Emma's Blob

Some logo ideas - Portfolio I class

2012-01-29T20:24:00.000-07:00

So I have been playing with a logo for my tattoo shop called Cherry-Pop in Portfolio I class. Below shows me playing with colours for the overall logo. Above is one of the icons I will be using for one of the kits. Goes with the sugar kit since this is representing the sugar skull of Mexico. I hope you like her, I really do.

Poster - Victorian Era inspired

2012-01-18T00:56:00.000-07:00

This semester I have a class called History & Analysis of Design. So basically we are learning about the different art movements from the Victorian Era until now. So for the next 11 weeks I will be creating a poster each week on the next era. We take something modern or 'now' but give it a design that would reflect the era required for class. So in the end we are learning how to take our designs and bring in the correct 'era' elements whenever required.

I realize that Mary Poppins is almost a Victorian era subject, but it is a popular play on Broadway right now and I thought...hey, lets go with it.

Logos

2012-01-08T00:44:00.000-07:00

So for Portfolio 1 class we only have one project. WOW, sounds ideal-right? HA. I have to fill over 100 pages of a sketchbook with information about a store I have to create. Just finished doing 90 logo designs & 6 (well 7, one is only slightly different) in illustrator for next class. I have also already done over 26 pages of information in my sketchbook too. In the end I would have created a logo for this store and three kits with 6 to 9 items in each of these kits. So lots of design work and creativity to come yet. But I will try to keep you all up to date. I can't believe this is only one class and it has already consumed every waking moment of my life thus far.

Brian's Picture...finally

2011-12-20T22:35:00.001-07:00

So finally I have had the chance to complete this picture for Brian. It is my two week break from school & there are the hours in the day when I can sit, relax and just draw. This has been sitting on my television stand so that it has been clearly in my view, but yet it has been so far from my reach. Then of course there was my brief four days in the hospital that completely threw the schedule out of the window. Was stressing me out to no end not being able to get to the completed stage with this piece.

I am so happy now to see this picture to the end. It is a delightful piece and I sure hope Brian likes it.

Just for mum & Brian

2011-11-27T20:05:00.002-07:00

Another Brian update

2011-11-12T21:23:00.000-07:00

It looks like the picture is starting to take shape.

Second Version

2011-10-21T01:19:00.000-06:00

So here is is the second part to the poster.....getting closer to what I am looking for. So it is photograph meets illustration, hoping it is quirky enough.

Poster beginning - under water

2011-10-20T17:47:00.000-06:00

Don't laugh...I am trying to create a quirky movie poster for a movie I saw at the VIFF called The Fairy. But this is a little bit of my own photography & it will become the background to the poster. Can't wait to see if my concept can take shape.

Update for Brian

2011-10-20T17:42:00.000-06:00

It is going to look a little funny right now only because I am adding just HB to the image, but this is what they call an 'under painting'.....except in a pencil drawing. But it is starting to
take shape.

Final Design...oops forgot to post

2011-10-06T22:49:00.001-06:00

So here was the final image from Illustrator class of my magazine spread. I actually do prefer this from the original, but it would have been nice if Derek had been a little...lets say, nicer, with his comments. But at least I did end the class with an A, so really....I can't complain.

final Paper Sample booklet

2011-09-15T21:05:00.000-06:00

So here is my completed paper sample booklet for concept development.

These are fun transparent sheets with some of the images on with certain Pantone colours used in printing.

This is what the transparent image looks like on white paper.

This is the reason a couple of those transparent sheets were done. It shows you what the ink looks like on some of the paper colours available....as you can see the green looks different on the white from the orange.

Each of the images have some cut outs so that when you put the images over white paper those areas stand out just for that extra little bit of fun.

Concept Development

2011-09-15T20:28:00.000-06:00

Granted the concept for the paper sample booklet has changed some more now, but here are the images I have created and have been playing with. LOVE what I can now do with the computer and my artwork!

Absolut - with an 'e'

2011-09-15T20:19:00.000-06:00

So this is my Absolut Volka ad for Advanced Photoshop class. So that we don't get sued if the ad is against the volka we must call it Absolute with an 'e'. I hope you can get where I was going with this whole concept. When it is printed it does look a lot better, but I think I still need a lot more practise in the photoshop environment. I think I am more of an illustrator lover. But I was happy with the whole 'outie' belly button.

Magazine Spread - Illustrator

2011-09-13T22:46:00.001-06:00

The final assignment for Illustrator class was to create a magazine spread. He gave us a sheet of 19 options for article ideas. I chose something I know - caffeine. So pretty much we had to create whatever images using illustrations that we create to show our ideas that would be in a magazine and something that would drag a person into the article. I am actually really happy with what I have done. I took 4 hours on the lips to get them like this....but I do LOVE this program.

My Typeface Book

2011-09-12T00:49:00.000-06:00

So yeah.....for Typography we had an assignment to create a booklet on a typeface. Well I ended up being allowed to create my own.

So here it is with all the images I also created by hand, scanned into the computer and then worked on and coloured in illustrator.

I love how you can see the white rabbit all the way thru all the type cards.

Sorry about my terrible paint job, but my place and I ended up being covered in paint by the end of this project.

Beginnings of Concept Development Final

2011-09-02T01:13:00.000-06:00

So for Concept Development I need to come up with a vintage catalogue & this is where I am going with this. I decided to actually focus on more retro & continue the horror movie store theme from the last assignment. Anne seemed pleased with the idea.

I started with the 'Slugs' card and tried to do a Saul Bass style, but then I realized it wouldn't really work for my other images. So as you can see from the other four pictures I went more comic book style. So stay tuned for me information on the project and a lot more pictures too. I have to do a 16 page book by the end.

How to catch a monkey

2011-08-25T16:22:00.000-06:00

So for bonus marks our instructor said we can do a "How-to" poster on how to catch a monkey in Illustrator. He said not to use the obvious - banana - and well this is what I came up with. Tee hee he. Sorry it is so gross at the end, just how my silly sick mind works I suppose.

Poor Monkey

Just throwing that one out there....

2011-08-25T00:26:00.000-06:00

Just because I had already drawn the Bride of Frankenstein I thought I should throw her into an ad just incase she looked better than the Screamer. But today I got a critic from Jordan and she does prefer the Screamer in the series. But I thought I should show you this little missy in my ad too. LOVE IT.

