Creating custom halftones using Photoshop filters

Here is a tutorial on how to create some more interesting halftones when working with screen printing.

So here is an illustration that is in progress. Currently it is using solid colors and lines, but we want the gas tank of the motorcycle to appear grey. However we will be printing only using black and red ink. By creating a halftone we can get that effect. Photoshop can easily create a standard halftone pattern, but we want something that isn't your normal halftone, and has a little more texture.

So first I painted an area of black with a brush in photoshop using a soft edge.

Next I blurred that layer and cut off the bottom edge to align to the bottom of the tank.

Next I created another layer behind by black layer and filled it with white, I turned down the transparency of the black layer to get more of a grey, and then combined the two layers into one layer. This is necessary because the filters we want to use are not compatible with transparency. I deleted around the solid white shape that I wanted so that pure white didn't fill the entire image.

Now go to Filter > Pixelate > Color Halftone. The default Max Radius is 8 pixels. You may need to play around with this to get the desired size. Because we are creating a single color halftone all the screen angles should be the same number. Otherwise the halftone will be in CMYK. I like a 45 angle.

Now technically we do have a perfectly acceptable and printable halftone. But since we are going for something a little more unique we're going to keep working on it.

Next go to Filter > Pixelate > Mezzotint. You have a few options here, and each can be interesting depending on what look you want. I chose Grainy Dots.

Next I added another Mezzotint fiter to the entire tank, and the cowl behind the seat to give them a light grey look.

Next I painted white over part of the halftone to give some separation and dimension to the tank. 

You can also invert the first halftone layer we created for a different kind of look. 

Next I "painted" some texture behind the engine of the bike, and shadows under the wheels. 

I used a Photoshop brush with a Scatter effect, and combined that with a Mezzotint filter.

 I've been using a set of brushes called the Nagel Series which you can find here. I've modified the settings of most of the brushes to accomodate a more solid spray. Most of these brushes with their default settings will give you results that are too soft, and not solid in color for screen printing.

This is just one method of creating a halftone with more of a texture to it, that will give you some interesting results for screen printing. You can combine these methods with photo textures you already have, multiple layers of grain, or custom brushes to get even more effects.

Print Preview

Here is a sneak peek at one of my upcoming prints. It is a two color print on Steel Grey French paper, and is part of a two print series.

Making Good Habits

I recently read an article by Scott Young on The 99% about how to fix bad habits. Although I think it was really more about how to force yourself to create good ones. Scott, through years of self proclaimed experimentation on himself has found a method of how to effectively do this. His method in a nutshell is "do it everyday". After a period of forcing yourself to do something it will eventually become a habit, a routine, that you don't have to think about anymore. No longer will you have to force yourself, but it will be second nature. Such a simple concept, yet I've never heard anyone else explain it in such a way that made so much sense.

As soon as I finished reading the article I was determined I needed to follow the method, and get started. Here are the habits I wanted to create for myself:

1). Wake up earlier
I've always been more of a night person. My whole family is. I just don't naturally want to jump out of bed. It just feels too good to hit snooze 10 times. However getting a late start on the day is probably the worst thing you can do for productivity.

2). Do some quick exercise
This is another thing that does not come to me naturally. I always found working out or exercising just for the sake of it to be an embarrassing and honestly kind of stupid activity. Somehow I can't imagine our ancestors thousands of years ago finding the biggest rock they could and lifting it over and over again for the purpose building muscle. Basically it doesn't seem natural to me. Incidental exercise through work, sport or a rigorous activity seems better to me, but alas I work on a computer... so yeah.

3). Draw everyday
Believe it or not, I do not draw everyday. If fact I feel like I haven't been drawing much at all lately. I suppose it's because I am constantly going back and forth between creating posters, to logos, websites and everything else in between. So I pretty much only end up actually drawing when I have an assignment to. That needs to change.

I'm happy to say that today was my first day, and I accomplished all 3. Ok yeah I know what you're thinking "first day is always easy." True, so we'll see how things pan out.

