It’s been awhile since I worked on a new header, but I had occasion to design one recently.
I joined Fine Art America last year. It’s one of many sites where an artist can sell prints and greeting cards online.
For a $25 annual fee, you get your own store– basically a site which you can personalize, including the header.
Here’s what the default header looked like:
Pretty simple, pretty boring, a typical default.
Also: extremely narrow. Its dimensions are 970 pixels by 100 pixels. (My blog header, by contrast, is 920 pixels by 180 pixels.)
Not much room to work, but I decided to give it a shot. I wanted to add a bit of humor, and the blog’s URL. Here’s the result:
Here are two larger detail images. That’s a little caricature of me as a puddle. Yes, I’m a man who knows how to relax.
I drew the graphic elements at approximately double-size. I was pretty sure I’d have to make adjustments when I pasted them into the allotted space, so I didn’t worry too much about trying to get the sizes and perspective exactly right. Here’s the finish.
I included some extra jokes: a little umbrella and a straw. I thought I’d have room for them. I was wrong.
Adding a black border shows how very narrow the allotted space is. I had to delete the umbrella and straw, and you can see that my head is now longer and flatter.
How do you squash a head and keep things proportionate? In Photoshop, it’s the easiest thing in the world: you select it, then apply Transform>Distort. I clicked on the upper center handle, then pulled down and to the right. You can always Undo and try again until you like the result.
After positioning the elements, I added some flat color, using a darker brown to suggest a table surface.
I used three separate text layers for maximum control, and a layer mask to eliminate the hard edges between the two colors.
To finish up: a bit of grainy texture, some shading, and a few ink blots.
Here’s the finished header again, in context. If you’re an art lover, I invite you to drop by the store! : )
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Do you pay much attention to headers? Ever tried to design one yourself?
Is it dignified for an artist to portray himself as a puddle? Does it suggest he likes to lay down on the job??