Reworked Ads

2011-08-22T01:06:00.000-06:00

So here are the three advertisements again. But after the critics on Friday Anne gave us another week to rework them. And here are the three completed ones. I really hope she loves them and gives me another A. Just LOVING this class.

But this project has become my inspiration for my final project. Stay tuned for details on that at a later date.

Anne will be the death of me...

2011-08-21T01:58:00.000-06:00

Anne has given us one more week to work on our store ads. But man...so much work.

So the one main critic during class was that the Monster of the Black Lagoon character didn't quite fit in with the other two ads. It filled the area too much and left no white space like the other two do. So I did the Bride of Frankenstein, but once I finished her I pretty much yelled out "Damn it". She too has the same problem. So then my second attack was the woman from Psycho.

So I will update with the completed ads once I have added this to Illustrator.

Vintage Store Advertising

2011-08-19T02:36:00.000-06:00

So these are for Concept Development class.

We were asked to come up with a store from the choices she gave us and of course my store had to be Vintage. Then we had to create three advertisements for the store which included the name we created and the slogan.

I began with many other concepts, but here are the three end results.

I went with someone's horror movie suggestion when my original Gorey Vintage store (based on Edward Gorey) was the idea.

I then decided to go with classic horror movie characters when I fell upon an image of the Bride of Frankenstein's hair.

All three where hand rendered and then scanned so I could add the colour and the type so all three ads could be consistant in appearance and location of information.

I hope you like them,

I actually LOVE THEM!

My best work yet I think.

Re-working some logos

2011-08-11T15:12:00.000-06:00

So the next part of the assignment was to take two or three logos and rework them a few times to see if you can come up with another version of the logo that is even better than the original. I took it a little over board and did four of my logos. These are the ones that people liked, plus the running bunny that only one person liked but I loved.

Really like some of the directions these are going in.

Pugly has been attacked

2011-08-09T23:54:00.000-06:00

Playing with my baby boys face in the land of Photoshop.

Playing.....with Scott

2011-08-09T23:14:00.000-06:00

Here is a picture of Candace's boyfriend, Scott, on their trip to Montreal. I decided I wanted to practise and play with some filters in Photoshop. So here is the end result.

I think it looks really fun and quite awesome actually. And it only took me about half and hour of playing to come up with the end result too.

Photoshop Exam - Article

2011-08-09T15:20:00.000-06:00

Exam Assignment:

Read 4 articles provided by the instructor. Then decide which one appeals to me more. Use any or all images provided for that article only. Make it look like a magazine spreadsheet - the first page that would drag you into the article. Copy the title, subtext & some of the article.

Use filters, cropping or any other tools learnt in Photoshop to make this article look really.

So yeah...this is my end result. There are a ton of filters, cutting out of images, overlapping, opacity changes and other Photoshopie things. I now see there are couple of other things I would change, but hey - not bad for a 4 hour exam with little 'article type' training.

V for Vendetta - version #2

2011-08-08T23:52:00.000-06:00

Here is my second version of my DVD cover.

Getting a little better every time.

Now I see there are a couple more things I have to adjust, but lets see what the instructor thinks of it tomorrow.

V for Vendetta - Emma style

2011-08-07T01:56:00.000-06:00

Well I am actually not completed the cover yet. But I thought I would show you a sneak peak of my Photoshop assignment that so far has about 8 hours of work in it. And yet....I am still not done.

But I hope you like what I have done so far.

Our instructor, Marker (and yes, he is named after a pen), didn't want me to automatically go straight to the mask, pictures of the Houses of Parliment, etc. I had to come up with some other images that would at least give you a good indication as to the story of the movie.

Also the cover needed to work as a full spread or when closed, as two separate images.

So fingers crossed I hit the mark and The Marker likes it.

Greek letter M

2011-08-06T19:39:00.000-06:00

This is a typography assignment to research a Greek letter and then do three posters on the letter, the symbol and the text. All three posters had to emphasize a different part each time. A way for us to learn the hierchy rules really. Hope you like them.

But I have to say, the first one if my favourite.

I tried to stick with the theme of water because that is where the symbol originated in Egypt, as the hieroglyphic symbol for water.

My logo options

2011-08-04T20:51:00.000-06:00

So I have completed my 8 logo ideas in Illustrator for my fictional bookstore.

I am actually really impressed with how they turned out.

They will be shown off in class tomorrow and my fellow students will be able to critic my work.

Fingers crossed people like them.

Mind-Maps & 100 logos

2011-08-04T15:52:00.000-06:00

Since the family have complained about my lack of anything on my blog again...here is a look into my sketchbook and what I have been doing.

These are three of my mind-maps.

First two are to figure out how to make a logo for 'Music in the Morning'.

Then this one is for my fictional company:

Follow the White Rabbit Bookstore.

For my fictional company I had to create 100 logo ideas.....and here they all are.

I hope you enjoy them.

Illustrator will be the death of me.....

2011-07-28T14:23:00.000-06:00

Even though I do love the software program, it is hard for a classical artist like myself to suddenly use strange tools in a computer to try to recreate something. So I found this project very hard to do. But I know with practise I will be able to complete things like this better and faster.

But here is my first attempt at recreating a radio in Illustrator. I am not happy with some parts of it, but I am happy that I was able to complete the project in the end.

REALLY completed poster

2011-07-24T22:14:00.000-06:00

Okay....so now this is the completed poster.

This is my slogan. Meant to look like it is in the mirror on the front of the door.

It still spins around. Instead of the spiral being behind Jack the Ripper I made it the tree of swirl instead.

Still wanted Jack the Ripper behind the door instead of Wonderland. There is a creepy 'hand' white rabbit and the 'eat me' cakes too.

Rose is dripping with? Either paint or blood.....

The Red Queen and Alice are now attached with these tabs that slot into holes, therefore they can stand upright and face each other.

Hidden behind the two figures are the 'Drink Me' bottles.

This is what the final piece looks like.

I really hope Anne loves it and the poster can make it on a display wall.

Typography Quote Posters

2011-07-23T19:00:00.000-06:00

According to Chris and I how you should say Typography as:

TYPOGRAPHIE

Sounds way better...LOL

Well we had to come up with a quote and create two posters using only 2 pantone colours.

Both posters had to work in a series and compliment each other.

