Needless to Say

29 Faces: Day 12

2012-02-12T23:50:00.000-05:00

Took off to visit my grandparents over the weekend, so I don't have #10 or #11 (I'll need to catch up). Here's what I worked on today (step by step).

Colored Pencil on paper: Blue

+ Orange

+ Purple

+ Yellow

Final details

(oops, wrote wrong date there: 12)

29 Faces: Day 9

2012-02-09T12:47:00.000-05:00

Had to do this....sorry!

Flo from Progressive (in Adobe Illustrator).

29 Faces: Day 8

2012-02-08T19:05:00.000-05:00

Sketch (pencil, paper)

Guilty Little Pleasure

2012-02-08T13:03:00.001-05:00

It might be a bit childish, but I've always enjoyed coloring in Coloring Books. My favorite are the Precious Moments Books. I've cornered my mom, my best friends (Hi Gloria!), even my brother (sorry, Danny...), into coloring in them with me. Now matter how old I get, I'll probably continue this guilty little pleasure!

Used crayons on this one.

29 Faces: Day 7

2012-02-07T23:30:00.000-05:00

A little sketch of Little Red Riding Hood (sketched in Photoshop).

29 Faces: Day 6

2012-02-06T23:59:00.000-05:00

Had a really busy day, so I wasn't able to get started until late tonight.

Definitely something I'll come back and continue working on.

Painting in Photoshop

29 Faces: Day 5

2012-02-05T20:31:00.001-05:00

Ava Gardner (pencil, paper)

29 Faces - Day 4

2012-02-04T22:49:00.005-05:00

Girl Face using Adobe Illustrator

Indiana Youth Rally 2012 poster

2012-02-03T19:04:00.000-05:00

Poster:

T-shirt design:

No Eraser

2012-02-03T11:45:00.000-05:00

The goal of perfection, although a desirable ambition, can sometimes hinder productivity. If I don't think I'm going to have the time/ability to do something right, then I end up not doing it. For this reason I began a sketchbook to help me just jump into drawing/sketching: commit to a line, just let the mistakes happen, depend more on what I see rather than guessing by sketching a line over and over until it falls in the right place.

Trying to loosen up first...

Kinda hate it...

29 Faces

2012-02-03T10:53:00.000-05:00

I just came across a blog challenge to draw/paint/design a face each day in February. I thought it'd be good practice, so, even though I'm starting a little late, here goes.

Yul Brynner (Photoshop painting)

For Groundhog Day (pen, paper)

I made this face playing around on my dad's iPad (Brushes) in December (since I didn't have a face for the first day)

Honduras Mission Book

2012-02-01T11:12:00.002-05:00

I wanted to throw together a picture book for the Honduras Mission trip....
the process turned out to be more frustrating than I expected. Photoshop Elements kept crashing and corrupting my files. I had to re-create it several times. I ended up having to save a different version after each page created.

Thankfully it was finally completed!

ACME Site Design

2012-02-01T10:14:00.000-05:00

Design for a class based on a fictitious company.

Merry Christmas!

2011-11-24T20:53:00.001-05:00

My mom wanted a family photo to send this Christmas, so I aged out a photo we took last year.

from last year's Christmas photo:

Matte Painting

2011-11-07T21:36:00.000-05:00

Tried some painting in Photoshop for a Matte Painting class.

Website designs

2011-10-18T20:47:00.000-04:00

A couple of designs for homepages

Brochure for Pray It Forward Ministries

2011-09-07T22:25:00.000-04:00

Promotional Print

2011-08-22T19:57:00.002-04:00

Chapel West Church Promotional Print for various programs.

Chicken Nugget Lemon Tooty

2011-08-20T21:05:00.001-04:00

I've been following this blog for a little while and have enjoyed watching how these talented kids develop their art. This month, their father announced that they were celebrating their 5th anniversary and called for visitors to create a piece of "Fan Art" based on the pictures from the archives. It seemed like a lot of fun, so I chose one of my favorites.

And this is the inspiration (created by Gracie, at age 7)

Pray it Forward -- Site Design

2011-07-19T16:30:00.003-04:00

Site design for Pray It Forward.

This design at the bottom was created before the client fully researched their target audience, based on a specific geographical area (in their 30s, professionals, mostly caucasians). So, then, the design at the top was developed.

