Pixels

Pixels is a short animation by graphic artist Patrick Jean who shows us another example that retro will never be out of style. Many familiar faces (or should I say sprites?) were updated for this incredible short animation.

The Sandpit

The Sandpit is a short film by Sam O’Hare who has created a fantastic video using the tilt-shift photography technique showing us a world that literally looks like a kid’s playground. I wish I had those toys when I was growing up! For a detailed overview of how this was created visit Aero Film.

Nature By Numbers

A fantastic short film by Cristóbal Vila which shows that beauty was created through geometry, numbers and natural growth. I really enjoyed seeing something like this because it shows that the creator really tried to think outside of the box. Visit Etereae Studios for more information about this short film.

Metal Heart

This is another tilt-shift photography video done by Keith Loutit but only this time the effect is even more spectacular showing us a packed arena at a monster truck event.

The Bank Job

This is more of a public service announcement then it is a commercial but the effects used in the PSA look very convincing with a great twist at the end of the video.

American Gangster

Cheltenham Bold-Condensed (ITC)

Baskerville MT

Triple Condensed Gothic comes close.

Images are copyright of Gabriele Dell’Otto. Courtesy of Marvel and DC Comics.

Predators

Directed by Nimród Antal | Release July 7th 2010 – Poster design by Troublemaker Studios
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Plot: “A group of elite warriors are hunted by members of a merciless alien race known as Predators.” View trailer

A Nightmare on Elm Street

Directed by Samuel Bayer | Release April 30th 2010 – Poster design by Ignition Print
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Plot: “A re-imagining of the horror icon Freddy Krueger, a serial-killer who wields a glove with four blades embedded in the fingers and kills people in their dreams, resulting in their real death in reality.” View trailer

Kick-Ass

Directed by Matthew Vaughn | Release March 12th 2010 – Poster design by Ignition Print
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Plot: “Dave Lizewski is an unnoticed high school student and comic book fan with a few friends and who lives alone with his father. His life is not very difficult and his personal trials not that overwhelming. However, one day he makes the simple decision to become a super-hero even though he has no powers or training.” View trailer

Prince of Persia

Directed by Mike Newell | Release May 28th 2010 – Poster design by BLT & Associates and FIVE33
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Plot: “Based on the video game, which follows an adventurous prince who teams up with a rival princess to stop an angry ruler from unleashing a sandstorm that could destroy the world.” View trailer

Robin Hood

Directed by Ridley Scott | Release April 30th 2010 – Poster design by Creative Partnership
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Plot: “The story of an archer in the army of Richard Coeur de Lion who fights against the Norman invaders and becomes the legendary hero known as Robin Hood.” View trailer

Iron Man 2

Directed by Jon Favreau | Release May 7th 2010 – Poster design by BLT & Associates
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Plot: “With the world now aware of his dual life as the armored superhero Iron Man, billionaire inventor Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) faces pressure from the government, the press, and the public to share his technology with the military. Unwilling to let go of his invention, Stark, along with Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow), and James “Rhodey” Rhodes (Don Cheadle) at his side, must forge new alliances — and confront powerful enemies. ” View trailer

The Expendables

Directed by Sylvester Stallone | Release August 13th 2010 – Poster design by Ignition Print
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Plot: “A team of mercenaries head to South America on a mission to overthrow a dictator.” View trailer

The A-Team

Directed by Joe Carnahan | Release June 11th 2010 – Poster design by Gravillis Inc.
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Plot: “A group of Iraq War veterans looks to clear their name with the U.S. military, who suspect the four men of committing a crime for which they were framed.” View trailer

Sources: Imdb.com / Impawards.com / Traileraddict.com / Apple.com

Aside from Tomasz Arthur Opasinski, the poster designer community is rather silent to say the least. To give you an idea where all these movie posters come from I’ve summed up some of the best design agencies within this creative field of key-art.

BLT & Associates – Official website

Ignition Print – Official website

Intralink Film – Official website

Concept Arts – Official website

Mojo, LLC – Official website

Art Machine, A Trailer Park Company – Official website

Crew Creative Advertising – Official website

Cimarron Group – Official website

Cold Open – Official website

The Ant Farm – Official website

Midnight Oil Creative – Official website

Empire Design – Official website

Vox and Associates – Official website

New Wave Creative – Official website

B.D. Fox Independent – Official website

The Refinery – Official website

Bemis Balkind – Official website

Also known as the ‘Billing Block‘, the credits segment of a movie poster is one of the key components which hasn’t changed much at all over the years. If you look at posters from the last fifteen years, you’ll notice that they all use condensed fonts for the billing block. The reason why they use this particular type of font is because it has a very important function; it provides a lot of information in a small portion of the movie poster.

