For this 2-week problem in my GD 2 class, I had to come up with a digital tool to aid designers in their creative process. I developed a website to provide inspiration to designers through user-uploaded projects that showed all or part of the creative process used. I made this movie to demonstrate how the website would work.

Final CD Cover Illustration

I chose Miles Davis for my CD cover problem. I used Saul Bass as inspiration and put a little of my own spin on it.

Final Creative Process Map

[click image to view larger]

Semi-Final Creative Process Map

Still not quite finished. I need to do some editing before review.

Rough In-Progress Creative Process Map

In-Class Illustration Project

My in-class greeting card illustration for the category "A New Baby." It's a really low quality picture that I took with my computer, but you get the idea.

Final Map Illustration of St. Louis

Junior Review Poster

My final junior review poster design. Overall, I'm pretty happy with it, but there were some good things brought up during the final critique of it today that would definitely improve it.

(Click the image to see a larger version)

Problem 1 Smartphone App

Rough concept of how the organic food smartphone app for Problem 1 will work. I need to figure out the rest of the menus and make it feel more organic and handmade. I'll probably use some textures and photos.

Junior Review Poster Ideas

My first three concepts for my Junior Review Poster. I'm going with the third concept. It's the least developed right now, but it's the strongest concept.

Salute to Seniors T-Shirt

 Here's my design for the Salute to Seniors event that the KSU Alumni Association puts on each year. (The front is on top and the back is on the bottom.) They held a design contest this year, so I figured I would give it a shot. I ended up winning the contest, which included my design being printed on 1500 shirts, a graphic design internship with the KSU Alumni Association, and a free 1-year membership after I graduate. It's going to be printed in yellow ink on a dark heather grey shirt.

Some relatively new sketches I did for Problem 1 during class today. I'm currently waiting to talk to Gretchen. We'll see what she has to say. I think I'm finally starting to develop a concept and feeling I want my project to have. Here's a mood board I put together last night with some inspiration and color palettes.

My final illustration for the They Draw and Cook recipe. I'm not entirely happy with it. Some things didn't turn out as well as I'd planned, so I'll definitely be making changes to it before I submit it to the website.

Book Cover Final

My final version of the first exercise in GD II. I think it came out pretty well. The colors (especially the yellow) are a lot less intense and obnoxious in print, but the photos also came out less white, unfortunately. 

I also found out the dates of Junior Review today: March 31st and April 1st. Let the countdown begin. 

Our second exercise is to design a poster for Junior Review. I've been waiting for this project since I was a freshman and I looked at all of the posters hung in the hallway of the Art Building. I already have a few ideas, but I'm going to do some brainstorming and sketching this weekend. My final illustration for problem 1 is due Monday, so I'll also be posting that soon if I get a chance to scan it before I turn it in. 

Some rough sketches of some of the ideas for Problem 1 for GD II. I'm going to Lucky Penny Creamery to make cheese on February 11. It should be a good time and I hope I can get some good pictures.

My three really rough concepts for my book cover project. I like how the first one turned out, but the second one is a stronger concept, so I'm going to develop it more over the weekend. I need to do some photography for it because the crappy low-res image is just to have something there at the moment.

Just Keep Swimming...

Week 2 is almost over and I'm plugging along on my projects for GD and Illustration. They're all still pretty much in the sketch/thumbnail/general idea stage, but I'm feeling ok.

For GD I have to create book cover about one of my classmates. I'm doing mine on Erin and I interviewed her to get some sweet insight into her life. She's really into sports, so that's where I originally headed with my concept. The other day, though, she told me about how she was a model for Little Tikes when she was little and actually got onto one of the boxes. Her fame was short-lived, though. She was almost famous. So that's where I'm taking my concept now; I want to focus on her stint as a Little Tikes model. Gretchen is ok with it, but still wants me to come up with an alternative in case it doesn't work out. We have three concepts due in class tomorrow, so I'll post them when I get them finished.

For Illustration I've narrowed down my recipe to basically one main idea that Kara helped me come up with: Sci-Fi Salad. It's a fun little tongue-in-cheek recipe that should be fun to illustrate. I want to take inspiration from vintage sci-fi novels and tv shows—especially for type ideas. I showed some of my thumbnails to Doug today and he thinks the idea is good, but it needs something more to make the concept stronger. He wants me to work on it, but keep working on one or two other ideas as well just as backups. I'm going to play around with recipes for Parisian Crepes and Jewish Grandmother Chicken Soup. Salli Swindel and Nate Padavik (the siblings that started They Draw and Cook) are coming to our class on Monday to look at what we're working on. I need to bust my ass this weekend to have something good to show them.

Day 2 and I'm already stressed

It's only day two of the semester and I'm already feeling stressed. So, basically, I'm feeling normal. 

This blog is a place for all of my VCD-realted thoughts, ideas, sketches, etc. I'll also try to post screenshots/photos of my in-progress projects as well as the finals. 

At the moment I'm working on brainstorming ideas for my first Illustration II problem. A recipe illustration for the website They Draw and Cook. Doug challenged us to come up with a recipe that's out of the ordinary and might not necessarily be food. I'm tossing around the following ideas: Recipe for Disaster, Recipe for a Good Relationship, Mom's Chicken Soup Cold Cure, and Sci Fi Salad. I only have the basic idea of each one worked out and I've done a little bit of visual research. Hopefully Doug can help steer me in the right direction tomorrow in class, so we'll se what he thinks.