• I woke up at 7:30 (usually I get up at 9)
• Did pushups, pullups and situps
• and I drew this

Holga D

Product Designer Saikat Biswas is the kind of guy I want designing the products I use. Simple, elegant and only including features you really need. His aesthetic admittedly makes use of self imposed limitations. This is his prototype for a digital Holga. No. There is no LCD screen on the back.

He has a few other prototypes on his website that will also hopefully be realized. www.saikatbiswas.com

Wedding Poster

I am going to start offering commemorative poster designs for weddings in the style of show posters. This is the first one I've done. I actually photographed Megan and Cody's wedding back in August and used an image from their engagement session for this.

Custom Twitter Birds

My friends Mindy and Phil Thornton are really great wedding photographers, and are also active tweeters. Phil asked me to create some custom twitter illustrations that resembled them, but were still cartoony and fun. Check out their work at www.phindystudios.com

Illustration for Scott Miller

I was recently commissioned to create a feature "window dressing" for stylist Scott Miller's website. He had just done hair for an Armani show in Paris and wanted to bring some attention to it. Unfortunately the project was scrapped. Here is the illustration and design I did though.

Newer pursuits: Photography

Yes I've been doing some wedding photography here and there as some of you may already know. Mostly for friends. Well I've just launched a brand new website to support my photography services www.pearsonfoto.com and the blog www.pearsonfoto.blogspot.com. Familytree is still my main source of income and personal satisfaction, but photography has always had a special place in my heart as well. So why not get paid to do it?

25 things about me... according to facebook

1. I started this thing a while ago, and really don't know if I'll be able to get to 25. I think at most I have about 15 qualities so we'll see how far this gets and go from there.

2. I collect things: like, old cameras, pictures of dudes with mustaches, and hot sauce. I want to start a collection of old toys and old pinup paintings. This collector quality also has it's downfalls... like the fact I can't throw stuff away. Underneath my bed and all closets in my home are pretty scary. (sidenote: useful for tax purposes)

3. Two words. Righteous Indignation. I have a highly developed sense of justice. Case in point: when I was 5 years old my dad explained to me the concept of borrowing money with interest. I was angered and appalled.

4. I was born 50 years too late. I love old things, old processes, and old ways of thinking.

5. I have ZERO musical talent. I can't sing or play any instuments, not even fake Rockband instruments. Oddly enough when I was 19 I was convinced I could sing, and wanted to be in a band. You should be glad that never happened.

6. Even though I can't make the music... I can dance to it. I can lay down some serious dance moves. I may look like Gumby or Napoleon Dynamite doing it, but I can do it nonetheless.

7. People have said that I look like Jim Carey, Jemaine Clement, and Billy-Bob Thornton.

8. I don't believe in doing anything half-hearted. Even if it's cleaning the bathtub. I take serious pride in the things I like to do, and try to outdo myself every time. I guess I have a little bit of a competitive spirit, but it really is a competition with myself, and no one else. With exception sometimes if I feel like I can't do something I get discouraged, and don't really bother with it, like music.

9. I am somewhat of a social chameleon. I don't fake my personality or interests, but I like making people comfortable, and often adjust my behavior according to who I'm with. I also find myself filling the hole that needs to be filled. If you are indecisive then I will lead. If you are assertive and like to be in control, then I fall back and go with the flow. (This is also a manifestation of #10).

10. I think there is nothing in the world that I hate more than confrontation. I'm not sure yet if this is a positive or a negative. Actually it's both. Positive, because it keeps me out of fights, but negative when there is an uncomfortable issue that needs to be addressed.

10.5. If you are interested in something I hate, but you really love it and are passionate about it, I still like to hear about it, at least once. I think I can get along with 99.9% of the human population, and there are very few people who dislike me.

11. I'm pretty sure people who don't know me or just see me in passing are intimidated by me. I really don't mean this in a bragging way at all. I never find myself getting in friendly conversations with strangers. I think it's because when I'm alone, I don't give off an approachable vibe. I'm pretty much down to business and act serious. I'm trying to work on this, because I'm jealous of people who get along with strangers.

