Van-garde Imagery, Inc.

06/07/2021

11/17/2020

We are graphic designers/artists living and working in Clearwater, FL, and we've been in business together for going on 30 years. You can see samples of our work at www.Van-garde.com
We specialize in book design for independent authors. We enjoy the "hand holding" that is frequently needed to take the author through the various technical steps involved with bringing their creation through to a physical (and/or electronic) book.
LRH says the the only pay anyone ever gets for living is the enjoyment of putting out the effort (in so many words). Though we do indeed make a decent buck—better than ever, ironically, all through the pandemic period—this is what truly sustains us.
I designed this cover for a recent job, and we got this testimonial from the customer:
"Trust. Skill. Speed. Dan and Darlene exemplify these three crucial qualities when entrusting your time, books, and reputation in the hands of a graphic designer. They are pleasant, polite, and patient, as well as reliable. Your book cover and interior require professional graphic design; Dan and Darlene make the magic happen to transform your cover concept and your manuscript into beautiful books that teach, inspire, and entertain. Their teamwork helps make your publishing dream work!"
—Elizabeth Atkins, Atkins & Greenspan Writing

11/17/2020

This is a science fiction book, and the author and I had some fun with the cover design. I started with a NASA star field image, made a duplicate of it on top of itself and separate layers, inverted the top one, and then made a layer mask on it to reveal the bottom image. The center is a sort of yin-yang symbol. We did some back and forth and came up with this finished cover without too much trouble.
The author was quite pleased with the whole book and wrote this testimonial:
“If I could give a greater recommendation I would. Darlene and Dan Swanson went far beyond my wildest expectations. They are fantastic, responsive and the nicest people. They did the work I could never do. I write stories with characters I love without the faintest ability to take those words and make them into a book. Darlene and Dan did it for me and gave me a gift I could never repay. They are the greatest.”
—J. Clement Phillips, author, Beyond the White

10/27/2020

Another recent testimonial:

I could have saved weeks of time and torment if I had learned earlier of Darlene Swanson and the services she offers in book preparation and publishing. My book interior was complete on a Word file, but trying to convert into the required PDF and ePub files required by publishers was like trying to find a way out of an impossible maze. Darlene is listed as a consultant on the Ingram Spark web pages, and I can only attest to the prompt, efficient, courteous, and complete way she converted my files and downloaded them to the necessary publication/sales sites. Write your book and leave the rest to Darlene. You will not regret it.
—Wulf Utian MD PhD DSc

10/27/2020

Just today, we received this glowing testimonial from yet another happy client:

Many thanks Darlene! Once again, the degree of attention to detail, the level of creativity and professional inspiration has resulted in a first-class book - thank you! Darlene intuitively understands the style, the format and the desired "look"; her input, assistance and guidance really are indispensable. Her contribution is always insightful and enormously helpful. I cannot recommend her highly enough, or thank her enough for all of her kind assistance".
—John Parsons, Painswick, UK. 27th October 2020

08/01/2020

I've been a professional full time freelance Adobe customer for over 33 years! In fact, the screenname I've used from the beginning has been "adobephile"(lover of Adobe).

Though most of my work has been technical, hard-line, subjects, I've occasionally needed to do subtle shading, coloring, and masking, for which a graphics tablet would have been better than a mouse. But I simply didn't do enough of that to justify the cost of something like a Wacom or the like.

But with the advent of the 2020 Apple iPad Pro 12.9", the Apple Pencil, and Adobe Photoshop for Mobile, that dream has been realized!

I've been working on a large batch of WWII era photos for a book we're designing, and I'm using the healing brush with the Pencil extensively to get rid of lot of dust spots and scratches. For this, I find it's most comfortable to take the Pad off of my Magic Keyboard and have it on my lap. This reminds me of when Steve Jobs first introduced the iPad during a keynote presentation. He was sitting in a comfortable chair and was showing the audience how pleasant it was to hold it like a book or a pad of paper.

And now in v1.6 with the rotate canvas function, I can more easily trim up my masking with the brush, going along edges and quickly rotating and panning the image so that I can keep my drawing hand in the same position and just move the image around beneath it.

Life is good with Apple and Adobe!!

