KevinKeeganPro.com Blog

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.

My new iMac is on its way. A 24″ 3.06 GHz model with 4 Gb of memory.

This will be MY first new mac since my current powerbook G4 from circa 2004. This is a very good thing as this laptop can’t last forever. Along with the compy, I will be taking delivery of Final Cut Studio 2 as well as all the most recent Adobe apps…Photoshop, Dreamweaver, AfterEffects, etc…

And I’ll finally be able to iChat video with people…any takers. I get lonely I kid…

Update: The compy is here and kick-ass. The screen is huge and the computer seems to be very quick. It’s making things much easier to multi-task on projects with Leopards Spaces and the best thing is it should pay for itself in 2 or so months. Apple has still got it.

I’ll post a pic once the office is a bit more complete…ya know like furniture and some framage on the walls.

I just got back from a wedding/vacation in Florida. But this past Saturday night, wrecked released issue #4, and I must say I couldn’t be more pleased with how it turned out. This was the my first issue as “Art Director” and I hope to stay on and continue work on future issues. Everyone should take a look at the issue as well as check out the rest of Wrecked’s amazing coverage of an amazing motorsport.

The past two weeks I’ve been steadily working on pieces for issue #4 of Wrecked Magazine and it looks like it’s going to turn out really well. I’ve tried some new things and learned some new things and all together it’s been a blast and a great way to flex some creative muscle outside of my day to day.

I’ll update this post with some pics of the spreads that I’m working on after the issue drops on May 1st or 2nd.

Update: It’s done…just a day or two to convert to flash and then post…it’s 3:40am…good night.

Stay tuned…