Well with little training in typography so far...these are the two that I was able to create.

Right Brain/Left Brain 'Chremma' posters

2011-07-23T17:23:00.000-06:00

Chris and I needed to do a lot of mind mapping and research to create a poster for Concept Development for a poster called:

Right Brain / Left Brain

Above is a copy of Chris' poster.

Totally awesome eh, just so much detail put into it.

Apart from the hands being my favourite, especially these rock ones. I love the adorable detail of a 'mini' young Chris is in the image hiding behind the rock hand.

So here is my poster.

Please keep in mind...both Chris and I came to class with completed pieces on Friday. But as a class we went over any extra or improvements that could be done to all the pieces. Then the instructor, Anne, gave us one more week to add finishing touchs to the pieces....so I will keep you updated.

So my slogan is:

There is a scary adventure inside my mind.

So maybe you will understand the piece. I did so much research that I came to a completely different place after my first sketches we reviewed in class last week.

Just trying to show you here that this part of the piece spins around.

So the piece was meant to be a 'good vs. evil' with Alice and the Red Queen (right brain/left brain at war). Then of course Lewis Carroll was accused of being Jack the Ripper, so instead of being able to enter through the doorway into Wonderland....you enter into my scary mind of Jack the Rippernessssssss.

Hope you guys like what I have so far. Stay tuned for the final pieces of Team Chremma.

My new baby is purple

2011-07-23T17:08:00.000-06:00

Do I have to explain?

I needed to be able to practise some of the Adobe software at home since I am not really that great at it yet and not at the level I want to be.

So with my dad's help I was able to purchase a laptop.

I got the CS5 from school and here I am now creating some fun things at home as well as being able to do some of my homework.

I was able to create this simple fish in Illustrator just by practising some skills.

He is just so cute.

How fresh is you tomato?

2011-07-23T17:03:00.000-06:00

My new friend, Joanne, ordered a burger at

White Spot.

She decided to check out her tomato.

What a curious sight it was to see a sticker that told us when the tomato was first in the kitchen.

Hum......and the funny thing was the waitress and manager did mention that there would have not be any harmful effects from eating the sticker.

Say, "What?"

Dad comes to see Emmie

2011-07-23T16:59:00.000-06:00

So during my two week break from school Dad came out to Vancouver for a few days to visit me.

We had various adventures around Vancouver.

We took the trolley tour for two days.

We went to Granville Island.

We also went on a little boat around False Creek.

Would recommend this to anyone.

It was a wonderful time of seeing the city and visiting with my daddio.

Oh then of course there were sample beers at the Brewery on Granville Island too.

Yum!

Pull my Finger

2011-07-21T20:52:00.000-06:00

My poor buddy, Chris, ended up with a really bad infection in his finger this week. To the point he had to go to the hospital and miss a Photoshop class - that is how bad it was.

But fortunately it is now healing.

So remember - don't 'Pull Chris' Finger'.

Vancouver AFTER the riots

2011-06-18T17:22:00.001-06:00

So the morning after the riots our bus wasn't able to go down Granville Street like it normally would because of the massive clean-up effort and most of the burnt out cars were along that street.

It was sad to see how many buildings were boarded up and the amount of smoke damage on The Bay, parking lots and various other buildings.

BUT while trying to get to the train station to get to school I had to move through SO MANY people. What were they doing? CLEANING THE CITY. There were so many volunteers down there cleaning the streets and the buildings. It was an amazing and wonderful sight to see.

But once I had finished the class that night and headed home I walked past The Bay again and this is how the boards had changed. They are covered in encouring and loving words and images.

Even this police car was becoming part of it as people wrote on post-in notes and covered the car.

It really shows how the REAL people of Vancouver feel about their city. Even those visiting the city were showing how much they still loved us.

It was BEAUTIFUL.

Even I wrote a little on one of The Bay's boards.

In class critics

2011-06-18T17:10:00.000-06:00

Dale Davies - our instructor was going over everyones posters in class on Thursday. It was really interesting seeing everyones interpretation of each venue.

Fortunately Chris and I only had a few critics on our posters, so fingers crossed we both get really good marks & end the class with an A each.

So my four posters are on this wall along with Chris' & Julia's. Julia's posters are the 4 along the bottom starting with the yellowie, brown VIVO one. Then Chris' are the four above those ending with the one I LOVE of his - the half male face.

I think the three of us did interesting posters & shows that we are going into the correct course at AI.

Final Projects - Photoshop Class

2011-06-18T16:51:00.000-06:00

Our class final project was to create four posters on venues that our instructor had assigned for us.

The cool thing is they are actual events happening in Vancouver.

So this first poster is for the VSO.

Kind of boring, but it appeals to the correct audience.

And yes...I created the cello's shadow myself. Gotta love the things you can do in Photoshop.

So this poster is a contemporary dance festival.

This is actually my second version of the poster because the instructor looked at my first in our open lab and he didn't like it. He didn't really say that, but the way he spoke about it I knew I had to redo it.

But I like the end result.

Another re-done poster. I ended up not liking my Biltmore poster once I had finished all the others. But this version is SO MUCH better.

This is my favourite poster of all.

It is a bizarre event that I wouldn't go to, but this venue left it so open that it ended up becoming an amazing looking poster.

Emma is on display

2011-06-15T23:16:00.000-06:00

So this is a copy of my self-portrait on a display wall at The Art Institute of Vancouver.

LOVE IT!

Chris' Packages - HA, no seriously

2011-06-15T21:36:00.000-06:00

So we presented our Colour Theory projects today.

These are Chris' packaging work.

His artist was Tony Soulie.

Chris took the pictures around Vancouver in-order to recreate Tony's artwork in his own style and it allowed him to do a 'Vancouver' line.

The three above are called Perfection - a men's line.

Then this was the Salvation - cologne.

Love the work Chris came up with - the effort really shows through the work.

Way to go buddy!

http://www.art.com/gallery/id--a20772/tony-soulie-posters.htm

#11 - Pug Thoughts

2011-06-14T00:35:00.000-06:00

So our Final Project for Drawing class was to do a picture in coloured pencil that some how incorporated the number 11.

So for me it was a toss up between anything zombie and anything pug.

Well the pug won as you can see.

I LOVE IT!

So the number 11 in my picture is the 11 dog biscuits that are out of the red dog bowl.

