Dinosaur World Florida Map – Adobe Illustrator Time-Lapse Video
By John Potter
One of my recent large projects has been the new visitor’s map for Dinosaur World in Plant City, Florida. Dinosaur World is a great attraction featuring over 150 hand crafted, sculpted dinosaurs. Located right off of I4 between Tampa and Orlando, the park is great fun for kids and adults featuring educational exhibits, a huge playground, picnic areas and of course tons of dinosaurs. Lovingly created by the Svensson family, the park in Plant City is one of three parks with the other two Dinosaur Worlds located in Cave City, Kentucky and Glen Rose, Texas. Be sure and visit their web site at http://www.dinoworld.net and visit the park in person.
The management at Dinosaur World contacted me back in mid February inquiring about a redesign of their visitor’s map. We reached an agreement and I went up to see the park and collect the data needed to create the map. I had a great time and the data all lived up to expectations. Partially due to the panoramic photography I shot there weren’t a lot of revisions based on incorrect placement or that sort of thing.
The project moved quickly and efficiently and I ran an ongoing screen capture as I have done with the Flamingo Gardens Map and the Snow Scene for Foreign Trade Zone Corporation. As with the Flamingo Gardens Map I did not include every single thing that I did in the interest of not putting anyone to sleep. The speed is doubled six times over giving you the ability to see how I work and the thought process behind it without being burdened by specifics of technique. The project was done primarily in Adobe Illustrator, although I do jump to other programs for a second every now and then as you will see in the video.
This video is also available on Youtube. I hope you enjoy it.
For more about Attraction Maps visit my site…attractionmaps.net
Dinosaur World Map Project
By John Potter
One of my most exciting projects that is presently in progress is designing and illustrating the visitor map for Dinosaur World in Plant City, Florida (http://www.dinoworld.net). It’s a very exciting project and although similar to some previous projects it includes many new challenges, like drawing a whole bunch of dinosaurs. The park is super cool and lot’s of fun. I want to capture that fun in the map, and I think it’s living up to expectations. I’ve posted some images of the project in progress. Expect more news on the Dinosaur World map project in the coming days.
Also be sure and visit my new domain…http://www.attractionmaps.net
http://www.EscapeKeyGraphics.com
Adobe Illustrator Time-Lapse Map Video
By John Potter
I was recently contracted by the beautiful tourist attraction, Flamingo Gardens, in Davie, Florida to redesign their visitor’s map. You may recall that I did some panoramic photography for them previously and posted an article about that.
This was a very exciting project for me, and I decided to record the project in on going screen capture and made a time-lapse video of the process from it like I did with my “Photoshop Time-Lapse Video.“. The map required a lot of skill, patience and a variety of techniques and tools in Adobe Illustrator. Further complicating issues, the tree canopy at the park is so thick that aerial photography is not helpful at all. I started out sketching the paths, but later switched to a hand held GPS. It was very helpful, but I still found I needed to clean up the design and revisit the park to verify the accuracy. I also did some more detailed sketching during that visit. At that point, I had a good basis to start with. From there on it was lot’s of dedicated work and patience. I utilized a lot of custom textures and brushes I have made over the years and created quite a few new ones as well. Some parts were more of a technical challenge while other parts allowed me to draw in a freehand style. A project this big was bound to supply variety.
There were, of course, revisions and changes that are not all reflected in the video and in the interest of not boring anyone to death not every tree, shrub and shelter is rendered in the video.
I have really enjoyed working on this project. This map is a quantum leap ahead for Flamingo Gardens in legibility and comprehension as well as aesthetics. Now they will have a map that will keep their guests from getting lost and make a nice souvenir as well. The map should be released to the public in or around April.
The video is available below from Vimeo and my server and it is also available from Youtube.
This project is featured on Digital Urban!
