i got a new 10-20mm sigma wide angle lens. pretty stoked on it.

i went to my most favorite place today, with a few of my most favorite people. it was seventy degrees! SEVENTY! it's december! that's not right. not one bit. still, days like these make me miss all those summers. what i would give to be laying out there right now on the memorial, star gazing, laughing, eating cookie dough and cold pizza, having meaningful conversation... yeah, i miss the star gazing the most. you don't get that in chicago.

it's nice to have a place to go where you can feel comfortable. that place is my security blanket.

we all got scars, but we don't like to show them.

oh, i'm envious:
of people like this.

tough to say. easy to eat.

i was pretty pleased with the way my promotional ad campaign and tv spot turned out - considering i left the entire thing until the very last hour.

these are just the side bus ads. there is also an indoor bus ad, a 3d object (i did a mousepad with a wrist cushion on account of the fact that cherries are suppose to alleviate arthritis pain), a website homepage and a :30 tv spot with audio and visual storyboard.

this month and a half break couldn't have come at a better time. i don't want to look at another adobe creative suite program until i most certainly have to. this semester completely burnt me out. i often questioned what i was doing as a graphic design student. it's not that i don't love to design, but school tends to turn it into a chore. but that's what breaks are for, right? so, thank you, holiday season, for giving me the opportunity to refresh my creativity and find new inspiration.

i am so happy to be done - happier to believe i made it out with at least a 3.5. phew.



i NEED a darkroom, or i'm going to drive myself mad.




i'm finding all sorts of stuff on my external hard drive...





i never make time to draw these days.

finals week lies ahead

and i am so behind...
but this is what i am working on for my final promotional ad campaign and tv commercial assignment...

it's lacking a lot, but i'm doing what i can and just trying to stay calm and focused. i easily allow myself to get stressed, and it's simply not worth it. anywho, we have to create four outdoor ads, a tv commercial storyboard and a website homepage.

i'm also doing a book of photography for my design class. it's coming down to the wire, and i'm super anxious about finishing it. i'll be doing some final shooting tomorrow afternoon, and hopefully getting it bound sunday.

new updates on the flickr.. (click the image to see more)

picture phone update

finally finished my cube assignment:


some illustrations from work....
couple'a bashful bunnies:

a few halloween monsters:

california

i was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to spend last weekend in northern california. i've never seen or experienced anything quite like it. it's absolutely beautiful.

Pre-Holiday, Holiday Sale 2008

go! it's going to be great!


watched this movie last night:

it's wonderful.

two more days.

not only is this video aesthetically pleasing - but it's positive political propaganda, something we don't see very often.
i'm super proud that my parents and grandparents made the choice to vote obama. it's a definite risk for my parents, but they know, and i know, that in the long run it's what is best for our country.

two more days!

design. design. design.

this is a work in progress for my design class:

the gist of the project is to make four 4x4 cubes inspired by the Swiss designer of our choice. I chose Josef Muller-Brockmann. He was pretty revolutionary within the Swiss movement - I'm into that. Each cube has to be based upon the artists biography, contribution, philosophy/principle and their body of work. The work that I have done thus far on this project is simply to get my hands wet, I haven't really immersed myself in the research quite yet... but I have a feeling, if my inspiration and creativity ensues i'll redeem myself from the last project we did... not okay with that B.

this is the last advertisement i presented for my advertising and art direction course..

pretty basic. not very clever, or cute...not to mention, the production is pretty terrible- but it's not a production class, so i'm not worried about it. still, conceptualizing when it comes to advertising is tricky for me. i don't know why, but i'm incredibly intimidated by creating ideas for someone else's product. it's odd. i need to get over it, and i'm trying - which is why this class is really beneficial for me.

I'll be working with Eskell the next week or so. I'm doing a flyer for their "Pre-Holiday, Holiday Bash 2008" accompanied by TheMidwasteland.com, along with some other work for their sale in NYC next week.

