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Happy Spring!

Spring has finally sprung and I couldn’t be feeling more relieved! The birds are chirping, the sweet smells are floating in the air, and I am one step closer to finishing this school year off. These past few weeks hasn’t been as bad as anticipated. I guess it usually isn’t. I managed to stay on top of my time management and really pull off some great work. This week was a little of a clam before the storm but I am feeling pumped and ready for it. Here’s a brief view of my past week:

Photo Manipulation Assignment

Weekly Illustration: Language Teacher

In class assignment related to this article: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/31/turtle-disguised-burger-smuggled-airport-plane-china_n_3682332.html

Next week I will have a few more assignments to show off!! Enjoy!

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Two More Down

This week was tough. I really had to push through and make sure that I stayed on top of everything. I’m pretty pleased with the assignments that I submitted this week. Below is an example of one of them.

We had to make an organic package for one assignment. We were assigned a food group and had to create an organic package for anything within that food group. I chose cereal. Here is my outcome.

Totes Oats is a family owned business directed towards parents looking for a way to save money and live organically.

Other than that my weeks have been very hectic and wild. Just trying to keep my head up. ALMOST THERE!

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Feeling it

March 06/2015 10:27:06:23 pm

Definitely feeling the stress this week — especially since I worked 18 hours this weekend.

HTML is starting to make more sense to me. It’ll be good in the summer to expand my knowledge and look mor einto HTML and CSS to really understand it and be able to code just as well as I can lay out a book.

I’m getting pretty stuck with my package of nothing assignment. I posted that quiz a week ago but I don’t think it’ll work out. Everyone has a different opinion about change and what it means to them so I think it would be in my best interest to change my idea.

In other news, here’s another weekly illustration! I hope you enjoy it :)!

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HELP! — What is Change?

Hey Everyone! I have an assignment where I have to get some people to answer a few survey questions based around the idea of change. I would truly appreciate it if you could help me out a bit. Quick and easy! Thanks in advance!! https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/NR3PP26

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Crunch Time

Finally finished the package for my beer label assignment and I am pretty pleased with it. I made minor changes to the bottle design from my previous post so make sure to take a look at the new design! We learned a lot more about coding and websites this week, but it all went way over my head. I am going to have to try to wrap my head around that before Monday or else I will be really far behind. This week coming is pretty intense. We have six checkpoints and two major submissions. But I can do it—been through so much worse. I just have to stay motivated and stay on track.  Take a look at my photos below for my packaging and feel free to message me if you have any suggestions! Would love to hear some feedback! I also hope to update/start my Behance this summer (maybe before that), so you will probably see it there at some point too! Wish me luck for this week :)

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Satisfaction

Handing in a project is always so relieving. the down side is the after effects. You're tired, grumpy, and just brain dead. All you want to do is sleep. So that's exactly what I did after I handed in my alcohol branding assignment. This project was very realistic and definitely one that has a lot of creative freedom. Last week I posted about my thought process behind it so I won't go into too much detail but here are some photos from my submission.

On top of that we had to do another weekly illustration this week. This time we were assigned a Gym teacher. To go along with my theme I created this:

It's always nice to feel that accomplishment of getting things done. I think this week has been fairly successful as far as pushing ideas and being fully proud of the result.

Next week we have just our newsletter due and a few rough checkpoints. And after that it's already reading week! Although I'll just bet working at the school all of reading week haha.

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Wrapping my head around things

This week has been busy. Our labels for the alcohol packaging are due this week and its been pretty busy trying to keep up to that checkpoint as well as all the other ones in class. Sometimes I get so exhausted from working at school all day and night that when I get home I just crash and do it all over again. Honestly, sometimes it really hard. But I try to stay positive. My alcohol label is based around urban legends. I wanted to create each bottle as a different urban legend and make this project really illustrative for myself. I don't have a lot of illustration in my portfolio yet and I definitely want to be able to showcase that. It is all coming together fairly nicely. Hopefully by next week I could post the final product! Other than that my week has just been focused on that. Checkpoints after checkpoints. There's tons more this week too. Looking forward to reading week though!! The countdown is on!

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Getting Ahead

This is always my mind set when I'm doing school work. I am always trying to be ahead of the game. It never happens but at least I think that way and strive toward it. It's hard to get ahead when projects and inspiration is always coming at you.

This week was really good for collecting knowledge. We learned so much more as far as coding goes, and I feel so much more confident with it. I also learned a little more about motion graphics and for my weekly illustration I decided to really challenge myself (posted below).

My alcohol packaging is on it's way too. I'm glad I sorted out the confusing with that one because I thought the whole package, and a series of bottles was due in two weeks. But it's really only one label, so that saved me A LOT of time! So now I am a little ahead in that case.

As far as inspiration for the week goes, I looked back into a few magazines I had and saw one that a lot of people don't know about. It's called Warward Arts Magazine (link below), and every issue features a collection of illustrators based around a story. I love this idea and have considered fully subscribing to them. I truly love their work. Check it out below. For next week I hope to be still just as on track as this week. I'm really excited for all this illustrating coming up!

