Steph Devino

Artwork - Cabin

2012-01-21T23:53:00.007-05:00

I still feel like there's a couple little things missing, but for the most part I think it's finished.

The lamp is Anthropologie.
The blouse is Toast.
The socks are Free People
And the fruit painting is Cézanne. :)

Progress:

It's been so long since I've posted! I've been busy at Target, you'll see some of my first designs out in June! Secondly, I've continued to do work for Sincerely Ink, get ready to see some new cards available soon!

This is hopefully the start of a little series I'd like to do. Usually I don't post pieces in progress, but I'm glad I tried it with this one because it certainly is satisfying!

More soon!

Sincerely Ink Press

2011-12-01T12:11:00.000-05:00

Wow! So it seems that the Sincerely Ink app has been getting a lot of press. Here's a few links-

Tech Tuesday on BFG
That's the first time I've seen one of the designs printed, it looks pretty good! I'm so glad the guys at Sincerely have taken time to make sure the prints come out well. That's the hardest part when designing things digitally- you can put all the time you want into it but if it prints out badly then it's all for nothing.

Article on FastCompany.com
The article writer met with Matt from Sincerely to discuss the app. My name is in there too I just noticed. Thanks for the shout out Matt!

It seems the app will also be featured tomorrow morning on The Early Show on CBS. I'll be sure to post a clip if I see it!

Sincerely Ink App Now Available!

2011-11-19T12:06:00.001-05:00

Sincerely Ink, the Holiday card app I did some designs for is now available for free download on your smartphone!

The top two rows are designs I did!

Here are some other examples of the pieces I did:

The Curative - Target Exhibition

2011-10-28T20:59:00.001-04:00

On Friday, The Burnet Gallery in downtown Minneapolis held an exhibition for Target employees with artistic works outside of the office. I included a series of four pieces titled "Wendigo".

Here is my artist statement:

How does the mind react when it's presented with the unknown? What does it conjure when faced with nothingness? Is it comforted or threatened? What lies in the mist and what is possible in the abyss? How can one connect with that that is soulless? Does it paralyze or satisfy? Is one transformed from the other and when does the transformation begin?

In light of halloween, I wanted to touch on something with an edge of spookiness. When I was a kid I loved horror stories (I still do) and I especially loved a story about a Wendigo. It's a creature from the Algonquian people that has many different interpretations. One in particular stuck out to me– it described Wendigos as an invisible creature in the wind. Set in the far north, it would sweep men into the sky and kill them. It was also said to make them run until their feet burned away. What struck me most about this tale was the lack of information. It left you with no explanation of what the creature looked like, what it was, where it came from or how it was made. It came from nothing and disappeared afterward. The thrill that not knowing left me was fascinating. With these pieces I wanted to explore the line between nothingness and the feeling of threat. I wanted to see if I could get the viewer to see a subtle threat in my pieces, or feel that something was amiss. Whether or not I achieved that is up for debate, nonetheless I enjoyed the process and I'm happy with the result.

You can read an article written on the exhibition here.

Happy Holidays!

2011-10-28T12:10:00.001-04:00

I recently worked with a company called Sincerely, an app company that specializes in greeting cards. They recently announced their new app, Sincerely Ink: Christmas & Holiday Cards, for which I did a few designs. I think it's cool because you can customize the cards with photos you take with your phone, then the company will print real postcards of your design which you can send out as holiday cards. Pretty cool!

The app is available soon and once it's out I'll post some of the designs I did! Stay tuned!

ABC Monday Night Movie

2011-08-28T12:36:00.000-04:00

I totally forgot to post this forever ago. So in my last semester, while doing my independent study with Dan Krall, he had me and his Lifestyle class design three faces/hairstyles/make-up ideas based off special themes. Mine was the best! And it was the Monday Night Movie theme from ABC.

It's amazing. Check it out:

Trees and Sun collection

2011-08-17T14:47:00.000-04:00

I developed this collection as a bedding set, trying to make sure I'm practicing my own designs outside work. I didn't do a bed mock up because I'm getting sick of using the same photos over and over. I'll have to figure out a better way to display them.

Mad Men - Don Draper

2011-08-11T17:00:00.002-04:00

I haven't done portraits in so long it's upsetting. I'm trying to take 10-30 minutes everyday to draw and hopefully update. Here is a representation of the beautiful Don Draper from Mad Men. He's nice to look at. Enjoy!

Happy Birthday Mom

2011-08-10T14:29:00.000-04:00

The 8th was my mother's birthday, happy birthday mom!! A good excuse to practice florals.

Gah

2011-08-08T17:05:00.005-04:00

Nothing is more discouraging than when you go to hit update on your first entry in months and an error pops up, deleting the whole thing.

