ABOUT VERSION 4 LAYOUT

Creating:

I created this version of Fan-tasia.net using Adobe Illustrator CS, Adobe Photoshop 7, and Paint Shop Pro 7. I had to pull out all stops on this one because there are certain programs that I like to use for certain things. Illustrator is the best tool for making vectors. I drew the back of the head and each strand of hair all in Illustrator. The hair took the longest, approximately 8-9 hours when adding it all up. I didnt do it continuosly. lol I colorized everything in Paint Shop Pro and added in the background aspects. When I was finally done with everything, I image sliced it in PS and handcoded it beyond that. I use Dreamweaver sparingly because I'm so used to hard coding things. The entire layout including design, coding, etc took approximately 3 working days.

Concept:

You can see the original picture which was taken during Fantasia's performance at Good Morning America Summer Concert Series. I saw the the new hair do and I flipped out. I love the style because it was so unexpected. I had already made a new layout for Fan-tasia.net that I was getting ready to put up when I saw the new do. I knew then that I wanted to create something that represented the new style, the funk, the punk, the rock n roll, the soul, and everything that Fantasia is doing musically right now. It's really easy to sort of put Fantasia in the box of R&B and leave her there. However, if you're a fan and if you've witnessed her live music, you know that she is ANYTHING but one thing. Fantasia is more than just the Free Yourself CD, American Idol, or any other preconceived notion you have of a singer that came off a reality show and made a R&B CD. Lately, she keeps reinventing her sound, re-doing things we've heard her sing a thousand times over. She's inventing as she goes, creating new sounds, scats, and songs. She's making songs within songs. She's doing everything from rock n roll to soul to gospel. This layout is an attempt to represent the spectrum of Fantasia's styles, hence the title, "Where Punk, Soul, & Gospel Meet. Enjoy!

Isis // fan-tasia.net

You can see all the past layouts of the site here.