New Panoramic Photograph of The Morikami Museum
By John Potter
The Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens is a place in Delray Beach, Florida dedicated to the memory of a Japanese immigrant community that used to live and farm in that area. (more…)
New Panoramic Photograph of Mizner Park
By John Potter
Mizner Park is a place in Boca Raton, Florida where the rich go to do whatever it is the rich do. You can read more about it at http://www.miznerpark.com
Anyhow… I was there because The Boca Raton Museum of Art is there and they had an exhibit of Photorealism. They wouldn’t let me take my camera into the exhibit area, which is kind of ironic if you think about it, but it was a great exhibit anyhow. It was called “Shock of the Real: Photorealism Revisited”, and featured works by Linda Bacon, John Baeder, Robert Bechtle, Charles Bell, Tom Blackwell, Anthony Brunelli, Chuck Close, Davis Cone, Robert Cottingham, Randall Dudley, Don Eddy, Richard Estes, Audrey Flack, Stephen Fox, Ralph Goings, Robert Gniewek, Don Jacot, John Kacere, Ron Kleemann, Richard McLean, Kim Mendenhall, Jack Mendenhall, Malcolm Morley, David Parrish, R.E. Penner, John Salt, Ben Schonzeit, and Idelle Weber.
There was also an exhibit by Duane Hanson. He makes these super realistic sculptures of people using automobile gap filler among other things. It was pretty impressive.
I don’t see myself hanging out at Mizner Park too much, but the Boca Raton Museum of Art is really nice and deserves a visit every now and then.
New Panoramic Photograph of Yamato Scrub
By John Potter
I was recently on business in Boca Raton, Florida and on my way back I noticed a sign for Yamato Scrub Natural Area. I usually plan these things, but I had my camera with me, so what the heck. I didn’t get to walk all of the trails, but I did walk about half a mile in.
(more…)
New Panoramic Photographs of The Goodyear Blimp
By John Potter
The gondola or car with two Continental IO-360 engines
providing 210 hp thrust to move the blimp up to 40mph
I’m excited to have been allowed to photograph one of America’s great icons up close…The Goodyear Blimp!
The folks at Goodyear simply asked that I not use the photos for commercial purposes, so please don’t ask me to sell you copies. I can’t say enough nice things about these folks. I am greatly thankful for their hospitality and their patience as I asked a million questions.
This Goodyear Blimp, “The Spirit Of Innovation”, is based at The Pompano Beach Air Park. The Pompano Beach Air Park was constructed during World War II as a training field serving the Naval Air Station located at what is now The Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood Airport. After the war the city purchased the place for general aviation use. It’s a lively little airport with helicopters, corporate jets and all types of aircraft coming and going.
(more…)
Panoramic Photos of Flamingo Gardens
By John Potter
I recently shot some panoramic photos of Flamingo Gardens, a local tourist attraction and wildlife sanctuary. The place has a rich history going back to the 1920s and 60 acres of beautiful gardens as well as wildlife exhibits and shows.
It’s a piece of old Florida charm that really sweeps you up. I also think it’s worthy of mention that all the wildlife on exhibit at the gardens are injured and can no longer fend for themselves, so Flamingo Gardens also contributes to the community by caring for all those alligators and otters and owls and so much more.
(more…)
Florida Springs Video from Karst Productions
You may know from my previous articles about Florida’s Springs that I am passionate about the conservation and preservation of these wonderful and irreplaceable natural resources.
I just stumbled upon this great video on Youtube created by my friends at Karst Productions for The Suwanee River Water Management District. I feel compelled to share this video since it addresses so many important issues to the residents of Florida and anyone who visits for business or pleasure, does business with people in Florida, or has friends living in Florida.
Please have a look.
Rock Sculpture Built From Foam for Surf Shop Decor
In 1992 a friend of mine, Nelson Priede, picked up an interesting little freelance project to design and build a rock face for an area in a surf shop in Cocoa Beach, Florida. He was nice enough to let me in on the action and we sculpted the whole thing out of foam, coated it with fiberglass and then trucked it down to Cocoa Beach from Gainesville Florida and installed it.
(more…)