Here is what I can recap

I'm giving a go at stationary, something I've never expressed much interest in. It must be my recent visits to papersource and the influence of companies like rifle co. The beautiful Rachel Beckman has recently written me some letters that have inspired me to write again. I used to keep a regular journal freshman year of college, and a pretty regular one sophomore year, two gems that I find hilarious now.

I've been trying to get the new etsy shop going, but deciding on the name along with the look and feel have held me back. However, Pinterest has been a great tool in helping me nail down what exactly I'm interested in. I highly recommend it to everyone. It's also a great place to store your recipes!

Whoa! Holy update!

2011-06-13T17:44:00.000-04:00

I was talking to a few co-workers and realized how neglected my poor blog has been! Last semester went very well but was hectic as hell (cool sentence). One of the reasons I never posted progress photos was because it never really came together until the very end. Also, I couldn't get very good pictures. Anyway, before I could upload the good ones it was time to pack up my stuff in Baltimore and move to Minneapolis to start my new job at Target! I've been working as Assistant Designer in the adult bedding department and it's been great. The company is so amazing. Anyway, I don't want to talk too much about it but keep your eyes peeled for new updates! Now that I'm all settled in the new apartment there should lots of fun projects to come. Especially decorating ones!

Second Window Display : Zara

2011-05-03T11:41:00.000-04:00

Here's the second window display I designed in my Independent Study for Zara.

Thesis pictures soon to come, I promise! Everything's coming together I just have one last piece to finish. I've taken some pictures already but their on Colin's camera so I keep forgetting to import them.

Hopefully I'll have commencement pictures up soon too but I'll be moving not too long afterward so it might take me a little longer. Starting June 6th, I'll be working for Target in their bedding department! Very exciting! I'm flying out this weekend to find an apartment, then the week after is graduation so I'm a very busy bee!!

J.Crew Window Display

2011-04-27T13:55:00.000-04:00

For my last assignment in my independent study with Dan Krall, I've been designing these window displays for clothing companies I like. Here's the finished J.Crew one. It's pretty simple but I wanted to keep things clean. J.Crew is really sharp after all!

East of the Sun, West of the Moon

2011-04-25T14:03:00.000-04:00

Things are actually starting to wind down! Thesis is almost done, I just have to write a few papers and BAM! I'm graduated. In the meantime, I've somehow found some room for a little extra project. Colin is working on a new comic this semester, East of the Sun, West of the Moon and I love all the stuff he's doing. It looks amazing. He let me do an realistic illustrator mock up of his main character and we're trying to figure out something we can do with it like an animation. We've come up with some ideas so check back to see what we got.

Here's the reference I used from Colin's comic

letter eggs

2011-04-06T11:48:00.000-04:00

How cute are these!?!?! Please excuse my junior high punctuation just then. I've been loving all the egg design I've seen this year and I'm dying to try this. Not sure how to do it exactly or if I'll have time but somehow I'd like to fit in into my thesis. Lay them on my plates or something. I'm sure I'll never get around to it but maybe if some miracle happens and Norbert Leo Butz comes and sings to me and sets my clock back 4 years I'll have time.

New flower pillow design

2011-04-03T00:24:00.002-04:00

Second Semester Thesis has proven to be a stressful and chaotic process. I've redone just about everything a million times but I finally finalized this pillow design.

Final Bowl Design

2011-03-15T11:01:00.001-04:00

Oh man, everything for Thesis has gone through so many changes but I think I finally settled on a bowl design. Everything's finally coming together. (I hope!)

Another Website Revamp

2011-03-08T14:59:00.000-05:00

Check it out!

Keds

2011-02-25T18:53:00.001-05:00

I've really been wanting to paint my own shoes lately. I love Keds and I've been needing a new pair for a while now so I played around with this design after doing the bowls(below).

They remind me a little bit of Care-A-Lot. Hah. But I still like them.

Bowl Mock-Ups

2011-02-23T22:15:00.000-05:00

Finally I got these done! I think for some reason I thought I should wait so I kept putting them off, but here are the mock up designs for the bowls that will be matched with the tablecloth.

Tablecloth In Progress #2

2011-02-23T12:18:00.000-05:00

The vines didn't work out. I loved them and I loved the girls but not together. Here's my second attempt. My roommate thinks the flowers need to look a little more 3D. 3D however has never been my strong suit. I think I'm headed in the right direction I just wish it wasn't taking so long. In the mean time, I've been watching Craig's List like a hawk trying to get just the right kitchen table to display my work on for commencement. I had one and it was perfect and for some reason they gave it away before I could pick it up. I was not happy.

I've been doing some tests to see how the transfer to fabric can be done and so far I like the middle one. Unfortunately though it's not machine washable because I used Micron.

