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Formula D Atlanta 2009 from Will Roegge on Vimeo.

Formula D Long Beach 2009 from Will Roegge on Vimeo.

Rhys Millen
Originally uploaded by kevinkeeganpro

Formula D was last weekend in Atlanta, Ga. I decided to rent a Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 and see what I could get. The pics turned out well. Still need a lot of practice to get the panning down but I’ll get it. The pics were edited in Aperture using Nik Color FX Pro, Sharpener Pro, and Dfine. Enjoy

So the ninth issue for Wrecked Magazine and the sixth issue for me, is complete. This one was on a time crunch as usual, with a week and a half to the due date, I just scraped by. We needed it out within a week of the Long Beach Formula D opening event.

In the last two issues, I’ve incorporated shots from my D90 into the layouts. They help with story telling and assist with text organization and flow. With this issue, I was able to use two. One was for the Formula D preview; the section contains relatively tight lipped info regarding cars being built for the 2009 Formula D season.

And the other was for 2009 Formula D Predictions. My fiance and copy editor for Wrecked Magazine, Ashley, brainstormed a bit for this one. Other ideas that came up were a poker theme or dice, a crystal ball and even a justice scale. But in the end I opted for the fortune cookie. It was cheaper to do and with the cookies and use of a spare rim and falken tire I had in my garage, it came together rather well considering the time frame I was working with. And it never hurts to utilize an advertisers product in a spread.

I’ve definitely noticed a shift in my design direction with the last issue or two. I’m leaning towards using the photography in its relatively untouched state rather than creating graphics that in the end, take away from the photo. This is probably due towards my increasing interest in photography in my personal work. I still feel there is an appropriate time to use graphics. For instance, the Tanner Foust spread from Issue 6, where I wanted to put the “focus” on him, as a driver. I always try and apply an appropriate theme that a series of spreads requires, whether it be a graphical focal point to draw the viewer to the subject of the article or a simple fortune cookie to represent “predictions.”

I’ve known Andy Sapp for about 4 years now. He’s a great guy, a talented digital artist, and also a wicked drifter. Please check out his last hoorah as he retires from professional drifting. Great job, Andy!

2008 Driver Profile – Andy Sapp. from Andy Sapp on Vimeo.

Running a little late on posting this. This issue turned out great and in record time for me. We got started a little later than usual but we only had to push back the release two days (Aug 27 vs Aug 25th as planned).

The cover piece on Tanner Foust interview is the highlight of the issue…as it should be. It was the first to come to me when I started to get some traction on this issue. I played around with some textures to add grit and depth to the layout along with some very thin cross-hairs and digital interlacing overlays to complete the “digital grunge” look I wanted. I tried to stay away from doing the same image treatment I used for the Ryuji Interview in Issue #5, while maintaining my typical style. It turned out well.

On the third pic below, Joey requested a spread that showed more of a history of the cars Tanner has driven in the past. I used three images with similar angles to create a tandem drift of the three cars to achieve that goal. Add some smoke, cloudy sky, and try and match the lighting on all three cars and there you have it – minus my hidden photoshop secrets (the “easy” button).

Three weeks have flown by and it is finally out, Wrecked Issue #5. I’m very happy with it and in my opinion, it’s a bit better than issue #4, but it is usually my goal to out do my previous efforts. Forty nine and a half spreads, all with varied levels of content and nearly all with completely different designs and layouts. And we were once able to release on time once again, a fact I’m very proud of. I really don’t like it unless there’s some pressure involved in getting it done. It gives the process of creating the issue a little bit of an edge that is very enticing to work on for hours straight. The end result is very satisfying aswell…to see all the hard work and late nights form into a finished project and go live.

Working on this magazine has been a really great experience thus far. I want to thank Joey Redmond and Jason Small for giving me the chance to do this kind of work for once and get paid for it. I really love graphic design and this has been an incredible outlet for that facet of my career. I look forward to doing more work with you guys.

I’d love to get some honest feedback on the issue, so post up!

Work has started again…well, after my day job at least. Time to burn the midnight oil and get cracking on wrecked issue #5. I’d expect a release date sometime around the beginning of July.

That is all for now.