I would like to discuss something in the "neutral, non judgmental zone" of our DisMeet.
Honestly, I'm reluctant to say this for several reasons. Please don't hold it against me.
I'm only a cruise ship aficionado.
It's truly that simple.
OK folks, I hope I'm not being too anal here, but can we have a graphic of the ship that we are sailing. The Magic and Dream class look completely different from the front, side, top, aft, and likely bottom. I would love to participate in T-shirts, and other graphics, that accurately portray the Fantasy for this sailing. Not so much if it shows a graphic of the Magic Class. The Fantasy deserves distinction from the other vessels IMO.
I have seen toooo many Dis Meet items aboard that don't even match the ship lines, that .....
OK, I feel better now. I hope you all won't dislike me now. But a ship class distinction I feel is warranted, especially with the graphics. Especially if displayed on T-shirts and whatnot. IMO.
Thank you for your understanding.
Yep it really is what Ron said above. There isn't anything out there specifically for the Fantasy at a high enough resolution that I can use that isn't an actual photograph image. well, there are two- the original artist rendering (discussed below) and one more*
A photograph plunked down into a graphic design LOGO just isn't good IMHO. (It can make a magnet designs, but as a logo you want it to blend well and not clash with the design style). If everything is cartoony for instance you don't want to plop a photograph in it- just doesn't look right. If the design is more graphic/clean you don't want something cartoony added in- it would clash and detract from the overall style of the design (a little bit of a problem I am having now).
When making a logo or image design for a T-shirt or large magnet -8.5x11 for instance- I start my design canvas at 12x12 and 300 ppi/dpi. If I just go on google and search Fantasy and grab something and place it on my canvas (besides other issues like copyright/licensing/etc) it is going to be tiny on my large canvas. And if I try to resize the image (unless it is a vector, which nothing of the Fantasy is) it is going to get blurry and pixelized. (you can't resize up and keep image quality).
Now, I'm not a graphic designer, I'm really still just a hobbyist** and technically a beginner in the realm of Photoshop. There are some things I can do well and there are some things I can make pass and some things are just out of my skill set. I can't draw or create a graphic of the Fantasy myself. That is out of my league. LOL. And there isn't much out there to use that would be acceptable or high enough quality in a logo design (except one- the initial artist rendering which I have tried to extract (pull the ship out of the background, which is a TON of work and very difficult in this case because of the intricacy of the design at the top and the white areas of the ship)- OMG what a job. I gave up on that before the last Fantasy cruise. The artwork just wan't going to work in the end anyway, as it had lighting and shadowing that I could not change on the boat itself that is simply not conducive to using in a logo design) And well. let's be honest- that image is of the Dream.
So I am left with just a couple of choices if we want a representation of the ship in the design. There are a few Digital Scrapbooking kits out there that have ship elements at a high enough quality to be used but those ships are designed to pass as either class like Ron said- a general interpretation. They are actually designed that way on purpose so that they are more flexible and the user only has to buy one kit (and the designer only has to make one kit) to be used with any
Disney Cruise Line scrapbooking layout. You are supposed to suspend belief and just know in your head that this ship is Fantasy (or whatever ship you are using it to represent).
And- don't get me wrong- that is something I really struggled with in the beginning because I AM JUST AS ANAL when it comes to little details like that, I promise you. Ron will back me up on that!
So....I am currently 3/4 done with a design. I'm tweaking it. It's not exactly what I pictured in my head yet and I'm a little bit frustrated because the last one I created came together almost effortlessly. This one is taking some real work.
And I'm not going to lie- I'm trying to outdo myself for sure as I think that professional looking T shirt design from FB was very impressive- but I want a design specific to our group, our sailing and one that can be used for those who want to make their own shirts, and on Magnets and FE gifts. So I am trying to actually work out of the box and out of my comfort zone a bit. It is challenging.
Whew. Sorry. Didn't mean to write a book.
It really does just some down to what is out there available and appropriate for use.
*There actually is another one but it was created by the Dis as part of their Dis Podcast Cruise Logo. While I have the ability to extract and alter that design, they had posted specifically that doing so was forbidden and since we are on the Dis, they'd see it and I'd be in deep doo-doo.
And I have to say- even THAT ship is very ambiguous and could represent either class. and because I "work" in the industry per se, I could not ethically bring myself to do something I know they have strictly forbidden via their terms of use.
**I do "work" for a Digital Scrapbook designer and I am compensated for my work with free products, so I am technically a little bit above a hobbyist.
Disclaimer- I haven't been on the Creative Dis-igns board for a while but if I have missed something and there is a high-res .png transparent background of the Fantasy floating around let me know!
Please don't feel bad about asking it is a GREAT question and I'm glad you bought it up because it does show how much goes into these designs created by myself, Judy, Sarah and others!
Jen
