brushing the virtual dust off this thing...

I can't believe how hard it is to do something, like update a blog, consistently. I just got distracted with other things, mainly laziness and I kind of hit a point where it felt like every creative fiber of my being died- and I didn't do anything to revive it... BUT! I want to revive it now! Maybe something can be spared and I can still do semi-awesome to amazing work. But I'm taking it slow, if I can figure out how to take care of myself then I can stop getting in the way of my own design process.

So I don't really have anything new I designed to show, but I got this cool letterpress app (well parts of it are actually a pain) but I thought I would share that today. Not super exciting, but you have to start somewhere!

Well, that's really the only one worth showing, but I will get more work going later. I do enjoy this digital letterpress, even if it is a bit odd, I mean people love the old fashioned way so much, and yet some app designer still tried to digitalize it. weird, and cool, and I'm tired! Good bye!

Some more work

I don't really have much to say. This week has been rather uneventful. I continue to work on my BFA portfolio, but I did get quite a bit more done on my self portrait. I hope you guys enjoy it.

And please feel free to leave comments about it- I could really use a good critique!

A bit of Progress

I did promise in my last post that I would post the work on my self portrait today, and I was about ready to get in bed (lame I know, but waking up at 3 AM everyday of the week begins to catch up with me by Fridays, so lame I will be) but a promise is a promise, right?

So, without further ado, my (less than fantastic, but proof I haven't died and really am working on stuff)
self portrait

The general idea is that my head is swinging open on a hinge from my silhouette, but somehow I can't get it to look right. (in this particular image, I haven't quite finished the side of my face/ mask bit, but progress continues. So if anyone has any ideas on how I can make this suck less, I would really greatly appreciate it. Feel free to leave comments to your hearts content, and they can even be critical as long as you back it up. A simple, "This sucks!" Is not very helpful for anyone involved.

Also, if anyone knows anything about bad RAM on macs and how deadly that is to my computer, I would love to know what to do about it as my poor computer has started making these really terrible alarming beeps.

Anyway, enjoy life, live, love, be happy :) and don't die

Something for a very special friend

This is a bit more, and by that I mean a LOT more, of a personal post today. Just some things I was thinking about. For instance, why did I start this blog? Where is this new found energy to push through the crap in my life coming from? Why do I feel like it'll ever be worth it?

I owe a lot of who I am to some really important people in my life- my mom, who taught me to go after what I want and not let anyone get in the way, my sisters, who support me all the time, all of my art teachers who have pushed me over the years to really stretch my work and grow as an artist, and the friends who are consistently there for me to just be my friends, and I'm theirs. Another really constant source of love and support would definitely be the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and I am quite grateful to be. Living the Gospel has given me a sense of direction, of peace, and comfort. It has given me more strength to overcome things than I never would have been able to on my own. One thing that I've really needed help with was adjusting to the death of a dear friend.

It had happened quite unexpectedly, and for me it was the first time someone that close to me had died. I mean, I had just talked to her a few weeks before. Anyway, it was really hard. While she was still sick in the hospital I went up with some friends to wait with and support her family through this. We spent the whole day up there and it all just felt so unreal. I don't really remember too much about the hospital, I was distracted by my own thoughts, but there was a quote on a photo by Maya Angelou saying:

People will not always remember what you said or what you did, but they will always remember how you made them feel.

And then I got to work sketching out the quote, I worked on it nonstop until I finished it.

I felt it really summed up how I understood things. In the short time I knew her and we became friends, I couldn't recall every joke we ever shared together or every movie we ever watched or every time I did something crazy and made her laugh, but I do remember how very close she was to my heart, how just being around her made me strive to do better, how she exuded virtue and goodness and joy, and how it only ever made me want to be my best self.

Anyway, here is the poster I made on behalf of my great friend.