Thesis : Tablecloth in progress

2011-02-17T19:11:00.002-05:00

Maybe not progress...maybe more like preliminary stage. I'm having a rough time with this one but I want to make it count so I'm being a perfectionist. My biggest problem is I don't know how I want to actually make it. Digitally print? paint? screenprint? micron? I'm not too sure. I've been doing a lot of samples and so far I think I'm liking the micron best for the linework, I just have to be careful not to let it bleed, however, then I'm unsure how to get the vinework looking good. This is rough!

Here's a sample of the digital version:

Embroidery : Scandinavian Houses

2011-02-07T13:08:00.005-05:00

I was doing some research and I came upon these beautiful pictures of a Scandinavian village.

I wanted to do something with them and then I remembered that I had been wanting to play around with embroidery again so I did a little experimenting. I didn't have as many colors as I would've liked because I used a lot of my embroidery floss when I made my Marni doll. But I managed well I think.

I'd forgotten how relaxing embroidery was. I'm trying to figure out how I can incorporate it into my thesis. I'm thinking of just doing a bunch of "embroidery paintings".

Valentine's Day Cards

2011-02-02T12:25:00.001-05:00

This semester I'm doing an Independent Study with Daniel Krall and for my first assignment I had to do two Valentine's Day illustrations based on Valentine's Dos and Don'ts. My girl is "Don't wear hearts unless it's your underwear" and my boy is "Do right her a love song". I've made them both into cards and I'm definitely going to pass them out on the 14th! Happy Valentine's Day!

Wood Grain pattern

2011-01-28T17:31:00.001-05:00

As part of my dinnerware collection I created this wood grain pattern to be used for the napkins. This picture is just a photoshopped example but once the fabric comes in I'll have pictures of the real things including the napkin rings.

Thesis patterns yay!

2011-01-26T18:50:00.004-05:00

Some patterns I'll be using for thesis...

The russian doll is an image I've always wanted to attempt. Despite their current popularity in surface design, they always remind me of a certain Russian Doll my mother kept on her bureau while I was growing up. I remember it was brown, had a red mouth, and this beautiful red flower pattern along the bottom.

I've been doing these triangle patterns for a while now and I just can't seem to get enough of them. There's something about them that my psyche goes crazy for. I think they're deeply rooted somewhere in my childhood. I think it might've been those really old cartoons I used to watch as a kid.
Very much like this Chuck Jones cartoon, The Dot and the Line : A Romance in Lower Mathematics

Thesis - Take Two!

2011-01-26T18:22:00.000-05:00

It's that time again...The second semester is here and I am already swamped with new projects! I'm very excited though and I can only apologize for not updating sooner.

First things first:
I knew I wanted to continue to design patterns and make products but I wanted to take things just a little further and explore the sale aspect. I assumed early on that I would just use my Etsy account, but then as things progressed I realized that wasn't personal enough, so ridiculous me, I decided to make my own online store.

The name is temporary. I'm still trying to find that perfect fit. Damn being a perfectionist. To me, having a store in progress requires good record keeping of inspiration and production. You'll be seeing a lot of that here and probably a layout revamp.

I want the store to be a mix of naturey rustic and retro patterns. It makes a little more sense looking at my palette and sketches

As for the actual products, one thing I plan to make are books in collaboration with Eleni Giorgos, an amazingly talented artist. In addition, pillows, plates, napkins, clothing, bags, and more.

That's all for now! More to come!

Thesis Final - The Full Lindsay Collection

2010-12-23T13:46:00.010-05:00

Phew! I made it. At least through part one. My final critique went very well and I must say great job to all the other seniors! I was lucky enough to sit in on Rebecca and Whitney's final crits and work in both classes were simply stunning.

The night before my final I went to the studio to mark everything, good thing too because there was a lot to hang.

A huge Thank You to Melissa Prentki, my beautiful model, I don't know how I got so lucky to find her with spare time on her hands. We shot in my living room and my broken pathetic wall was a perfect backdrop. Thank you to Colin O'Connor as well for helping me use a camera..definitely not my strongest suit. But I couldn't be happier with how the photos came out. I'm ecstatic that I get to keep them and frame them now!

>

By the end I was definitely ready to move on from the blossoms. However, I'm glad I stuck to the one theme through-out. I'm not done with flowers forever by any means but I'm excited to see what else comes out next semester. I'm consider many different options and hopefully I'll have some time over this break to do some testing.

Anyway, I dedicated this collection to my sister, Lindsay, it all reminds me of her so much.

Thanks to everyone for a great semester! Happy Holidays!

Etsy store is now open!

2010-12-22T20:13:00.002-05:00

Great news! My etsy store is now up and running. You can buy Stufft-lings, featured at Art Market, and hopefully pillows soon! Add it to your bookmarks and keep checking back for more products made by me!

Messin' around

2010-12-22T20:09:00.004-05:00

Fooling around with pillow patterns, trying to think of how to use my Spoonflower money...

