Shlomi Fish's Art - Back to my Homepage
As you can see I wanted to create a logo not unlike the one used for the film "Back to the Future" (See the Film's poster for example, or search Google) only saying "Back to my Homepage" instead. I also decided to use the cyan-to-blue gradient instead of the yellow-to-red which is used in the original logo, because I felt it was nicer to the eye in this context.
The logo was created in the following steps using Corel-Draw:
- The letters of the plain message were placed in their appropriate positions and sizes.
- The Arrow to the right of the K was added.
- The entire model was merged, and then an envelope effect was added in order to create the arc to the right.
- I applied perspective to the arrangement.
- It was then filled with a gradient.
Now for some details:
I used the font Futura XBlkIt BT for the letters (I think it ships with Corel-Draw, or at least version 4 of it.) Each of the three parts of the message: the "Back", the "to my" and the "homepage" had to be drawn in a different size so it will all fit together nicely.
The arrow was first
manually drawn using Corel-Draw's grid, but then it was adjusted
to the K using the program's node and line editting facility. A lot
of black labour, but then again, I'm not a very experienced art designer.
Merging the model involved grouping it, and from then on Corel-Draw knew how to apply the various effects on it as if it were a real object.
After the arrangement was complete, I used the envelope effect to make the right and left border-lines into right-adjusted arcs. The final step was applying a perspective to it.
Afterwards, all I had to do was to fill it with a horizontal gradient and add a silverish border. The gradient involved going from blue at the top to cyan at the middle and then to blue again at the bottom.
Unfortunately, I couldn't apply the gradient when the image was in the non-effected state, and then see it shape with the perspective. (at least not on Corel-Draw 4.0 which I used to create this piece.) That's one of the advantages of working with a bitmap graphics program such as the GIMP. But I doubt I could have applied the envelope effect there with the same ease.
By pressing this link: bk2hp.cdr you can download the Corel-Draw 4.0 source of this image. This image and its source are distributed under the public domain, but please note that the font which I used is copyrighted.
The concept may also be copyrighted since it's a direct rip-off of the "Back to the Future" one. I did not receive any angry threats from the producers' lawyers yet, and I probably won't, but since I am not a lawyer, its legal status in this regard is unclear to me, and may vary from location to location.