I'm excited to be doing work outside of school and outside of.. work.

typography and graphics.

yum.





and just because....

jewelry workshop

i've been in a jewelry workshop the past two days as a single credit class through my school. unfortunately, we were only able to work with copper and enamel. i was hoping we'd get the chance to work with some silver clays, or molds - but it was interesting nonetheless! i branded my fingers on a piece of 1500º cross-hatched metal... that hurt... a lot. so now i have a nice criss-cross imprint on the tips of my thumb and pointer fingers. lovely. i also got to use a torch flame, which was pretty intense.. and fun. i heat-colored one of my pieces and also torched the small bead below. i'm a bit sad the class is over, but apparently we're allowed to repeat it, so my roommate and i are considering it!

update!

it's been months since i've updated. i feel like i am doing a million and one things right now. stress-city 2008. i'm a little bewildered by the fact that i'm in the midst of taking midterms. is the semester really that far along? apparently.

this can all basically be seen on my flickr...
but i got into that whole 365 days photography project.. failed.. and now i am attempting to make it a 52 weeks project. hopefully i'll have more time for something like that.

anyway. a few of my personal favorites..







went to the lincoln park zoo a few weeks ago. i can't believe i forgot my dslr.

i made a new best friend...


and this reminded me of bunny (our cat) so adorable!


my two best friends - jenni and kyle :)



i have a continuous semester photography assignment for my graphic design class. pretty excited about it :)
look for fun new things to come (hopefully).

flickr.

sleeping alone.

hmph.


sleep don't weep
my sweet love
my face it's all wet
'cause my day was rough
so do what you must do
to find yourself
wear another's shoe
or paint my shelves
there's times that i was broke
and you stood strong
i hope i find a place where i feel i belong.


came across this while i was locking up my bike at the Damen train stop:


and on my way home from fond du lac, wisconsin i captured this:

i thought it was nice :)

where is my mind?

the beginnings of a project for my applied drawing class. we have to use 3d text and shadow. subconciously this piece expresses everything i have been feeling as of late. my instructor nailed it: bleak, lonesome, vulnerable, embarassed..

bitch.

i don't really know where this is or was going. it was inspired by misprintedtype's collage books.

go to the link i provided to see his shit. it's awesome.
misprintedtype.

it's been a while.

i've been m.i.a the last few weeks due to work and class projects. things are going well though. i have really been delving myself into my design work, especially with this applied drawing class that i am in. i've been playing with illustrator a lot and brushing up on some of my hand drawing skills, which is always a good thing.

Endure Fort

design that i vectored last night in illustrator. i have a lot to add to give it some originality. it's the Lindsay family crest of Scotland (which is my family). I want to add some thistles or blue bells but I am terrible at vectoring flowers in illustrator so we'll see what happens with it...

i miss the darkroom

i miss the look of film photography so much that i have decided to start recreating my digital prints to give them the "feel" of a darkroom print...



unfortunately, the toxic smell of the darkroom and the dull brown fix stains on all of my clothing don't come along with layering textures and dropping opacities in photoshop. dang it.

A Few Things..

playlist for a stranger:


i did a digital photography tutorial:

Un Chien Andalou

So, maybe I'm a little slow up on the uptake... but today in my Art History II class my instructor was discussing Salvador Dali. Although Dali has always really intrigued me with his art work, I've never really taken the time to delve myself into his life and other works. As we were picking apart "The Persistence of Memory", Dali's most recognizable piece of art, and deciding what it truly meant we got on the topic of how it may portray the complexity of dream, perception of reality, time, birth, death and even sexual desire. I suppose this is something that Dali was very fascinated with, because he focuses on it throughout the majority of his work. That's when my instructor mention a silent film Dali collaborated on entitled "Un Chien Andalou" (An Andalusian Dog). I recognized the title instantly - those are the lines from one of my most favorite Pixies songs: "Debaser".

Maybe you knew... but I certainly did not. And I found it so interesting that the entire song is based of the events that occur within this short film. The film, might I add, is very impressive -- and dark. Dali definitely knows how to use the shock factor. If you haven't seen the film, I posted it below. (I also posted a clip from YouTube that has Debaser playing along with it)

(btw. it was impossible to find the film on youtube without someone laying some terrible music they made over it.. this was the best i could come up with)









and one more thing i found that was humorous today...


Bush and "The White Washing".

ironic.