I loved how this turned out. I think I spent about 12 to 14 hours on this with only a couple of pee breaks and a food break. Thankfully I didn't mind doing this at school last night, I was able to keep my buddy, Chris, company at school while he also worked on his giant self picture & his Tarot Card #11 project.

What fun we can have listening to BBC 1 all night long in a class room on our own.

Giant Life Sized Us

2011-06-14T00:29:00.001-06:00

So this is my Final Project for Life Drawing.

I took the photo of the 'me' lying on my bed. I was happy that it ended up being the right size compared the way my body fits onto my bed.

Most people in class liked my half zombie skull face I did of myself.

My favorite ended up being my rockin' shoes. I will one day own these.

Now fingers crossed I get a really good grade on this one.

Chris working on his giant self in room 205 on Sunday night. I think he finished it just after 11pm.

Poor guy had SO MUCH shading to do.

But what a snazzy end result.

Way to go Chris!

How to survive staying until 1:30am at school.

Always Coca-Cola.

Liptastic - Vintage Collection

2011-06-10T21:56:00.000-06:00

Colour Theory Final Project update.

COMPLETED!!!!!!

Even with a 15 page PowerPoint presentation too.

So these are all the packaging I designed, put together & hopefully what will get me great marks.

Check them out.

These are actual curlers from the 1940s I bought on eBay.

Well this is what happened to the makeup case I had bought about a month ago.

This is the Logo I created for my makeup kit.

The whole thing put together for my photo shoot.

You should check out some of the ingredients in my makeup line.

Glitter - love it!

Thank you to Gil Elvgren for inspiring me with your wonderful Pin-up girl paintings.

Emma's Cartoons go 3D

2011-06-10T21:42:00.000-06:00

Here is the sculpture I created for the final project in Fundamentals of Design.

The project was to create a 3D piece that represented ourselves.

So why not do a sculpture of one of my cartoon "me"s.

I call the piece,

"The Monsters Inside Me"

Painting the Roses Red

2011-06-05T21:19:00.000-06:00

Yet another Fundamentals of Design project.

Re-design a book cover of a classic book.

So of course which book would Emma choose?

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

We had to do a draft copy and copy that.

Then do three colour schemes for each one.

I copied the original and then copied the one above since I wasn't going to change the green & brown.

So this is the first version.

Second version.

And yes...there currently is no third. I am about to work on that one right now.

But I hope you like what you see - I certainly do.

The monsters inside me

2011-06-05T21:11:00.000-06:00

Fundamentals of Designs final project has to do with sculpture.

Chris and I were going to make casts of our hands, but my cast supplies didn't work out and fell apart.

So I decided to go in a different direction.

I decided to do a display of my inner monsters.

So I have been making some out of 'air-dry' clay.

I still have to create a couple more and then paint them.

Then they will go on a fun wood display to be marked in class.

I hope it turns out fun and cute.

There will be more photos as the projects gets completed.

Wilcox in Canada

2011-06-05T21:05:00.001-06:00

In Fundamentals of Design we had to create a family coat of arms.

So I found the original Wilcox coat of arms so I could get some ideas.

I used the same colouring & the lion idea.

But I changed most of it.

But I added things like the maple leaf and deer to represent Canada.

I love unicorns & it is on the UK coat of arms.

And I tried to incorporate many British things into the coat of arms as you can see.

But this was just generally a really fun project.

I hope you like it.

It weighed how much?

2011-06-05T21:00:00.000-06:00

So here are some photos of my randomness from my artists life.

Got a really good deal on some soups, they make for a quick supper.

I just love how they say, "with real vegetables."

I am not sure why 3 pieces of corn & 3 1/2 peas can be called 'real vegetables."

HA!

This was the AWESOME spoon I had to draw for class.

So yeah...I was a little full of sugar and the kneadable eraser got attacked.

So Chris and I did some walking around Vancouver in pursuit of supplies for some of our classes. Well it is amazing how a somewhat heavy school bag full of art supplies can get heavier, and heavier, and heavier the more you walk. By the time I made it home I thought my shoulder was going to break. I actually had a bra strap dent for a couple of days!

My bag also bit me while we walked. I think the bag wanted to quit being dragged around Vancouver too.

But Chris and I laughed about the thought of weighing our bags. Well I did.....

17.1 lbs of pure art. Oh and my wallet too.

Self-Portrait

2011-05-29T17:29:00.000-06:00

So here is one of the Drawing class assignments.

Our instructor, Val, took our pictures in class & then we had to draw them...pretty much what I explained on an earlier post.

So here is the end result.

I like it.

I really like how I incorporated the grid I used to get my face somewhat accurate as part of the design. I thought it would go with the type of mask I wore.

I hope Val likes it and I can keep my really high mark in the class.

Colour Theory Final Project - The Beginning

2011-05-21T23:34:00.000-06:00

http://www.gilelvgren.com/GE/intro.php

So our final project sounds wonderful.

We need to find an artist to use as a client & then come up with products that reference the artist, their colour scheme, etc.

So Janet said YES to my use of Gil Elvgren as my artist.

I have decided to do a makeup line since his woman mostly had lipstick & it is of the 1950s era, so many woman wore makeup.

So today Chris & I checked out a thrift store by his work and found what I was looking for to start my project. I wanted to have an old-fashioned looking makeup case.

Only cost me $5.99

I just need to clean it up and find fake makeup to put inside.

Then design the logo and labelling.

I hope I get a wonderful mark on this final project.

More Artwork

2011-05-21T23:24:00.000-06:00

Another poster for Colour Theory. This time we has to take a patterned fabric and change it the way the instructions explained. The actual fabric is on the left side, just to give you the heads up. Two of the sections had to duplicate the pattern. Then we had to do the complementary colours, opposite chroma & opposite values. I am really happy with the end results, but it was an intense 7 1/2 hours of work with only one pee break & three movie changes.

One of the Fundamentals of Design projects. This was using 'text' to create some sort of rhythum. I really love the colours in this one.

Here is yet another Fundamentals of Design project, Shelley seems to love assigning us a lot of homework each week. I think she forgets we have other classes too. But this one we had to use tactile objects to create a design. I did a bunch of strange sewing with this one. Going on the hunt for the twigs and leaves was fun though.

Photoshop - Book Cover

2011-05-19T15:52:00.000-06:00

So our goal:

Take 4 pictures & create something.