From personal experience, I’ve found that Bee Two looks best as a credit font but to my knowledge Univers Ultra Condensed Thin is probably the most used billing block font within the industry. The examples shown below all have a size of 72pt.

Free alternatives

If you don’t want to fork up the cash for some quality fonts, these might be worth checking out. I’ve used SteelTongs before but wasn’t really satisfied with the result. However, it does have a feature that’s superior to every other font; it has a specialised character map. To see what I mean just click on the SteelTongs image below.

If you have something to add to this article or if you have a different opinion then please leave a comment!

About a year ago I came across this dusty-old wooden plaque, my mother informed me it was our family crest, commissioned by my grandfather about 50 years ago. I sort of liked it but personally I would have chosen another design.

Below is an image of our family crest, it was rather dusty and yellow from sunlight when I found it in the attic.

A Little Backstory

The descriptions of this crest are on the back of this plaque, it reads that in 1875 our family crest was registered in the Armorial Général published by Johannes Rietstap, the crest is actually as old as the 15th Century. The Armorial Général is an encyclopedia for family crests. My mother’s last name is Pieters while my father’s last name is Poppenburg. Without going in too much detail, I’ve decided to part ways with my father and his family and stand behind my mother.

Meaning

As with every family crest, things like colours, shapes, objects and figures all have a special meaning. The ‘tournament’ shield is covered in black, the colour of sadness but also helpfullnes while the beam of gold stands for stability, support and strength of character. The gold star, also known as a Maria symbol represents luck and prosperity. The crest’s gold is the primary color in heraldy and stands for excellence, reason, prestige, virtue and eminence. The tarpaulin in black and gold (the floural looking things on the side) stand for persistence. Is there any truth to these meanings and do they reflect on my personal life? Mostly, they do.

A New Design

The reason why I wanted a new design is because this crest looks a bit outdated for modern use. Gold (and any other metal) is obviously hard, if not impossible to pull off realistically in Photoshop and personally I think it looks a little tacky. I wanted to get rid of a few things such as the Maria star, the name banner and the tarpaulin because I felt the meanings of those elements didn’t reflect on me or my family.

Shape

I started sketching a new shield shape which in total were about twenty different shapes, please excuse my toddler-like doodles below as they’re only sketches. As you can see, in each sketch there is an element that ended up in the final design. I did have trouble selecting the final elements as this was a personal project with a deeper meaning behind it.

Elements

Things I wanted to keep or redo in the new design:

• The beam of gold : The gold was going to be replaced with a orange/yellow colour.
• The shield: I wanted to keep the shield in the new design in any shape or form.
• The tarpaulin: This was going to be replaced by flourals, to have a less chaotic crest.

Colors & Text

I wanted to keep the original colours but wanted to play with different shades, multiple versions came and went including the grunge version posted below. As a replacement for the name banner in the old crest, I wanted to add my full name but that would take up to much space. So I ended up using my initials; Paul Poppenburg/Pieters to keep it personal. This came close to being finished at the time but I wasn’t satisfied; it looked dull, flat, old and vintage. Something I wanted to avoid.

Redesign of a Design

With not being satisfied, I had decided to create a more modern, colourful and sleeker design. With the help of Bittbox.com’s free vectors I added the flourals in the back of the beam to give it a more friendly and illustrative look. The shield also got an update, I wanted it to be more bold and rounded so I applied a bevel & emboss effect on the shield. I also got rid of the stars as they cheapened the look I wanted to achieve.

The final design was created almost a year ago and unfortunately, I can’t remember where I got the background pattern from. If you’re the author of the file please send me a message and I will certainly credit you.

What to Call it?

I want you to name this graphic I’ve designed; is it a logo, is it a family crest redesign or is it an emblem or something else entirely? I’ll let you be the judge! For future use, I may change the design even more. I’d appreciate if you could give me your opinion so please leave a comment!