Watchmen Wallpapers

As you can tell, I am very excited for the upcoming theatrical release of the Watchmen. Only two weeks away! I've created a few wallpaper backgrounds in Photoshop of Rorschach's mask, Doc Manhattan's hydrogen atom logo, and Nite Owl's crescent moon logo. Click the pictures for larger versions. Feel free to email me at ryan@noirgraphicdesign.com if you need a bigger size or uncompressed version since Blogger likes to limit the size of photos you can upload. On to other Watchmen news, I've read that the running time of the film is going to be just over 2 and half hours. That's good to hear since last I read, the studio wanted to cut it down closer to 2 hours. The first release of the director's cut DVD will be over 3 hours but that won't be until July. Once you think the waiting is over...it's not. 5 months and 2 weeks away. It will be worth it.

Who Photoshops the Photoshoppers?

Well it's been awhile since my last post and all of you (Dan) have been bugging me to update this thing more often, so I will try. A lot has happened in the past few months. I've played a few new games including Assassin's Creed, Far Cry 2, and Left 4 Dead and have watched numerous movies. For instance, last night I movie hopped and saw Defiance and Underworld: Rise of the Lycans. I've also switched jobs. Previously, I was working at an automotive company doing graphic design in the marketing department and now I'm working at an advertising agency doing design work for multiple clients. I've also upgraded to Adobe CS4. On the photography side, I've recently purchased a speedlight and new lens and have been having a blast playing with those. Perhaps I'll blog in more detail on these topics sometime soon.

In the meantime, today as I was keeping tabs on the most anticipated movie in my world these days, The Watchmen, it inspired me to do some Photoshop work on a photo I took of myself recently. So as an homage to the Watchmen, I introduce you to myself as Dr. Manhattan. The original photo can be found on my Flickr here.

Noir Stationary Set

I posted my business card on the last post so this post adds the letterhead and envelope to the stationary set.

Noir Business Cards

I just created new business cards for myself sporting the new name and logo for Noir and to advertise my new online portfolio. It's difficult to create a unique or memorable card without paying extravagant amounts of money for spot colors, UV coatings, die cutting and the like. Although I was fortunate enough to be turned on to a website called 4colorprint.com that produces a very unique silk business card. It's pretty much a matte, silk laminate over the card that has a very smooth feel to the touch. It's not a cheesy gloss laminate that you would see on cards thrown all over the floor outside some club advertising some horrible rock band or DJ playing some embarrassing college theme night. The card looks normal but when you hand it off to someone, the response you get is usually, "Oooh, that feels interesting." And for $49 for 500 2-sided cards, it's a steal. A subtle way to make an important impression.

4colorprint.com

Anywhere Ad

I figured that I would start posting random pieces of work that I have done personally and professionally. This ad is the first in a series (that have yet to be created) that showcases the new visual branding of LKQ. What was once very corporate and safe in regards to color and design has changed with a splash of green, a new tagline and a bit of an edgier look.

I've also incorporated this new visual identity to the tradeshow booth that will be on display at the International Autobody Congress and Exposition (NACE) in Las Vegas. It's the biggest collision repair autoshow of the year. I'll be there for a few days just after election day taking pictures and will post images of how the booth turned out. Above is a floor plan but we'll see how it looks in real life.

You can see my official online portfolio at noirgraphicdesign.com

UPS Really Stands For Ultimate Photon System

Today's Photoshop fun. As you can see, my friend Chris and I get a lot done at work. He makes the corrugated robot suit and I make him all powerful in Photoshop. Slow day at work equals awesome picture. I decided to post the "before" (slightly grunged up in Lightroom) and the "after."

Noir Graphic Design Studios Site Launched

As of yesterday, my new online portfolio is now available to view online at http://www.noirgraphicdesign.com/. It contains samples of my work from various fields of design including print advertisements, logo design, packaging, and photography.

In college I learned web design but have long since forgotten most of it. Well that's not entirely true. I can design the hell out of a website but I cannot program it. I've forgotten about HTML and CSS style sheets which is the boring parts of the whole process which is why I've never truly dedicated myself to that aspect of design. It really turned me off to the whole thing. That is until...wait for it...I've discovered a badass photoshop plugin called Site Grinder 2. It allows designers like myself to be just that- a designer. Not a programmer. I can focus on building a website entirely in Photoshop. By simply naming layers with certain tags, Site Grinder builds your site with minimal to no knowlege of web design. It takes care of all the HTML coding and even implements CSS to your site without ever looking at code. It's a no brainer and a life saver. Check out the site and let me know what you think.

Noir Graphic Design Studios

A recent project of mine. Feel free to contact me for your graphic design needs. Thanks!