Welcome to KamedaDesigns Blog

Animation is my new thing!

Blogs by Kameda — 2009-12-16T20:30:00Z

It has been a crazy semester last fall taking Flash animation, principles of animation and storyboarding classes all at the same time. Every Tuesdays and Thursdays I sit on the same chair, in the same room listening to the same teacher from 9 am to 1 pm. Amazingly though, hours just fly by fast as we hop from one project to another.

I developed a new passion because of these classes: ANIMATION is the word. I am loving Flash and starting to like After Effects. I am also planning to take Maya next semester. Am I crazy or what?? Will be posting some tutorials on flash in the near future. For the mean time, check out my new website made in Flash KamedaDesigns.com

Spring in Hawaii

Blogs by Kameda — 2009-05-07T22:26:00Z

I took our dog, Jewel, for a walk this morning and on our way home I heard the buzzing of the bees. I looked up and noticed that the tree near our house is covered with flowers. I took Jewel inside, got my camera ready, went back outside and took some pictures. Below are some of those I took. For more pictures please visit the blog site that I just opened http://photosbyevan.wordpress.com/. I will be posting more about photography and more photos in this site in the future.

How to make an image reflection using Photoshop

Blogs by Kameda — 2009-04-22T21:19:00Z

Step 1

Open up the image you wish to use for this tutorial. Make a new document that is double the height of your image. Drag your image to the new document and position it at the upper half of the document.

Step 2

Duplicate the layer by selecting Ctrl + J. And drag the duplicated image so that it’s directly underneath the original image. Now flip the duplicated image by selecting Edit > Transform > Flip Vertical. You image should now look like below:

Step 3

Select Layer > Layer Mask > Reveal All.
Now select the gradient tool with the foreground to transparent gradient selected.
Hold down shift and drag the gradient from the top of the flipped image to the bottom, like below:

You can adjust the opacity to make your reflection look more natural.

How to change the color of a car using Photoshop

Blogs by Kameda — 2009-04-19T17:11:00Z

This Photoshop tutorial will teach you how to the change the color of any car. This could also work with any moving vehicle such as a truck, boat or even a plane. This tutorial requires the quick mask tool.

Step 1

Open an image in Photoshop.

I downloaded a car pic from Mazda

Step 2

Using the quick mask tool carefully paint over the areas you don’t wish to change the colour to. If you don’t know how to use the quick mask tool and follow the steps below:

With your photo open in Photoshop, click on the Quick Mask button at the bottom of your tool bar or press Q

Step a

Now make sure your paint color is set to black and paint on your image. You will see red strokes on your image. That is your quick mask.

Step b

Hit the Quick Mask button again and your red area is now surrounded broken lines!

Step c

If you want to edit your selection, hit the Quick Mask button again and paint or erase as needed. Toggle back and forth as much as you wish to get a quality selection.

Step 3 Once the quick mask is applied your image should look like below:

Exit the quick mask tool (Q) and your image should be selected like below:

Step 3

Select Layer > New adjustment layer > Color balance then click ok. And then adjust the color levels to your liking. You can also experiment with Hue/Saturation.

My daughter wants a pink car so here it is.

You should now have a car with a different color!

If you want to change the background, repeat the process. Use the Quick Mask tool to paint the background.

Then go to Select> Inverse

Your Image should now look like this.

Then go to Layer > New Fill Layer which gives you 3 options: Solid Color, Gradient or Pattern. I used pattern for mine with 22% opacity and the result is below.

Mika and her world

Blogs by Kameda — 2009-04-14T00:26:00Z

Last weekend I was playing with Mika's picture and made a background using Photoshop.

Metal effect on text using Photoshop

Blogs by Kameda — 2009-04-14T00:22:00Z

How to create nice rounded corners in your photos using Photoshop

Blogs by Kameda — 2009-04-14T00:21:00Z

Step 1

Open an image in Photoshop.

Step 2

Using the rectangular marquee tool drag a rectangle shape similar to below.

Choose select > modify > smooth and set the sample radius to 15px. (You can experiment with the radius if you want)

Step 3

Now choose select > inverse and hit the delete button.

Step 4

Depending on the background that you have set earlier, your picture should now look like this. My background was set to white earlier. But it would not matter since we are going to make a nice background for our image.

Step 5

Select Layer > New Fill Layer. You have 3 options: Solid color, Gradient or Pattern. For my picture I used pattern. Experiment with any of the choices and select the one that is most appropriate for your picture.

Step 6 Final Result

How to make the jelly effect on text using Photoshop

Blogs by Kameda — 2009-04-14T00:20:00Z

This Photoshop tutorial will teach you how to create a jelly effect on texts. Feel free to change the settings and do some experiments on the blending options and layer styles. You can also choose a different color. I chose green for this tutorial.

Step 1

Create a new Photoshop document. Select the text tool and type your text. You can use any font style and color that you want.

Step 2

Select Layer > Layer style > Blending Options. Add the following settings for drop shadow below:

For the inner shadow you may use the settings below:

You can also experiment by using inner glow instead of inner shadow using these settings.

