FIESTA! - Poster

This was something I did a little while back. It was late, I was bored... so i just made this up. None of the information is real. Its all made-up.

I found all of the images on the web and used some clip art.

I used FreehandMX & Photoshop

Warner's Rendezvous Lounge - Advertisement Design

I was really happy how this one turned out. This was for a brand new restaurant/loung that had live jazz.

I used Photoshop & Quark.

Tavano's Italian Restaurant - Advertisment Design

I designed this at work (I'm a full-time designer) for an Italian restaurant. The ad ran a few times.

I grabbed the image of the Leaning Tower of Pisa off the web. I went for simple, elegant impact. I really liked this one...

Photoshop & Quark

Madico: Performance Car Catalog Cover - 2005

This design actually has a story... goes like this. I knew a guy, we'll call him "John Doe" or "JD" for short. Anyway, JD & I worked together, JD got fired. Years later JD appeared out of nowhere. Somehow he got ahold of me. He asked if I could help him. He was trying to get a job for a car customizing shop as a designer. Are you seeing where this is headed? I arranged for JD to come by my place and he could show me what he was up to. He shows up with discs, catalogs, etc... So he says the owner wants him to design a "mock" or spec cover and based on this design, he would decide whether or not to hire JD.

So I ask him - what are yo thinking of doing. "I don't know...", he says.
"Do you have any ideas?" I say. "No". He replies.

So then I ask him if he know's what the following things are: pdf, clipping path, layers, distilling, resolution... HE HAS NO CLUE!!

Finally he comes out and asks if I will design a cover and he'll pay me... So I did. I know, I shouldn't have, but I'm not perfect and we all make mistakes. Anyway from what I understand he did get that job, he did pay me and then disappeared as fast as he had reappeared. I've never heard from him again... its been about 2yrs.

Anyway - I used some hi-res pics of a car that were form a disc, along with the Madico logo. I found a pic online of a road in Italy with The Coliseum in the background and used it. I've never seen the final catalog.

Mama's Pride - Promo Fliers

Mam's Pride is a 4-piece rock group. I did some freelance work for a promoter - TruEntertainment.

I used Photoshop & FreehandMX on these. I took a single group photo from the web (thats all I had to work with) and the rest was just imagination. I've never heard what these soud like, but they won some awards so they can't be that bad.

Street Candles Album Cover

I downloaded a "demo" of an Acapella Doo-Wop group from Barcelona, Spain. I was blown away at how great these guys sound. They are unsigned and had no artwork or anything. So out of the goodness of my heart, I designed an album cover for them and sent it to them.

Here is the reply I received from the lead singer:

Hi Mark ,this was a big surprise for us. Your work is amazing , we don't
know how to thank you, we're going to 3 radios tomorrow to record in live
too , we'll send you the programs for your enjoy!!
many many thank's friend.
Eddie "Street Candle"

Process:

I got a feel for the group by listening to their album. I also ripped tracks from YouTube, MySpace and a video to add to the album. I then searched the web for photos. Once I selected a photo I thought would work - I went to work. I used Photoshop CS3 for everything. Picked colors based on an outfit they wore in the video - white with pink. But used a dark Green/Blue color for contrast in the background. I put a transparent photo in the background of a street at night.

What do you think?