I like the way these pieces turned out. The parts that I think could be improved or should be added are as follows (starting with the yearbook cover and working down): I have the trail run, math class and computers but honestly I want it to be even more reminiscent of school. Unfortunately the majority of 8 bit images I could find on the internet were related to the middle ages. This went with the Mario themed castle but I still wish I could have included more. Just want to point out the distressed monster in the back of the math class. I can totally relate to him, her or it. I know the colours are bright and garish but that is 8 bit games for you. Consider it realistic. I also wish I could have used Cosmo to a greater extent because I spent a long time getting all his edges square and aligned. The font looks great and there is enough going on that you can't take it all in at a glance and this keeps your eye going round and round noticing the red guy digging under ground or trail runner hiding behind a pipe. The font on the side looks almost right because I curved it just as it would be seen from the yearbook's spine.
As the cover was themed around 8 bit Mario, so the sports page is themed around Pac Man, a notoriously popular 8 bit arcade game. I would like to draw your attention to the cut out soccer players. Notice the quality of the cutting, the resaturation, improved contrast and superior lighting. The fading silhouettes behind them are to create movement while matching the colour scheme and the figures are largest at the bottom of the page and smaller at the top to create the illusion of distance. Notice how all the ghosts that I gave legs and cleats to play soccer with look eerily similar to those french-fry monsters that Ronald McDonald used to hang out with. Not important just pointing it out. But what is important is the layout of the level behind the pictures is a creation of my own devising and is meant to be a soccer field. You can see some of the line of scrimmage dissecting the centre, the goalie nets and all the other lines vital to a soccer field. If there was one thing I would like to change it would be to use pictures from this year (there were none). And to have the grass matching shades of green.
Last but certainly not least is the Art of the Heart pages. These pages are themed on Space Invaders again a popular arcade game that was cutting edge back in its day. I stuck to a bright green and white colour scheme for the invading background and chose art that mainly featured blue (the tuba, the landscape, the flower). On the left page is an 8 bit version of Van Gogh's Starry Night. Not my personal work but an image from the internet and I couldn't pass up the opportunity to remind the viewer of the theme of the yearbook. After all the artwork was least incorporated into the theme so I feel compensation is necessary. I did use frames of the chosen colour scheme colours to relate them to the background. All the pieces of art I chose I admire extremely. Look at that sea horse. Beautiful. I used a plastic wrap filter to try and give the pages that shiny look you find in real yearbooks but in the end it falls somewhat flat because the curve of the pages would affect the lighting in reality. I really do regret how the pages didn't turn out. I used liquefy to try and get the distortion that happens to a curved image. It didn't really pan out. I'm not sure of a perfect way to get the desired effect I want so the only cure is to experiment and check online if anyone has a solution to this or a similar problem. Note that the page numbers do add to the realism but the green line should curve with the page. I wasn’t sure how to bend it and liquefy would butcher it.
The bottom line of this project is my satisfaction with my work.