Honduras Mission project

2011-07-15T21:56:00.001-04:00

This summer, my husband as a youth pastor, in conjunction with two of our churches, planned a mission trip to Honduras. Among our many activities there, we planned to paint a daycare center in the town of Santa Barbara (near the Hogar de Ninos where we would be primarily helping). As this project was my primary responsibility I thought I'd post a few pics. It isn't fabulous art, nor original designs, but it was a ton of fun and the kids from the community loved it!

My super fabulous team did an amazing job!

We only had time to paint over this horrendous green on the inside (no caricatures here).

A well deserved break!

Anniversary

2011-06-22T13:29:00.000-04:00

Celebrating our 8th wedding anniversary today!

Snow Angel

2011-06-20T23:40:00.002-04:00

My cat, Angel, in the snow. Tweaked the photo a bit in Photoshop.

Cards

2011-06-16T14:09:00.000-04:00

Each time we go visit my parents, my mom and I can't help playing around with her Cricut (gift from the family) and making cards.

Felix & Jane Promotional Posters

2011-06-15T18:30:00.001-04:00

Felix & Jane handmade bags and accessories.

Watercolor class

2011-06-12T17:05:00.000-04:00

My mom and I took a 3 hour watercolor class this morning from Gayle Jones. It was quite enjoyable (and stress-free, as the image was given to us pre-drawn on our Arches paper). I thought we did all right for a first try!

Brochure and Postcard for HHWC

2011-06-07T11:38:00.002-04:00

Indiana Healthy Choices has a conference every year called Heartland Health and Wellness conference. They needed a "Save the Date" postcard and brochure for their event this year.

Brief: Modern, fresh, vibrant, call to action, health, attention grabbing, geared toward 35-70 yrs old, photographs.

My original proposal:

T-Shirt Design for Brown Chapel Missions

2011-05-25T17:30:00.003-04:00

Brown Chapel Missions is planning a mission trip to Honduras and needed a t-shirt design. My first design included their logo and the hibiscus flowers, however, a couple of the men felt a little uncomfortable wearing flowers, so I decided to use the Honduras national bird (Scarlet Macaw) with some Mayan inspiration.

T-Shirt Design

2011-05-10T21:23:00.001-04:00

Timber Ridge Camp, a youth summer camp, asked me to design a t-shirt based on a tree and lungs.

I had a lot of fun with this one.

I decided to make a few variations:

Making Cards

2011-03-31T11:19:00.000-04:00

My mom and I like to get together every so often to make cards; usually around Christmastime, but we decided to make some for my husband's and dad's birthdays, as well as some for mother's day.
It's always fun and pretty addicting.

Here are some of my mom's:

Poster for Mission Trip (2nd)

2011-02-12T15:01:00.001-05:00

Follow-up poster for Mission Trip:

Indiana Discount Mall poster

2011-02-09T18:40:00.000-05:00

The client requested a very strong Mexican feel to the poster.

Illustration Friday: Surrender

2011-01-28T17:59:00.002-05:00

Valentine Celebration Poster

2011-01-28T17:04:00.001-05:00

Valentine Celebration poster for Brownsburg Church.

Valentine Banquet Poster

2011-01-22T17:53:00.001-05:00

Chapel West Church wanted a poster to announce their Valentines Banquet.

Illustration Friday: Dusty

2011-01-21T17:28:00.002-05:00

I didn't have a lot of ideas on portraying "dust," so I typed it into Google and I got Dusty Springfield...(whose song, "I only wanna be with you," I've secretly loved since forever!).

So, here she is, with her iconic peroxide beehive and raccoon-eyes.

A little more "Soul"-ful version:

Colored-Pencil portrait

2011-01-05T19:11:00.001-05:00

I was going through some old photos and ran across this colored-pencil portrait I made ~9 years ago.

Here are some photos I took along the way:

Arrowhead Ranch logo

2010-12-29T21:52:00.003-05:00

Logo proposals for my uncle:

Incorporating his brand of an upward arrow:

He chose these (the top one for truck decals, the second for letterhead):

Figure Drawing Class

2010-12-18T17:09:00.002-05:00

I took a figure drawing class from Prf. Earl Snellenberger at Herron this past semester.

Here are several of the pieces we made in class:

For this one, we chose a previous drawing and used scraped charcoal over cut-out paper.

