Birthday Card

I haven't been on here in a while, so I thought I'd post a quick update. My Grandpa Henry turned 94 in April, and in honor of that, I created a little card/badge of honor of him.

Blaze and Zorro

My dogs are a constant source of entertainment, so I took a little inspiration from them for this week's blog projects.

First up is Blaze, my little red toy poodle. I wanted a very retro, '50s look for him.

And now Zorro, our Fox Terrier mix. I went for a more rustic, outdoorsy look for him.

I ended up having two wildly different ideas for Zorro's seal, and I like them both. Here's the second one, a much more modern, technology-inspired logo.

Robin Hood

I'm fairly certain I drove my parents insane watching Disney's Robin Hood over and over (and over and over) when I was a kid. I revisited the movie this week (I've been whistling ever since) and was inspired to do a couple posters.

First up, our villain, King John:

And now our hero, Robin Hood:

Valentine's Day

Here's a quick Valentine's card I made for my husband. It was inspired by the Weezer song "My Best Friend," which Blain put on a playlist for me when we were dating.

Old Tilman

I love to read, and I've immersed myself in the world of Honor Harrington (written by David Weber) lately. It's a great military sci-fi story, centered around the adventures of Honor Harrington, a navy starship captain. While reading the books, I really wanted to do something to show my love for them, and I latched onto the idea of designing a label for Honor's favorite beer. So, without further ado, here's my design for Old Tilman.

And here's an ad for Old Tilman, just because I was having so much fun with the project.

I made the labels and bottlecap in Illustrator. I made the ad (including the beer bottle) in Photoshop.

A few random notes: The date 1471 is actually about 3574 according to our calendar. Dating in the book starts over when the first colony ship leaves Earth in 2103. The three stars in a triangle represent the three planets of the original Star Kingdom of Manticore, and are part of the insignia for an admiral in the Royal Navy.

Halloween Week 4

Here it is, my final Halloween piece. Here's week 1, week 2 and week 3.

 

Happy Halloween everyone!

Halloween Week 3

It's the third Friday of October, which means it's time for the third post in my Halloween series. Check out the first and second posts in the series, too.

Liberate Gotham!

Planet Pulp has a pretty awesome show going on right now celebrating the work of Stan Winston. Since they started Fan Art Fridays, I thought I'd do my own Winston-inspired piece.

Halloween Week 2

For the month of October, I'll be posting a Halloween-related piece every Friday. This is the second poster in the series. Check out the first one here.

Halloween Kickoff

It's October, and Halloween is fast approaching. While I love Christmas for presents, and Thanksgiving for food, Halloween may be my favorite holiday because it's crazy, spooky, scary fun. To celebrate, I'll be putting up a Halloween-themed piece every Friday this month.

Without further ado, here's my first poster in the series.

People Are Alike All Over

I saw a few episodes of the Twilight Zone as a kid, but I didn't remember much about it until I started watching re-runs on cable with my husband. I love show and its bizarre flavor of sci-fi. I love the little twists and turns and trying to figure out just what is going on in a particular episode before the reveal.

The episodes that stick in my mind the most are the ones where things go badly for the main character. With that in mind, I created a poster for a certain zoo on a nearby red planet...

Poor Samuel Conrad found the Twilight Zone, and he'll be in that zoo on Mars for the rest of his life.

A Dragon for a Special Lady

I love dragons. Dragons have been one of my favorite creatures for as long as I can remember. It's something I got from my mom, who introduced me to Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern series when I was in middle school.

Her birthday was Sunday, and instead of buying her a generic card at the store, I made one just for her, featuring our favorite fantasy creature.

She loved it. :)

I used Illustrator to create the dragon and swoops and Photoshop to bring it all together.

Come to Quark's...

My goal with this blog is to try to do a fun, non-work related design project every week or two. This week, I merged two of my great loves, beer and Star Trek.

I love the look and feel of old Guinness ads. They have a really fun, playful style, and I wanted to combine that with my love of Star Trek by creating a retro-style ad for Quark's. Quark's, of course, is the bar at the heart of Deep Space Nine, a show I watched about 10,000 times as a teenager. Quark's was more than just a bar--it was a home away from home for a lot of the characters, and it was a place where they would gather to relax, celebrate, and mourn throughout the series. So I wanted my poster to have a warm, playful look, with just a touch of class.

 I created the logo and glasses in Illustrator. I brought them into Photoshop, where I created the background and beverages. I added some age and weathering to give it a "lived in" look, and ta-da--an ode to the best bar, restaurant and gambling facility this side of the wormhole.

Well, I've finally done it.

I've finally gotten up the motivation to start a blog. The catalyst for my sudden motivation? Losing my job of four and a half years.

It was a rude surprise to lose my job. I know the economy sucks right now, but I'd always seen my job as fairly reliable. It was at a small company, sure, but we were growing fast, and there was always work to be done. So, when I was called into the boss's office on a Friday afternoon and told I was being laid off, I was shocked.

I drowned my sorrows that night, then went out the next day with my husband to escape reality for a few hours by watching Planet of the Apes. I was feeling better, and hopeful, by Monday morning when I filed for unemployment and started sending out resumes.

Good news came on Thursday, when my former supervisor called me to tell me he knew someone who was looking to hire a graphic designer. I called the company and had an interview the next day. It went fabulously well, and that afternoon and over the weekend I worked on a test project. By Monday afternoon, I had more work. Hooray!

So now, I'm contracting with an awesome branding/design company based in Salt Lake City. My work has much more variety than it used to, and I feel like I'm challenging myself and learning new things every day. I'm excited for the future, and I'm looking for ways to expand my personal and professional boundaries.

Hence the new blog.