12. On the flip side of #11, when I'm with friends I am a total goof, and love to make people laugh (which may include dancing, voices, hats, wigs and so forth). So if you know me well, you probably know I'm a little bit of an entertainer.

13. I cannot drink alcohol in uncomfortable situations. Most people would prefer to be drinking, but for me it makes an out-of-my-control situation even more out of my control. I also don't like drinking around my parents or other people's parents.

14. One time I shaved my head and left my sideburns.

15. I think Back to the Future had a deep impact on my early childhood development.

16. If I appear confident I'm probably faking. Deep down I am still a nerdy little kid that wants to play with legos and draw.

17. Today a four year old told me her brother informed her that I was a grownup. I informed her I am a very tall kid.

17.5. I think most kids know about #16 and 17. They're on to me. They know I would rather be playing with their toys than doing grownup stuff. Hence kids love me. Which works out well because I love them. The only problem is that if I do actually try and tell a child what to do... it's like they're hearing it from a 5 year old.

18. I really hope I never go blind. I just love looking at things.

19. I may or may not have a man crush on my brother Ben. I think he's probably the coolest and funniest person I know. Rewind 15 years ago... I hated him. My parents used to actually read me scriptures about not hating your brother... it was that bad. In my defense he did get sick joy out of purposely irritating me.

20. I think if I had a beard I would be 20% better in all aspects of life.

21. Some people describe me as creative. I disagree. I like creating art, film, photography, graphic design. But I really don't think I'm that creative, I just refuse to do a poor job (refer back to #8).

22. If anyone tells me I look like Don Draper I will be very happy.

25. I'm tired of this.

I haven't changed much

My mom brought over 3 or 4 trash bags of stuff that was all jammed in a closet in my old room the other day. I spent a couple hours going through old forgotten gems. This is from a test I took when I was in 8th grade. I was 14. The jobs groups suggested based on my interest and abilities were 1) Technology Professional 2) Arts Professional 3) Science Professional 4) Arts Skilled. If that doesn't have "Graphic Designer" written all over it... then I don't know what does. I guess I picked the right job.

I am a cartoon character

Yeah I'm sure this is really old, considering the movie came out quite a while ago, but I just found the website where you can make yourself as a simpsons character, I did a little tweaks myself in photoshop.

Have I lost my mind?

Those of you who know me personally know that I am a little bit of a coffee snob. I try not to force my views on others, but I just don't stand for bad coffee. I realize if all you've ever had is foldgers then there may be no reason for you to ever upgrade. It will at least save you some money. It's like if all you've ever driven is a 1987 Honda Civic and it still runs, why upgrade to a BMW? I purchase my beans from local Nashville roaster Bongo Java (at this point Starbucks isn't even good enough any more), and that's pretty much all I drink. It seems to me that Americans, although somewhat late, are starting to learn the value of good coffee. Case in point Starbucks recent mysterious afternoon closing, and falling off of customer base. They've realized that as a major American company they have been responsible for broadcasting the coffee culture from coast to coast. And now we've learned that there is better coffee out there. Coffee like Bongo Java's. So when McDonald's began their ads for their new Iced Coffee, I simply laughed. Ok when did Starbucks begin popping up on every corner? About ten years ago! Maybe 7-8 if you live in a rural area. I couldn't believe how stupid this seemed. As if in a McDonald's board meeting this summer, some executive realized, "Hey you know people seem to want better coffee these days. Maybe we should do something about that." Or maybe they've been building this drink in the McLaboratory since the year 2000. Maybe that coffee lab was the only thing affected by the Y2K bug. I don't know, but what I do know is that I broke down and tried it. No less than 2 hours ago, and I'm somewhat ashamed to say... I really liked it. Have I lost my mind?

Behold... The Lens!

This little darling is the Canon 24-70mm 2.8L. I will have the privilege of putting it to good use tomorrow. I am shooting a wedding and decided my 50mm wasn't going to cut it. So I rented this bad boy from Lensrentals.com. Too bad I'll only have it for 3 days. It's going to be hard giving it back that's for sure.