The final project was to take one of our previous drawings and run with it.

We did a pre-instructional set of poses at the very beginning of the class, then on the last couple of days, we did them again to compare our progress.

Promotional Poster for Indiana Discount Mall

2010-11-08T20:36:00.000-05:00

Updated Logo Proposals for Flamingo Night Club

2010-10-29T16:12:00.000-04:00

The Indiana Discount Mall decided to go with this option.

Now to narrow down to the smaller detail options.

Indiana Youth Rally 2011 Poster

2010-10-23T09:40:00.009-04:00

This year's theme "The Greatest Escape."

We had a couple of the kids pose for the picture I needed:

And this is the t-shirt design for the event:

Staff t-shirt:

Logo Proposals for Flamingo Night Club

2010-10-13T22:03:00.000-04:00

Indiana Discount Mall is starting up a Night Club (discoteca) and wanted a logo that would appeal to their audience.

Poster created for Indiana Discount Mall

2010-10-02T20:42:00.001-04:00

Promotional poster for a Halloween event at Indiana Discount Mall.

Menu for Ricci's

2010-09-24T17:36:00.000-04:00

I've been making a menu for Ricci's Dining and Catering company (as well as throw a little business card design into it). They wanted the menu to have the same look and feel of their website: www.ricciscateringindy.com Here are the preliminaries:

Outside of tri-fold menu

Inside of tri-fold menu

Business card

Brown Chapel Missions: logo

2010-09-10T21:38:00.001-04:00

Logo Proposals for Brown Chapel Missions (that I mentioned in my previous post).

Now, to get people from both churches to voting for the one they'd prefer..

Poster for Church Mission Trip

2010-09-10T06:28:00.006-04:00

A couple of churches (Brownsburg and Chapel West) in Indiana are planning a mission trip to Honduras for next summer. This is the poster I worked on to promote it.

I'm also working on a logo revolving around the conglomeration of their names: Brown Chapel Missions. I'll be posting it soon.

Little Owl

2010-09-03T18:19:00.002-04:00

I saw a picture of a tiny owl yesterday. It was so cute I just had to try my own version.

Poster

2010-08-06T15:28:00.004-04:00

Caged in darkness

overlooked by the impervious

the freedom of invisibility

promotional poster

2010-07-26T16:02:00.003-04:00

A second promotional poster...

(previous)

Website Design for BRIDGE

2010-06-24T18:44:00.008-04:00

Website design for BRIDGE, an after school program targeting at-risk middle school students.

Home Page

About Page

Photo Page

Contact Page

And now, to build it...

Suggestions welcome.

Anniversary Card

2010-06-22T21:14:00.005-04:00

I made a card for my husband for our 7 year anniversary...

Based from this photo:

Graduation Mural 2010 for IA

2010-05-30T13:27:00.004-04:00

I spent the last few days making a mural for the graduation at Indiana Academy (where my parents work) this weekend. Lots of hard work. The Seniors really wanted to help paint...adding a few extra hours to the process, but having a lot of fun.

The mural is about 30ft x 12ft.

Children's Mural (Color Rough 3)

2010-05-21T11:33:00.003-04:00

Illustration Friday word of the week: Early
It's too early to wake up!

Seahorse done with colored pencil as a study for the Children's mural.

Children's Mural (Color Rough 2)

2010-05-19T23:40:00.008-04:00

The word of the week for Illustration Friday was "Equipment." Crabs make me think of bulldozers...not sure why :)

On this piece for the Children's Mural I tried a little more color. (Photoshop)

Children's Mural (Color rough)

2010-05-12T06:57:00.006-04:00

Fearless or Unwise?
As I'm working on a Children's Mural over the summer, I thought I'd tie it into the Illustration Friday's topic for this week.

This week I'm starting to see what colors I'll be using. Haven't added the colorful sea plants yet. Made in Photoshop.

Closer detail:

Children's Mural (prelim sketches2)

2010-05-05T20:51:00.005-04:00

A few more sketches for the Children's Mural I hope to be working on over the summer.

3-D Dinosaur in Maya

2010-05-04T22:51:00.009-04:00

I finally finished my 3-d model...up to where I'm going to, anyway.

Next 3-D modeling will be something different!

