4x4 Photoshop and Illustrator: Light/Dark

"You have to bend filters, push them to their limits, and tweak them out in order to get something new. I think it's important to wrestle full-on with these things, otherwise you risk producing lifeless and boring results." —Jemma Gura

The 4x4 Project invited four groundbreaking designers, celebrated for their experimental work, to create new works around the central theme of "Light and Dark."

• Jemma Gura (aka lentil) is the creator of Prate.com
• Sean Donohue is the creator of GoingonSix.com
• Nick Higgins is a professional illustrator based in the U.K.
• Adrian Luna is the creator of PurusDesign.com

In this book, you'll find the tools and the inspiration to take on the applications and beat them. Photoshop is the application of choice, with Illustrator also employed for its vector graphics capabilities, along with a little Auto-Illustrator for some random beauty.

This book immerses the reader in the four phases of the process:

• Theory: personal accounts of the creative process, manifestos, diaries, mental sketchbooks, and associated ephemera
• "Light and Dark": the finished original art works
• Process: detailed, first-hand technical descriptions of the creation of each piece, along with original source files on the accompanying CD
• Noise and interference: the four designers discuss, sample, and remix their colleagues' work