit freeware review previously posted on this blog. The owner of the recently launched e-commerce website for Mainstream Memorabilia downloaded IrfanView and learned this lesson in about 15 minutes total, and was very pleased with the ease of use. The online store is easier to manage, and IrfanView will be used on the Mainstream Memorabilia advice blog, also.

You should consider downloading the free software for this photograph optimization tutorial from IrfanView if you don’t already own it.

Once installed, go to any large photo in My Documents and right click on the file name and select “Open with…” and then select “IrfanView” from the menu list. Here’s a sample photo and screenshot of the open window.

In the main window menu (see top arrow) select “Image” and then “Resize/Resample” or use the shortcut keys by holding the CTRL button and pressing the letter R. The next window as shown below summarizes the file information, shows the current photo width in pixels, and the resolution in dots per inch, or dpi. Enter the desired width to match what you want on your site, and then select “OK”.

When you select “File” and then “Save as” a new window appears as shown below. The sliding bar controls the quality of the final photo, and may be adjusted from lowest to best with 100 being the highest quality. Experiment with the bar in this last step until you have the smallest file size which still displays well on your screen and use that on your website.

To summarize, the steps are as easy as 1-2-3 within IrfanView. Select image-resize/resample, enter the width before doing save-as jpg, and then experiment with the slide bar until the file size is reasonable. Anything less than 50Kb file size will display well on your small business website, so taking your 1 meg photos and reducing them may keep visitors on your site longer and help make more sales.

Last February I released free artwork of a 2007 business card calendar for the benefit of my small business clients. The 2008 version was released today.

This free 2008 business card size calendar artwork in 300 dpi JPG is yours to download with no obligation. The file is in a zip folder (336kb) and the artwork is 3.625 inch x 2.125 inch to allow for trimming to the US standard 3.50 x 2.00 business card. You do not have to register or reveal your email address and may download immediately from this link:

Right click on card and “save target as” to download now.

If you need 2007, the free 2007 calendar artwork download is still here.

The coffee mug shown in the photograph below was in a surprise package received from Chris Knight of EzineArticles.com in recognition after they promoted me as a platinum author. I once mentioned this item to a client who said they’d love to see the mug and then suggested I post it on my website.

The customer is always right, so a smaller version of the photo is now featured on my Directory of Small Business Articles Published Online, and the graphic art tutorial that follows explains how the coffee mug was edited using Xara Xtreme to create the dynamic look and special effects.

By combining graphics and digital magic, this is how a photograph of a simple item like a coffee mug can be enhanced. The photo edit took less than an hour using Xara Xtreme which is perfect for creating professional illustrations for your small business website or advertising artwork for print.

The left photo (A) is just the mug held at arm’s length outdoors, and the center photo (B) was a recent Florida sunset that I snapped and chose to use for the background. I took each photograph with a Canon PowerShot A80 digital camera in auto mode. The right photo (C) shows the 6 elements that were combined as layers in Xara Xtreme, and then placed on top of the golden sunset photograph for the finished illustration. Here’s the tutorial showing how the 6 elements were created:

1. The coffee mug was precisely traced in Xara Xtreme and the background removed
2. The glass table top effect was done using a black rectangle overlay with 75% transparency
3. A clone of the coffee mug was cropped and flipped to create a partial mirror image
4. The shadow of the mug and handle was applied in Xara Xtreme at 38% black
5. The shadow under the mug was done as a black ellipse with 4.4px feathering
6. Part of the sunset photograph was cloned, cropped, and flipped to create the reflection

If you are interested in a cost effective vector graphics software program, Xara Xtreme is my choice for custom graphics and photo edits. Download a free 30 day trial of Xara Xtreme here.

UPDATE: Download this illustration as free desktop wallpaper here (250kb JPG zipped folder). Readers do not have to register or reveal their email address, so just right click the link and “save target as” for your copy.

A consistent look in all media advertising is important for establishing branding and a familiar corporate identity.

Besides custom website design, my services include custom matching graphic artwork for print. Below is an example of a half page full color magazine ad designed for Roll Screen Solutions of Orlando, Florida. The ad will target high end homeowners next month in a home renovation magazine.

The image is smaller than actual size, and low resolution. In addition, I’ve designed client advertising including phone book and newspaper advertisements in full color, black and white, or 2-color. The design artwork in this example was half the price of the magazine’s art department rate, and matches the website, brochure, and business cards which I also created for Roll Screen Solutions.

A few years ago I created artwork for a highway billboard to match one client’s color scheme. In their case the advertising agency would have done artwork for free. After having me do their website, custom mailers, trifold brochure, newspaper ads, and business cards, the client preferred paying for billboard artwork to keep the consistent corporate identity.

Do-it-yourself small business website designers are sometimes graphically challenged, and the pixel trash around logos or text in their GIF website graphics is not uncommon. This short tutorial for website design and online graphics is a lesson in overcoming that problem. There is an easy solution once you understand a technique called “error diffusion” for creating transparent graphics that blend into the background.

We’ve all seen examples of tiny jagged off color squares around the edge of logos or clipped photographs used for websites. First impressions are critical to keeping visitors interested in staying on your website. Taking care to create professional graphics without the pixelated trash may be the only difference between you and a competitor, and fixing the problem is not really difficult.

Here’s a portion of a customer’s logo done with and without error diffusion. Both graphics were created in Xara Xtreme which allows selecting error diffusion during the export to GIF process. The difference in quality is subtle yet obvious.

You will need a vector graphics software program. Some are expensive. Xara Xtreme is my choice for professional designs for print or online, and their program is perfect for novice designers or full time pros. The price starts at less than $100 and you may download a free 30 day trial of Xara Xtreme here. As your skills advance, you can use Xara to create animations and smooth flash graphics, also.

Error diffusion is an option for exporting graphics to GIF format that intentionally picks up a small amount of the background color so that the finished display is crisp and clear. The secret is placing the graphic over a block of color that will not be exported yet it is the same color as the background. This explains why the same logo shown above looks so much crisper when error diffusion is applied.

I recommend investing in a vector graphics program so you can create cleaner graphics to display online. The improved look in your website design could repay the modest software investment with just one decent sale of your products or service.