My Weekly Illustration this week

Here are a few illustrations from Wayward Magazine. ENJOY!

http://www.waywardarts.ca/

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New Beginnings

Back from the holidays and it feels like I never left. Already beginning this semester I feel like I have learned more than I did all of last semester. We have began to learn coding which actually seems a lot more straight forward than I thought. It is interesting to see how all of that works considering a week ago it looked like a foreign language to me, but already one week later I picked up on it like it was second nature. This semester seems to be filled with more interactive design and web based media. I am excited to learn more about this area within the graphic design industry because this is the stuff I know nothing about. Already we have learned how to make GIFS and how to code a basic website, so I am excited to see where this semester will take me.

A week ago today we returned from a trip to New York City. This was the second time I went to New York City and I can say that this time it was much better than the first. We experienced so many amazing parts of the city and I couldn't have asked for a better group of people to share it with. Some things we did include: The Kelly and Michael Show, The David Letterman Show, Pentagram design agency, Sterling Brands design agency, The Rockefeller Centre, SOHO shopping, Upper Westside Brunch, MoMA, Museum of Natural History, The Met (gift shop), Central Park, and the list goes on. The amount of opportunity in that city is so inspiring me to and I can honestly say that I would love to be able to live and work there as a successful graphic designer. There is just something so honest and welcoming about that city that really intrigues me and makes me feel like I belong.

Below are a bunch of photos and personal drawings that I have collected over the past week that really sum up how great the beginning of this year has been.

Great company

Pentagram Design Studio

Central Park

Architecture

Street Art

MoMA sculptures

Below are my illustrations beginning for our weekly illustration assignment. The theme this time is "school photos". Here are my first two entires.

Principal

Art Teacher

2015 has so far proven to be a great year and I can't wait to see where the rest will take me. There is so much to look forward to.

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The Bigger Picture

I think sometimes people forget about the bigger picture. I find a lot of the time people get caught up in the same routine. Repeating themselves and not progressing in any way. Just stuck in a loop. They focus on tiny little details of a bigger way of thinking—getting caught up in little issues and forgetting about what the true meaning of something is. I think that it's a great reminder to stop and think. Think about the outcome, think about the purpose, think about why. A lot of the time people forget about the reasons why something is the way it is, or why someone is acting the way they are. But in the grand scheme of things, do tiny little problems really matter? Sure it makes life more bearable to get through but really they end up just becoming annoyances. To be honest I just don't understand why everyone just doesn't look at the big picture. Why they insist on complaining about irrelevant issues, or nit pick such minuscule issues. Why can't we all just stop picking on people. Lets just all relax and truly think about what matters—what truthfully matters to you. Stop worrying about what other people are doing, stop worrying what other people think. Just focus on your goals and outcomes. You'll be a far better person and excel past the people who are focusing on the details. Open your mind.

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Interstellar

Honestly I don't even know how to explain this movie. I couldn't ruin it even if I tried. It was so complex and on a whole other level of psychological thriller. I have so much respect for Christopher Nolan. To start, the visuals. Being in the visual communication industry, this movie was so appealing. It would have been appealing if it was muted the whole time. I mean space is probably the coolest thing you could visual represent so maybe I have a biased opinion in that sense. Second, the concept. I have never seen the idea of time travel explained this way. It was really mind bending. It made me really think and question a lot of things. Going into the movie, I was exhausted from the busy week I had, but by half way through the movie, I was wide awake. I won't spoil anything, but just believe me when I saw it was INSANE. Lastly, the cast. About a year ago I didn't care about Matthew McConaughey. He was a type casted actor who really didn't hit home for me with any role. However, last year he was in the movie Dallas Buyers Club and that role was one of the best performances I have ever seen from an actor. The emotion behind his character was so intense that I felt it myself. So going into this movie, I had high expectations—and he really nailed them. Anne Hathaway was another actress who was just kind of...there. But seeing her in Les Mis really showed me her skill set. These two actors together was phenomenal. I can't get over it. This movie has been on my mind for the past week now and I can't seem to forget about it. I truly suggest for everyone to go see it. You will not be disappointed. (Also don't let the three hour time span turn you away, its so compelling you literally feel lost in time.)

