final water crisis pictograms

water crisis pictograms

unfinished.

i say it too much...

...but i always believe it.

electric president.

i just can't get tired of this song...

pretty much the story of my life written with his words.

Family of Abstract Marks

a pretty basic project. my words: progression, symmetry and variety.


our next sign, symbol, image project should be pretty interesting...the project is based off of the current global water crisis. our goal is to make pictograms that successfully express the concept/issue we are trying to address. first, together in teams we brainstorm (which we did today) in order to come up with an overall concept/concentration. afterwards, we decide on 6 word/phrases that coincide with our concept. then, we break away from our teams and independently create our own six pictograms that describe each of the words we chose as a group. after we've finished fine tuning and creating our personal pictograms, we then come back together as a group and critique. this assignment is going to stretch on for the next five weeks... a long one... but i'm certainly excited about it. our brainstorming consisted of a little bit of this....


along with five or six more scribbly sheets filled up with ideas just flowing from our stream of consciousness. it took us a while to get going... but once we did it was fun.

i haven't shot any form of photography in what feels like ages. it's this weather. this weather makes me so lazy, and so sleepy and so completely and utterly unmotivated. this has been such a long winter. i knew it would be, but somehow i still wasn't prepared. i need the weather to just warm up another 20 degrees so i can take my bike out and go explore. unfortunately, i don't see that happening any time in the near future... boo.

image to icon - final revision

image to icon project

work in progress.

some nonsense

and more...

somehow i got from the right to left... but i'm leaning towards the version on the left, for sure.

progress

screen shot ... so the quality is terrible... aaand there are some typos. whoops.

new work

Just the beginnings of a poster for this year's Cheap Thrill's event here in Chicago. It's inspired by the Vienna Secession posters from the early 1900's.... definitely still a work in progress.

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 :)