Original white pillow by Ethan Allen

Zara Girls

2010-12-13T22:02:00.003-05:00

There are a few outfits from Zara right now that I just love, and I've been meaning to test out the gouache my friend bought me for my birthday in September, hence this illustration!

It took a decent amount of photoshop to touch up all the mistakes but overall I'm very happy with the gouache. I still need to buy a lot of colors, such as burnt umber, I'm just useless without.

Art Market begins!

2010-12-08T10:08:00.002-05:00

Photos from my stuff at Art Market

Something Different - A poster!

2010-12-04T17:47:00.002-05:00

Poster design for this winter's Children of Eden in concert.

Whoa! Second contest win!

2010-12-02T14:00:00.004-05:00

Thanks to everyone who voted for this week's last Spoonflower contest with the Candle theme. Spoonflower wrote a really blogpost about me you can see it here.

Christmas Patterns

2010-12-01T22:55:00.005-05:00

I created a Christmas Card design to send out to some friends. Check it out!

Website Relaunch!

2010-11-28T18:54:00.002-05:00

My website is now back up! You can now see my pattern design and thesis work.

Spoonflower

2010-11-28T10:17:00.005-05:00

Great News– I won Spoonflower's latest contest! In addition, they featured me on their blog. Check it out:

I also entered this week's contest which is candle themed. Here's my design.

Click here to vote

Vote for me!

2010-11-18T13:05:00.004-05:00

Vote for me at this week's Christmas Stocking design at Spoonflower. I can't send a direct link but my username is StefOhnee, my design looks like this:

Click Here to Vote!

You can now buy my fabric!

2010-11-08T11:24:00.005-05:00

Great news! Using Spoonflower, you can now purchase my patterns on many different kinds of fabrics. Click to check it out.

Art Market

2010-11-05T10:22:00.002-04:00

I'm so excited this year! I've got some great stuff planned. If you'd like to see(or buy!) some of my work come down to Art Market this December. It's a great place to buy one-of-a-kind Christmas gifts that your family will love. Wow I sound like some lame advertisement right now but it's honestly great. I hope to see you all there! I'll post more photos of what I'll be selling as the date gets closer.

Annaleigh Collection

2010-11-03T19:10:00.006-04:00

More bedding! I'm having so much fun with these and I love putting together these little palettes when I'm done. This one is called The Annaleigh Collection, named after one of my favorite people.

I photoshopped my own patterns onto a down comforter set by The Down Factory Store and the rug is by Momeni which can be bought at Macy's.

smoking girl

2010-10-27T22:27:00.003-04:00

Wow somehow I had time to do some sketching. Here's a sketch I did today. Enjoy!

Eleni Collection

2010-10-27T14:42:00.004-04:00

I've always wanted to do this! One of my goals is to design bedding collections so I designed this collection and photoshopped it into this beautiful Down Collection by Charter Club found at Macy's. I named it The Eleni Collection after my best friend.

Thank You

2010-10-16T01:09:00.001-04:00

Thank you to Print&Pattern for featuring my blog! I've been following their blog for a couple years now and it's such a great honor!

Yayy Midterm

2010-10-13T12:07:00.002-04:00

Completed chart of patterns

Enjoy!

Maria Patterns

2010-10-05T10:49:00.005-04:00

Garment Pattern #3 is finished!

2010-10-01T13:24:00.005-04:00

The first two fabrics have arrived and I've finished the design for the third pattern and it's been ordered. It's more similar to the first pattern than the third. I'm not quite as happy with the second fabric as the first. It's all my own fault because I didn't check the scale of the pattern before ordering and it's slightly too big. Everything else is fine though.

I have to praise Spoonflower again for their excellent service. Sure it's slightly pricey but the quality is great and I couldn't be happier with what they've done. I highly recommend it for all of you artists out there who are interested in fabric printing your work!

In other news, I signed up for MICA's Art Market today so expect to see some progress on that soon.

Another Forgotten Pattern

2010-09-29T19:51:00.002-04:00

I'd also forgotten this one. It got lost in my pattern folder and I hadn't realized I didn't post it on my blog.

Leaves

2010-09-29T19:37:00.003-04:00

I completely forgot to post this pattern when I made it a couple weeks ago. I'd like to do more leaf patterns because fall is my fave! But thesis has taken over my life.

Garment #3 pattern

2010-09-29T19:26:00.005-04:00

Here's the rough draft for garment pattern #3. There are subtle differences between 1 and 2 but I can't decide between them. Also there's something I like about the blue but in repeat it doesn't look quite as good as the others. I think the blue is just a nice change from the first two patterns.

Garment #2 in progress

2010-09-24T11:47:00.006-04:00

Although my fabric is here (yay!) I can't start sewing until pattern #3 is out for printing. If I don't stick to my schedule the pieces won't be done in time. In the meantime, pattern #2 is out for printing and is expected to be here in approximately two weeks. Just in time for pattern #3 to be finished. Anyway, here's #2 in progress.