This is how it looks like using inner glow:

Bevel and emboss settings:

Adding Satin settings:

Adding Color Overlay settings:

I have used the colors and settings above, but feel free to experiment with the various settings.

Scary Texts

Blogs by Kameda — 2009-04-13T23:29:00Z

I made these in Photoshop using wind and ripple filters.

Mika's graphics using Photoshop

Blogs by Kameda — 2009-04-13T20:37:00Z

Mika likes to play with Photoshop. Today, after experimenting the filter tools she came up with this design. I thought it was cool. So here it is.

How to make the Gritty Effect in Photoshop

Blogs by Kameda — 2009-04-13T18:37:00Z

You might not want to use this effect in your photo if you desire the glowing look that we usually see in the photographs of models and actresses. But you can definitely use the steps below on objects or people you want to look older and gritty.

1. Open our project image and immediately duplicate the background layer by right clicking the background layer and selecting ‘Duplicate Layer’. With the ‘Background Copy’ layer selected, go to ‘Filter’ on the menu and choose ‘Other’ -> ‘High Pass’, enter ‘5′ pixels as the radius and click ok. Next, change the blend of the ‘Background Copy’ layer to ‘Overlay’.

2. Duplicate the orginal background layer again (’Background Copy 2′) and move it to the very top of the layers list. With this new layer highlighted in the layers palette, go to ‘Image’ on the main menu and choose ‘Adjustment’ -> ‘Desaturate’. Change the blend of the this new layer to ‘Hard Light’.

3. Click on the right facing arrow in the top right corner of our layers palette and choose ‘Flatten Image’ from the drop down menu. This once again leaves us with a single layer ‘Background’. Duplicate this layer and press ‘Ctrl+F’ (Commmand-F on mac) to apply the same filter effect used in step 1. Change the blend mode of this layer to ‘Overlay’.

4. Flatten the image again (Click on the right facing arrow in the top right corner of our layers palette and choose ‘Flatten Image’ from the drop down menu). Next, click the ‘Create New Adjustment Layer’ icon at the bottom of the layers palette and choose ‘Curves’. In the ‘Curves’ dialog add a point by clicking directly on the diagnol line (around the upper third in our example), move it toward the left, and click OK. This will lighten the entire image (but focus on the eyes).

5. Click on the layer mask thumbnail of the Curves adjustment layer we just created and press ‘Ctrl+i’ (Command-i on mac), the image will appear darker. Set your foreground color to white (press D). Select the Brush tool from the toolbox and using a soft edged brush (I used a brush with diameter of 12px and hardness of 15%), paint over the eyes to brighten them up.

6.Create a new layer, and change your foreground color to a nice eye color you would like to highlight your subjects eyes with. I chose a light brown color to match the color of my eyes. Change the blend mode of this layer to ‘Color’. Now using the same brush settings we used in the previous step, paint over the eyes to highlight them with your selected foreground color. If you find the color is too vivid, try adjusting the layer opacity to lessen the effect.

My Portfolio 2008

Blogs by Kameda — 2009-04-12T20:53:00Z

I have updated my portfolio. It contained the works I have done last Fall 2008. I took photography lessons and also learned more about using Adobe InDesign. Although I have been exposed to these fields while I was still working in the Advertising and Creative Productions Department of IPI (International Pharmaceuticals, Inc.) before I got married, I really learned a lot of new things from attending these classes.

So visit my website to check it out.

http://www.kamedadesigns.com/

Mika's Recent Drawings

Blogs by Kameda — 2009-04-12T20:37:00Z

Mika draw this picture of Peter Parker "Spider Man" while watching the movie on TV

Mika draw this while watching Spongebob. The pineapple is Spongebob's house and the snail is his pet.

A drawing using colored pens.

A drawing of a fairy using colored pencils.

Mika made this drawing for our dog.

A drawing of a bird catching a bean and a bow flower. She said this is not done yet.

African Female Statue

Blogs by Kameda — 2009-04-09T04:11:00Z

The Bamileke People of Cameroon made this female figure. The materials used are wood, beads, cotton and thread. It stands around 5 feet and 2 inches and was made around the early 20th century.

    This is a statue of a woman standing partially nude. The whole statue is covered in colorful beads: the headdress is green; the face is black with white beads to emphasize the eyes and the teeth. The body and limbs are covered in red beads. Black beads that looked like a loincloth covers the private part and also emphasize the breasts, ears and the navel. The statue is wearing a black necklace.

    The elements used in this work are texture and color. Although the statue is made of wood, tiny beads cover its surface and are primarily what you see externally. The colors are also very striking and red is the predominant color used in this statue. This work also uses the principle of proportion and balance. The body is longer in proportion to the rest of its body emphasizing a bulging stomach suggesting pregnancy. This statue is also symmetrically balanced in the sense that from the statue’s imaginary center of the vertical line, everything is similar on both sides.

    Extraordinary beaded statuaries are usually made for the royal couples. Wooden images are first carved and then covered with colorful beads. Cameroon craftsmen stitch the beads in rows on a cloth and wrap the cloth around the form following the contours of the body with the lines and shapes of the colored beads. The red color covering this female statue is a symbol of life and fertility. The other strong colors provide liveliness to her rigid stance.

