Eric Alessandrini Design and Illustration

I'm still here!

2011-01-08T22:12:00.002-05:00

Hey there followers! I just wanted to let you know I haven't disappeared completely (and neither has my .com). I've been busy!..

I removed my website from my former host because their price skyrocketed this year and I never had the best results from them. I'm in the beginning stages of a redesign, and hope to get it out before Q2 2011. I've also scored a few jobs.

I'm now the associate graphic designer at LBC, and I'm helping revamp all of their in-house designs. You may find yourself asking, "What is LBC?" And you should be.

LBC is Lancaster Bingo Company. I get the privilege of developing new games that include merchandise. The prizes for these ticket-based games can be anything from cash, to iPads, to dirt bikes. It's a ton of fun, and a lot more work than I would have guessed. I'll post a few I've done just as soon as I get the OK from LBC. I've also taken on some BIG freelance projects that I can't share just yet, but will be able to soon!

So all in all, I just wanted everyone to know that updates will be coming again soon, and that I haven't dropped off the edge of this very flat earth!

My Portfolio!!

2010-05-27T13:24:00.002-04:00

I thought I'd post my actual portfolio up here for a few reasons;

1. I really enjoyed making it.

2. Everyone likes to see what their competition looks like, so why not share? haha

AND MOST IMPORTANTLY...

3. I wanted to show everyone that doesn't have the money to purchase an expensive portfolio that it's possible to make a professional looking portfolio yourself.

I did a lot of research on the design of existing portfolios, scrap books, photo albums, and books. I ended up merging a few different designs, adding some of my own little ideas, and combining quite a few different materials to get the final product. I believe overall the portfolio cost me under $30 to make, and the binding cost me about $10 to do.

The reason I chose the design I did was because I wanted a portfolio that would be easy to expand and change as my work does.

My interior layout was very basic because I wanted the work to shine and not just the way it's displayed. Overall I love it. It's like a security blanket when you were a kid. It's soft and unique and you can't stop running your fingers over it because of the texture. I hope this helps some underclassmen that aren't sure what to do in terms of their design if they can't afford a prefabricated one.

If anyone would like to see my step-by-step process, just let me know in the comments and I'll post it up. It's not too difficult, just very time consuming and labor intensive.

Finally, I want to send out a huge Huge HUGE thank you to Print Mag and AIGA for featuring my Print cover. Seeing a link directly to this blog on Print Magazine's website knocked me outta my seat! Then seeing that AIGA also posted it on their Twitter feed pretty much killed me.. haha. Seriously though, it's an overwhelming honor to be shown as an example for the student competition by the people who run it, so THANK YOU!!

Leave-Behind

2010-05-27T13:10:00.005-04:00

For CCAD's career fair, Directions, I created a simple leave-behind for potential employers to take home. I wanted it to feature a few pieces I'd done as well as have a bit of flair.

What I decided to do to ad the flair was incorporate my résumé into it. The leave-behind itself was 4x6 in., so I added it as the last page, and folded and perforated it so that it would be easy to tear out.

I also added my business card on the inside of the back cover, and framed my contact info on the reverse side with the business card's corners. It seemed to be a pretty big hit.

Thanks for featuring me!

2010-05-22T03:11:00.002-04:00

I just wanna take this moment to thank the Twitter feeds nelson_design, NowEntertainment, and HotInFashion for featuring the Print Magazine cover I designed. It's an honor to be recognized, and your references helped get my blog a record number of views in one day! I couldn't be happier. I guess this means I should probably start Tweeting... maybe. lol

Print Magazine Cover

2010-05-18T18:35:00.005-04:00

So graduation weekend was great. I got to spend the entire time with friends and family, had a TON of great food, and it was surprisingly nice outside! I couldn't have asked for a better weekend.

Now that I've got my excitement out, here is a cover design I did for Print Magazine's 2010 Student Cover Competition. This was the proposed theme;

What is the future of print design? How will tangible, ink-on-paper pieces that designers love coexist with design on digital platforms in years to come?

