I may not be able to use this...what d'ya think?

[reelguitars]

Hey guys...this is David with a question that I'm sure has been asked and answered many times. I've looked through the forums. I've tried the recommended things and I just can't make this work. I'm using CS4 and I have Genuine Fractals. Customer provides an image about 3" x 4" and wants this put on a trailer and the end size would be 39" tall and 98" wide. I was just going to print this background, laminate it, and then put on cut vinyl letters so they would be ultra sharp. I actually worked on the pic as much as I thought I could get by with, did one print and from 10' it looks ok. This trailer is going to be at a drag strip often with close scrutiny from people walking by. Any ideas for me? I even thought about trying to do a vector graphic out of this but I just got AI and I've found out that a human can have 10 thumbs. No flames please...I'm new and I'm trying. Here's what I have to work with...

 

[Justin]

I don't know how good of quality the image you have is, but I bet somewhere on the net you could find one very similar in hi-res. you could even photoshop one.... The hardest part would be the hills in the background.. Jmo.

I haven't looked but is 39" by 98" in proportion?

 

[TyrantDesigner]

I'm going to have to flame you a little bit ... nothing you have shown yet will take more than 30 minutes to do yourself in illustrator or corel draw. probably about the same in photoshop. do it yourself ... if a highschool kid with his hacked version of creative suite can ... so can you.

 

[rjssigns]

Knock it out in Illustrator like Tyrant said. Best part is you will OWN it.
Looks like a fun, quick project. Also, if that is going on the back of a race trailer you won't see much of it except when you arrive of when you leave. And it will take a lot of abuse.
Once I drop the tail of my trailer it stays down until I load everything for the trip back home.

 

[reelguitars]

OK...I'll do some more research on working with Illustrator (I haven't had it long). Thanks for the replies.

 

[artbot]

do a two or three pixel median, then posterize, keep the original and do some work in cutout. then reposterize and erase the worst portions of the layers keeping the best. flatten and resharpen. this took about four minutes. with more time it could work.

i can email you the current 14mb version if you want a head start.

 

[reelguitars]

That would be great if you would email. Send to reelguitars@yahoo.com. One more question...if I did this in Illustrator, would it end up looking more like spot colors? I'm not sure if I could do all the gradients and soft edges. I haven't been working with Illustrator that long. Thanks again for your help. Guy would like to have this trailer at race track this weekend.

 

[jfiscus]

It wouldn't take long for someone experienced in Illustrator to recreate that artwork for you. Are there any local printing companies that have a pre-press/design department that you could pay for an hour of design labor? Or, possibly someone here would do it for you (the vector doctor?) for a fee.

Tell the customer you have to recreate the artwork so that he gets the best possible graphics on his trailer, as what you have is unusable, and bill him for the labor.

 

[reelguitars]

I think I did it...

I found an Illustrator tutorial on YouTube by Rick Rice and was able to come up with this...

 

[jfiscus]

I found an Illustrator tutorial on YouTube by Rick Rice and was able to come up with this... View attachment 75178

It's getting better, keep at it.

 

[Custom_Grafx]

Not a bad start!

I think if you're capable of doing that much, then you have way more to gain by applying yourself and learning the rest.

Fine tune your gradients and make the lights circular again, they look a little squashed.

 

[tsgstl]

yeah you know how to do it now, don't stop. It looks to much like a comodore 64 game. Make it look more PS3ish

Even gradient the bulbs. The horizon needs work, leaving it a blank horizon is better than what you got imo.
Put a reader board sign on both sides and make it a generic old style board with lights. You could just fill the times with 8's

 

[reelguitars]

Thanks for the help guys. Carried a print to buyer and he was thrilled with the outcome.