Thanks so much to Wenie, Marcelo, Vance, Chris, Wes, and, of course,
Lynda, for helping me get through this!

Here's a close up:

Children's Mural (prelim sketches)

2010-04-30T10:45:00.005-04:00

Over the summer I hope to complete a mural at a church for a children's room. The teacher mentioned she would like an underwater scene. I thought it would be fun, so I started putting together a few character sketches.

IUPUI Greening Logo Contest

2010-04-28T09:40:00.007-04:00

IUPUI has begun a Campus Sustainability Initiative and created several contests (for logos and slogans) and openings for grants for ideas and proposals on how IUPUI can become more sustainable.
In March, Dan and I collaborated on a logo and slogan idea to enter the contest. We ended up with 5 great ideas, so we decided to submit them. Just this past Monday we found out that our idea was chosen as logo and slogan for the IUPUI Sustainability Initiative. Needless to say, we are very happy about it! They couldn't decide between two of our ideas, so I'll be working with them to refine any details.

These are the two ideas:

Salseros del Barrio

2010-04-19T13:51:00.011-04:00

For the past several weeks I've been working on a few things (logo, poster, ticket, website) for the Salseros del Barrio. They are a student Latin Jazz band put together about 4 years ago by Pavel Polanco-Safadit for the students at Indianapolis Public Schools. It focuses not only on developing cultural pride, self-esteem, and musical talent but also to keep kids in school.

I'm very proud of the progress they have made, not only because of all the presentations and media acclaim they've had, but because the students have improved their attendance and grades.

On May 11, the Salseros will be having a concert, together with Direct Contact, a professional Latin Jazz band, to raise funds for purchasing instruments and other expenses. If you're interested in supporting them email silvan@ips.k12.in.us.

Poster

Concert Ticket

Website

If you'd like to know more about them, visit www.salserosdelbarrio.com

Moose Character

2010-02-22T09:44:00.004-05:00

A classmate asked if I'd help her create a character for one of her 3D animation projects. She wanted him very smooth, very simple. I left him like this thinking it might be easier for her then to create him in 3D.

Poster for Youth Rally

2010-02-12T12:27:00.005-05:00

Taking the same image from the Youth Rally t-shirt design.

Character/Creature development

2010-02-10T13:22:00.006-05:00

I've been wanting to create some sort of creature and in looking for inspiration I came across some great pictures of Betta fish. I loved the fullness and colors of their fins, so I decided to start from there.

IF - Muddy

2010-02-10T10:33:00.005-05:00

Remembering my younger years :)
(Although I didn't use an umbrella or rain gear!)

IF: Wilderness

2010-01-15T12:44:00.006-05:00

One of my favorite subjects; the jungle! I put it on my business card.

Here's also the background I'd like to develop further:

IF - Renewal

2010-01-06T09:37:00.011-05:00

I just completed this T-shirt design for a Youth Rally taking place in February and realized that it went rather well with the Illustration Friday topic of this week.

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-03T13:32:00.004-05:00

This is my animation for the Siggraph IUPUI Winter Wonderland Competition. I had a lot of fun designing the penguin in Illustrator (I imported most of it from Illustrator into Flash).

I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas!

Illustration Friday - MUSIC

2009-11-21T22:53:00.007-05:00

Music is to be assimilated, taken in, absorbed.

Shadow Shapes

2009-11-20T20:16:00.000-05:00

Just playing around with shadows. I wanted an almost continuous shadow.

Poster: Band Concert

2009-11-02T20:46:00.010-05:00

Poster for Direct Contact Latin Jazz Band that will be playing this weekend.
They also requested a logo for the band:

Siggraph Logo Contest

2009-10-30T11:26:00.003-04:00

This is my submission for the Siggraph Logo Contest this year. It needed to incorporate the theme "The People Behind the Pixels" as well as the official Siggraph IUPUI symbol.

Flash Website

2009-10-16T12:23:00.007-04:00

We've been learning Flash CS4 in a couple of my CGT classes, so I thought I'd try my hand at it!
The website is for Dual-D, check it out at www.dualdindy.com

IF - Germs

2009-10-08T21:40:00.006-04:00

Germophobic's point of view.

Vector Illustration (Illustrator CS4)

Sarah Fisher Helmet

2009-09-25T08:38:00.004-04:00

A friend of mine told me about this contest Sarah Fisher is having to see who's design she'll choose for her new breast cancer awareness helmet.