Could be a CD cover, book cover, magazine spread, strange creature, etc.

I decided on a book cover.

So as you all know - I LOVE ZOMBIES. And why not make this assignment work with something that I love. So this is the end result of two weeks worth of work. There are four pictures: the doors, hands, fire & background city at sunset.

I had to change colouring, saturations, levels & various other things to achieve my goal.

Plus I had to add text into the image to create what would look like a book cover.

I jumped out of bed in the wee morning hours after class because obviously I had this assignment on my mind & an idea had come to me in a dream.

I quickly wrote down the book title & the really funny author's name on a scrap piece of paper.

Then I went back to a peaceful sleep.

I am so happy with my end result.

I think this shows that I have picked the correct subject in art school.

Don't you?

Drawing Class & Our Masks

2011-05-19T14:55:00.001-06:00

So here is my mask picture that I need to draw.

FUN!

Chris showing his true devilish colours.

Can't wait to see this one.

This is Jamie.

An Interior Design student that is in many of our classes.

Totally LOVED her mask!

Kind of wished I had done something similar.

Yet another one I can't wait to see the finished drawing.

Friday in Vancouver

2011-05-16T23:34:00.000-06:00

So I was waiting at the Yaletown-Roundhouse train station for Chris.

I decided to move from my one stop & found this really cool statue.

I love how they exaggerated the features of the statue.

Then this is my school buddy, Chris.

Yes he is just as nutty as I am.

And yes he is climbing all over a cat scratching post.

What can I say - NUTTY!

UNICORNS & GLITTER!

2011-05-16T23:28:00.000-06:00

So for our drawing class we needed to bring either a mask or a hat so that Val could photograph us.

Of course Chris & I decided to make ours.

Since I love this car insurance commercial

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5hGJ0g8OgQ

and I am constantly quoting:

"Unicorns & Glittteeeerrrrrr"

I just had to make a mask fitting for my constant quote.

I will post the photo & the one I have drawn with my mask once it is completed for homework this week.

So stay tuned.

More Designs

2011-05-16T23:17:00.000-06:00

So we still had MORE Fundamentals of Design homework.

We had to work with different forms of 'Rhythm'.

We had to do these thumbnails, then pick one of each type of rhythm & make them bigger plus add colour.

This is 'Regular'.

This is 'Alternation'.

This is 'Linear or Flowing'.

This is 'Progressive'.

This is 'Random'.

Putting the FUN in Fundamentals of Design

2011-05-11T22:19:00.000-06:00

Okay, so at the beginning I didn't want to do the project - it didn't sound like fun. But once Shelley showed us the example I was excited! It just took me forever to cut out 36 sheets of the squares above.

So we had to make a 6"X6" square and then fill in each square with some sort of black & white design. Above was my result.

So here are the 36 squares all over my floor ready to be put together in a design of my own making.

Here is the end result. AMAZING!

But I didn't realize it ended up looking so religious until I took the picture.

Funny enough though, I think I might try another one in colour to see that result too even though it won't be for marks.

Botticelli's Madonna - Warhol Style

2011-05-03T21:00:00.000-06:00

3rd poster assignment for Colour Theory class.

Take the picture provided in class of Botticelli's Madonna & copy it 4 times.

Then we had to colour them "Warhol" style.

Top Left (a) had to be done in analogous style. Which means take a principle (primary) colour from the Munsell Wheel & then use up to 3 of the adjacent colours.

Top Right (b) use the complementary colours to the colours used in 'a'. Which are just their opposite on the colour wheel.

Bottom Left (c) is the tints & shades. We could use one, two or all three of the primary colours from the CMY colour wheel but only use their tints &/or shades. Which just means the colours that would have white or black added to them.

Bottom Right (d) is the muddy colours or know as the broken hues. These colours are created when mixing various primaries together or adding water to the colour. These are closer to the colours we see in nature.

Had to take this shot.....these are the backs of the pictures I coloured - funny.

So here is the completed piece I will be handing in with two other posters for my Mid-term Poster Assignment.

Crazy to think it is Mid-Term week already - where did that time go?

What a beautiful day in Marpole

2011-04-30T15:22:00.000-06:00

So the trees on my street are finally enjoying the sun and beginning to bloom.

I have been waiting for weeks and weeks for these trees to turn pink. But I have been enjoying the amazing smell for some time now as I would walk back home from school.

These pretty little flowers are just outside our buildings front door.

And these ones too. Can't wait until they begin to bloom.

It amazes me....it is the end of April and the grass is super green and the flowers are in full bloom wherever I walk.

LOVING IT!

Life Drawing - "over the four weeks"

2011-04-26T20:54:00.000-06:00

Another crazy sketch without arms, I can never get to those darn arms before the model moves. But we were meant to capture the female model's cyclinder form using a continous elipse line.

We start our 30 second poses with a jelly bean shape, this was my attempt to get a little more detail in those few seconds.

This was an exercise to get the correct circular angle on the body.

This was my attempt at adding some more detail on a jelly bean sketch.

We had to shade the highlights on the model's body using only a white charcoal pencil.

Another strange jelly bean angle.

Here are my last sketches in class this week. Our two week assignment for the mid-term is to work off a quick torso sketch and get the correct contour lines with our new skeletal & muscular knowledge.

I will keep you posted on the end product.

Fundamentals of Design - Assignment 3

2011-04-25T23:25:00.000-06:00

So our group's assignment was to come up with an emblem for any location in the world for either the Summer Olympics in 2012 or the Winter Olympics in 2014. We went with Auckland in New Zealand for the Summer olympics. The rings are based on the Maori tattoo designs (which are native to NZ), the tower is the Sky Tower in Auckland & we can't forget the Kiwi bird hiding in the 0.

We think it is an awesome design.

Fingers crossed for good grades.

Photoshop - Assignment 2

2011-04-18T21:38:00.000-06:00

So our assignment was to find 3 images and change them using some of the techniques we had just learned in Photoshop. They were meant to be images that would go into a magazine and tell a story.

I hope you can understand where I was going with these three before & after images.

I was going for Alfred Hitchcock's movie - The Birds.

Can I say - I LOVE PHOTOSHOP!!!

Kaboom at Midnight

2011-04-14T11:43:00.000-06:00

So April 14 rolls around.