05/12/2020

We recently completed this book and received this glowing testimonial:

"After wandering around looking for help for about a year, I finally found Daniel & Darlene to help me finish creating my book. No one seemed to want to help in a meaningful way, but Dan & Darlene went to work for me and within a month my book was ready to be published. Dan was especially helpful in cover design, something I would not have been able to do on my own. He interacted with me on the phone and by e-mail both, to fully develop the vision I had for the cover. I find it a very attention getting and a simple design that is artistic and will properly promote my book. I also received help from Darlene on interior design that other interior designers were unable to formulate. Her experience and fast paced hard work were a blessing to me and my new publishing company.

—Mike Martin, author, Vietnam…again…and again

Designer's note:
I do a lot of work using stock images—mainly from Adobe Stock. Though there weren't a lot of wartime images of Vietnam which worked for the cover, I thought I could at least find a Vietnam landscape image. The one I found and which you see on the cover was perfect—timeless, as there are no modern artifacts, and plenty of "blank" areas which allowed me to superimpose the titles and the F4 Phantom fighter jet. I rendered the jet separately from a stock 3D model I licensed. I was able to pose it and compose it over the background image quite nicely. I also added a little exhaust smoke in Adobe Photoshop.
The M16 on the back cover is another stock image. And Mike sent me a snapshot of himself which he liked, which I enhanced and color corrected in Photoshop.
—Daniel Swanson

04/21/2020

Happily, Darlene Swanson and I have remained busy with our book design work throughout this shutdown—perhaps because people have more time to work on such things as writing! We're apartment-based, and it's just the two of us, so there have been no personnel or logistics issues, and the power and utilities have remained on, along with high speed internet.
One thing I really like about our work is meeting our clients and being able to assist them in realizing their publishing dreams. I happen to be a Viet Nam era veteran, like Mike Martin, the author, though he was in the Air Force and was stationed in Thailand.
He sent me a pencil sketch of some elements he envisioned being on the cover, and I put them together for this cover composition. The background image is a licensed stock photo of Viet Nam. And the F4 fighter jet is rendered from a 3D model I licensed, and which I "posed" for the cover. I added a little exhaust smoke with Adobe Photoshop. The M16 rifle on the back cover was also a licensed stock image.

04/05/2020

Author's testimonial:

Darlene Swanson of Van-Garde Imagery is caring and reliable. Undoubtedly, she has plenty of experience in designing a wide range of commercial publications. I find her design skills uniquely subtle.

I asked Darlene to design a book for me from rough sketches. She was very efficient not only in producing a cover design but also a sophisticated interior file with complete formatting. Her subtle sense of digital colours definitely enhanced the appearance of my book.

After the production of advance review copies, Darlene tirelessly helped me to make corrections to prepare my book for publication. She is a good listener with creativity. She is efficient and understands the keen competition on the market.

I am very satisfied with Darlene's professionalism. Therefore, I have no hesitation in recommending the commercial imaging services of Van-Garde Imagery.

—Thomas Morton, Publisher, A Mother's Love

04/05/2020

This was an interesting project. The story is set in the '70s in Tampa, Florida. I normally use stock images, but few, if any, are from that period—and what to do for images of two of the characters in the story?

So I set out to get my own images of Tampa (We live 20 miles away). The author said, "No!" to Ybor City, and he suggested downtown or the University of Tampa. Downtown has been majorly reconstructed from anything from the '70s period, but the UT campus still has some of its historic buildings with their distinctive "onion"-shaped roofs. They're also spot-lit at night. To give them a '70s look, I posterized the images and tweaked the saturation to yield some "trippy" colors. The park scene on the back cover was a mere few streps away!

The guy and gal I found on Adobe Stock. And cropping them tightly concealed their present-day dress.

04/04/2020

Author's testimonial:

"If you are going to self-publish and have little clue on how, go to Darlene! There is no way I could of self-published my first book without her knowledge, formatting skills and especially her availability!

I decided to go with Ingram Sparks and found her there. When my book was near completion, I called her and she picked up the phone! That was exactly what I needed and she carried it through for me to the end. I had allot of images that was challenging for her, but she pulled it off.

I felt she cared about my book and wanted it to be perfect like me!

And a real bonus was the cover design. She knew before I did, what I needed on the cover and quickly she designed a cover.

Don’t hesitate to use Darlene, She knows what Ingram Sparks needs and gets it done!

If I decide to write another book, I would definitely use Darlene."

Karen Eddings, RH, MHN
Live and Age Well