Modeling Contemporary Billboards in Photoshop

[Paulman]

Photoshop is a handy tool in a modeler's bag of tricks. One of the things I've been using it for recently is recreating some billboards I've photographed on FCEN's rails along Route 441. Billboards are great way of anchoring a scene in a specific time and place, so in selecting a billboard to model, I look for three things:

• • Something that establishes era
  • Something that establishes location
  • The X factor: that extra element makes the design meaningful or fun for you.

Here are two billboards I am modeling for my prototype. For now they exist only as print-ready files, but they’ll eventually become part of actual billboard models.

Space-Coast.Com


I took this photo last weekend.

• • Era anchor: Establishes the scene in the contemporary timeframe. (How much longer we'll have a space coast is anyone's guess.)
  • Location anchor: Once again, there's only one Cocoa Beach (home of the characters from "I Dream of Jeanie")
  • X-factor: Any prototype modelers want to take a stab at this one?

This one posed some minor challenges. The image was usable as-is, but the text along the edges was clipped as it wrapped around the edges of the billboard. I used What the Font? (http://new.myfonts.com/WhatTheFont) to identify the font (Myriad Pro) and layered in the word “Coast”, the web address, and the clipped “h” to match the other text. I also extended the photo a bit on the top and sides and erased the parts of the walkway that intrude.

Here's the result (I see some areas I need to improve upon).


Night of Joy

• • Era anchor: Solidly anchors the scene in mid- to late summer and in the contemporary timeframe.
  • Location anchor: There's only one Magic Kingdom, so an ad aimed at local residents puts the scene in Central Florida. So does the radio station. A two-fer.
  • X-factor: I like the juxtaposition of Christian hope and September 11. It's a personal connection, but that's what the X-factor is about.

ClearChannel 06266 is located in Zellwood, FL, approximately a "block' from the point where FCEN's northern branch arcs away from 441 toward Tavares. This billboard is always used by Z88.3 fm, a central Florida contemporary Christian station.

Here's my recreation:


When I started this project I stretched it to fit BLMA's billboard. However, soon after, Lance Mindheim devoted a blog post to his own billboard adventures (http://www.lancemindheim.com/2010_blogs.htm, November 20), I decided to go back to prototype size. I used Lance's billboard as a starting place, but added my own ClearChannel logo and board ID.

If you're lucky with your source photos all you have to do in Photoshop is correct the photo for perspective and color, crop, resize, and print. I wasn't that fortunate for this one. I did resize the photo to lock down the size of the images, logos and fonts, but the photo itself was too washed out by lens flare to use. From there it was a matter of internet sleuthing to locate useable design elements. What made this project doable is that Disney had a high-res graphic of the guitar castle squirreled away on its Night of Joy event site. What the Font? turned up the fonts; the font used for the date I approximated rather than used; I didn’t want to buy it right then (I’ll probably do so before printing the final version for the model). There is a very good Disney font out there, but I saved some money by scanning in a logo from a Disney brochure and recoloring it. The radio station logo is pretty low-res, but it worked with a little coaxing. Don't forget the trademark symbols!

I hope this inspires you to try some Photoshop modeling! (Photoshop Elements can do all of this and costs a lot less, BTW.)