CCR Q3) How have your skills developed throughout the project?

Basic skills

Many of my skills have developed throughout the project, such as my drawing and
rendering skills. The software I’ve used to hand-draw my front cover, 2 page spread and
contents page is Procreate, a drawing app used on tablets and phones. I drew my
product on my iPad, using the application. In my front cover, I used a long shot from an
eye level angle, to create some distance between the viewer and character in the cover.
The use of this angle creates a mysterious and dangerous atmosphere in the front cover,
making the character appear more vicious. The main three colors visible in my front
cover are black, orange and brown. The darker colors convey hostility from the
character portrayed, which is what I aim to present. This is because the game I am
representing on my front cover is a horror/adventure game, so I attempted to use
darker colors to show that it is not a lively and light-hearted game like the games usually
shown on retro video game magazines. The props I used are suitable for a warrior or
fighter, which is suitable for my character who is holding a sword. By using these props
and visibly showing the character bloody- perhaps because she had just finished a
battle- I am presenting that the game is violent, action-packed with bloody scenes and
possibly even gore. The location further shows that the drawing is showing a character
post-fight, because of the fire and burning forest shown behind her. I also slightly
blurred the background in order to gain more attention and allow the viewer to focus
more on the character rather than the background, as she is the main subject of the
front cover.

After I finished drawing my product, I transfer it into Photoshop to make sure it is the
right size, and then start working on putting text for my front cover, some light touch
ups, and even cropping out unnecessary things on my product. For my front cover, I
researched and installed a few fonts from DaFont, and used them for my masthead title,
and the text boxes around my front cover. I also added shapes and banners to input text
into, making the magazine appear more professional and organized.

Advanced skills

In my drawing, I used blending modes in Procreate to create the lighting as well as

shade for my product. By using these blending modes on layers, I effectively created
dramatic lighting in my front cover, making it appear as if my character was lightly
illuminated by the fire behind her. These blending modes are also found in Photoshop,
but I found them more suitable for my purpose on Procreate. I drew my character
CCR Q3) How have your skills developed throughout the project?

almost at a ¾ view, making her appear more mysterious. The weapons and clothing I
drew suits my purpose; which is the game I am trying to represent is an action-packed
game which is set in medieval times, which is a contrast to the futuristic games that are
over-populated nowadays. For the text on my 2 page spread and contents page, I used
Publisher instead of Photoshop. The main reason for this is because Photoshop uses
bitmap pixels instead of vector lines and curves like Publisher. Using bitmap pixels
means that when zoomed in, the text becomes pixelated and seems less attractive than
vector lines, which are not pixelated no matter how far you zoom in. In Photoshop, I also
used false backgrounds to partially obscure my masthead title behind the character.

Why I used these skills

I used false backgrounds to cover a small part of my masthead, making it appear as if

the magazine is popular and well-known, and therefore has no reason to showcase the
entire name. I used a fine erases with hard edges to create the false background, and
used a graphics tablet to erase the spaces around stray hairs and other difficult areas to
erase. I also downloaded fonts from DaFont because the normal fonts on Photoshop
didn’t suit my purpose or look suitable when I applied them to my products. The fonts I
used are sans serif, blocky fonts. This is conventional to use in a video game magazine,
as they want to stand out more and don’t aim to appear sophisticated like fashion
magazines. I also used blending modes to create lighting and shading in my drawings,
and edited and revised them until I felt they were suitable for the purpose.