GRAPHIC DESIGNER RONAN MULLER MAY BE JUST STARTING OUT, BUT THE
ENERGY OF HIS SPORTS ORIENTATED WORK IS ALREADY MAKING WAVES
DYNAMIC RANGE
READER INTERVIEW DYNAMIC RANGE
OUR READER
All article images © Ronan MullerRONAN MULLER
lesideesderonan.com
@rOnAn_NcYR
onan Muller’s high-octane sporting action
images caught our eye on the Advanced
Photoshop online gallery. We caught up
with him to find out more.HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR STYLE?
I guess my style is somewhere between the cinema
poster design and the stylised sports poster, it really
depends on the project. I try to put a story (regarding the
culture of the team, city [or] personality of the player) in
my visuals, but I always try to incorporate new things in
my workflow like illustration or painting so it’s always
evolving. I’ve never been a fan of doing the same style
over and over again, I get bored pretty quickly!WHEN AND WHY DID YOU FIRST START
USING PHOTOSHOP?
In 2012. I’ve always been amazed by the works of
designers at specialised NBA graphics websites like
Basketevolution, West Coast Remix or Posterize. So
that’s what pushed me to try Photoshop, I wanted tosee if I could do what they do, but I quickly
understood that it wouldn’t be an easy road to get to
their level. I joined the team of designers at the
French forum Basketevolution, which really helped
me develop into the designer that I am today.DO YOU USE ANY OTHER SOFTWARE, AND
HOW DOES THAT CONNECT WITH WHAT YOU
DO IN PHOTOSHOP?
In general, I use the software [that] will be the easiest
and fastest way to get the results I want. Work smarter,
not harder! If I want to customise a typeface or create a
pattern for a visual I would do the work in Illustrator, then
I will use Photoshop for cutting out people or
colour-correcting images. I also work in the compositing
software Nuke, which is kind of the Photoshop of
motion graphics. You can make your matte painting in
Photoshop and then import the layers in Nuke and
animate them in it. I also do some work in Modo and
Maya and that’s an area where I would like to progress
to be able to really take my visuals to the next level.Wall: Muller “used a special brush to get the
smoke, then masked, with the same brush, part of the smoke with a low opacity to get
more depth to the smoke”