April 13 was a normal day, started off sunny. It wasn't really warm, but only a hoodie was worn to school, no coat. It started to rain in the evening, just a standard day so far in my new home town of Vancouver.

Just dropped off to sleep after getting into my blowup bed at 11:30 pm.

So sleepy.

Something woke me.

Looked at the clock, wow, midnight.

Wait, was that a flash?

KABBBBBBOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMM

My bed begins to shake.

What was that?

THUNDER?

In April?

Yep, April thunderstorm. Only about five flashes & rumbles of thunder, but they were INTENSE.

Queen of ice cube Hearts

2011-04-14T11:36:00.000-06:00

So I bought the standard ice cube tray from Ikea since my fridge didn't come with one. Ikea had some heart shaped ones.......so of course that is the one I chose.

The ice created some crazy stabby bit as you can see in the picture above.

Love my ice cube tray.

My little apartment

2011-04-10T11:47:00.000-06:00

Here is a little video of my adorable bachelor'ette' suite out here in Vancouver.

Almost all the things I was able to bring with me are in their proper places, I need a couple of tables or book shelves yet, but this is the place as of now.

I hope you like it

The Art Institute of Vancouver

2011-04-02T20:44:00.000-06:00

April 1st was admissions day at the art school.

This was the art kit I ended up leaving with after being at the school from 8am until 3:30pm.

I felt so bad for Helen because I thought it was going to be a short thing since I had done most of my paperwork. Helen and I were meant to go downtown and do some site seeing. But sadly she had to spend most of the day on her own.

I ended up getting my schedule and a whole lot of paperwork to look through & then the day began.

We did a fun Bingo style game with ALL the students starting on April 4. So there was a lot of meeting and greeting going on. I was thinking I was the only graphic arts student in the whole bunch because I was in the area where most the 'event planning' students were.

After that we were taken off to separate classrooms so that we were with just the students taking the same classes. We had about three Web Designing students in with us too, but there was a total of only 12 of us. So my class is going to be tiny - AWESOME.

We did some fun getting to know each other games and then we did a goofy game called "kings, queens & knights". All I can say is I was one of the four that won a price & Brooke is probably going to give me weird looks for the whole semester. Poor Brooke had to sit on my knee once, I gave her a piggy back & I had to pick her up twice.

But it was so much fun!

Then we had some admin. people & a funny tech. guy come talk to us. After that was done we went on a campus tour.

Then it was lunch - Veggie burger time.

As quickly as that went by all us new students were rounded up back in the sound studio hall and we all were seated. We all looked a little concerned because we all had a drum. But then the three people in front of us started up their drumming. They were from a place called The Drum Cafe.

http://www.drumcafe.ca/

It was amazing. We all were encouraged to drum along. It was funny how many of us, myself included, don't have any rhythm. But it was a great time and other instruments were included by the end. By my legs were so tired and I ended up bruising two of my fingers from drumming so hard.

HA!

After this fun time we had to take two seminars. Once that was completed we were able to pick up our kits and leave the school. It was a great, but tiring day. If only I had known about this sooner and then Helen wouldn't have had to spend the day all on her own.

But I can't wait for Monday morning and my first class.

It's about me.

2011-04-02T20:22:00.000-06:00

There is a nice flower shop about 2 blocks from my apartment so I decided to buy myself some flowers.

They really brighten up the place.

On my February visit I bought myself some rather cute shoes.

They are SO me.

The Ikea stuff.

2011-04-02T20:18:00.000-06:00

So Ikea arrived and delivered the new couch.

Now in good old Ikea fashion we had to put it together.

This is Helen pulling all the TV stand items out for assembly. We were concerned by the rather large instruction manual that came with it.

Well the couch is looking great and it is quite comfy.

Growing my own.

2011-04-02T20:14:00.000-06:00

So I have started growing my own veggies.

So I thought why not grow some of the low to no carby things out on my balcony.

So these are the seeds I have just started.

Speaking of growing - this is what I found outside my apartment on my first full day of being in Vancouver.

A nice little baggie of marijuana.

That is one packed car....

2011-04-02T20:08:00.000-06:00

The 'Vacuum Bag'. I ended up not using this cube type and went with all flat ones.

But these things are pretty cool. Plus they allowed me to take my entire wardrobe of clothing.

So this is the poor back seat of my car. There was no looking out the back window for this journey.

This was the back window.

The view I had from my rear view window. So much stuff & not enough car.

Trunk of the car. Thank goodness the catch didn't release at any point of our trip.

So Helen blew up the two beds we were using to sleep on while she was here on a visit.

They actually worked out quite well. I know I don't have any problems sleeping on mine.

Here are the containers emptied from the car. It is amazing how little amount of stuff it looked on the floor.

Family Photo

2011-03-01T20:22:00.000-07:00

My grandmother received this in the mail from her brother.

This is a family photo. My grandmother in the one on the far right.

I met only six of the people in this shot, but my great grandmother Pittaway is in the middle.

I am amazed at how many children she had.

Button Button

2011-03-01T20:17:00.000-07:00

While trying to find a fabric store downtown we found a wonderful button store called:

BUTTON BUTTON

My Trip to Vancouver

2011-03-01T20:14:00.000-07:00

Sitting on the SkyTrain.

We went to the British sweetie shop we missed out on last year - yippy!

I have my apartment KEYS.

So this is the front on my apartment building.

One of the local stores I will be getting my fruit & veg from.

A picture of the street next to mine where I will be doing my regular shopping.

Here is my school ID - as you can see I am HAPPY!

The Art school just as we passed it on the SkyTrain.

Admiral Pub

2011-03-01T19:59:00.000-07:00

We constantly ended up at the Admiral Pub in our hotel. It was such a nice, warming place to hang out.

These were tiles on the walls in the pub.

Got this one just for my sister.

View inside the pub.

Another shot from a small booth next to the giant fireplace.

Burnaby in February

2011-03-01T19:54:00.000-07:00

So our rental was meant to be a Ford Focus.

Well it was still a Ford.

The lady said....well there is only the two of you, I will see what I can do.

So we went out to lot #13 & once we got there we looked for the Focus, but instead found a MUSTANG!

At first I didn't think I could drive such a crazy powerful car in a city I have never driven in.

But in the end it all worked out and loved every minute of driving it.

VROOM!

So this was our wonderful hotel in Burnaby.

A Howard Johnson.

