Art Web Design in Progress...

[Semjaza]

So I have this class called Web Design... which apparently means "Build sites in Flash Class". I chose to do a site on the Pixies. Most of my work was done, but of course it was lost along with another minute long Flash animation I did.

I tried just redoing my old work, but obviously the loss of it was a great annoyance. I've just gone with another idea altogether. What I have so far is basically just the opening page design.

Since this is just an image and I've not brought the Illustrator file into Flash, obviously nothing is animated. I plan on having the border colors change when a section image is highlighted. The text would also grow and rotate a slight bit. The background of each image there would also have an animation (like lines moving or stars falling, etc).

I'll keep updating this thread with the designs for the other page and then finally the website itself when it's completed. Obviously you'll need Flash to run it lol.

Anyway, keeping that in mind, I wouldn't mind some comments or suggestions. My last thread on a website (which I think is still on this page -- Mr. Driller), didn't get a single comment... but here's hoping anyway.

This is not done yet. I still have to add their logo, a title for the site and some other things... but this is the basic idea for this page.

Edit -- I'm not sure if I should put this in that Web Site forum, but I don't really care about the coding and stuff yet. Just the actual art.

[Kinetic]

[color=slategray]I love the vectorish feel in it. I honestly don't know much about Flash, so I couldn't give any tips, but I'm starting to really like this band and that animation looks great, so I look forward to seeing more work from you relating to this ;)[/color]

[Semjaza]

It probably looks vectorish because it is made up of vectors lol. I sat with my trusty mouse and drew these all based on images I found online. Some of them came out perfect, but others took a few tries.

[Kinetic]

[font=Verdana][size=2][color=slategray]Oh my god, I can't believe that you have that much skill 0_0[/color][/size][/font]

[font=Verdana][size=2][color=#708090]What tool do you use for vectoring anyway? I've tried to use the pen tool in photoshop but it only succeeds in confusing me.[/color][/size][/font]

[Semjaza]

I use Adobe Illustrator. The pen tool in Photoshop is really just a pain in the butt. You'd think it would work the same, but it just doesn't. Creating smooth shapes within Illustrator with the pen is just so much easier. On this, I mostly used the pencil tool. Illustrator smooths out whatever you draw with it, so you don't have to be [i]perfect[/i]... But obviously precision is helpful. I wish I had a tablet right now heh.

With Illustrator, you have to think in terms of shapes. There isn't an erase tool. There isn't a fill area tool. You have to approach a design knowing how it will look and basically just draw out shapes of colors and strokes... Takes some getting used to, but you get better (although I obviously have a very long way to go yet).

My style with this program has always been a more "cel-shaded" approach, if you've seen my other work with it (I've done some wallpapers for theOtaku, although they're based on images since I don't watch those anime shows lol). I'm not a big fan of the realistic, shaded approach that quite a few people pull off amazingly well.

[Kinetic]

[font=Verdana][size=2][color=slategray]Oh, I see now. I've never used Illustrator, but now I'm thinking about getting it; one way or another. I think I use the semi-colon right in that situation :p[/color][/size][/font]

[font=Verdana][size=2][color=#708090]Thanks for the tips though. If I do get Illustrator, I'll definately keep them in mind. [/color][/size][/font]

[font=Verdana][size=2][color=#708090]A tablet would be nice all the time. I would use it constantly lol. They're so expensive though, and I don't have a job yet, and my parents definately wouldn't get one lol. [/color][/size][/font]

[font=Verdana][size=2][color=#708090]I have seen that realistic approach that you were talking about and it is stunning. I wish I had that much skill with a real pencil, much less my computer :p[/color][/size][/font]

[Semjaza]

I think I'm mostly done with the main page now. I've figured out all the animations I want to do (mostly involving stars, which will also be used in the other pages to different extents). I just have to talk to the teacher because I don't know what to do about logo placement. I need ideas heh.

Anyway, I'm working on the News page now. I applied the first page's design to a Navigation animation thingy that I stuck on the bottom left. The figure on the right is Kim Deal bending over as she plays her bass.

I'm trying to not make this so complex, because if I do, it's just going to be too much. In addition to the music controls, the animations and rollovers and whatever else... having a billion little images to make this design look "cooler" would have been overkill.

Anyway, I'm NOT happy with this yet. I still have a lot of work to do to it, especially on the top half... but here it is.

[Kinetic]

[font=Verdana][size=2][color=slategray]It's an awesome layout but I'm not a fan of the blue. That's the style you're going with on this though, so it fits :p[/color][/size][/font]

[font=Verdana][size=2][color=#708090]The scrollbar is very unique though. That's one of the things I liked most (along with Kim playing her bass). [/color][/size][/font]

[font=Verdana][size=2][color=#708090]I have a question though. Is it going to be centered in the window or are you going to have it open in a new window that it fits in?[/color][/size][/font]

[duorocks17]

lol...I'm also in a class like what you described only it's called "Internet and Web Design." We really don't have that much of a lee-way since what we make is our school's Internet site. It's mostly for the parents and alumni to look and see what's happening. We're going to get into flash later in the year, and I can't wait.

I really like what you have done so far. The pics are awesome, and if they're going to be animated, I can just imagine what they are going to be like. The blue on the page is a little dark, you could probably shade it a little pic so it doesn't take the readers attention away from the context.

I also like how the menu buttons are on the right side. Something you don't really see everyday. Keep up the good work!

[Semjaza]

I wound up changing a lot of this. I had new ideas for it because I wasn't happy with the page layouts. My teacher pretty much echoed my thoughts on the subject when I showed it all to her.

So this is what I have currently. The colored boxes pop up when you click on the "Navigation" button.