Show Us Your Label

[glugglug]

I think that depends on how many versions back. If your version has adjustment layer capability I think I would stick with Photoshop. Just my opinion, and I have never used Gimp.

 

[ViperMan]

I think that depends on how many versions back. If your version has adjustment layer capability I think I would stick with Photoshop. Just my opinion, and I have never used Gimp.

I'm using 7.0, which I know is a few versions old. I'm sure with some small effort I can get a newer version, though I heard they're going to an online subscription method to cut down on the pirating (and lol - like, it's about time!) I also really want to get my hands on Illustrator and play with it. But then again, I've literally taught myself to use Photoshop over the past 15 years, and while I'm certainly no whiz, I've had people completely blown away by the things I've done, from "modifying" cars (to simulate chops/channels/custom parts/paint/etc) to removing people/cars/buildings from photos, etc.

Here's one I did just the other day after a car show for my car club.

It's not even my best work, but unless I literally pointed out the alteration, I don't think anyone would notice the shadows on the left vertical post not quite matching the shadows on the yellow sign, or the thick wire at the top clipping oddly against the horizontal beam. (By the way that's me in the cargo shorts under the letter 'n'.)

I also just yesterday completed a beer trade with an Untappd user (got me some Terra Incognita!) and he emailed me back that he was blown away by the labels on the two homebrews I sent (The 0.0 Black IPA and the Chocolate Grapevine - both labels I've shared on this thread.)

I did download GIMP and gave it about 5 minutes... I was thoroughly annoyed by then. It certainly LOOKS robust and powerful, and for free?! Wow! But I think if you're already proficient at one, the other probably won't help you much...

Sorry to go off topic.

 

[reverendj1]

But I think if you're already proficient at one, the other probably won't help you much...

Sorry to go off topic.

This is very true. It is very hard to switch between them. I'm a long time GIMP user, and whenever I've tried using Photoshop (even before I started using GIMP), I thought it was a complete mess. Not because it is, it's just I'm used to things a certain way, same with Photoshop people. If you are proficient with Photoshop and have no problem paying for (or pirating) it, and don't care about open source software or cross-platform compatibility, then there's really no compelling reason to switch.

 

[reverendj1]

And now, back to our regularly scheduled program, here are a few I just finished.

For National Homebrew Day, our LHBS gave out 48 recipe kits and all got to brew outside in downtown Grand Rapids!

This one was my first try at making a recipe for an amber. It was originally called Jurassic Amber, but it got an infection. I'm assuming it was from pitching yeast the next day. We decided it worked okay as a sour, so we kept it.

 

[itsme_timd]

Skeeter Pee!

 

[aiptasia]

A few of my new ones:

 

[Nagorg]

Used Gimp...

 

[dwshotwell]

My latest labels.

 

[ViperMan]

A few of my new ones:

Now, just out of curiosity, did you find that image or somehow create it? If you found it, how/where did you find it?

Not that I want to use it, but it's such a specific image, and I don't know where to go to find such specific images...

For example I really wanted a side view of a doghouse with a dog's head poking out of it, overlooking a field, but damn if I could find something so specific without creating it, and I'm just not THAT good...

 

[aiptasia]

Now, just out of curiosity, did you find that image or somehow create it? If you found it, how/where did you find it?

Not that I want to use it, but it's such a specific image, and I don't know where to go to find such specific images...

For example I really wanted a side view of a doghouse with a dog's head poking out of it, overlooking a field, but damn if I could find something so specific without creating it, and I'm just not THAT good...

Some of it is creation, some of it is borrowing, a little bit of this and that. The top image of the sake label was created by bouncing back and forth between picmonkey and ribbet. The branch on the logo was hand drawn, the background was created from a stock picture of rice paper and the bird was clipart. As to the rice wine label, that background was borrowed from an artists interpretation and I added some quick text additions in Ribbet.

If these were commercial labels, I don't think it'd be cool to borrow other people's source material without permission. But, as these are for my home use and grace only my home brew, I keep my photoshop skills sharp this way.