After quite a few different ideas, I decided to design a cover that would make the statement that's made every time something new comes out -- Print is Dead -- and do it ironically by letting printed media state it. When computers first came out they declared Print is Dead, when PDF's debuted they declared Print is Dead, and now that eBook readers and iPads are out everyone's making the same assumptions. Well I'm hear to tell you that printed media will not die off. As a designer, creating for printed material is just too exciting to let go of. These digital magazines that are coming out from places like WIRED and VIV are incredible, but they're not going to be the death of ink-on-paper.

I designed a simple, yet eye catching poster and made a few slight variations of it to get the effect of weathering occurring. After that, I went on the hunt for my location. This was more fun than I had anticipated. Just driving around town looking at unique walls was actually really exciting! I eventually came across this amazing wall below street level near the train tracks (and had to be a bit sneaky). I got some amazing shots of it bare that would actually make great desktop wallpapers too (I'll make 'em if people want 'em).

I eventually ended up with the image at the top of this post for my final submission. Unfortunately the weather didn't cooperate with me for my photo shoot, so although the deadline isn't up yet, it was for my school because each school can only enter five. It's fine though, because all that means is I get to share this design with you early! I hope you enjoy! I'll be working on some freelance projects in the coming weeks, and the career hunt is still on, so Columbus design firms, ad agencies, and retail design companies look out, because Eric Alessandrini is up for hire!

Mechthreads Website

2010-05-06T06:29:00.003-04:00

It's the last project for the last class of my last semester, and I actually like it! You get this far in and just kinda think to yourself that you'll slack at the end, BUT NO! I had a lot of fun working on this website.

Mechthreads is a site that reviews the design of gadgets. I feel like manufacturers get a lot of feedback on what they left out and what they need to change on their products, but they rarely get feedback on the industrial design of the hardware and layout of the software. Mechthreads would be the site to fill this void. If I wasn't looking for a job in advertising and graphic design I'd go live with this site right away (that is if I could get the funding to start it up).

I also created an ad series that I should have up on my website this weekend. It was pretty fun as well, but the main goal for me was to get the layout and design of the website perfected. I hope you all like the concept, design, and layout. I'll be back with a few more posts over the next few days, so see you again soon!

Mechthreads teaser!

2010-05-04T21:38:00.003-04:00

So I feel like I've been holding out on you followers with some of my current projects. I've been so busy updating my website that I almost forgot about you great people who follow my blog. Because of this, I'm giving you a little teaser of a project I'm just starting. It's a website called Mechthreads, short for Mechanical Threads. The site is going to be about the design of modern technology. There are tons of great technology sites out there that showcase new gadgets, but I haven't found one that talks specifically about the design of technology. This [potential] website would review the hardware and software of modern gadgets, as well as make all the necessary suggestions about what to fix. I should have more of the design up shortly, so stick around!

ERICALESSANDRINI.COM 2.0 is up and running!

2010-05-03T17:13:00.002-04:00

It's my last week here at school, and an incredibly exciting time! I just finished the first redesign of my website, and I'm really happy with how it's turned out. I've got a lot of work posted up on it that isn't yet on my blog, so if you're curious head on over. I'll soon have some step-by-step shots up of the work, as well as a sneak peak at my handmade portfolio, so come check back soon.

Congrats to all of those graduating with me at CCAD!

Black Hole Comix

2010-04-17T00:24:00.002-04:00

I recently completed an ad series for my Ad & Graph class that was really fun to make. It's for Black Hole Comix, a small comic book shop here in Columbus. I decided to market it with action figures since they're a big secondary part of comic book shops. I did mugshots of a few characters and created a fun print campaign for magazines. I also did a few extensions, which include a guerilla campaign, a shopping bag, and an in-store display that you can get your picture taken in with Spawn (which isn't displayed in this post, stupid 5 image limit). I'll eventually have it up on my website if you're curious.

Standup Quotes

2010-03-30T01:24:00.002-04:00

So let me start off by apologizing for the incredibly long break between my last post and this one. It's been a very long semester, and finding free time has been a bit hard. But hopefully I'll be updating fairly frequently now. I've got quite a bit of work to show off, so I think I'll start off with a poster series I started recently.

These poster's were a lot of fun to create. The series consists of quotes from famous standup comedians. To start off the series, I chose my two favorites: Jim Gaffigan and Ellen Degeneres! The Gaffigan quote is from Beyond the Pale and the Degeneres quote is from Here and Now. Both are amazing specials that are definitely worth picking up.

The posters themselves aren't designed for any specific purpose. They're really just for those that love the comedians. If I get enough requests, I may put them up for sale. I think the Jim Gaffigan one would especially be great for around Independence Day!

It probably won't be until late May that I take the next step in the series, but I'm thinking Mitch Hedberg for the third. I'm definitely open to suggestions though, so lemme hear back from ya!

Food & Wine Poster

2009-12-16T23:10:00.003-05:00

Well here's day three of the week o' finals. This was my entry for the 2010 Grand Tasting for the Columbus Food & Wine Affair. I wanted to do a simple illustration that was part hand drawn, part digital. The entire drawing was done in hatching, and then I digitized both the white background and the hatching to make the hatch marks less obvious. See ya all tomorrow with my ad and graph final!

Figure Drawing Wrap Up

2009-12-16T03:26:00.002-05:00

So here's day two's post (although I may be a few hours late). It's pretty much the last stuff I did for figure drawing. It's strange to think that I'll never have another figure drawing class at CCAD. They were always my favorite classes to take. But anyway...

The first image was the final drawing I did for the class. I used my dad as a model and illustrated what typically happens when you text and drive; a crash. I originally was going to do a limited color palette drawing, but after putting down the first coat - call it laziness, call it a happy accident - I was happy with it. Looking at it now, I think I might go back into it and add a light, a dark, and one or two colored tones. I dunno... opinions? Mr. Kortlander said keep it the way it is, but it's my portfolio, and I think I could use another drawing that has a decent finish to it.

The rest of these images were just outta my sketchbook in class (or just for fun at home). I think you can tell the difference.

I should have another post up by the end of the day. Until then, goodnight!

And I'm Spent!

2009-12-14T01:13:00.003-05:00

Year four, semester one is finally at an end, and I could not need a break more. These last two weeks have been the busiest of my life, so I apologize for the wait since the last post. I think what I'll do for my finals is upload one every day this week, so (since it is technically Monday as I'm typing this) today we'll start off the rotation with a bit of humor.

During our final week of senior advertising and graphic design, our professor decided to throw in one more project that would be due two days before our final. To summarize, we were all a little ticked, so what I decided to do was a project I knew I wouldn't use in my portfolio, but would just have a lot of fun playing around with random ideas. The assignment was to do some kind of an automotive ad.

I ended up choosing to take Chevy's Silverado and their tag line "An American Revolution" and make each add marketed toward "that guy". I changed the tag line to "A True American Revolution" and made the headlines into cinderblocks in the trunk pointing out a key feature that "guys" notice. After I was finished with it, I was surprised that I actually liked it since it was supposed to basically be a quick, blow off, last minute project. Anyway, I'm off to Buckeye Donuts with a few friends. I'll see you all again tomorrow!

The Website is Finished!

2009-12-03T02:39:00.004-05:00

After months of editing and tweaking, my "brand" is finally finished. My website is up and running with fully functional galleries, my résumé, a bio, and more. I've still got a few things I want to upload into the galleries, but other than that its done! It's also the first place you'll be able to see my interactive work. The image I attached with this is my branding info, résumé, website screen shots, and business card (front and back). Let me know what ya think!

Also, I know it's been pretty dry on my blog for a little while, but that's about to change very soon. I have quite a few projects that have either just finished or are about to be finished. Over then next few days I should have many more updates for all!

Fortunate Son

2009-11-19T14:46:00.003-05:00

Another day, another project. This latest illustration was a pretty fun one. We had to take a 60's song and illustrate it in some way, using influence from another artist or illustrator. Well, CCR is probably one of the biggest bands of the 60's, and I love Fortunate Son, so this was my first choice. I decided to take the song lyrics literally and do an illustration of a boy who's drumming with "silver spoon in hand." He's supposed to be one of the fortunate ones that's in a well brought up family, and playing the drum simply for fun rather than leading the troops (a bit of a throw back to the 19th century). I decided to use Edward Manet, one of my favorite painters, as my reference for the idea. I wanted to make it obvious that I was inspired by the Fifer for both subject matter and composition. When I was in Paris about three and a half years ago, I had the pleasure of visiting the Orsay and seeing this painting. It's really breathtaking to see in person (image of it after the jump).

For the actual painting, I decided to go with oils since it's been a few months since I've used them. I unfortunately had to rush it a bit more than I would have liked, but overall I'm pretty satisfied with it. I did want it to be a bit more impressionist, but it'll do.

Reference: Edward Manet's The Fifer

IlluXCon 2009! - Part Two

2009-11-17T14:39:00.004-05:00

Well, back again to bring you the rest of IlluXCon 2009 through my eyes. This demo was done by Dan Dos Santos. He seemed like a pretty down to earth kinda guy. He did this oil painting over a pencil value sketch, and I think the technique ended up looking amazing! I've gotta try it sometime. I snapped the image below when it was about 90% finished. He went back in afterward to add some highlights on the shoulder and in the hair to tie everything together, but I unfortunately didn't get a shot of it completed.

And finally, I can't even begin to explain how detailed these bigger-than-life figures by Tom Kuebler were. They were actually scary to get within a foot or so of, especially the transvestite figure below. I felt as though she was gonna spring to life and cut me.. no joke! These were, of course, finished pieces and not demo's done in two hours like the other images I uploaded.

Overall, the show was great! I ate some amazing food, got relatively lost with my friends in the hilly city of Altoona, and learned a helluva lot about painting. Some other great illustrators I didn't get any shots of that I met were Ian Miller, Justin Sweet, L.A. Williams, Volkan Baga, Dave Leri, and many more, including CCAD's own Joe Kovach and Eric Fortune. Check them all out, it'll be worth it! Now back to reality, where my in-progress works all look like crap compared to these pros!

*None of the work published in this post is my own. I merely took the pictures.

IlluXCon 2009! - Part One

2009-11-17T14:25:00.004-05:00

So this weekend was really busy and tons of fun! Quite a few friends and I drove over to Altoon, PA for the 2009 IllXCon (an illustration convention with some of the biggest names in the business). I'm not typically drawn to too much fantasy illustration, but seeing all this work in person was just breathtaking. They also had some great demos, which all of the pictures in this post are part of. The one above was a collaborative demo by Jordu Schell and Tom Kuebler (pictured). They were both pretty interesting guys, and Jordu was hilarious! I've got some more pictures of Tom's work that I'll post in a second post. His stuff is just incredibly realistic.

This was a great oil painting demo done by Donato Giancola. I'd never known him by name before, but some of you might recognize his work, especially if you've seen the cover of Spectrum 13 (one of the best issues to date in my opinion). He had a model from the audience pose, and in the last five or ten minutes of his demo, he threw in the space-themed suit like it was nothing.

These two pieces were part of another collaborative demo, this time done by Michael Whelan and Christopher Moeller. Half way though, they switched boards and finished the other's work.

Here's Jordu at his both just working on a project he felt like making up. The demo at the top of this post that he and Tom worked on was actually his Face. Tom had a great picture of him grinning like crazy, and they decided to go with it. More info in the next post...

*None of the work published in this post is my own. I merely took the pictures.

Bike Mechanic Sketch

2009-11-08T21:59:00.002-05:00

Here's another sketch from figure drawing class. I meant to throw it up here with the others last Wednesday, but guess I overlooked it. It was too big for the scanner, so I had to take a picture of it, so sorry for the bad quality. It's supposed to be pretty bright green. Just another day of playing with colors!

More Figures!

2009-11-04T17:42:00.003-05:00

Lately I've been playing a lot with color in my figure drawing class. I bought this great 12x18 sketchbook over the summer that has five or six different toned pages throughout it, and I've been on a real "toned background" kick lately. Almost all of these were done in colored pencil (with the exception of the graphite one of James toward the bottom).

For each of these, I typically only picked up three colored pencils that I thought complimented the lighting and skin tone for the pose. The only "problem" was that I kept finishing these before class was over, so I'd grab a few more and chroma the hell out of it (can chroma be a verb? I'll say yes). So far, I've liked each sketch more once I revisit it with more color options, but I really should start limiting my palette a bit on at least some drawings.

More images after the jump!

CWS Brochure

2009-11-03T18:20:00.003-05:00

This brochure came out of my advertising & graphic design class. We were to make a brochure for the law firm, Chester Willcox & Saxbe, and were given a few stipulations such as colors, logos, and body copy. The rest of the layout was up to us. I decided to showcase it as a very professional firm, while grabbing attention with both the shape of the brochure and the bold use of type on the photographs.

Antler Prejudice and New Layout!!

2009-11-01T21:43:00.005-05:00

Well another week down, and a little more work done. This piece was my first real Photoshop painting. I've been wanting to do a painting where a person has antlers for a while, so this was a long time coming. I decided to have it be designed to go with a magazine article about different types of prejudices. I still need to tweak it a bit, probably by adding some reflecting yellows and blues in the actual characters rather than keeping them completely grayscale.

Next project for the class is to do an illustration to go along with a song from the 1960's. I'm fairly certain which I'm going to do, but the two that I've narrowed it down to are CCR's "Fortunate Son" and the Beatles' (and Joe Cocker's) "With a Little Help From My Friends."

Also, the big news is about the blog. I finally got my updated layout up. I'll still be doing some tweaking over the coming weeks, as well as adding a link to my new site, which will be up within the month. Let me know what you all think in the comments! Also, some details of familiar faces after the jump!

New Portrait Drawing

2009-10-25T23:53:00.003-04:00

Sorry for the long gap in between my last post and this one. I've been busy working on a redesign for the blog. It'll be up and running fairly soon. My goal is by next Sunday night (Nov. 1). In the mean time, here's my latest drawing from Kortlander's class. I tried to go somewhere in between realism and illustrative proportions.

See you soon with a brand-spankin-new look!

Tattoo Reminder - Step By Step

2009-10-03T18:55:00.003-04:00

So my first project in illustration class is finally finished. The main concept of the project was that a magazine was doing an article on the twenty most "American" jobs, and each person in the class was to do an illustration in their own style with their take on the job. I luckily got the tattoo artist, and decided to go semi-humorous. My final is of an artist taking a call from his wife/girl-friend and she's telling him to pick up the laundry for her, so he's giving himself a tattoo to remember. Here's my entire process:

First I have the line drawing. Then to make sure its got a good value structure, I did a colored pencil and acrylic sepia study overtop on coldpress illustration board. Finally, I did something a little different for me. I went into the computer and digitally added color, as well as overlaid certain parts of the original line drawing to give it a little oomph. I chose a complementary color scheme of blue-green and red-orange to highlight certain areas over others, and to play with both warm and cool lighting. We're still technically doing one more step where we place it in a magazine ad, and I'll post that next week once I finish it up.

Figurative Drawing Dump

2009-09-21T20:58:00.003-04:00

I've gotten a couple decent drawings out of this semester's figure drawing class, and one of the nice things is that the class is so relaxed in composition, that I can focus on portraiture. Here's a collection of drawings I've done in the past week (and one from last year that reminded me of a drawing I did today). The top one is the only mildly illustrative one. It's a little hard to tell, but it's supposed to be a little humorous. I'm sure you'll all see it.

Gestures

Portrait from last year

Here's to the Crazy Ones..

2009-09-20T18:00:00.002-04:00

Here's a project I recently finished that was a lot of fun to work on. It's a poster series I did for my advertising and graphic design class inspired by Apple's 'Think Different.' commercial. It's a very moving campaign that signified one of Apple's transitions. The first poster was simply for displaying the type. Printed out, it's very vivid and eye catching. The next three are a series I did with the original text (slightly edited for size). I really love the colors against the historical black and white photos. I chose Einstein, Picasso, and MLK Jr because I believe they were three of the most influential people that changed the way we see or do things. A lot of kerning and leading went into that text block to emphasize the most important lines and words, and overall, I'm really happy with it.

(Side note, the condensed text of 'Here's to the Crazy Ones' can be found in the Text Edit icon in OS X, take a look!)

Back in the Swing of Things

2009-08-26T16:42:00.003-04:00

So school's back in session, and my break from posting is finally over! I think I needed a break from design and art for a few months, and I definitely took advantage of it. So far, the only class I've had that we've done something worth posting has been figure drawing, and we've only done two short poses. The first day was spent mostly on our instructor, Mr. Kortlander, telling us about the class and everything, and then a quick pose at the end of class which is located above. The drawing below I did in the first half of class today, then went to the Columbus Museum of Art to check out the George Tooker exhibition that's going on with everyone else. It was pretty amazing. I had no idea how detailed he actually gets with his egg tempera.

Anyhow, I'll have some actual illustration and design work posted in the coming weeks, and this year I'll definitely have more design than last. Package design was the only class I was taking last semester that was "design" oriented. This year, I'm taking both senior illustration and senior advertising and graphic design, so I've definitely got a work load ahead. I'm glad to be back up and posting, and hope you all enjoy!

Finished Summer Illustration #1

2009-06-03T20:58:00.002-04:00

Well here's the scan I promised to put up. It's oil on paper, 11 x 18.5".

Summer Painting Course Finished

2009-05-29T16:51:00.002-04:00

Well, I'm officially on summer vacation now. Woohoo! I ended up finishing my painting/illustration today in class, and boy was it exciting to remove the tape! Sorry for the picture, but it shines in every direction except this one. I'll have a scan up within a week or so once it's dry.

Overall, I'm pretty happy with it, and thanks to everyone that gave me feedback on it. If I didn't take your advice, don't take it personally. I was looking more for what you didn't see rather than what you did. Oh, and it's oil on watercolor paper. I can't remember the exact size, but I'll measure it when I scan it in. Happy Summer Everyone!!

Summer Painting: Reclining Sleeper

2009-05-28T18:40:00.002-04:00

So I've only got one day left for my summer painting class. It definitely flew by. Here's one that I finished today. I'd say it's about a four hour painting. I really wanted to basically throw colors onto the canvas to imply the structure of the composition, 18 x 24. I should have more updates either tomorrow or Saturday for the rest of my paintings.

Double Head WIP

2009-05-22T17:46:00.002-04:00

Here's just a progress shot of my new painting. I've only got the underpainting and one layer of the skin down, but so far so good. The background is gonna be a medium-light olive at the top with a transition into a dark bottom. I haven't decided yet if I want the torso to be obviously detached from the legs or if I should fade it into the dark as well. That'll probably be the last thing part I work on. I'm hoping to get this finished midweek next week so I can fit more than one other painting in, but we'll see.

New Painting Comp: Advice Needed

2009-05-20T17:46:00.003-04:00

So I'm starting this new painting in my summer class with Kortlander, and I'm starting to wonder a few things about it and could use some creative input. It's supposed to be along the lines of "which face to put on" (kinda cliche, I know, but you'll get over it). At this point, I want to hear if you see it as that or not. Also, if anyone feels like the background (which is gonna be darker) needs anything or if the composition itself needs something else for interest. Kortlander mentioned something that he saw in it, which I can't get out of my head, and wanna hear if that's the first thing you see too. Thanks!

Oh.. and I'm supposed to be starting this tomorrow in class, so any advice would be awesome sooner rather than later.

Also, here're a few sketches from in class. The one at the top was the initial sketch for the painting idea.

Last Portrait Painting & First Day of Summer Painting!

2009-05-18T17:54:00.002-04:00

So the semester's finally over! BUT, I've still got summer class. Luckily, for anyone who cares, I'll be posting a lot of the work I do during my two week painting course. Today was the first day, and so far the class seems like it'll be pretty great. We're allowed to do pretty much whatever we want. The first half of class, I did an underpainting of a figure seated with a few extra chairs around him, just to get in the habit of painting early (class starts at 8am). After lunch, I tried thinking of what I'd do for an illustrative painting, couldn't think of anything, and eventually decided to just sketch the second model a bit and play with some acrylics in my fake moleskin sketchbook.

The first two images on this post are of the last painting from Jason Clary's portrait painting class. We ended up having one less day on it than originally pitched, and the main model in my shot didn't show up one day, so I didn't get quite as far into it as I'd hoped, but I still got it pretty close. The last image is the random sketching and painting I did in the last part of class.

Street Swimmers

2009-05-16T12:57:00.004-04:00

Here's my final for illustration class. I wanted to do something semi-realistic with a bit of a surreal twist, and this is what I came up with; quintuplets swimming in a puddle from a fire hydrant.

The Hungry Artist

2009-05-11T20:45:00.002-04:00

Here's a self-portrait I just finished for my portrait painting class (and yes, that is McDonald's food sitting on my easel). I decided to go very expressive (and chunky) with it. You can't really tell in the full sized picture that much (sorry for the low quality, it's still really shiny), but it's definitely obvious in the detail below. I've been slowly going into this expressive style in my fine arts classes lately. Last week I finished a portrait with two models that's got a bit of energy in it. I should have that one uploaded tomorrow if we get them back, if not it'll be Thursday. Hope everyone's not killing themselves over finals, and congrats to all that finished last week!

Finished Gatsby Cover and Ducks!

2009-05-06T13:29:00.002-04:00

So here's my final book cover design for The Great Gatsby. Overall I'm pretty happy with it, happier than I've been on any of my other finals from black & white. The title on the spine is definitely hard to read, but ya' know, if they wanna see what book it is, they can just look really close... haha. I ended up finished it around 6am this morning, and still had some homework to work on, so I'm running on about 45min - 1hour of sleep right now. I had to sketch in intro to psych just to stay awake. I threw that sketch on here too. What was great was the teacher was talking about ADD when I was sketching it, and how people will draw during classes if they have ADD. I'm not sure if it was just a coincidence or if she was trying to get me to pay attention, but I didn't get all that far in my notes... oh well. And of course I had to throw the ol' Loch Ness Monster in too! Enjoy!

Lexmark Redesign

2009-04-30T10:45:00.003-04:00

Here was my first attempt at a package design. The project was to redesign a print cartridge's packaging. I did it about half a year ago, and was pretty satisfied with it when I finished, but looking back at it, I see every little thing I should have done. I hate that it works that way, but what are ya' gonna do?

Running of the Bulls

2009-04-28T10:35:00.002-04:00

Here's a piece I did last semester for my Styles and Concepts class. I've been trying to post every weekday, so I'm jumping back into old files for days I don't have anything new to show.

New Painting Started

2009-04-24T12:35:00.004-04:00

Here's a new oil painting I just started. I decided to go with an 18x24 format. I want to include some aspects from the last one I did, such as the 'more finished in certain parts' style, but I'm also going to try and make the colors a little more on the cooler side than what they actually are to create a kind of isolated mood.

And here's the underpainting after the first day of working on it.

UPDATE: Sorry for not scaling them down. I took them with my cellphone and figured they'd be really low res.

Moustachio Lager: For the real man

2009-04-23T22:34:00.002-04:00

Here's the product that my original mustache sketch was intended for. I'm tempted to expand upon it and develop it into a series, even though it was supposed to be just a fun project. For the record, I did not design the bottle itself. The bottle is a Columbus Brew bottle. I was going to use the Red Stripe bottle, but it's label is done with silkscreen, and therefore next to impossible to remove. All I had to do though was make a neck label, and it it worked just fine for this bottle.

The Pretty Good Gatsby

2009-04-22T21:32:00.003-04:00

Here's a comp for my black and white illustration class right now. We're working on book covers, and I chose The Great Gatsby (obviously) and could use some feedback. I already talked with Brian Kane (the instructor) and our visiting artist Jeff Carlisle, and could use a bit more criticism. The pencil technique isn't going to be exactly the way it currently is. Instead, it'll be a bit more controlled and closer together so that the areas with the crowd appear darker. Have at it.

Group Portrait

2009-04-21T17:23:00.004-04:00

Here's an oil painting I just finished the other day. As I was working on it, I decided to focus on certain parts more than others, and layer them to death. I threw a little expressionism into this one combined with some tight rendering. First time I oil painted on gessoed board. It was fun but I think I like canvas better. Next figure painting I do is going to be either 18X24 or 20X24 on canvas depending on how I decide to format it. This one was 16x20.

Detail:

Jimmy the Jolt Turtle!

2009-04-14T22:53:00.003-04:00

I know this is a pretty strange and poorly done little illustration, but it made me smile when I finished drawing him. Just try and look at him without smiling!

Mustaches Anonymous

2009-04-13T02:10:00.002-04:00

Here's what happens when you have an illustration project sketch in front of you during a boring class. It was originally just the guy's face and the mustache, but after looking at it, he looked a bit like the unibomber, so I went with it. Enjoy!

Ms. Chromaglow

2009-04-03T21:29:00.002-04:00

Here's the finished painting I did from the line drawing I posted about three weeks ago. I changed a few small things proportionally to make her head seem less beach ball like. Overall, I'm fairly happy with it. These pictures came out fairly well, but I'm noticing on different screens it looks overly saturated, so come look on my screen to get a real feel I guess, haha. The painting itself is 14 x 18" and it's done in oils.

A Look Back

2009-03-10T10:01:00.002-04:00

We all started somewhere. My real spark for art came around freshman year of high school. It's been a few days since my last post, so I thought I'd a throw something up here to show what I did before foundation's year at CCAD. I'm pretty sure these were from junior to senior year. Let them inspire you, or (more likely) let them make you feel better about what you're currently doing.

Stealing the West

2009-03-05T17:43:00.002-05:00

Here's a spot illustration I did for my styles and concepts class. The article was about the anniversary of Aaron Burr getting acquitted for trying to take over the western United States. Hope you all enjoy!

Is my head a beach ball?

2009-03-05T02:04:00.003-05:00

Here's a new line drawing for my portrait painting class. It's a bit abstract (which is a nice way of saying she has one round head) but I think I like that about it. I'm going to start painting on it at 12:30 today (Thursday), so if I get any suggestions before then, I'll keep them in mind. It'll be an oil painting on a 14 x 18" canvas.

Detail:

Down on Skid Row

2009-03-01T23:45:00.002-05:00

I'm working on a revamped movie cover right now that's from the 80's and thought I'd put a little taste of it online. It's for my black and white illustration class, so it won't end up having any color (unless I decide to do a two color illustration). This was just a preliminary sketch I did for it of the three main characters. Anyone who didn't already know what movie it was can go ahead and take a guess.

It's About Time

2009-03-01T02:57:00.001-05:00

So, after months and months of having this blog, I've finally got it up and running. Welcome everyone who's checking it out now. There should be regular posts from now on. I guess I should start it off right and show a work in progress piece.

This is from my Illustration Styles and Concepts class and we're supposed to do a famous person as an animal. If you can guess who it is, awesome, but I have to go back into the face and make it resemble her more. Also, I'm going to actually render the jewelry and hair similar to the face, so they have some depth rather than being flat. Anything else you guys see, let me know.