Warm Weather Knits

It is finally getting really, predictably warm outside now, hooray! That apparently didn't stop me from doodling something that looked a little bit like a chunky cable knit sweater...

So I tried something new to add a little color.

I thought these would make some fun cards, etc.

I may end up printing and hanging them in our new basement. What do you think?

You're Invited to DIY

The wedding DIY project that I'm most proud of was our invitations. It's not that I'm picky (yes I am), but I scoured all the usual websites and Etsy and couldn't find anything I really loved. Having someone else design them... so not in our budget. So I decided to design them myself.

Starting with the save the date, we took some beautiful photos that Kevin had taken of the barn where we held our reception and Photoshopped them into something really personal. The background is a repeatable burlap texture and we picked a free font.

When we started thinking about the invites I wanted them to look pretty similar to the save the date. I used the same background and font but just took a different photo from Kevin's collection. I made a simple gingham for the RSVP postcard. 

On the back of the invite, I used a blue-washed photo of us. I thought it was a fun surprise for the back and just made it that much more personal.

For the back of the RSVP, we really wanted to be snarky. Kevin also designed a block print fence which a scanned and added in.

I highly recommend DIY-ing invites if you have even a little Photoshop know-how. I'm definitely not an expert. We printed about 50 of each item for about $120 all told on Zazzle. Overall, I was really glad we went this route!

Help! I'm drowning!

Hi Blog! Long time no type-y. That's because I'm currently in communications plan HELL. I'm used to whipping out a couple slides or a couple pages of strategies and BOOM plan done. The plan I'm working on for my grad school capstone project is running at 56 pages. It's gross. Like, disgusting.

Anyways, my favorite part is that I get to slap together a couple creative materials to support which means I got to fire up the Photoshop again. As I've mentioned before, my client is the NOAA Office of Aquaculture.

Flyer for "Science Night" Event

Above is a flyer/ad for an event. Below is the beginnings of a flyer to help explain where farmed-fish comes from (it's so complicated).

Brochure Front (not quite finished)

Brochure Back

So hopefully I won't go completely bonkers (I'm close, trust me). And hopefully these pretty materials will earn me some good creativity points. Sooo, anyone want to proof-read 56 THRILLING pages for me?

Block Printing Take One

As previously noted, I recently purchased some supplies to try out linoleum block printing. Let me tell you, I'm more of an instant gratification person so block printing seemed like a good alternative to screen printing. Not that screen printing is necessarily hard... but there's lots of steps... and waiting. I have no patience for those things. Linoleum block printing basically has three steps: 1. carve 2. ink 3. press and DONE! The carving was the hardest part and ended in me stabbing my fingers with the pokey-carvey-tool (technical term) more than I care to admit.

So here's what I made...

This was the basic block and the first attempt. After this I cleaned up the relief a bit with the carving-scraping-finger-poking tool. Then I started experimenting with some patterns and different color inks...

Kevin also got in on the block printing action. He was determined to make his first attempt as hipster as possible. He plans to make other prints including mustaches, birds and plaid shirts. Isn't his bike so cute?!

Have you ever tried block printing? Are you clumsy like me and stab you fingers 43 times? Would you admit it if you did? Stay tuned for part two when I scan these suckers in and play with them in Photoshop. Oooo. It's gonna be excitin' y'all.

Hot Like the Weather

No shocker for anyone here in the D.C. area but it was ridiculously hot today. And that's saying something because I grew up in Florida where most summer days are pretty blazing. Needless to say, we spent a lot of time inside so I made some new patterns.

What do you think about the colors? I picked them with Adobe Kuler. Also, I drew the original flower shape with pen and paper before scanning. I think I'm learning that that's just easier for me than drawing straight onto the tablet.

Flowers have really been inspiring me lately so I've been doing a lot of flowers Snarky Beagle-style (since I honestly couldn't draw a flower that looked real to save my life). Have a great weekend everyone. Stay cool!

Digital Bailey Print

So here's my first fully-digital pattern. I drew the shapes on a tablet directly in the software and manipulated/colored it from there. Wooooo. Kind of a biggish step from this or this. Here's a higher-res version that looks less grainy. Thoughts? Feedback? Could you see this on fabric?!

Infographic: People LOVE Movies

Here's an infographic I made for a class presentation this week. The assignment was to do in-depth interviews for communications research on Netflix. I was dorkily excited to put my Photoshop skillz (the "z" makes it real) to good use. If I hadn't left it to the night before it was due, I probably would have polished it a bit more but I was really proud of the end result. 