    The Cameroon grass fields are the home of numerous small and large kingdoms founded during the past centuries. In the service of the kings, sculptors produced all kinds of objects in a variety of styles, underlining the importance of the king not only locally, but also regionally. Rulers use lavish materials to proclaim their power, wealth and status and to impress and control their people.

African Marriage Blanket

Blogs by Kameda — 2009-04-09T04:02:00Z

Also known as Arkila Kerka (Mosquito Blanket), this was woven in the early 20th century (1957) by a Fulani weaver for a wealthy Bozo family in the Central Niger River area. It is super long, estimated to be around 20 feet long and 6 feet wide. The materials used to weave this large blanket are cotton and rayon.

    The Arkila Kerka is a woven textile depicting eye-catching patterns of squares, rectangles, diamonds on alternating stripes of different sizes and colors. The colors used are very stunning which include reds, yellows and blues with a splash of black and white to give it more prominence. This is huge blanket.

    The elements used for this work are color and shape. The very first thing that you will notice about this blanket are the striking use and placement of colors and the play of geometric shapes in the design. It also uses the principles of rhythm in the sense that there is a repetition of shapes and patterns. Another principle being used is scale. Needless to say, the size of this blanket is enormous compared to your regular blanket.

    A specially large type of blanket known as Arkila Kerka is a marriage blanket and is made of six narrow strips. Each strip is decorated with traditional geometric patterns of talismanic nature. A Kerka is usually commissioned by the family of the bride as part of her trousseau and is extremely expensive to make. The weaving may take two months to complete and during that time the weaver and his family are supported by the bride’s family who sacrifices animals several times to give feasts for the occasion. This blanket is then used as a bed-screen by suspending it along and over the alcove or bed, forming a mosquito protection. This blanket is a prestigious and an essential component of the bride’s trousseau and therefore has an extremely important social and symbolic significance.

The Nazca Lines of Peru

Blogs by Kameda — 2009-03-25T22:44:00Z

Below is a paper I wrote for my Art 101 class.

    I chose the Hummingbird at Nazca Valley Peru. The Hummingbird is one of the drawings that can be found in the dry desert overlooking the Nazca valley. Estimated to be about 2000 years old, it has a wingspan of over 60 meters or 200 feet. Although no one has proof who made it or why, some people think that the ancient Nazca people probably made this.

    The Hummingbird is a drawing on the surface of the ground. It is an abstracted version of the real hummingbird. Around the drawing, you can see a vast empty space and a faint outline of a highway. Since this picture was taken from the air, you can tell that this is really huge.

    This work demonstrates the element of shape defined by drawing lines on the ground. It also uses the principle of scale that can be obviously seen by comparing its size to the highway also found in the picture and the fact that its full size can only be viewed from the air.

    The Nazca Lines were discovered accidentally from an airplane in flight in 1927. The drawings include straight lines, geometric shapes and stylized depictions of animals, humans and plants. They range in size up to 1000 ft across. Because of their magnitude and their gigantic size, the Nazca Lines have inspired fantastic theories involving ancient gods and aliens. Some said that these lines were part of the irrigation system used by the ancient people. Others claimed that these have more religious importance. The significance of the hummingbird as part of the Nazca drawings has been attributed not just to the fact that hummingbirds are unique birds in the sense that they can fly vertically, backwards and hover by flapping their wings at up to 80 times per second; but also because of its mythological representation. In one Mayan legend they are the sun in disguise trying to court the moon, while another says they were made from the feather scraps left over from the creation of the other birds. The Aztecs believed that every warrior slain in battle orbited the sun for four years and then became a hummingbird. Several South American cultures regarded them as messengers between the worlds.

    I chose the Hummingbird not just because of its beauty but also because I am mystified on how this piece of art was made with perfection on such a grand scale. This and the rest of the Nazca lines have endured the test of time and must have taken hundreds of years and a large number of people working on the project to finish them. These are not only works of art but also a representation of a civilization and their culture. I don’t know why these were made or if these were to serve a purpose for the community, but as a person living in the technology age, I can only look at them and the people who made them with renewed admiration and respect. I wish I could see them in person one day.

http://www.americatravelling.net/peru/nazca/nazca_history.htm
www.crystalinks.com/nasca.html
www.sacred-destinations.com/peru/nazca-lines.htm

Mika and her kindergarten class dancing hip hop! (December 2007)

Blogs by Kameda — 2009-03-06T22:04:00Z

She is the one wearing a red shirt, white cap and jeans on the stage next to a boy wearing red shirt and black cap.

Fall 2008 Portfolio (PDF format)

Blogs by Kameda — 2009-01-07T02:38:00Z

I took classes on Photography and Layout Design (and Database Management) last fall. I have included my projects on these classes in this portfolio.

This is quite a big file so please be patient.

Have fun.

Fall 2008 Portfolio in PDF format

Summer of 42 by the Hollywood Studio Orchestra

Blogs by Kameda — 2008-08-10T12:52:00Z

More pics during our Cebu trip.

Blogs by Kameda — 2008-08-10T08:25:00Z

I would like to thank Eva for sharing these photos with me. I hope to see you and Marty again in the near future