If it were me, i'd probably have found either a picture of a cool dog in a field and then cropped in a doghouse, or found a cool dog house and cropped in a dog. I have to do that most often with labels like my Scorpion IPA. I took a cool stock photo of a black scorpion and cropped it out of one shot, then pasted it into the label before I airbrushed the tip of the stinger bright red. Different techniques for different labels.

 

[cjalderman]

Here's what I came up with for a westy 12 clone I'm brewing soon.

 

[ltcolchaz]

Here is my latest brew, which is sitting in secondary for clarifying...

 

[waxer]

Something I put together for a label naming competition on facebook. I didnt win haha Didnt really fit the theme of comp anyway I just had fun making it.

 

[ViperMan]

Some of it is creation, some of it is borrowing, a little bit of this and that. The top image of the sake label was created by bouncing back and forth between picmonkey and ribbet. The branch on the logo was hand drawn, the background was created from a stock picture of rice paper and the bird was clipart. As to the rice wine label, that background was borrowed from an artists interpretation and I added some quick text additions in Ribbet.

If these were commercial labels, I don't think it'd be cool to borrow other people's source material without permission. But, as these are for my home use and grace only my home brew, I keep my photoshop skills sharp this way.

If it were me, i'd probably have found either a picture of a cool dog in a field and then cropped in a doghouse, or found a cool dog house and cropped in a dog. I have to do that most often with labels like my Scorpion IPA. I took a cool stock photo of a black scorpion and cropped it out of one shot, then pasted it into the label before I airbrushed the tip of the stinger bright red. Different techniques for different labels.

Oh I agree - as I'm just making homebrews, I have no qualms "borrowing" images. This is just for fun. The challenge I have is finding "just the right image" for what I'm thinking. I can "mix" images, but then it's a real challenge to get the same look, the same lighting, and making it look like it all "belongs."

This is what I came up with - I couldn't find a dog house image at the angle I wanted, so I mixed a painted "forest", a cartoon dog house, and a handdrawn dog, used artistic effects in Photoshop to create some similar effects in each image, and then spent hours messing with shading, shadows, and layer effects (overlays and such) to try to make it all look like an original image. I'm actually pretty pleased with it, even if it wasn't what I originally had in mind.

 

[ViperMan]

Here is my latest brew, which is sitting in secondary for clarifying...

There's another - where the heck did you find that image?!?! That looks awesome!

**EDIT** Aah never mind I found it...

Still - that's a perfect find for your beer/title.

 

[dave73ok]

Here's the label for my stout. Looking forward to stout season.

 

[ViperMan]

These images inspired me a bit though, and I messed with my label a bit more and used a different doghouse photograph. It was actually much easier than the cartoon version to blend in, and I like it much better.

Old:

New:

 

[ffd520]

http://beerlabelsinmotion.tumblr.com/

 

[ltcolchaz]

There's another - where the heck did you find that image?!?! That looks awesome!

**EDIT** Aah never mind I found it...

Still - that's a perfect find for your beer/title.

Yeah, I usually troll the interwebs to find a perfect pic for my label concept. Since I am not selling it, and usually only label those bottles I give away to friends, I don't fear copyright issues (maybe I should?).

As for process, I simply use Powerpoint, and hand jam everything else to fit the concept in my head. Again, these are not mass produced, so I am mainly just having fun, for the entertainment of my beer recipients...

CHUCK

 

[danz]

My first go at a label for a red IPA I hope to be brewing this weekend dubbed rojo chango

 

[mcangeli]

Latest one for a Lemon wheat that should be bottled next week...

I also have an ESB to bottle... stuck coming up with a label for it though.

 

[ViperMan]

Yeah, I usually troll the interwebs to find a perfect pic for my label concept. Since I am not selling it, and usually only label those bottles I give away to friends, I don't fear copyright issues (maybe I should?).

As for process, I simply use Powerpoint, and hand jam everything else to fit the concept in my head. Again, these are not mass produced, so I am mainly just having fun, for the entertainment of my beer recipients...