IF: Welcome

2009-09-17T23:28:00.006-04:00

Illustration Friday: "Welcome"
Welcome to Panama!

Made with Illustrator CS4
in honor of my friend, Felisa.
Happy Birthday!

Draw More 4

2009-08-18T14:35:00.004-04:00

Rothenburg: The Walled City. One of the most beautiful places I've seen!

DUAL D Poster

2009-06-15T23:36:00.009-04:00

Posters for Dual D a little more complete!

Draw More (3)

2009-05-23T17:16:00.002-04:00

I had to go quickly with this one as the subject had a tendency to not sit still :)

Operation "Draw More"

2009-05-15T08:05:00.010-04:00

A few weeks ago I was motivated by a post I read encouraging designers to draw more. Although I've had a slow start after making that decision, I hope to continue to draw more regularly.

I'd like to be able to get an impression of an object and sketch it quickly and effortlessly...not there yet! I'm looking and studying the object too much and getting hung up on the details. Hopefully, with practice, I'll get there.

Character Design: Dual-D

2009-05-07T15:47:00.003-04:00

Character Design Background

2009-05-07T15:33:00.015-04:00

The Character I chose to design is an actual personality in and around Indianapolis. He goes by Dual-D. He has switched costumes a few times, his most recent having been this past weekend and the one I'm basing my character design from.

I'll let you read the newspaper articles to find out more about him.

Dual-D's Ride

Technical Ad/Article Layout

2009-05-06T09:47:00.006-04:00

Tech Ad Layout for CGT 216.
The images were made in Illustrator andh the text added in InDesign.

Kinetic Typography

2009-04-28T21:29:00.005-04:00

Kinetic Typography for CGT 251

("Pocketful of Sunshine" by Natasha Bedingfield)

Information Card

2009-04-16T12:49:00.004-04:00

Information Card to be passed out during the Student Exhibition (probably post-card size).

Instructions Card

2009-04-09T11:19:00.005-04:00

Instructions for CGT class assignment

detail

Brochure for AFS Conference

2009-03-31T16:17:00.004-04:00

Brochure designed for American Foundry Society 2009 Midwest Regional Conference (for a CGT class)

INTERVIEW WITH AN ART DIRECTOR

2009-03-29T22:52:00.005-04:00

(Assignment for OLS Class)

No matter what the profession, people today have been working longer and longer hours, making the time spent on the job longer than that spent at home. Our co-workers have increasingly become the friends and family in our life. Therefore, it is very important to forge strong and healthy relationships at the workplace.

The work community can be a strong influence on a person and their development as a worker. If this “family” is supportive and motivating while instilling the necessary rules, then the worker will develop a strong sense of loyalty, work ethic, and drive.

A company that shows a great family-type of work ethic is The Basement, a graphic design company for the Web and TV. The Basement has eleven employees filling various design functions within the company. I recently had the privilege of interviewing their Art Director, Amy Kingman, who was kind enough to answer a few questions about her job and the dynamics within their group.

Me- What are your regular duties on a daily basis?

Amy- The Basement Design + Motion is a small shop with only 11 employees in house. As a result my position as art director allows my duties to remain varied so that I do both production and direction on a daily basis. My production responsibilities revolve around design and animation so I spend a lot of time in my sketch pad, photoshop, illustrator, after effects, and flash. At any point in time there are on average around 3 projects that I am working on in tandem, depending on where they are in the production pipeline. I am involved in initial brainstorming concept, initial design mockup, and often pitching the design/concept to the client. Once we get approval, I work with other designers and developers on the team to bring the project to life. As art director it is my responsibility to provide a clear vision of the project to the team and assist with technical knowledge, visual critique, and project organization.

Me- What is your favorite part of the job? Least favorite?

Amy- I love production, it would be very difficult at this point in my career to step away from that completely, but I also enjoy working with a talented team to bring something together that I couldn't create on my own. I also enjoy initial concepting and uncovering client hopes for the project. My least favorite part of my job would be assisting with project cost estimations, explaining to a client when something does not fall within scope of a project, and all of the financial realities that are associated with this business. Luckily, there are people here that take care of the majority of those details and with a well thought out and written contract, the tough conversations with clients are limited.