They gave us a fruit basket, I had already attacked it and ate an apple.

Our 'on the wall' TV.

The front of the hotel doesn't look like much.

Don't ever judge a book by its cover.

Flowers & Birds in BC

2011-03-01T19:42:00.000-07:00

So this guy kept following us around, but he didn't like it so much when I followed him.

Such a wonderful thing to do on a cold day in Vancouver.

Mom was all excited about these flowers outside the building. They are called snow drops & we haven't seen them since England.

I bet on a sunny day this would have been a better shot. But this is some of downtown Vancouver.

So here are some of the pictures of the flowers and birds in the conservatory.

So many beautiful orcids.

These little guys were so cute & I could get so close to them too.

An affordable adventure in Vancouver.

There is always time for CREAM

2011-03-01T19:14:00.000-07:00

By the hotel was this wonderful bakery.

We decided to go inside and check it out.

If you are interested in visiting.

We bought an eclair each - OMG it was like eating something from the UK.

YUMMY!

Then we got these little cakes too.

So wonderful.

Apartment 207 - in Vancouver

2011-02-25T17:55:00.001-07:00

So the first place we viewed ended up being the one we compared all the others to.

So this is going to be my new little home soon, in less than a month infact.

It is an adorable bachelor apartment on the second floor. It is a small three storey building with a great manager called Tom. His attitute helped sell this apartment.

I now have a storage locker, underground parking, I only have to pay for electric and phone. Even cable is included. The apartment is really close to transit too - yippy!

It has a really small kitchen, but since there is only myself it is perfect.

As you can see it is a sunny little place. I has a small balcony that I will be able to grow some beautiful flowers on during the Spring and Summer months. Oh I can't wait to move it.

I'm so excited and I just can't hide it.

FEB 21 6 WEEKS

2011-02-20T20:00:00.000-07:00

So it is getting closer and closer. Talked to the boss & I am thinking my last working day is going to be March 18. Now that is going to be scary. No longer having a full-time job.

I have three more sleeps until my mum & I get on a plane and head to Vancouver. We are going to be looking for my apartment. I am renting one for March 1st so that when Helen & I arrive in Vancouver in the latter part of March we can have a place to stay.

At this point I have to admit that some sort of feeling is bubbling up in the belly, but I am not sure what it is. Should I be feeling something more by now? I think once we do a 'dry run' by seeing how much stuff I can fit in my car and when my job has come to an end.....I think then, something might hit me. I am just hoping it isn't like being hit in the head by a sledge hammer type of 'hit me'.

But can any of us believe that I have just over a month until I am sitting in a classroom learning about graphic art techniques.

CRAZY!

Mom is So Talented - part 2

2011-02-14T20:32:00.000-07:00

Yes, another person is prego at work, Chelsey. Well she isn't due for a little while yet, but since I am done work soon I really wanted to give her these gifts.

I just wanted to wait until Lorraine was done work to give her these really cute, small girlie clothes.

Such adorable little booties.

I love how the wool mom and I bought worked out with the additional green in with the pink.

So cute.

Wreck This Journal - Part 1

2011-02-10T21:19:00.000-07:00

It made it thru the washer & dryer.

Some fun pictures that people have done for me.

My tongue painting with a package of Smarties.

Fun times with my name.

A whole lot of four letter words.

Mom is so TALENTED

2011-02-10T21:16:00.000-07:00

Well I asked mom that if I bought some wool that if she could knit some clothes for Lorraine at work.

Lorraine is having a baby boy and I thought it would make for really awesome gifts if they were handmade.

Well Lorraine loved them. Joy!

Chicken Wing

2011-02-04T13:07:00.000-07:00

Chicken Wing, Chicken Wing, Hotdog & Bologna.

BEST youtube VIDEO EVER!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6Sj3way3_I

Wreck This Journal - the journey begins

2011-02-04T09:35:00.000-07:00

I ordered RuPaul's new book on Amazon last week & I thought to myself.....I might like a new journal for my new Vancouver adventures. So I decided to check out Amazon for a journal. I came across some fun journals by Keri Smith. I was able to look inside the journal (great feature of Amazon) & I thought - YEP this looks like fun & this could get me to think outside the box. A GOOD THING for starting art school. So I bought it.

So I say to you - 'stay tuned'.

I am going to photograph all that happens to my journal.

Highlighter Madness

2011-02-04T09:22:00.000-07:00

Another work related moment.

Laura's highlighter kept committing suicide all day long & some how kept ending up on the floor. So Laura left for the day at 3:30pm & the highlighter was still on the floor. Suddenly the creative juices began to flow & this is what I came up with.

I thought it would give everyone a good laugh.

Work can be fun!

2011-01-19T19:36:00.000-07:00

Lorraine sometimes leaves her envelopes on the desk that she shares with her twin sister, Laura. Laura often bugs her - reminding her to take them home. Well last night she didn't want to take this envelope home, so she left this note attached so that Laura would understand that she CAN leave her envelopes on the desk, HER desk. HA, it is a fun on-going battle between them both.

Lorraine found a whole bunch of these crackers in the desk drawer. So I decided to tape them together in this bridge like formation.

Winter in Lloydminster

2011-01-19T19:26:00.000-07:00

So the city came to our area & cleared away the large amount of snow from our roads.

Woo Hoo!!!

This is the centre of the cul-de-sac at my grandmother's house. An insane amount of snow. The city had also cleared away the snow, hence there is the perfect side around the centre piece. That perfect side is probably as tall as I am.

Some more over-hangs. This is the house next to my grandmother.

It's the Final Countdown

2011-01-15T20:54:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jK-NcRmVcw

So Yeah........
as of Monday, Jan 17 it will be a short 11 weeks before April 4. If you know me you know what this date means to me. My life takes a whole new path. One I have dreamed of for so long and thought would never happen. I am going to ART SCHOOL!!! As the years rolled on further and further past my high school graduation, the light of this dream was becoming more and more dull. But then one more 'being let go' in my life put the nail in the coffin of accounting.

So what happens now? Well I need to wait on the government to see if I am completely approved for a student loan. I need to start looking for an apartment that is affordable and has easy access to the train. I need to figure out my March leaving date. Then I need to figure out what items I want to take with me.

