Three Similar Puzzles Created Three Different Ways
by Allegra Vernon, Creative Art Director
Puzzles are booming and there are probably more puzzle companies on the market than ever before! One of the ways Cobble Hill tries to keep competitive, is to put our talented in-house creatives to work making our own images specifically designed to be great puzzling experiences.
While these three titles below may look very similar - they were created in quite different ways.
1. Love You A Latte
The Goal:
Celebrate heart-shaped latte art by creating fun backgrounds that reference coffee and hearts.
The Work:
Created during the pandemic this is an entirely digital work. Stock photography and public domain sources were used for the coffee images. Lucky for us, one of our staff designs surface patterns for fun - and collected and modified them digitally to make interesting background elements. Backgrounds and cups were combined in Photoshop.
2. Ice Lollies
The Goal:
Capture the freshness of artisanal handmade ice lollies with each square celebrating a particular flavor.
The Work:
The difficulty with trying to photograph ice and popsicles is they melt! You may recall a previous Cobble Hill popsicle image - it was all faked with gelatin, so we could spend the hours required under hot lights to get the shot. But ultimately, that photo shoot did not produce results as good as these, which we generated with AI and a lot of Photoshop fixing.
3. Nom Nom Macarons
The Goal:
Have fun with macarons, and since they are small, fill the square with elements and patterns that celebrate the flavors.
The Work:
Background patterns were created and printed out for the surfaces. Fruit and candy was purchased and the whole kit and caboodle was carted to our fabulous photographer's studio to be properly lit. Each square was carefully composed, each gumball and gummy poked into position. Then the cute fruit happy faces were drawn on in Photoshop.
Editor’s Note
In the effort to be transparent regarding AI Assistance in our images, whether licensed or in-house, on our website we have included "AI Assistance" in the title of the puzzle so it's visible on any collection or product page. We've also added an AI Transparency tab to the product page. For the artist credit, you'll find that on the Product Details tab where it should note "AI Assistance", if that is the case.
Please note that while we appreciate all points of view on whether an image used AI or not, we will default to the word of the artist or licensor when considering whether to include "AI Assistance" in their artist credit.
If purchasing our puzzles at a retail store, our boxes have been labeled with “This image was produced with the assistance of AI", so please look for that label on the side of the box if this is an important factor in your purchasing decision. And feel free to use our website as a reference if you want to check for AI usage when purchasing with an online retailer.