Swanky Party - line of party products

Just finished my latest project, based on the illustration i posted previously of the wine and cheese party. From that party image, I have now created products which include: a set of plates (large and small), napkins (large and small), cups, invitations, a dishtowel, and a wine box.

This was both a frustrating and truly rewarding undertaking. It was frustrating because i had to deal with lots of measurements, and numbers are a weakness for me. But when i saw my products come together, it was really happy, and think i pulled it off fairly well. (I got some good critiquing from my professors, things to think about).

This is my first attempt at anything of this kind, and i will do more lines of products based upon my "fashionista" imagery soon.

Children's Book project part II: Interior Illustration

Just finished the interior illustration piece for the children's book project that we have been working on in Illustration for Publication class. Previously we designed characters (to go along with a story written by a local children's book author) and decided on a technique to do one illustration of each of the characters in. I blogged about that a couple weeks ago. The second assignment was to do an illustration from the story using our characters. This illustration was, like the characters, done in Payne's gray watercolor (with a tiny bit of Ivory Black watercolor) on a "Aquaboard" surface. I had a lot of fun painting this one. I enjoyed getting lost in all the details of the piece: the leaves, the spots on the turtle, the houses in the background. And I am now motivated to do more with watercolor.

Let's have a swanky party. You bring the cabernet. I'll bring the brie.

I finished my first project in my Directed Projects class last week, and neglected to blog it right away. Shame on me! So i am posting it now. The projects in this class are up to us to plan. I have been wanting to beef up the surface design part of my portfolio, continuing in the same vein as my winter box design from last quarter, with the skinny fashionistas. I decided, spurred on by a suggestion by my professor, to do a party line of products, and i geared my project to be this sort of wine and cheese party. Project number two will be the products that coincide with this illustration: cups, napkins, a wine box, etc.

I was thinking about some of the parties i went to with friends of mine in New York City. Specifically probably this one party I went to with my friend, Ezra, where the host had this fantastic view, the whole wall was a giant window overlooking some fantastic NYC landmark building (or maybe it was Madison Square Garden). I was also thinking about the view from the roof top bar of 60 Thompson, which is fabulously snazzy, and has a gorgeous view of an ocean of staggered buildings.

I had some problems with the colors in this one, i had a lot going on, and i wanted the the outfits to be individualized and funky and fun. Funky and fun equals lots of color to me, so i had to reel in the palate, and it didn't come out how i had imagined, but i think it ended up being pretty nice. I would go to my party. I always have fun when i put these kind of illustrations together, i think because i partly imagine myself in the scenes. I plan on doing more!

St. Patty's Day Poster Contest: #2....and that ain't bad.

Our latest assignment in my Illustration for Publication class was to do a St. Patrick's Day poster illustration for Atlanta's St. Patrick's parade (the winning one to use for the actual event, with payment for the use of the design). The contest was confined to the five students in the class. Last year, the contest was open the entire Illustration department, and i was lucky enough to tie for the runner up position with a fellow student. I was surprised and delighted last year. This year I was equally as happy to find out that mine was the runner up again (although this year there was no prize money for the no. 2 spot). This makes me feel good, like i might have a pulse on what the client's needs are.

I wasn't feeling this year's design, originally. I have been experimenting with this dead line and rough coloring technique since last quarter, and i don't feel comfortable in it yet. Sometimes i just think it looks too unfinished. My idea started out as just one kid being lifted by a single shamrock, but then i (with the input of my class too) felt like i wanted to say more about the event, like that it was held in Atlanta, which is a diverse city, and of course i had to work in the peach too, and that it was fun (hence the confetti leading down to the city), so slowly my idea, I felt, got too big. I have been reminded many times before to keep my ideas simple, and i wasn't convinced that this was hitting that mark of simplicity. But i finished and started working on another design, this time in Adobe Illustrator. However, that didn't get done in time. I would like to blame the cross platform use: trying to work on CS3 at school, and CS4 at home destroyed my layer organization and made me frustrated. But honestly, I just don't think i could have gotten it done in time anyway, with being out of town the weekend prior.

Last year's entry:

This celtic-knotted shamrock took absolutely forever to do. I designed the basic knot shape in Illustrator, then imported it into Photoshop for manipulation.