Almost everything I own is boxed up & some of it even has labels stating "Vancouver" on them. But because I will be leaving in March and really it isn't the best time to drive through the mountains with a U-Haul. My dad made a great suggestion, "Why don't you buy a blow-up bed and take just a few things you can fit in your car to Vancouver and then we can figure out how to get the rest out to you later. Plus if the place you are renting isn't great you can move so easily to a new place." What an insanely great & fun idea.

So now the nail biting, hair pulling and the sleepless nights are going to begin. Now the missing my true friends really begins.

My new Squash friends

2011-01-15T20:24:00.000-07:00

My mom has been trying to find alternatives to potatoes for me, well tonight I had kabocha squash mash. Really quite yummy. So I say to you, even if you can eat potatoes, try out those bizarre looking squashes in the grocery store.

You will be pleasently surprised.

I will be trying this out next with my new found friend.

http://www.tinyurbankitchen.com/2010/03/oven-roasted-kabocha-squash.html

Overhangs

2011-01-15T20:19:00.000-07:00

Because of the crazy amount of snow and wind we have had this Winter season we have some amazing overhangs of snow on the homes in Lloydminster. Here are a couple of place around my parent's home.

We also have this wonderful ice forming on the window in the garage. The garage is heated, but obviously the metal in the window has attracted the moisture & since the window is so cold this ice has formed so beautifully.

Quebec's Wish

2011-01-13T14:13:00.000-07:00

This is a really good read for all us Albertans - I know it is long, but so worth it.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Article by Lisa Corbella of the Calgary Herald.

Quebec and the Fairy Godmother

Today, let's have some fun and play Fairy Godmother to Quebec. Let's grant the province the wish it articulated in Copenhagen. Wave the magic wand and poof, wish granted. Shut down Alberta's oilsands, except, since it's Quebec making the wish, we have to call it tarsands, even though it's not tar they use to run their Bombardier planes, trains and Skidoos.
Ah, at last! The blight on Canada's reputation shut down.

All those dastardly workers from across Canada living in Fort McMurray, Calgary and Edmonton out of jobs, including those waitresses, truck drivers, nurses, teachers, doctors, pilots, engineers etc. They can all go on Employment insurance like Ontario autoworkers and Quebec parts makers! Closing down Alberta's oil industry would immediately stop the production of 1.8 million barrels of oil a day. Supply and demand being what it is, oil prices will go up and therefore the cost at the pump will go up, too, increasing the cost of everything else.
But lost jobs in Alberta and across the country along with higher gas prices are a small price to pay to save the world and not "embarrass" Quebecers on the world stage. Not to worry though, Saudi Arabia, Libya and Nigeria can come to the rescue. You know, the guys who pump money into al-Qaida and help Osama bin Laden target those Van Doos fighting in Afghanistan. Bloody oil is so much nicer than dirty tarsands oil.

Shutting down the oilsands will reduce Canada's greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 38.4 Mt (megatonnes). Hooray! It's so fun to be a Fairy Godmother! While that sounds like a lot, Canada only produces two percent of the world's man-made GHGs and the oilsands only produce five percent of Canada's total emissions or 0.1 per cent of the world's emissions. By comparison, the U.S. produces 20.2 per cent of the world's GHG emissions, 27 per cent of which comes from coal-fired electricity.

The 530-square-kilometre piece of land currently disturbed by the oilsands (which is smaller than the John F. Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Fla. at 570 square kilometres) must be reclaimed by law and will return to Alberta's 381,000 square kilometres of boreal forest, a huge carbon sink.

Quebec, of course, has clean hydro power, but more than 13,000 square kilometres were drowned for the James Bay hydroelectric project, permanently removing that forest from acting as a carbon sink.
But Fairy Godmother is digressing all over the place. While the oilsands only produce five per cent of Canada's GHGs, it contributes much more to Canada's economy. After all, oil and gas make up one-quarter of the value on the TSX alone. Alberta is also the largest net contributor per capita by far to Confederation and there are only two more -- B.C. and Ontario. Quebec hasn't made a net contribution to the rest of Canada for a very long time. This is not to be critical (after all, Fairy Godmothers never criticize), it's just a fact. In 2009, Albertans paid $40.46 billion in income, corporate and other taxes to the federal government and received back just $19.35 billion in services and goods from the feds. That means the rest of Canada got $21.1 billion from Albertans or $5,742 for each and every Alberta man, woman and child. In 2007 (the last year national figures are available), Alberta sent a net contribution of $19.49 billion to the ROC or $5,553 per Albertan -- more than three times what every Ontarian contributes at $1,757. Quebecers, on the other hand, each received $627 net or a total of $8 billion, money which was designed to help "equalize" social programs across the country. Except, that's not what is happening. Quebec has more generous social programs like (nearly) free university tuition (paid for mostly by Albertans) and cheap provincial day care (paid for mostly by Albertans). But in this Fairy Godmother world, poof, those delightful unequal programs have now disappeared! Quel dommage! The July 2009 Canadian Energy Research Institute (CERI) report states that between 2008 and 2032, the oilsands will account for 172,000 person-years of employment in Ontario during the construction phase, plus 640,000 for operations over the 25-year period. For Quebec, the oilsands will account for 84,000 person-years of employment during the construction phase, plus 292,000 for operations over the 25-year period. In total, the oilsands are expected to add $1.7 trillion to Canada's GDP over the next 25 years.
Wave wand and Poof, Jobs, gone! So, now that the oil industry has shut down and left Alberta, Alberta has become a have-not province and so has every other province. Equality at last! Hugo Chavez will be so pleased. Meeting our Copenhagen targets suddenly looks possible, as most of us can't afford to drive our cars or buy anything but necessities, so manufacturers have closed their doors and emissions are way down.
The dream of many Quebecers to form their own nation and separate from Canada has died at last. Alas, in Alberta, separatist sentiment has risen dramatically, citizens vote to separate and the oil and gas industry returns.
Albertans start to pocket that almost $6,000 for each person that used to get sent elsewhere and now their kids get free tuition. Fairy Godmother's work is done. Wish granted. Quebecers must now sign up for a foreign worker visas to work in Alberta to send their cheques back home so junior can start saving up to pay for college.

My Frozen Blackberry

2011-01-13T13:40:00.000-07:00

Dad sent me this link a few weeks ago - if you ever need a good 'British' style laugh for the day just check out this link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7sPGePuyR-E&feature=player_embedded