I fixed up a few things since I posted it last. Whitney Sherman, my independent study professor suggested that the leaves looked too much like bat wings and that I should invert them. I completely agreed and I think the result is great!

Here's my sketch for the garment. I'm not quite as thrilled about it as the last one. Although, I'm pretty confident that it'll look good with the pattern I've created.

Lastly, here's my muslin version. Again, I'm not as happy with it as the last one, but I do thing it'll look good when it's finished.

My fabric finally came!

2010-09-24T11:36:00.003-04:00

Yay! This is so exciting. The first time I've printed a pattern design. I'm very happy with how it turned out. The fabric is so soft and the colors are so vibrant. Spoonflower did a great job!

Uh oh, now I fear that I'll become addicted to this and spend my life away printing fabric. There are worse things I suppose.

Jane patterns

2010-09-19T16:35:00.008-04:00

I'm naming this my Jane collection. I think they're the prettiest and daintiest patterns I've done yet and I think it's my romantic side showing through. When I read old novels I always seem to love the characters named Jane, especially Jane Eyre and Jane Bennet.

This time I thought to include the color palette. I really need to do that more often.

Treeeees

2010-09-16T11:13:00.004-04:00

Apples and Greens

2010-09-15T18:50:00.009-04:00

I got the idea for this pattern from this beautiful mood board from 100 Layer Cake. I don't usually use green very much but I was really intrigued by the colors of that bedspread. It makes me want to paint my designs instead of using illustrator.

Zoomed out

Other colors

Spoonflower contest

2010-09-13T13:21:00.004-04:00

Spoonflower has pattern contests every month for a chance to win $100 worth of credit to their website. Which is great because that would cover my next two projects! So I entered one of their latest contests which was to create a "Kawaii" pattern. Kawaii is a Japanese style usually featuring cute or chibi characters. I love owls and I've always wanted to create an owl pattern so this was a perfect opportunity. Anyone can vote for their favorites and the winner is announced at the end of the month. Voting will take place soon during which I'll add a link for you all.

Garment #1 in progress

2010-09-13T13:16:00.007-04:00

The pattern for my first garment is complete. It's very similar to the one I made a few months ago but a lot of alterations were made. The previous one did not repeat correctly so I had to go back in and recreate a proper one. The background one this version is white while the previous one was off-white. But as you can see, the sketch has the old background. The reason is because the fabric I'm having it printed on has it's own tint to it.

In addition is a sketch of the first garment along with the pattern.

I made a muslin to test my pieces, which was a really good idea because originally this garment was going to be a nightie but I didn't like the skirt in the pattern so I ended up scrapping it and going with this cute bloomer shorts from a Vogue pattern I ordered.

Discarded pattern

2010-09-08T18:15:00.003-04:00

Plans got changed a little already with Thesis. This week I went from making dresses to making nighties to making underwear. I'm not discouraged though, if the garment is smaller that means more detail and not to mention less money!

Here's a pattern I made originally for the skirt of the nightie I was going to do.

New Patterns

2010-09-03T22:20:00.005-04:00

Here's two new patterns I whipped up today. I love this color combination. I was inspired by 100 Layer Cake's color swatches. They're meant for weddings but I use them for my illustration work when I don't have any specific color ideas in mind.

Just messin around

2010-08-30T19:35:00.002-04:00

I did this for fun today but after looking at it I was thinking maybe it would make a good logo. I want to design one for my thesis project anyway.

Here we go Thesis

2010-08-29T18:11:00.001-04:00

Just some quick sketches I did for garment ideas. Enjoy!

Blossom Pattern #2

2010-06-16T15:21:00.001-04:00

On second thought

2010-06-11T09:53:00.004-04:00

This was my first draft and the one I posted last night was my second. But after taking a second look at this one, I think that it might be better.

Blossoms

2010-06-11T01:30:00.002-04:00

patterns

2010-06-06T15:34:00.007-04:00

Some new patterns for the summer! I based them off of crochet motifs I found during my crochet/knitting pattern search.

Here's the pattern in three lovely color schemes.

My website is up!

2010-05-26T18:10:00.004-04:00

Finally! I've got a real website up. I'm so relieved I figured out how to code that layout. I was nervous about it for a while there.

stephdevino.com

Concepts Final

2010-05-26T18:05:00.006-04:00

It took me a while to get decent pictures of these, which is why I didn't post them sooner. I'm not entirely happy with these either though. I'm terrible with cameras.

After doing my tarot card, I was inspired by the character I used and decided to continue using her for my Illustration Concepts final. I'd never drawn on pottery before but I'm pretty happy with how they turned out. The cup was my first go and it came out slightly too light however. I'm hoping to have some new pottery to show soon, just as soon as I've drawn up some new designs.