Important to note is the little logo I did for our fake PR/Research agency, Lemon Communications. My team decided since I missed class while in Scotland that they'd nickname me Lemon (like Liz Lemon, har har). So when it was time to pick a group name, Lemon Communications was a clear choice. I said that was fine as long as I was the boss :o)

All joking aside, they were a really great group to work with and we pretty much knocked it out of the park. Go Team Lemon!

Try Try Again

Hey look! I made a pattern that doesn't require squinting! I found instructions for pattern-ing it up in Photoshop as opposed to my last attempt when I tried to do it by hand. It wasn't pretty.

I get dork-ily excited when I figure out how to do something on my own. I know this is a little busy and there's definitely more to come as I keep teaching myself, but yaaaay.

Illustration Friday: Lesson

"Things always turn out ok sometimes." I said this once when I was breaking up with someone. I've drawn things with this statement before because it's really how I feel about some things... which seems like a great lesson. 

The drawing is pencil on notebook paper. I have a relationship with school supplies that is a little over the top. I'm also experimenting with the different brushes in Photoshop. I love how it looks like oil pastels.

Oh Hello Color

Here are some more designs with added color. I'm really not sure why I find this so exciting but every time I've gone back to a black and white design and clicked that little paint bucket tool in Photoshop, I'm thrilled to see the result. It's never quite what I expected. 

I hate these color separately but I love them together. Here's the black and white version. 

I called this one "Flaming Chicken." Here's the black and white original. There are larger versions of both color versions on my Flickr as well. 

Only sometimes...

Response 6: Summer Colors

So this is really my LAST last post for class. My classmate Jonathan made a post about how much he's looking forward to summer and I have to say, "ME TOO!" 

As I mentioned in the last post, I've recently discovered the wonder of color-izing my old black and white designs in Photoshop. I knew there was a reason I had been saving all these high-resolution scans. Here's one...

Here's the black and white version. I had originally named it "Chlorine," because it reminds me of the way the sunlight hits the bottom of a swimming pool (a very summer-y thought). Here's another one that was originally called "Rivers" but adding the green really made me realize how much it looks like growing grass or uncurling ferns.

Anyways, adding fantastic colors to these designs will be keeping me busy for a while I'm sure. What do you think? Better than the originals?

Week 13: The Moral of the Story

It seems we've come to the part of the show/semester where I get to talk about what I learned. Not to get all mushy about it, but being forced to blog for class was probably the best thing that's ever happened to this blog. It not only forced me to practice my writing, but also to stretch my design skills. 

The above illustration is a good example. I took an old ink drawing from forever ago and digitally colored and manipulated it in Photoshop, something I've never done before for some reason. Before this semester, I was sort of in a lull on the creative/doodling front, but this has forced me to make time and to WANT to make time to create new things. 

I've really remembered how much I love drawing and designing. I've been flattered by friends, co-workers and classmates who have commented in person, on Facebook and here. 

So the moral of the story is that I'm going to keep it up even if it's challenging to find time. As was the case in the beginning of the semester, I'm still not really sure where I go from here with these weird doodles... I'm not quittin' my day job as they say. But, maybe someday :o)

Thanks and stay tuned!

It's all mine and you can't have it

It's alllll miiinnneeee. Mwhahahaha. Ok, that was weird. Sorry, this is what happens to my brain on a Friday afternoon when the weather is beautiful and I'm stuck inside a 6'x6' windowless box. Happy Friday!

Week 6: Kuler Than You

This week in class we're discussing how niche websites and communities (i.e. not Facebook) influence our blogs. I feel like this is a perfect opportunity to share one of my favorite time wasters EVER: Adobe Kuler. I was introduced to this massive time sink by a graphic artist at work. Ironic?

The tool is a color palette creator that helps you find beautiful colors that look perfect together, and it's free! I find it so inspiring to play around with and think of the colors on my blog or website, in a design, in my living room or all of the above. You can even export your colors into Adobe products like this student edition of Photoshop I have been craving (PLEASE, someone just give me one more reason I neeeeed this).

So you're probably wondering what this has to do with social media. Adobe Kuler also offers a lot of community resources for graphic artists and designers. Kuler gives users the ability to save, share, tag and comment on color combinations (Spicy Chicken anyone?) which creates a whole community just around design. Users can favorite and follow specific users if they find their color soul mate (hello, Blue Crush are we MFEO?). You can import photos from Flickr to help you pick colors and there are even forums where designers can share their creations.

By integrating social tools into their free product, Adobe has created a community for their users and fans who are passionate about design. Now that's a smart social media strategy.