A simple type poster (and a lot of ramblings)

Have you ever been so busy it felt quite like you never stopped moving, running, panicking and screaming for about three weeks straight? Have you ever really found yourself with no time and seemingly impossible amounts of work and stress and yet are still expected to get through?

That is how my last few weeks have been.

Then there is that beautiful, yet usually much too brief moment, where everything thing finally slows down enough for you to not suffocate and you realize you made it through it!

That is the best feeling ever.

And then you realize that nothing ever actually stops and there will always be more crap headed your way and really the adult and wise thing to do is to realize it, accept it and overcome it... every single time. And somehow it all becomes worth it.

I may have had a really long break. But now I can't stand it anymore. I feel quite numb over most things and my life has felt really unfulfilled as I do the bare minimum. It feels like for the past week or so all I've done is work and sleep. No social, no good food, no people, and it has drained me of creative energy. BUT NO MORE!

Today I fight back, I seek out inspiration and let it fill my soul! I will continue to create, to improve, to accept criticism where it may be and learn from it. I will grow, and nothing on the earth will stop me again!




So speaking of creating stuff. I'm working on a self-portrait. I know, those can be kind of boring, but I really wanted to do some self-exploration. So I've got an idea, and I will post the progress next Friday, so keep your eyes peeled for it.

Just as an update, I'm also planning on applying to the Bachelor of Fine Arts program for BYU in August. So a lot of my time is going into touching up and perfecting old projects, but be patient. That does mean that soon you will be overloaded with amazing perfected projects of awesomeness! It is coming! Right now, beside the self-portrait I'm working on, I'm redoing a magazine project and I hope to knock some socks off with it's awesomeness!


Wow.. this is way to long. Let me leave you with a finished(ish) project. My Didot type posters. It was just to show off the characteristics of the typeface Didot.

Anyway, stay tuned for that self portrait!

Long time, no writing... :(

So, I'm sad to report that even with the near 2 month hiatus from this blog, I still don't have much to add. But you cannot possibly believe how busy I've been! Really, the end of this semester was a big ugly nightmare and I'm so glad it's over! Now I'll get back to making cool stuff and posting it for readers to read.. If anyone still reads this.

So really, the point of this post is to let you know I'm still alive and to look forward to seeing something awesome this week!

Learning to not hate computers

I have this issue with technology- It has a personal vendetta against me. ALL technology. I tend to have really rotten luck with really simply things. We have an electric scrubber at work that we use for- You guessed it! Scrubbing floors. It's really not that difficult to operate, but somehow I always break it. I remember when I got my first cell phone, I was completely dumbfounded, I mean, a phone, but it's also a CAMERA??? It blew my mind! I'm just beginning to recover from such astonishing work. Really.

I mentioned last time that I can be a graphic designer who doesn't like computers. I will not be ruled by them, though. After all it's just a tool. Back in middle school I made a personal rule that I would never let tools rule my life. It's a pretty grand rule, then it applied to guys, now it applies to guys and to computers.

Anyway! I had to take this intro computer apps class last semester. The purpose of this class was to learn to make computers your friend- particularly in learning the Adobe Creative Suite, and I must say, I actually learned a buttload of useful info, and now no longer despise my mac. So for this post I thought it would be fun to include two projects from that class. Because I can tell you as much as I want that I am now proficient in those programs, but it will be much more effective to just show you.

So, here is the first assignment from that class- we were to spell our name using the pen tool. I chose a theme of what I ate for lunch

Pretty hideous right? In case you can't tell, it was supposed to be grapes, a banana, a spoon, and one sad lonely spaghetti noodle in some sauce.

For the final project, we designed a poster for an event of our choosing. I decided Matt & Kim concert that was going on would be perfect! (I have a healthy obsession for that band, as well as Dr. Who, and I owe both of these healthy obsessions to my freshman roommate, Michelle.)

Pretty awesome, huh?

Well I hope you enjoyed the random ramblings and artwork of this weeks post. This is just the beginning and it only gets better from here, so enjoy!