The Rachel Bracelet

2010-05-26T13:02:00.005-04:00

Yay!! First project of the summer! I've had this idea in my head for a while and I really wanted to give it a go. I'm very picky with jewelry so making my own has always been a good solution for me but I don't usually get around to doing it.
This bracelet is the first of (hopefully) many to come. If I can make enough of them I'm planning to sell them at Art Market this year and then perhaps on my website!

Speaking of my website...I've been working on it since school ended and it should be up any day now.

Lifestyle Final

2010-05-09T18:59:00.004-04:00

Here's my final for my Lifestyle class. I sure am going to miss that class. Dan Krall is a good motivator and I definitely need that sometimes.

We had to do one of the seven deadly vices along with its opposite virtue. I did Sloth and Diligence and I'm pretty happy with the way they came out.

Tarot Card: The Empress

2010-04-29T18:06:00.003-04:00

My final for Fantasy Art.
I got to do The Empress, and yes, she's pregnant. I had a lot of fun with her and I used inspiration from this piece for one of my other finals as well. Unfortunately I haven't gotten my hands on a camera to take some pictures but I'm going to try to once I get home.

Hair and Make-Up Demo

2010-04-21T16:08:00.006-04:00

Last night in Lifestyle class we did a hair and make-up demo using different ambiguous themes.

Crochet Blanket

2010-04-21T16:01:00.005-04:00

Finally! Some fibers work on here. I need to get my camera working so I can post more things like this.

Eleni and I crocheted this blanket for Colin's birthday (which was last month) and I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out. My life feels empty without it now, I think I may start a new one soon with different colors.

Accessories

2010-04-13T13:15:00.003-04:00

For Lifestyle class we had to incorporate an illustration into a picture of an accessory. I used jewelry by designer Dori Csengeri who does beautiful work. My pieces are both done completely in Illustrator.

Prince of Persia

2010-04-13T12:55:00.002-04:00

Avatar redesigned

2010-04-13T12:50:00.004-04:00

For my Fantasy Art class we had to redesign a famous Sci-Fi movie and I chose Avatar. I loved Avatar just like everyone else but I was curious to see what it would've looked like without cat-people. Instead my design was inspired by japanese sea creatures such as the Frilled Shark. See video of Frilled Shark

CD Cover

2010-03-17T12:26:00.003-04:00

I went back and forth a zillion times on which band to use but in the end I decided on Rogue Wave's Descended on Vultures and I am glad. Not at all happy with the CD label though. The handwritten text is bad and I'm aware that the pole on the cover needs work but overall I'm happy with the result, which is nice because it was one of those things you put off and you know you're going to hate until you force yourself to do it.

After MICA

2010-03-11T17:48:00.003-05:00

I've been having a lot of discussions with my fellow artist friends lately about our lives after we graduate. We all have a lot of different things we want to do and we're not sure about but there have been some similar things that have gotten brought too. I'm not exactly sure where I'll end up but I did figure out a few things that I wanted to do. For one thing (and I'm terrified of saying this out loud, let alone posting it on a blog) I think I want to try to be a real artist. One thing that has scared me in school is that I haven't been able to stick to one thing. I love so many different mediums of art and I was worried that that was a bad thing. Lately though, I've been looking at it as a positive thing. It makes me genuinely unhappy that there doesn't seem to be almost any real art community in New Hampshire where I grew up. It's becoming more and more of a dream of mine to change that. One thing I'd like to do later is to have a gallery there that has real art that is relative to today's world. If that does well, or maybe if it doesn't, I've considered opening an art store that that carries real supplies, unlike AC Moore.
The painting above is an unfinished piece from last year and it's the kind of thing I'd like to do more of. I'd also like to create paper art with Eleni. We both love and it and it's something I'd love to explore with her. Thirdly, I'm anxiously waiting to take a weaving class this summer and I'd love to make fibers a more prominent medium in my work.
Illustration and Graphic Design are amazing and I love them both, but there's also a big fine artist in me.

sequential night out

2010-03-11T17:38:00.006-05:00

My first piece's composition is terrrible. Just overall BAD. My second one, however, is not so bad and it's funny, because I spent way less time on it. Sometimes it's best to wing it.

For Lifestyle we had to illustrate a sequential piece that was a group or couple "out on the town" at a real place wearing real designer clothing. I chose an awesome bar in Las Vegas, figuring Las Vegas would have the best/weirdest settings out there. I didn't want to do a group of girls because that would mean no hotel and I couldn't get a good composition in a theater which really lowered my options. I also didn't want to do a heterosexual couple because I really loath drawing men. I really avoid it at all costs. Hence my pattern of lesbian couples in my last few pieces. It's really not about the girls, and it's not even about sex, people don't seem to realize outside of Art School that artists just don't see things that way. It may sound weird, but I simply love drawing the curves on women. It's a much more satisfying composition to me. As an illustrator, I'm not very good at distorting, which I think is essential when drawing men, because otherwise they just look stiff and boring. I don't want it to sound like I'm struggling to convince everyone here that I'm still straight, but I know that my parents have access to this blog and I don't want them assuming anything from these pieces. Unfortunately, this is a common problem with a lot of artists.

