A project to resume.

It's been over two years since I started a really exciting project involving line art. I hadn't had the opportunity to mention it in any of my posts before, so I decided that today was the day.

I've been working with Dr. Alan Sandstrom and his wife, Pamela Sandstrom in the production of line drawings of their sacred cut-paper figure collection from an Aztec Indian Village in México [created for curing and crop-fertility rituals by indigenous ritual specialists in the Huasteca region of eastern Mexico]. These adorable and intricate paper cut figures will become part of an extended collection in a nationally recognized library. This is definitely a meaningful project which I am really excited to be part of.

I had the opportunity to meet Dr. Alan Sandstrom back in 2009, after his book Corn is Our Blood had been accepted for translation by Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Superiores en Antropologia Social in Mexico. I helped with the generation of line drawings of pre-existing pieces for the book through University Relations and Communications at IPFW. The experience was exciting and challenging -- it was the first time I had to work with line art of such nature!
I never imagined that such experience would transcend and impact my career in such great way.
Although, I had to put this project on hold due to the hectic semester I had with my senior project, I'm glad that it will soon resume and will give me a bit more variety during my creative day.
And while I cannot post any of the actual work in this blog without asking Dr. Sandstrom first, I can share the translated book I received in the mail last year, El maíz es nuestra sangre. It was such a surprise and honor to find my name within the credits in the book!

I don't know what life has in store for me, but I believe that if I embrace every single opportunity I come across with passion, dedication, and optimism, whatever that is, will make me really satisfied.

portfolio-website... a work in process.

It's a happy feeling to see my portfolio-website finally taking form.
The design for all the navigation is pretty much done, but going live is what is taking so long...  Hurray for CSS :)

wrapped up

I've been struggling with the design of my future portfolio-website for the last couple of months... Sometimes I get so wrapped up in an idea that I forget the most basic principle....

l e s s    i s    m  o r e 

[ period ]

txt n drive!

I never thought I would be promoting texting and driving... The idea sounds scary, but the challenge for such concept is something to be exciting about. I am having fun with this project already.  And no, I haven't started to text while driving as part of my research!

Here is the first draft for the logo.

My idea is to create a logo that conveys the texting concept right away. The talk bubbles are icons that people associate with conversation right away and by incorporating the texting lingo in them I believe I make my point clearly: Text and Drive people!


After the first logo was selected, the whole PSA campaign looks like this:

Direct Mail. Flat size: 14 x 5 inches. Finish size: 7 x 5 inches.

Billboard.

Newspaper Ad.

Magazine Ad.

Website (Home).

Website (About).

Theater Department Poster

Excited about this project... An illustration for the University's theater department.
I couldn't wait to post a snippet!

More to come...

As it is the case with the blog design. I felt like doing some 'cleaning' around!

Indie one-o-seven

What have I been doing lately?
...Having fun with logo/brand identity!

Making of a sketchbook

Something that one should know about a creative mind is that there are always several projects going on around us and a million more going on in our head.

I want to make my own sketch book this time -- the ones I've had in the past are plain, dull, empty, prosaic...
I want to build a more efficient sketchbook. One that will dare me to open it and once it's open, will inspire me and get me going. Is this expectation for a sketchbook too high?

So far, I have the color palette I'd like to incorporate within this sketchbook. I know that once started, it will continue to change...

Identity - try one...

I was asked to create a business card for a brand new business. The challenge is not the business card itself, but the creation of their logo.
It's a good thing I've started my GD III class. It promisses a lot of logo design and brand identity content.
First mockup/idea as follows... Colors are a must - client really likes blue and as far as the square format, still in discussion.

Texturizing...

Some textures I will be working with pretty soon... It's hard to decide for one, and sometimes I feel like using them all... More details about this special project soon.

Looking at them all together made me realize... I do like flowers!!!

Lazy summer

I started to feel bad about the lazy summer I am having (in terms of design creation), so I opted for updating this almost-forgotten blog. I think the new look is fresh, I'm pretty happy with the change. I plan on keeping it up to date from now on; no matter how insignificant the event might seem, it will be recorded here.

We'll be having the last FPU meeting on Tuesday. I am bringing some chocolate flan and the following two-sided cards along with it -- who knows, if the flan gets to be a hit, I might get some business going! Click on the pictures to see them bigger.

. . . After working on this post for a while and as I was doing my regular search for inspiration, I came across this 101 Cookbooks site that I found absolutely inspiring... I really think this is something I would love to do one day! 

Sketching... Was I meant for it?

I've been trying so hard...
Sketching frustrates me!... It should be my number one tool when designing though...
My attempt at sketching a cartoon strip that narrates what I did during spring break:

I wish I had done more drawing when I was a little girl...
The only memory I have is the one when my classmate -- which lived just a couple of blocks from my house, came over to draw with me. We would sit on top of a rusty car or on the sidewalk across street. We drew for a while, mostly cartoon-looking people from our text books... I remember being good. What happened?



Finished piece.

Covering up an empty wall...

Some time ago I read an article about how popular wall decals (shapes of vinyl applied to a wall) were becoming. I visited the website that this article referred to, and found out how easy was to decorate an empty wall -- and how pricy it could also be.

I thought about it for a while -- how nice it would be to do something similar. One day, as I looked at one of my empty walls I thought about it again, so I ran to the basement, grabbed the left over paint from a few months ago when I decided to get rid of the icky-yucky green color on my dining room, mixed it up, and started to paint.

It's been about two weeks now and I haven't touched the project since then... 

I got a message in my inbox today as if it was reminding me... I need to go back and work on it. 

Vinilismo

The Making of a Portfolio - Day One

Portfolio Review is in three weeks and even though I'm starting to freak out and I can feel the beautiful pressure already, I also feel confident I can pull this one off.
Although, it wouldn't be accurate if I count this as day number one of such process. I started this portfolio since day number one of this semester, when I had an idea. I had the idea of making my own custom-sized portfolio case and, so I will adventure to do it. Thus, this is day number one of production -- I've bought part of the materials (matboard, chipboard, cover paper, glue and a very handy cutting board) and will start tracing the case template pretty soon.
...stay tuned...

Team logo/mascot assignment...

It might be that I am longing for spring... It might be that it's just the beginning of semester and I haven't quite gotten the rhythm. Whatever the reason, the first assignment for illustration III class is giving me a headache!
Here a little snippet to release some frustration...

getting there...

[UPDATE Feb.2.10]  After a few days of work, here the final piece...

What would I do differently?...  

His right wing would probably look better if it was down as his left one is. I would definitely add some character to those skies, perhaps a cool design on the bottom or a nice reflection on one of them. I'm sure I'll go back and improve it in the future, but for now it was a good start for illustration.

From Here to There

I just found this work-in-progres piece in my broken flash drive. Done last spring in my GD II class, which turned out to be a somewhat deceptive one...
Portfolio review will be happening in a couple of months and I can only wonder if this is worth of showing?