CHUCK

No complaints from me! I just often can't FIND the "perfect pic" to fit my idea. I usually end up settling on something "close enough" and even then often end up piecing together several images in Photoshop to get it to look just-right (or at least as close as my skills can get it.)

Take this one, for example:

Finding a high-res image of the original Dukes of Hazzard cast is nearly impossible. I took a large, slightly blurry image of "Cooter" and refined it as best I could. Then I scoured Google for a good looking barn photo. Both trees in the image were added (you can tell on the left one where there's white behind the leaves where it overlaps the barn.) The General Lee was taken from a VERY high-resolution image from the 2005 Film (when they jumped the roadblock towards the end of the film) and I think it was taken by a bystander - it wasn't a production movie shot. Making it look like it was "flying" was tough - I added dirst/dust on the underbody and behind the car to make it look like it had just cleared the barn. There's also a Barracuda added to the image on the left of the barn behind the fence - that was kinda tricky.

All that, and this was one of the EASIER bottle labels I made - I was able to find everything pretty easily except Cooter himself!

The challenge is finding one like yours - a "cartoon" or drawn photo that incorporates all the elements. Finding free photos is pretty easy - you could probably use them without much legal hassle. But drawings are much harder to find, and even harder to "fabricate" your own (unless of course you can draw... ...which I can't...)

Here's an example:

I wanted to use this image for a "Liberty" IPA SMaSH beer, but could NOT find a version of it that didn't have the top cut off, and was a higher resolution - this was the original image. It was exactly the idea I wanted - a "sexy" Statue of Liberty. I just couldn't make it happen. I ended up settling for this:

 

[TeamGotOil]

Nice labels! Wish I could be that creative...LOL

No complaints from me! I just often can't FIND the "perfect pic" to fit my idea. I usually end up settling on something "close enough" and even then often end up piecing together several images in Photoshop to get it to look just-right (or at least as close as my skills can get it.)

Take this one, for example:

Finding a high-res image of the original Dukes of Hazzard cast is nearly impossible. I took a large, slightly blurry image of "Cooter" and refined it as best I could. Then I scoured Google for a good looking barn photo. Both trees in the image were added (you can tell on the left one where there's white behind the leaves where it overlaps the barn.) The General Lee was taken from a VERY high-resolution image from the 2005 Film (when they jumped the roadblock towards the end of the film) and I think it was taken by a bystander - it wasn't a production movie shot. Making it look like it was "flying" was tough - I added dirst/dust on the underbody and behind the car to make it look like it had just cleared the barn. There's also a Barracuda added to the image on the left of the barn behind the fence - that was kinda tricky.

All that, and this was one of the EASIER bottle labels I made - I was able to find everything pretty easily except Cooter himself!

The challenge is finding one like yours - a "cartoon" or drawn photo that incorporates all the elements. Finding free photos is pretty easy - you could probably use them without much legal hassle. But drawings are much harder to find, and even harder to "fabricate" your own (unless of course you can draw... ...which I can't...)

Here's an example:

I wanted to use this image for a "Liberty" IPA SMaSH beer, but could NOT find a version of it that didn't have the top cut off, and was a higher resolution - this was the original image. It was exactly the idea I wanted - a "sexy" Statue of Liberty. I just couldn't make it happen. I ended up settling for this:

 

[LoneTreeFarms]

love the lady liberty. any idea who the original artist was?

 

[jbob7171]

Long time reader, first time poster... First things first, thanks to everybody for all the great info. Couldn't brew beer without this site.

My label is pretty geeky, but being a scientist by trade, it fits the bill...

 

[cheesehed007]

Here mine for a New Glarus Spotted Cow clone. Not very fancy, but I like it. Cheers!

 

[itsratso]

my first three, i like the backs as much as the fronts so i included them.

 

[itsratso]

cont'd...

 

[PJoyce85]

So this will be my first label. This will be for the Quad I brewed for my wedding and Concatenation means to join together.

Thoughts?

 

[ViperMan]

love the lady liberty. any idea who the original artist was?

Model's name is Jessica Pace. As far as the origin of the photo I couldn't tell ya, but I've found it on numerous websites without any kind of credit. *shrug*