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I'm Alex Stoddard, a 20 year old fine art photographer living and working in the Los Angeles area. www.alex-stoddard.com alexbstoddard@yahoo.com

On the topic of photographers, here is another one that has inspired me for years. I think what inspires me the most out of these two is the fact that they are around my age yet creating work that's truly memorable and beautiful. The emotional impact their pieces has on me truly connects on a deeper level and I feel as though they have captured thoughts in their work that I have wanted to express. Alex is an up and coming photographer as well—creating similar moody photos as AJ Coley. Again, I love the surrealist nature to them, keeping with monochromatic scenes, or dark and eerie colours. Even the photoshop skill set is phenomenal. Sometimes I cant even tell whats real and what is fake. I think theres a beauty in that. The boundary between real and illusion. Check out some of his work on his flickr!!! Be sure to scroll through all of it. His earlier work is pretty awesome as well. Here are a few of my favourites:

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My name is A.J. I'm 21 years old. For limited edition prints, please contact me at ajcoley10@gmail.com

Back in 2010 I found this amazing young photographer who goes by the name "AJ Coley". His work truly inspired me. He is one of the main reasons why I took photography courses in highschool, and further expanded my creative work. Is surrealist look at the world through dark imagery really resonated with my style. I find his photos have a very real feel to them — focusing on one subject and really pulling back the emotions through the eyes. The textures he uses in the photos are beautiful as well. As well his depth of field varies, which I like. Sometimes I find some photographers get stuck with either a short depth of field or long depth of field and cant seem to break that routine.  Check out his work and be sure to follow him! If you dont have a flickr accound here is his tumblr. Its more of a inspirational tumblr for himself but nonetheless still great stuff to look at! tumblr: http://ajcoley.tumblr.com/ Here are some of my favourites:

(Some of my other favourites won't link because he has them copyrighted so BE SURE TO CHECK OUT THE LINK!!!) Cheers!

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Is anything original?

Originality is hard to measure. I think in todays' day and age it is hard to be 100% original. It seems as though everything has been seen and done. I can't even explain the amount of times myself or a class mate has come across work that either I did or another classmate did and a few weeks later say debatably the same thing. So how do we beat this? I think one way to beat this is to take major risks. Do something insane. the computer is an outlet, but don't let it be your only one. You were born with two hands that are fully capable to creating things, so why not use them? Another way is to stop looking online right away. If someone gives you an assignment for a nature magazine, don't go online and type in "nature magazine". Nature is literally right outside your door so why wouldn't you just GO OUTSIDE. Design isn't a computer, its a mind. your mind is capable of more than you even know, so push yourself, push your thoughts, and push your talents. It'll pay off in the end.

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Design Thinkers 2014

This was my very first Design Thinkers and may I just say I did not expect that. This was quite honestly the most inspirational time of my life. Granted I only went on the Friday, I can't even fully explain the experience. Every speaker influenced me in a different way. My favourite speech was most definitely Jessica Walsh. She is such an amazing and inspirational young talent and her work proves that. A few weeks ago I linked her Behance so I would definitely suggest checking that out if you haven't. Her speech was all about creative play and how playing creatively has proven to increase productivity and results within designs. And of course after her speech I had to give her a standing ovation. After being such an inspiration for myself for this long, there was no way I wasn't going to stand for her talent. Afterwards we lucked out. As we were walking to get our coats we saw her standing near by talking to a couple people. So we waited. I told her how much of an inspiration she is for myself and how much I appreciated her work, and her speech. She is very down to earth and so humble it felt like I had known her for years. I still cannot fathom that I got to speak with her. My second favourite speech was from world renowned Erik Spiekermann  when he said: "Life is too short to kern." which I think is a valid point. Overall this was such an amazing experience and I cannot wait until Design Thinkers 2015. 

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A little bit of cutest on this Halloween Day. YY design creates space bugs living in jars. Sometimes you just have to do what you want. Check out their tumblr for more great illustrations. http://yoyothericecorpse.tumblr.com/

and some favourites from their tumblr...

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Sometimes you have to ignore the brief, says renowned designer and artist Paula Scher. With a dry wit, Scher takes us behind-the-scenes on four landmark proj...

Paula Scher is a design celebrity. Winning numerous awards, her efforts can be seen everywhere. Here is a 20 minute video basically just outlining major works that she has done. If you don't want to watch the whole thing here is the breakdown: 0:44 - Making an identity for The High Line  2:33 - Mike Bloomberg, 9/11, and the new mayor. "This thing could begin to be serious" 3:53 - Making "crappolla" to make The High Line real while raising money 5:34 - "Until we broke ground I was never convinced it would happen. It sounded like it was too much money and too much work." 6:27 - Doing MoMa's identity 7:08 - Usually after a fancy rebranding, it falls apart. How she avoided that with MoMa 8:44 - The importance of a consistent template when dealing with clients 10:06 - Sometimes it's not the design it's the people. 10:20 - Designing the logo for Northside, Pittsburgh 11:31 - Landmarks over logos. "I didn't want to do something for free that I thought was dumb." 12:20 - Re-imagining the Northside overpass 13:33 - Sometimes just ignore the brief 13:50 - Designing Metropolitan High School  15:40 - Taking the beige out of schools 17:32 - Straddling between design and art. Design has a purpose, art does now. 19:00 - "We're not proofreading that, that's art!" She is truly someone to look up to, and her charisma is hilarious. Also if you want to see her live make sure you sign up for design thinkers happening in two weeks! Paula is going to be a speaker this year and I bet she will have amazing things to say. Check it out!