stormy landscape
Been a rough couple of days. Nothing happened, but every once in a while I’ll wake up and decide that my life sucks. Just gotta be sad until I can beat it out of myself. Usually, I can be creative enough to weather through it, but it seemed everything I did just made it worse. Tried writing songs, cried. Tried reading, cried. Started drawing, gave up. So, went to Hobby Lobby and bought a canvas. Did a stormy landscape and decided I was redoing the bedroom layout. I think it helped.

design principles g224 vbr postcard design
Posted by admin in Art Institute Online - Graphic Design, design principles on August 17th, 2010
Design principles was one of the hardest classes I’ve had so far. Honestly, the only reason why is I couldn’t seem to find enough time to work on all the aspects of the project that I wanted. The final design turned out pretty good though, IMO.
Thumbnails:
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In progress:


Final Design front (5×7):

Final Design back(5×7″):

Underwater themed baby shower cake
One of my best. I can tell I’m improving the more and more I do this. This time, I spent a lot of effort on hand crafting all the additions to the cake. Everything is edible (including shells), but the octopus and mermaid do have foam inside, so I wouldn’t suggest it.
Hours to make: about 15
Supplies: $60 ish
How much this cake would cost you (supplies plus $20/hour): $360





band postcard mini poster g 224
Posted by admin in Art Institute Online - Graphic Design, design principles on July 27th, 2010
Design Principle G224 UH
Sooooo… The main project of this class is to create a media advertising piece. I have a choice of pamphlet or postcard. Since I already love, love, love www.vistaprint.com ’s service, I’m definitely going postcard. I think I also really enjoy the idea of making the front of the postcard only an image so it doubles as a collector’s “mini-poster” for fans, as well as a promotional advertising item.
Week 1: CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT
The type of event and artists:
This will be a design detailing the upcoming show of a local band. The location will be central Florida, the performers can be seen here http://www.myspace.com/victoryboundrival. Basically, it’s four rambunctious young men who have an intense love for music and are about to bust big into the scene.
The name of event:
Victory Bound Rival: checkmate
Target Audience:
- Ages 15-25 (school age)
- Male and female
- Middle class
- Lives in rural/urban areas
Primary message of design:
Fun concert to attend!
Secondary message of design:
Great music!
For this design, I hope to create a poster that is colorful, fun, and exciting. I want it to be a bit urban and edgy, but still friendly and inviting. I’ll probably collaborate from one of the boys from the band, but I don’t think it will be an actual event. I named the concert Checkmate, simply because I think it’s a wonderful term for where the band is in their career right now. They are right on the brink of being signed and making it “big.” I wish them the best in this, and I hope this design might spur some interest in more local concerts, so I can go!
WEEK 2: THUMBNAILING
For my thumbnails, I plan on taking photos and making a photo montage using Photoshop and illustrator. Each image will be realistic but with exaggerated color and striking tones. I want my design to include each of the band members, since the target audience will soon associate the band members to their music and shows. Since my target audience is middle class teenagers, I want it to have harsh shadows and highlights.
I plan on making the photos realistic, but with almost a fantasy type feel, like many of the movies that are so popular to today’s middle class teen culture.
I really like the idea of doing a postcard that is 5 x 7.” I know a website, vistaprint.com, where I can have these printed for cheap. I’ve used illustrator to do these thumbs, but keep in mind they will be all made with real photography that we will shoot. Each of the thumbs has some type of theme.
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TOP LEFT: This thumb will have the faces of all the band members poking their heads through a mass amount of bubbles. Each band member will have some type of facial attribute also made out of bubbles, like a mustache or exaggerated beard. I think the contrast of the bubble with the faces would be instantly attention grabbing but still fun.
TOP RIGHT: This thumb will have a dark stormy sea and a dark stormy sky with the 4 band members dressed Cpt. Ahab style in nautical gear. The thing that makes this design unique and fun is that the boat will actually be a large red umbrella.
MIDDLE LEFT: This thumbnail is a bit more complex. Each band member will be dressed as a real life representation of a chess piece: knight, king, queen, and bishop. They will be standing on a huge chess board with rooks in the background.
MIDDLE RIGHT: This thumbnail doesn’t have as much of a theme, but I think the simple design would demand to be flipped over if you saw it on the ground. The front of the postcard would be completely white except the tops of the boys’ heads. They each have crazy awesome hair, so they would still be recognizable.
BOTTOM LEFT: This thumb will feature two girls playing chess, almost leaning in to kiss. One very feminine, the other a bit rocker.
BOTTOM RIGHT: This postcard design will feature the guys all wearing black shirts and blue jeans. On their faces though we will paint eyes right above their mouths, so it looks like little faces. Each face will house a crazy expression. Maybe on their shirts we will have the info for the event.
birdy engagement cake
My besty is getting married, so we celebrated her engagement at our house. Made her a pretty cake cause I love her soooo much!



art for sale!
hey guys!

2 canvases mounted together. acrylic abstract. includes hanging wire and sides painted. ready to hang. $40

very large impressionist acrylic piece. includes hanging wire and sides painted. $100

custom hand made canvas. acrylic piece. includes hanging wire and sides painted. $65

surrealism. custom hand made canvas. acrylic. includes hanging wire and sides painted. $65
more illustrator pen tool with layers
Posted by admin in Art Institute Online - Graphic Design, graphic illustration on April 7th, 2010

the last class. graphic illustration g 330
Posted by admin in Art Institute Online - Graphic Design, graphic illustration on April 7th, 2010

This class was one of the most difficult for me, and I think the reason why is I didn’t get to spend any time on my projects. Let’s just say that real life got in the way and it totally sucked! I didn’t really want to post any of my assignments since I wasn’t happy with any of them (except the one of my hubby up there done entirely in illustrator using layers and the pen tool,) but I figured someone might get some use out of it.
Our main project of this class was designing a book cover in illustrator. I had such high hopes for the assignment, but couldn’t seem to get anything how I wanted it. Blah.
Book Design thumbnails:





wk4as3animationgruver


Also, we had a few different assignments using layers, brush tools, and different mesh tools in Illustrator:









