One cause, one week

Sevenly is a charitable website that brings awareness to a different cause each week. If you buy a t-shirt designed for the cause 7 dollars goes to that cause for that week. They also have the option of sharing the cause to your friends and family on facebook or twitter. I have recently purchased a t-shirt from this website for the cause of woman abuse. The t-shirts are successfully designed and mostly typographically treated. I would love to be able to design for this charity because they recognized that there is more then one problem in the world and gave all them a chance for help.

Trying a new style

I find illustration one of my challenges. Well not so much illustration but illustrating in a different style I am not use to. Since, I like to draw realism so its really hard for me to draw anything thats not because it looks werid to me.. and I keep trying to add more detail and it just ruins it. However, for one of my projects, which is to make 5 patterns based on a theme, I decided to give simplicity and cartoon style a try. My patterns would be hospital scrubs. Since, most people, especially children find the hospital scary I wanted to make friendly patterns. Therefore, I did a series of teddy bears. Teddy bears getting fixed with Band-Aids, teddy bears getting a lollipop after the doctors, Nurse and doctor teddy bears, get well teddy bears and lastly teddy bears with balloons. All good things that happen in the hospital to keep the experience positive when they see there nurse or doctor.

Calendar problems

For one of our projects we have to work with a first year and design a calendar based on quotes on a theme, using experimental typography. So my partner and I decided to do our calendar on the very well known movie called "Mean girls". Since we are often noticed people use quotes from that movie in every day life, so we thought it would be a perfect movie to do since people love the quotes they would by the calendar! Anyways, as the project goes on I find that my partner and I are working really well together. Her stuff is really nice and it is working really well with mine. Yet, I hear and see other peoples work and there partners aren't trying as hard as they need to be, or they aren't doing work at all...so people complained to the teachers. Resulting in the teachers pulling the first years and second years together and telling the first years that some of the second years feel that there work is not up to pare with ours. First of all I found this extremely rude since we are all learning. But at the same time I just don't think they took this project as seriously as they needed to and rushed it. In the end the professors told us that we no longer had to be partners anymore and we each needed to do 6 but the first years only had to hand in 3 to be marked. So in the end the first years got of the hook for not doing there work and doing horrible work. How is this fair? and how are they suppose to work effectively in a group if when the going gets rough they just go there own way? I found it extremely stupid, since last year we did the same project and we were having the same problems with people not contributing equally and we had to work it out ourselves like adults? not getting the professors to fix our mess. However, They did give us the option to stay with our partners if we thought it was best and that what my partner and I decided to do. Yet, to the people in second year who didn't I am actually very disappointed in them. Yes, it would have been harder but they need to take the leader role and help them and push them.

Drink Book

For one of our projects is to design a drink recipe book. I decided to do a book of 21 shots to play off of the joke of peoples 21st birthday. Where jokingly you are suppose to take 21 birthday shots. (which would kill you)...Anyways for the assignment we only had to do 5 of our own shots and then we could find 5 other pictures from the internet that matched out style. However, I thought it would be easier to just take ALL 21 pictures by self to make sure that they matched perfectly. Which, was where my project from hell began, because I decided to go big.. cause you know what they say go big or go home! Anyways, to garnish and set up 21 pictures was for one very expensive to buy all props and such. As well as, very time consuming, to take and then edit, edit, edit... Other then that things seemed to be going well layout wise and actually creating my book layouts and design. When it came time to print the book I was happy with it after doing a few test prints in class and took it to M&T because I wanted it printed on nicer paper to make my photography look nice. 20 dollars later... I found out that my type, which is really important for a recipe book was took close to the inner margarin by like half an inch. Meaning, when I bound it.. you couldn't read the beginning of the text. Flustered and frustrated I didn't want to spend another 20 dollars on printing this book out again.. but I also didn't want to print it on just normal paper from the programs printers. So my friend Lauren and I thought of the paper that the program offered to sell.. it would cost me 2.75 for 55 sheets of 12 by 18 in pieces of pace setter gloss paper and 55 print credits. Which is a WAY better deal then printing it for 20 dollars.. AND it came out even nicer. RIDICULOUS! So I finally have my book printed after all the stress and I cut all my pages and bind the one edge and let it dry over night. I come back the next morning and take it out of the binding clamp and find that one of my end pages got ripped during the binding process! Stress, stress, stress! If it was specifically on the sheet that the book needed to have end papers/inside covers, I wouldn't be so worried about it. BUT of course on the sheet they are a MUST. So instead of scrapping what I have I carefully glued another paged to the back as if it was originally binded with it. Problem solved! Sooooo, I take it to M&T again to get the last 3 sides cut so that they have nice evenly cut sides. So obviously now that I finally had my inside contents of my book the last thing to do would be the cover. Therefore, I spend all day designing and printing/ testing the cover to make sure the spin was the right size and it would work perfectly and smoothly. Once, I was happy with it I finally printed it on nice carolina paper and take it to cut and mock up. I take my knife to make the first cut and slipped and took a huge chunk out of my left pointer finger. It was so bad that I had to have my professor with first aid take care of it and then go to the security office and and report and have it bandaged. After that dramatic and traumatizing experience, I come back to my book and finish my cover and I am finally happy with my end project.. talk about blood, sweat and tears.

Interior Design (Steven & Chris)

http://www.cbc.ca/stevenandchris/home-decor.html Steven and chris is a talk show by 2 men named steven and chris. They are both interior designers and they take letters and pictures from viewers that are asking for help in designing a room. Then on the show they layout the design they have come up with and talk about there decisions. They like to combine modern styles along with more vintage or old styled looks. This is the perfect show to watch if you need some inspiration on designing your home, or anything for that matter.

The movie Parental Guidance

This movie doesn't exactly relate to design or art in general. However, part of the movie reminded me of how up to date we as graphic designers have to be with technology. Since, in one part of the movie the main character got fired as a baseball annoucer because his boss thought he was too old and they wanted someone who was up to date with the trends. Such as, twitter, blogs etc.. This just reminded me of how our professors are always telling us to do research on the new trends and such.

Sharing something I am good at

I find a lot of people ask me how I colour with pencil crayons, and make it look realistic and almost like paint. The best way is to pick a colour you want to use and another shade of that colour. For example, if you pick a dark blue.. pick a lighter blue but in the same tone range. So think monochromatic. Next you will need a dark grey, black and a white pencil crayons. Use the white to colour out the highlights in your illustration. Then use the grey to define the shadows in the illustrations. Then take your dark blue and colour hard over the grey and blend it out lightly towards the white highlight. Then take you lighter blue and blend it with the fade out go the dark colour and over the white pencil crayon. This should blend the pencil crayon colours smoothly together. To make it for defined go over the white again and had black to the shadows where you feel its needed since the blending washes them out a bit. Tips: * Prima colour pencil crayons are the best for blending * Colour in tight circles to avoid streeks * practice! It takes time to get the hang of it and find your own techniques * Remember you can take these into photoshop and touch them up Here is some examples of some stuff I have done in pencil crayon.

E-waste impact

I found this great article and video that talks about electronic waste. Since, a lot of people are so concerned about recycling paper, and think if they buy e-books and such they are helping the environment. However, they forget about what electronics do to the environment. Since, technology keeps advancing, therefore people throughout the old and buy the new. Meaning, even though you are helping cut down on paper waste... you're increasing e-waste. Which would you rather? Landfills full of plastics, wires and glass or to buy a book that can be constantly recycled and reused? http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2010/01/5across-environmental-impact-of-newspapers-books-e-waste022.html

Springs Fashion Trends

I actually found it very difficult to just find an article that just flat out told me whats in and out. Therefore, I went through a couple articles and made a simple list for what spring fashion will look like this year. - Less floral more stripes - Black and white - Leather Jackets - Structured Skirts - Tailored shorts - Deep V-necks - Lace - Light/ 2 tone hand bags - Beachy Jewellery - Ruffles Sources: http://www.elle.com/fashion/spring-2013-fashion-trends http://www.vogue.co.uk/fashion/trends/2013-spring-summer/trends-a-z http://www.glamourmagazine.co.uk/fashion/new-trends/spring-summer-2013-fashion-trend-guide http://www.thefashionspot.com/runway-news/news/176653-top-10-fashion-trends-for-spring-2013/?slide=1

Summer Job

Last summer and most likely this summer. I work at Wendy's the fast food. Like all students, you have to work where you can find it.. However, I would like to talk about the changes Wendy's has made. It started when Dave Thomas the founder of Wendy's past away and left the chain to his daughter Wendy. She has given a successful uplift to the menu by making it for health friendly, such as adding sea salt to the fries. Yet, in my opinion and some others she has gone a stray with her new packaging of burgers.. we understand she is trying to make the packages for old style by putting the burger in a wrap in a half box. As shown below... However, many complain of the food becoming cold before they get to enjoy it. Also, the latest change is the well known logo. The logo itself is part of a complete rebranding campaign for the company, which will roll out along with new stores, uniforms, menu boards, and packaging in 2013. Her is an article I found about the process... http://www.fastcodesign.com/1670993/wendys-gets-a-new-logo-will-the-pigtails-survive?partner=newsletter This here is the updated logo... In my opinion.. the new logo does not have the same feel and values as the old Wendy's and as my packaging teach as told our class many times.. people depend on what they know. They don't like change on brands that they know so well .. Considering, what happened to coca cola and there new packaging design to support the polar bears. Even though it was redesigned for a good cause there sales went way down because people buy things based on what they recognize.

Organic Package Design

Pure Organic is targeted to tea lovers who look for pure quality in the products they buy. Usually, tea is targeted and stereotyped towards older woman. Yet, tea lovers are of all ages and genders. Therefore, I designed the package to be simple and clean to catch the eye of all consumers. With it’s simple logo with a leaf acting as steam from a modern styled tea cup, and type that matched the illustrative components. I also kept it simple by only using one organic inspired colour, that is colour coded with the type of tea (orange pekoe - orange label). Since Pure Organic’s thought process was that the consumer would be buying purely what the product is the package was designed to be minimal, environmentally friendly as well as reusable and recycled. Yet, also classy enough to be left on the counter and not be an eye sore and refreshing the view on organic products/packages. Pure organic would also be supported by Tata global beverages, which is a global business on a mission to lead the world in ‘good for you’ beverages.

Class mates Critique

Since I critiqued my classmates wine labels in my last post, I got her to do the same for the beer poster. This is what she said. "For an alcoholic beverage poster or advertisement I think this concept works really well. It gets the target audience excited and puts a lot of emphasis on the authenticity and unique qualities the beer possesses. From what I know the beer has a lot of history behind it, the tops popping off the bottles coupled with the tagline “go ahead, loose your head” are what gets people interested in the history of this beer. The texture of the table the beer is placed upon grabs to the eye, as it is different from a typical black or matte colour. It also draws attention to the tagline. The smoke coming out of the bottles is what draws your eyes upwards after you have looked at the label on the beer. I like the subtle use of “sweat” on the bottles, it makes the bottle seem refreshing and clean, something beer drinkers look for. It makes the audience want to “grab a cold one.” The tagline of course is incredibly clever and couples very well with the history of the beer. The black background really makes the gold in the label pop out and grabs your attention immediately. Over all I think this advertisement is very successful as a poster as it does its job perfectly!" Thankfully, I dont have any criticism to respond too. Therefore, I haven't changed anything on the poster accept for putting on some legal information.

Wine Label Critque

Since, I have been talking a lot about the alcoholic beverage assignment, I thought it would be appropriate to show case a different approach to the assignment. By showing and critiquing a classmates assignment. Her labels are for 2 wine bottles. It is called Uncaged and refers to letting birds out of the cage. As wine labels I think the concept is appropriate and neat. It's a strong concept that can have several different approaches, and a good foundation for the other steps such as the poster and packaging. The concept could be taken to extreme measures but I like the simple and elegant approach. It's fitting for wine since the target market would mostly be woman, and what woman wouldn't want to buy something with class? It's some what hard to critique the label without it being on the bottle but I have seen it it on the bottles before so I will be doing it from memory. The white label, which is also known as the "evil" bottle would have high contrast against a black bottle. However, it would have been nice to really punch the black so that it almost looks like the type and feather were the same colour as the glass. Which, I would have liked to see on the other bottle which was the more "good" bottle, the colour could have been really punched to match what I previously said. The symbolism is nice and different then just putting a bird on the front. I also, think the font choice was perfect since it is thin enough to go along with the concept of the bars of a cage but not to thin that it gets lost in the rest of the composition. Since, the label was so simple it might be nice to scrap the back label with all the information and put it on a little tag that could be tied to the bottle of the neck. Considering, there is so little to the label on the back and it is the same size as the front label it just takes up a lot of the glass. With that being said maybe trying different label shapes could benefit the design. Maybe as simple as rounding the corners or making the label the shape of the feather symbol and and place the type over top, giving the entire label texture and having the words pop out. Yet, I know how much my classmate pushed her concept and tried different approaches so overall I think it is a very successful design, and can see it being on shelves and selling.

Beer Poster

To add to my Beer project tracking, here is my beer advertisement.

Big City vs Little City

I have a friend who went to OCAD a large art school in toronto. She said that most of the classes were based on art history, so she had to do a lot of presentations and assignments based off of at history. She also said that classes were huge and whether or not you attended class the professors didn't care or notice. You were just a number to them. Which is completely different then our small program. We have the ability to have one on one time with our professors and get feed back. Which is a totally different aspect of learning in it's self. We also have a lot of experiences that relate to real life in the industry. For example, we have a project were we design and pitch a organic package to a client. Since, we have such a small program we have the ability to do this. Therefore, I defiantly think our little city learning is better then big city learning. We may not have a lot of expensive equipment to help us design or anything but we learn how to do things by hand and do it without equipment. Which I personally think is better.

Beer Label Start to Finish

Our class was given an assignment to design a beer label. The project was quite open for whatever you wanted to do. I chose to do a irish dark stout beer. I got inspiration from the well known popular dark stout irish beer Geniouss. After looking up the history and heritage behind the label,logo and design system that Geniouss has,I decided to do a rival beer that would be doing the opposite of what Geniouss was. Geniouss's logo is a harp that is a symbol of Ireland based on folk lore. Therefore, I based my logo and design based off of the irish story of the Dullahan. In Celtic folklore, Dullahan is a headless spirit riding a black horse, holding his constantly-rotting head under his arm. His horse wagon's wheels are made of thigh bones, and his whip is made of a human spine, which he uses to slash the eyes of his victims. You cannot keep out the dullahan with locks or gates; they open upon his arrival. What does keep Dullahan away, however, is gold, no matter how much. The only time he stops riding is when he is near the person due to die. He calls out their name, and they instantly die. However.. do not watch Dullahan ride. If you watch him while he collects souls, he throws a bucket of blood on you... A sign that you are the next to die. Therefore, I really wanted to incorporate the horse, the headless spirit and the spin whip. First I started with a silhouette....

After that I decided that the symbol wasn't coming across strongly as a silhouette so I added some but minimalist detail.

This was a good direction, it was a traditional beer label, so i began to work with something a little more modern, and added Gold to the end of Dullahan.

Which lead me to something that looked like this after playing around with the idea of tying the horse and words together.I also pick a font called celtic Garamond since my beer was irish I though making the font look gaelic would be a good idea.

Once, I got the basic idea of what I wanted my type and and symbol to look like I started to work it into a label.

I was sold on not adding any colour to the design, I wanted it to be really dark and mysterious. However, I was convinced on adding a gold leaf texture in photoshop. Which complimented the name and story of the Dullahan.

Which lead me to my final design.

Now it's time to work on the beer package and poster!

Successful Portrait

This is a portrait of a man I did yesterday for my illustration project. The project is to pick a poem or song and illustrate a book for it. I chose to do a poem about a simple man that has 12 verses(In My Eyes by:Poppy). The poem is very symbolic in the writing so I am going to be illustrating the symbolism in the poem in a simple manner and somewhat messy form to go along with the theme of the poem. The first verse of the poem is "He's rough and lacks in etiquette, Society would say. He has no classy attributes, To help him on his way." Therefore, I drew a stereotypical man that society would classify as someone who is rough and lacks etiquette. By drawing him in a white tank top and a beard with a cigar in his mouth.In the medium of ink and water-colour. Which, makes this portrait successful because given the situation it is going to be placed in and the reason it was drawn makes it successful.

Font Match

For this blog I am matching a font to a song. The song I picked was Into the Ocean by Blue October. The song is very dreamy and gives the impression of floating and the feeling of water. So I picked a font that would have the feeling of water and floating.

Echinos Park Script by Måns Grebäck "Into The Ocean" I'm just a normal boy That sank when I fell overboard My ship would leave the country But I'd rather swim ashore Without a life vest I'd be stuck again Wish I was much more masculine Maybe then I could learn to swim Like 'fourteen miles away' Now floating up and down I spin, colliding into sound Like whales beneath me diving down I'm sinking to the bottom of my Everything that freaks me out The lighthouse beam has just run out I'm cold as cold as cold can be be I want to swim away but don't know how Sometimes it feels just like I'm falling in the ocean Let the waves up take me down Let the hurricane set in motion... yeah Let the rain of what I feel right now...come down Let the rain come down Where is the coastguard I keep looking each direction For a spotlight, give me something I need something for protection Maybe flotsam junk will do just fine the jetsam sunk, I'm left behind I'm treading for my life believe me (How can I keep up this breathing) Not knowing how to think I scream aloud, begin to sink My legs and arms are broken down With envy for the solid ground I'm reaching for the life within me How can one man stop his ending I thought of just your face Relaxed, and floated into space I want to swim away but don't know how Sometimes it feels just like I'm falling in the ocean Let the waves up take me down Let the hurricane set in motion... yeah Let the rain of what I feel right now...come down Let the rain come down Let the rain come down Now waking to the sun I calculate what I had done Like jumping from the bow (yeah) Just to prove that I knew how (yeah) It's midnight's late reminder of The loss of her, the one I love My will to quickly end it all Set front row in my need to fall Into the ocean, end it all Into the ocean, end it all Into the ocean, end it all into the ocean...end it all [Zayra] Into the ocean (goodbye) end it all (goodbye) Into the ocean (goodbye) end it all (goodbye) Into the ocean (goodbye) end it all (goodbye) I want to swim away but don't know how Sometimes it feels just like I'm falling in the ocean Let the waves up take me down Let the hurricane set in motion (yeah) Let the rain of what I feel right now...come down Let the rain come down Let the rain come down Into the ocean (goodbye) end it all (goodbye) (In to space) Into the ocean (goodbye) end it all (goodbye) Into the ocean (goodbye) end it all (goodbye) Into the ocean (goodbye) end it all (goodbye) Into the ocean (goodbye) end it all (goodbye) Into the ocean (goodbye) end it all (goodbye) (I thought of just your face) Into the ocean (goodbye) end it all (goodbye) Into the ocean (goodbye) end it all (goodbye) Into the ocean (goodbye) end it all (goodbye) Into the ocean (goodbye) end it all (goodbye)

Homer Watson Gallery

I just got back from visiting a local art gallery called Homer Watson Gallery,with my friend Holland. The gallery was named after Homer Ransford Watson (January 14, 1855 – May 30, 1936) who was a Canadian landscape painter. He was apparently the man who first saw Canada as Canada, rather than as dreamy blurred pastiches of European painting.

This is a picture of myself in Homer Watson's room of work. The gallery was once Watson's house and serves as his personal work gallery along with Preston's high school students work, in separate rooms. The room where Homer Watsons work is displayed as a large body of his realistic oil paintings. Along with some personal belongs such as his hats, paint easel and family china etc. This room remains to be a blast to the past were nothing is renewed and still has the hand painted walls by the artist himself.The first floor of the house serves as a gallery while down in the basement it was turned into an art studio for children art classes as well as parties. These are some pictures of his work and personal belongings below.

While visiting the gallery we talked to Laura a employee of the gallery who told us about the claims that people make about the gallery being haunted. They say that Watson's sister Phoebe still visits the house now and then. They believe it was because she died in the house and she was the one who use to take care of the books involving the house and feels a deep connection to it. Some stories involve children of the art classes asking who the old woman is in the corner or where she went. Laura also told us one of her personal encounters with the ghost. She said that she went into the basement to bring up chairs and she didn't feel alone since the lights kept flickering. When she returned to the basement at a later time of the night the lights would not work and all the tapes were running. So, she quickly turned then off in a panicked and blind state and hurried up the stairs were the door was slammed behind her but not by her. So, after hearing all of these encounters people had with seeing the ghost in the basement, since that is apparently where she's seen the most. Laura was nice enough to take us into the basement and take a look around. However, we did not encounter Phoebe. Yet, it was interesting to see all the old paintings and styles and how everything was once done by hand down to the last detail. As well as, listening to all the creepy stories about the gallery. I defiantly recommend visiting this local gallery.

Hands vs. Computer

I find as a graphic designer we have a lot of strengths and weaknesses and we tend to stick to them and obey them. Since, it’s hard to go out side of your comfort zone. I know that I like to draw in a realistic manner and sometimes realism isn’t the best chose for a project. However, I do find that one of the strengths is that I like to do things by hand and make them literal before introducing them to a computer. Whereas, most people go straight to the computer. In my case my weakness is being able to create something souly on the computer I can not wrap my mind around it until i pencil sketch it out first. I suppose it would have it perks but I find I don’t really like the vector work opposed to something drawn with some character and looks like it was done by hand.