Once the lens, the flash and my other new addition, the lightsphere, are all attached, this bad boy is kinda heavy. Hopefully my wrist will survive.

familytree is GO!

Okay this definitely makes it official... website up, business cards printed, and spirits are high.

Where have you been?

You may have been asking yourself that question. Or maybe you didn't even notice I haven't posted anything in a month... hey no biggie. I just thought you might like to get the scoop on why it's been so barren over here. Well the good news is I've been busy. Busy with new work, busy creating my new identity and new website. Although the site isn't up yet, I suppose you can call this the grand unveiling of Familytree. Look over yonder to the right of the screen, there should be a shiny new logo at the top. Currently this is where most of my energy has been going, getting ready for this launch. So in the next couple days look for the Familytree website to be up and running, and ready to accept projects big and small.

Theory 8 show poster

A show poster for Bill Callahan, Jonathan Meiburg and Caitlin Rose at the Mercy Lounge. Designed for Theory 8 Records right here in Nashville.

Prada is the Devil

Illustration for Lipstick magazine about the damaging effects of high heels.

For Ben

A quick sketch I did last night with my newest pen, the Pigma Graphic 1. It's really easy to make thin or thick lines with this pen. Quite a joy to use.

Moleskin Mustache

My Life as a (true) Sitcom

(This was originally written as a comment to a post on the blog Speakup)

Why are job interview stories almost always the same yet you can't get enough? It's the stuff sitcoms are made of. Predictable with only one of two possible outcomes, but everyone in the world can relate.

Mine should be no exception...

One day after class in my second-to-last semester, a professor, that I got along with quite well, approached me in the hall and asked me into her office. She held up a piece of paper. "I got a fax this morning from a local design firm, they need an entry level designer part time. Let me know if you're going to call, because you are the only person I've showed this to."

Of course I was going to call! I felt honored that my professor chose me, and this was my shot at my first real job.

Fast forward one week. I pull up to the almost 100-year-old car factory, made of crumbling red brick, that has been converted into office lofts, buzzing with excitement. The building is neat, but is in a really bad part of town. Mental note: lock the doors, and leave anything valuable out of site.

I entered the building and found my way to suite 204. I walked in and expected to find my way over to the receptionist's desk. But all I found was a huge empty room with hardwood floors, 25ft ceilings and windows that went all the way to the ceiling. "We're up here" cried a voice. I turned to my right and climbed the stairs into the loft. I ducked under the precariously place huge black pipe, and shook hands with the man who introduced himself as the owner of the company.

I showed him my school portfolio, and he silently turned the pages, showing no emotion. So man things go through your head at this point. He closed it and said, "Well I like what I see here, when can you start?" I don't even remember what I said, but I'm sure it was along the lines of "immediately."

So my new boss was telling me a little about the company and himself, and suddenly blurts out "Oh by the way... my business partner and I are gay. Is that a problem for you?" Although it wasn't, I didn't even know how to react. If the man had said the converse "by the way I'm straight" its still the kind of thing that totally takes you off guard... especially in a job interview. Next I was told they didn't have a computer for me, but they would be buying one from a designer they had worked with on a freelance basis.

Later that freelancer with the computer was hired. Who also ended up being on meth, yes meth. I don't know how many times his Camaro IROC-Z broke down. Or how many times I was told about how he couldn't get any sleep because he fought beasts all night in his dreams. Or how many times he told me he wished the aliens would just come and take him away.

Like I said... sitcom. After growing and merging with a magazine publisher, there was talk of a studio that wanted to make a reality show out of our office. Whether that was actually true or not I never found out, but I gotta tell you, it would have been a show worth watching.

I ended up working there for two years, and leaving on bad terms with the owner. Although when I left it was way past due, in some ways it was the best job I've ever had. And that's the story of my first interview....

Now almost 5 years later, I work out of my house, and hope to never have another job interview again.