Double Page Spread Construction

So here you can see my completed Double Page Spread, the final component for my Music Magazine, and this post will show you the steps I went through to complete it! The software I used for this task was, as before, Adobe Photoshop. However this is only half the story, since I also used Adobe InDesign to create the layout and incorporate the text into the background image created using Photoshop. So, without further delay, here it is!

1)

The first thing I did was to select a background image to use for my Double Page Spread. This image related closely to my Flat Plan that I have drawn up previously to outline the ideas I wanted to display in this piece and ultimately to test these ideas on paper. The conventions of the chosen image (right) matched those of my previous pieces, and the desired effect was also easily implemented into the image. Unlike my Contents and Front Page, I didn't add any extra effects to the image itself at this stage of development, since most of the effects will be focused on the collision of the two fists of my models, and any others will be created in Adobe InDesign.

2)
The next thing to do was to create the explosion effect that will serve as the background for my Pull Quote and the main effect of my Double Page Spread. This was created with the help of a tutorial found on YouTube that was split into 3 parts (probably because it was so long and complicated), and these tutorials can be found here; Part One - Part Two - Part Three. There are so many aspects that go into this effect that it would take an age to list them all let alone describe them in detail, but once the main effect had been completed by following the tutorial, I edited the final product slightly to make it fit the criteria of my Double Page Spread. I did this by applying a Faded Red Brush to the centre of the explosion to add some more colour to the effect, and also ensured it was a perfect circle to show the energy was bursting from all directions.

3)

The third step in the process, still using Adobe Photoshop, was to create the space for the page numbers and the introductory paragraph to the article. The text itself will be added and formatted using Adobe InDesign, but the spaces created would allow the text to be read easier, since white text on a black background stands out much more than white or black text on an image. To create these spaces I brought back an element used for both my Front Page and Contents Page, the shard effect. I created the space I needed using the Rectagle Shape Tool, and then used the Pen Tool to stroke where I wanted the shards to line the shapes, creating the space for my text. I also added a quarter of a sphere in the top right hand corner of the image just to add a small detail, taken from the Album Cover sphere on my Front and Contents Pages.

4)
Here you can see I have included the Pull Quote into my Double Page Spread. This was also done using Adobe Photoshop, and the quote is written in the same font that has been used for the Mastheads of my Front Page and Contents Page. The Layer Style used for the Pull Quote also includes similar elements, such as the softened Bevel and Emboss and the Stroke. However I have also included a slightly transparent Gradient Overlay in a Radial style, to emphasise the energy shown by the explosion between the hands of my models. The Pull Quote itself was originally written in Capital Letters, however this was changed since many of my peers felt it was too difficult to read as the font used is both very artistic and highly complex.

5)

Finally the title of the article was added, an element taken from my Front Page and Contents Page, although here you can see it as being aligned to a single line of text, whereas on my Front Page the band name 'Hell Raiser' is seen on two lines with one word resting on top of the other. The Page Numbers have also been added to the bottom corners of the article, with the title of the magazine, 'Project Mayhem' framing the numbers, an element taken from my previous research into the Double Page Spreads of real music magazines, which can be found here.

6)

The final stage of my Double Page Spread was (obviously) to add the text for my article, format it to match the colour schemes and the overall House Style of my Front Page and Contents Page, and Text Wrap the text around my main image. This is where Adobe InDesign came into its own as this piece of Desktop Publishing Software allowed me to easily copy the text over from my Blog post, format the text in the way that I wanted to and then apply the Text Wrap. However, the issue with the Text Wrap was that since the main image was the background, and I only wanted part of this image to be the subject of the Text Wrap, so I had to find a solution. This solution came in the form of a YouTube tutorial that can be found here (there is no sound to the video, but it's still quite straight forward to follow). Basically, I used the Pencil Tool to draw a path around the portion of the image that I wanted the text to Wrap around, and applied the Text Wrap to the path.