Words on Wheels

2010-03-10T10:17:00.003-05:00

Every year the juniors have to illustrate a poem written by a student from the near by middle school. I'm sort of glad this is done, it's taken a while I'm tired of looking at it. But I do enjoy the colors.

Paper dolls

2010-03-10T10:13:00.004-05:00

It's been a while. I've been super busy with school, work, life in general. Here's some of the paper dolls I've had to do for the Lifestyle class.

Paper dolls

2010-02-15T14:43:00.003-05:00

Paper dolls for this week.

Camp!

2010-02-15T14:39:00.003-05:00

My mother asked me to make a poster advertising her Theater Camp, Derryfield Repertory Theater Company. It might look slightly too young, but I kind of love it. I did those same clouds for a commission last year and I missed them. They also appear in my latest Concepts work which will be posted here sometime this week.

Ooh Sealife

2010-02-03T11:14:00.006-05:00

My first real assignment for Lifestyle Illustration. We had to choose an environment and then choose clothing that fit and illustrate at least two figures in each piece. I chose the Jardin Majorelle, a French botanical garden in Morocco. In my sketches I simply had my girls just standing there and it was boring that I didn't even want to do it. I talked to my TA and she told me to think about creating a story and using that. Since the dresses reminded me of fish, I decided to go with a weird under the sea theme and since my girls are sort of under water, I made them rubbery looking and squid-like. I'm still not at all happy with the first one and corrections need to be made, but I like the second.

paper dolls clothed

2010-02-03T11:12:00.002-05:00

Here is my first attempt at dressing my paper dolls for Lifestyle Illustration. They look alright, I'm not crazy about the guy, but that probably makes sense since I don't want to own those clothes.

Times Magazine : Haiti's Tragedy

2010-01-31T17:48:00.003-05:00

Our first assignment in my Illustration Concepts II class is to illustrate a picture to replace the one on Time Magazine's "Haiti's Tragedy" issue.

My piece is done in pencil, charcoal and Photoshop. It originally had more color but once I placed it on top of the cover it clashed horribly. I think the desaturated version works better, and besides, I love neutrals.

revised dolls

2010-01-27T12:36:00.003-05:00

We critiqued my dolls in class last night and my teacher recommended some changes so here are my new revisions. I decided not to make the one girl blue this time. That was originally just for fun and I didn't want to keep it. I changed the guy completely, which I think was a good idea because the original guy was weird and I didn't care for him at all. This guy isn't perfect but he's much better.

Paperdolls

2010-01-24T19:50:00.004-05:00

For my Lifestyle class, which is a fashion illustration class, we have to design "paper dolls" that we will clothe with a different piece or outfit every week. We had to have at least three. I don't know why I made the first one blue. I just like blue. Especially with blonde hair.

I really should name them...Well tbd.

Butterflies

2010-01-14T09:10:00.004-05:00

I forgot to post this piece earlier. It was my final for my Illustration Concepts 1 class. We had to illustrate a piece based on an instrumental song of our choice. I did the cover of "Nothing Else Matters" by Apocalyptica. Cello is my all time favorite instrument so if I was going to choose an instrumental song it was going to be one with a bad ass cello.
Honestly, I'm not completely happy with this piece. I feel that the colors are strange on the left side and the transition into the wings gets weird. I'm not sure if I'll ever revisit it but this is it as it stands now.

Ani-mini-isms

2009-12-21T21:12:00.008-05:00

It's taken me way too long to post about these but here is my work from this past semester in "The Lab". For my product, I wanted something simple with a tiny bit of story behind it. I wanted something meaningful but without any solid images previously associated with the concept so that I could create it in my own image completely originally. In my Arts of Native America class, we learned a little bit about "Animism". Animism is a religious belief that every object, including inanimate objects, contain souls. So there was my concept. My original plan was to make simplistic masks that were decorated with natural materials like feathers and twigs but that was a poor idea for an art market. Instead, I chose to break down my idea by making tiny masks that would act as decoration for something else. So I accented the tiny masks (which I later called "Ani-mini-isms") with rosettes and made barrettes and brooches out of them. As Art Market got closer I decided I wanted to try something a little different. I sculpted tiny figures out of super sculpey, painted them in primary colors with tiny patterns, clued a tiny mask on their face, stuck a feather in their head and called them Spirit Babies.
On the first day of Art Market, I sold almost every spirit baby, but since I had made them last minute as an experiment, I only had eight of them to sell. In the first couple days only three of my brooches and barrettes had sold and my spirit babies were gone. However, by the end of the fourth and final day, all but three of my Ani-mini-isms had sold as well.
It was a very good learning experience and I'm excited to say that I'll be participating in next year's Art Market as well. However, what I'll be making has yet to be decided.

