I'm now using Affinity Photo, Designer and Publisher in lieu of the Adobe products that I've used in the past. Photo editing, Illustraton and Desktop publishing were all subjects that I taught over the last few decades, and I occasionally had time to take on a contract or two.
I was fortunate enough to work with some very talented people while attending classes in Queens University in the 80's. Among them were members of the Arrogant Worms. They made a great name for themselves in folk / comedy circles starting in the 1990's and continuing to this day!
They gave me an opportunity to work with them on a few CD covers and promotional commercial artwork for their album projects.
The "Gift Wrapped" project introduced me to producer Carl Caprioglio, which led into the projects for a couple of other artists shown below.
George re-released one of his 1996 recordings under OGLIO Entertainment. The original cover featured him holding a cigar, but after a health scare, he wanted to alter the cover image.
Carl Caprioglio offered me the job, and it became a real learning experience. Initial concepts were developed, and were shot down by George and his management. The cover photo was changed midway through the process. I threw away the "concept" driven approach and they finally settled on a clean and simple design shown here.
Carl Caprioglio offered this contract to me after he'd seen my work for the Arrogant Worms US release "Gift Wrapped".
A photo shoot supplied the images that were developed into the album artwork. Specific instructions were to "buff up" the skintones on the female models.
Hey - I got a mention in the Wikipedia entry for this project!
As I've been performing in various music groups and ensembles, I'm able to help out with promotional graphics. Facebook and Instagram are well served using 1:1 (square) graphics with the details of the event. It's fun to try to create distinctive typography for each event and group.
Front Porch Sitters
Ottawa Carleton Choristers
There is ocassionally a need for group photographs, and there is often a lack of appropriate space and lighting for the photos to be taken. I've found that careful selection, colour grading and digital alterations can provide venues that you might never know were there!
(Click on the right side of the image below to see the before and after versions of these photoshop projects.)