Shlomi Fish’s Art - Back to my Homepage

Note

There is a a new version of this logo, which was made using Inkscape and other open source software, and which is available as SVG. It is also free of the artefacts which are present in this version.

I can no longer open the Corel-Draw input files, which is yet another reason why relying on proprietary formats is a bad idea.

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 one, 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:

  1. The letters of the plain message were placed in their appropriate positions and sizes.
  2. The Arrow to the right of the K was added.
  3. The entire model was merged, and then an envelope effect was added in order to create the arc to the right.
  4. I applied perspective to the arrangement.
  5. 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.

Effect-less "Back to my Homepage"

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 editing facility. A lot of manual 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.

The file “bk2hp.cdr”, contains 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, and may vary based on the jurisdiction.