Me- How many people do you supervise/lead?

Amy- There are 5 additional production team members that I art direct on projects. 1 illustrator/designer, 1 3D modeller/animator and motion graphics specialist, and 3 flash developers. I am also responsible for overseeing any freelance designers or animators that we bring in to assist on projects.

Me- What are the dynamics of group projects (what is your role, others' roles, who does what, etc)?

Amy- We are a close group so the dynamic is casual and friendly and we all have a high standard of what we expect of ourselves and each other. Even though we are friends, we understand that a critique of a project is only meant to make the project better and has nothing to do with personal feelings for each other. We have a lead technical director/flash developer who calls the shots on what we can and can't do on a project. We all work together to brainstorm alternate possibilities if something seems out of scope or impossible technically. I work closely with the other designer/illustrator who is an amazing artist. I often will begin a design, then hand it off for further development as we work together to flesh out the details. Once a design is complete and the file is nice and clean we hand it off to one of the web developers to convert the design into a working flash file.

Me- How do you resolve conflict between subordinates/co-workers?

Amy- I've been extremely lucky and there is little to no conflict among co-workers. There is a high level of respect and care among the team. If we have differing opinions on what will make a project best we have a discussion and debate the issue. Generally the debate ends with one idea surfacing to the top, but if it didn't we would most likely refer to the Senior Art Director who would have the final say.

I was very impressed by Amy’s description of her team. The interdependence, support, critique, and overall motivating atmosphere had the added advantage of a smaller work unit where each person gets to develop their own special ability while at the same time trying their hand at something new. Creating a family-type work environment is a very smart way to run a business. Whether we are supervisors, co-workers, directors or assistants, we are just as responsible of influencing and motivating those around us to become their utmost best.

You Know You've Crossed Over When . . .

2009-03-19T07:55:00.012-04:00

Having a background in fine arts, it has only been within the last three years that I've developed a love of computer graphic design. Through painful experience I've learned the habit of saving my work every so often as I come up for air from working on a piece.

Over Spring Break I've been working on a rain forest piece (just for the fun of it). I've started by making a sketch study of a tiger. I realized I'd crossed over from the world of fine arts to the world of computer graphics when, every so often, I'd find myself looking for the save button on my paper sketch pad . . .

Tiger Study

Tree Study

Update: David & Godzilla

2009-03-08T21:15:00.008-04:00

I added some high and low-lights to Godzilla. I'm not sure if I might just prefer the previous one. I also tried a different T-shirt color.

David and . . . Godzilla?

2009-03-05T10:34:00.002-05:00

T-Shirt design for CGT course. Alternate historical event.

Interface Design - Print Ad

2009-02-24T10:49:00.009-05:00

Interface Design for Veer inspired by print ad from Echo Chernik.
Colors: aqua, light golds, metal greys, white, red accents.

Interface Design - Movie

2009-02-23T15:32:00.008-05:00

Interface Design for Veer inspired by the Movie "Indiana Jones: Kingdom of the Crystal Skull."
Colors: warm grey, golds, olive green, tan.

Interface Design - Song

2009-02-23T11:57:00.008-05:00

Interface Design for Veer inspired by the song "Pocketful of Sunshine" by Natasha Bedingfield. (Listen)
Colors: Yellow/orange rays, light denim blue, light green accents.

Silver Surfer

2009-02-12T16:33:00.004-05:00

Assignment for CGT class. We had to copy an existing art piece of a comic book cover.

CD Cover Artwork

2009-02-12T05:23:00.008-05:00

Final Design for CD Cover: "Collage: Music from the IUPUI Music Faculty."

Cd Album Cover

2009-02-10T14:54:00.001-05:00

Preliminary design for a music CD, titled "Collage" for the Faculty of the Music Dept. of IUPUI

FLAWED

2009-02-02T23:34:00.002-05:00

Illustration Friday
Illustrator
2/6/09

The term flawed made me think of the formation of a pearl.
From pain emerges beauty.

Climbing

2009-01-29T23:05:00.002-05:00

Illustration Friday
Term: Climbing
Photoshop
1/30/09

Sketch

PALE

2009-01-21T23:55:00.001-05:00

Interpretation for
IllustrationFriday.com
Illustrator
1/23/09

Preliminary Sketch