Unfortunately, I have no pictures of my Spirit Babies, but a few decent ones of my Ani-mini-isms, including the wonderful tags I made with them.

Jesus Christ Superstar Poster

2009-11-14T22:51:00.003-05:00

We're putting on Jesus Christ Superstar in Concert during my winter break at home and I found some time last week to do the poster. I haven't put the times on yet but I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. I did things a little differently than usual. I Jo Chen at Baltimore's Comic Con and she talked a little about her style and how she uses digital media. I did a little more research later and found a tutorial of hers and I tried out her process. I have to say that I enjoyed it and I might continue working that way for a little while.

Sustainability Poster

2009-11-06T16:40:00.003-05:00

The Illustration department had all the juniors design a sustainability poster for Cleaner Greener Baltimore. Of course they're all cute and colorful and completely different from everything else we do.

Patterns Revised

2009-10-21T10:55:00.002-04:00

I revised some of the patterns I did for my Type class and I think the came out a lot better this time. I was not happy with all of them before.

I'm still trying to get pictures up of my project for The Lab. Hopefully those will be up soon.

Palettes

2009-10-13T15:19:00.003-04:00

I'm in a DIY class where we have to make a product and sell it MICA's Art Market in December. I've been making little masks to put on pins, necklaces and headbands and I'd like to post pictures of my progress but my camera is dumb. Hopefully I'll get it working soon and I'll have some things to show. We've been doing some letterpress and Gocco in class and I got to Gocco my logo onto little tags for my pieces.

I'll post full pictures of the tags later.

I'm going to Jo-Ann's tomorrow to buy more fabric because I don't like the colors I picked last time. So to make sure I don't waste money I made several color combinations and then made a palette with the colors I want to purchase. I then numbered how many times each color appears in my combinations so that I know which ones are the most important to buy in case I have to cut back.

I like the way this looks. I'd love to make a poster of this. It reminds me of a skin project we did freshmen year where we had to pick out as many colors as we could in our skin and create something with them. I wish I had done this. Maybe I will in my spare time. I've got some extra money on my flex account this year so I could splurge at the print lab. Oh how I love the print lab. It's so satisfying to print.

Patterns with Type

2009-10-06T13:19:00.004-04:00

In my type class, which is sometimes extremely painful, we had to create patterns using a single letter from a single font. First our patterns were executed in black and white and then later translated into color. I made two color versions for each pattern. Here's my series:

A lowercase A in Futura

An uppercase G in Helvetica

A uppercase D in Helvetica

Ballet Boy

2009-09-27T20:50:00.003-04:00

For our second Illustration Concepts assignment we had to illustrate another classmate's child story. Here's mine:

"My sisters and I were the only girls living on my block while we were growing up, and if you wanted to play with the neighborhood boys you had to be good at sports. Over time though, I became best friends with a boy named Tyler. Tyler's dad was extremely sexist; and every time I went to Tyler's house we had to play video games or sports. But, when Tyler came to my house we would play barbies and put on plays. Games his dad deemed unfitting for a boy. One day my sister decided that we would all put on a performance of the "Nutcracker". So we all put on tights and leotards (including Tyler) and threw on the soundtrack to the Nutcracker. As we are all whirling and dancing to the music, Tyler's dad walks into our living room and seeing his first born son in pink tights and a black leotard, he decides to throw a fit. He dragged Tyler out of our house still wearing the ballet clothes. We weren't allowed to play with him for a week, and Tyler never played anything he considered "girly" again.

I decided not to draw any scene literally. Instead, I tried to capture Tyler in a more "subconscious" state. At first I tried putting him in the pink tights and leotard but it made the image seem too humorous. I'm hoping that the tutu over the clothing isn't quite so bad.

This piece was drawn, then scanned and colored in Adobe Photoshop CS3.

Mermaid

2009-09-23T17:34:00.006-04:00

My Illustration III class for this semester is called "Illustration Concepts". For our first assignment we had to pick a worldly topic(mine was plastic surgery) and illustrate it using a mythological creature.

In class, my teacher informed me that it wasn't exactly creepy like I wanted it to be and the girl was by far too "pretty". He suggested some alterations so the next week I came in with an updated piece.

After making the changes and looking at it I agree with what he said. I changed the lighting to be greener and with more contrast, it's a little stereotypical for this kind of image but I do like it.

This piece was first drawn in pencil then scanned and painted completely in Photoshop CS3. A texture was added as well.