Photoshop

Photoshop was the main key to my completion of my music magazine. The majority of things that I had created had been done on Photoshop CS 3 and CS 5. Before I had started this, I already knew some basic knowledge about Photoshop and how to use it as I previously studied art and had learnt about it.

I have picked up new things such as how to blur out certain parts of an image. For example in my double page spread, behind the writing, the picture is blurred.

I have learnt how to manipulate an image and remove certain errors in the pictures for example:

With this, I had copied another part of his trouser and pasted it on top of the mark so that it would be covered and looking fresh.

I also learnt how to manipulate the curves, levels and colour balance of images like this:

A reason in which I wanted to edit my picture and not just keep the original is because I had done some market research and had realised that many young adults/ teenagers like manipulating their pictures into a grainy, vintage look. An iPhone app that I have been using and looking at is called 'Instagram' which allows you to take a picture then put a filter on it for a vintage look.

Then learning to cut out an original image and pasting it out onto another one like this:

After editing this on photoshop, I had decided that the model had been manipulated too much. So I had decided to cut out my model from the original picture with the aid of photoshop and the selection tool. Once I had done this, I just made an extra layer on top of the edited picture and placed it in line with it.

These two magazines are my improvements from the previous post. As you can see, I had taken a change in the name as my further research shows that often when hip hop artist talk about the police, it is usually not a very good thing and for that reason, naming my magazine, Five-O would totally go against it. This weakness has been resolved and I have now changed my magazine name to what my target audience decided would be best for it, 'New Sound'.

These two front covers are not yet the final cover as I still have much more detail and text to add onto it. However, a lot of decisions upon where the text will be placed and the image layout has already been made.

As you can see, my main artist is called 'Carlos Miller' and I have effectively put his name next to the artist's face at the bottom and then struck 2 lines slanted downwards behind it. This is to give it a modern yet indie look and it would also represent a police line with the cover on the bottom.

An exclusive text has been added to emphasise that the text underneath would show significance of it being exclusive and would attract the audience.

the colour scheme of this magazine blends well with my artist which was beige and I had chosen an opposite colour for a contrasted look.

However, I feel that my magazine does not feel Hip Hop/ Indie enough which I had then decided I will not be using this layout as my final design.

This is my rough sketch up for my front cover magazine. When I did this 2 weeks ago, it only had the magazine name a block and my artist for my front cover. Much improvement has been added onto my front cover as you will see in the next post.

When I had created this, I wanted to go for a mysterious look, but I also wanted it to show anger and minimal emotion. I had created this effect with the use of a hood. This give my target audience a sense of mystery and a edgy scary look.

This is my unfinished front cover for my music magazine. Originally the magazine was going to be called 'Five-O' but I had changed it because it does not really seem to relate to the genres as studies show that usually when the police are mentioned, it is not a good thing. I went with New Sound because Hip Hop/ Indie is two new types of genres that have been put together.

The colour scheme that is used has been taken from the artist which presents a green/blue colour and the opposite of this colour would be a dark shade of orange. This therefore makes the colours work well and also ensure my artist to stand out.

Additional details such as the barcode, pull quotes and information would be added on at a later stage.

Potential Double Page Spread

This is my potential double page spread picture. The idea of this picture had been taken from a double page spread which features Fearne Cotton, in which the picture takes up both the two pages and the writing is placed directly onto the image. Her picture had went well with the text that was on it and hopefully mine will also relate as it contains graffiti and my magazine is based on hip hop/indie in which their culture does contain a lot of graffiti and street art.

Potential Front Cover

My final model for my magazine cover. I had done some research and I was highly advised not to use a background with a brick wall but I wanted to be original just like my magazine is. My model is giving off a dull angry expression just like any other hip hop magazine, however, the way he is dressed and presented contains some hints of indie culture which would tell the audience that it is no ordinary hip hop magazine, but instead,with a hint of indie.