ElefantaSprout

I've Moved!

2010-10-26T02:15:00.002-04:00

Hi all, you should be automatically redirected to my new blog URL however, if you have a blocker you may not have. No worries! You can find me at www.theelefanta.com/blog.

See you there!

Ramen Masala

2010-10-24T17:30:00.003-04:00

I am a Jill of many traits. And on this post I'm imparting a recipe I've created that that is so cheap but soooo good. And aside from the fact that it's cheap, it not too bad to eat considering the way I've revised the way you prepare the ramen.

What you'll need:
1 package Ramen (I get Top Ramen Oriental flavor because it's the only ramen free of any animal products.)
1t Curry (I use wayyy more but I think one would suffice for normal people)
1/2t Coriander
1/2t Cayenne
1/4t Ginger
1/4t Cumin
1/4t Garam Masala
1/4t Tumeric
Ground Pepper
Salt (I use a special brand that has half the sodium of traditional salt)

What you need to do:
Traditional Ramen preparation: Boil the water, add the ramen and turn heat down to low. Let it cook for 3 minutes. Now here comes the fun part. I usually drain 3/4 of my water out of the pot to make the flavor stronger. Then add the spices and ONLY 1/4 of the seasoning packet. This not only cuts down on the calories but the sodium by 3/4! Heyyyoooo Awesome right? Now just mix it up, pour that puppy in a bowl and add salt and pepper as needed :) BON APPETITE!

I hope you enjoy that recipe as much as I do, and now I'll leave you with this adorable photo of Roscoe, snug as a bug on five layers of blankets!

Meatless Mondays

2010-10-13T14:45:00.004-04:00

I recently finished up a campaign assignment for school. The assignment was to think of an issue or cause important to you and create an ad/awareness campaign for it. I chose the topic of the extremely eco-unfriendly beef industry.

Yes, I am a vegetarian, however, this campaign wasn't about trying to get others to stop eating meat. My goal concepting this campaign was simply to raise awareness of the amount of damage the beef industry has on the world through land usage, water usage and gas production. And being that my target audience was meat eaters, I had to think of a way to get their attention. One path has been taken by PETA, the in-your-face "Meat is Murder" idea. I don't believe that is effective on anyone who doesn't already think that.

I was referred to a website called Meatless Monday which is a movement attempting to simply REDUCE the amount of meat eaten to better aid human health and the health of the planet overall. This is where my whole campaign took flight. I partnered up Meatless Monday and the North American Vegetarian Society (since I think most people won't even listen to what PETA has to say at this point) and created the following campaign:

To best reach the demographic, a guerrilla campaign concept placing maroon "beef shirts" packaged similarly to products in the meat isle as a free give-away and attention getter.

Faux label to further blend in with the meat products on top of clear saranwrap. Copy gives reader a explanation of Meatless Mondays and their mission as well as some brief facts on why the beef industry is harmful.

Detail of the T-Bone tag.

Shirt among the beef products. Can you spot it? Hahah (it's a bit of a Where's Waldo!) Thanks to my roommate for being my accomplice on this photo shoot mission to Kroger.

To reach parts of our demographic that eat meat but may not be shopping at the grocer or are younger, Meatless Monday teams up with American Apparel to produce limited time "Beef Shirts" sold at their retail locations. This is a print ad featuring "The Beef Shirt" to be run in magazines like Nylon and Print.

Deli isle pull for further demographic-contact. An item normally thrown away is now easily able to slip in the consumer's pocket so they may visit the website when they're home.

It's important when attempting to change behavioral patterns to give that person a helpful alternative. Here is a small book of meatless recipes that are all fairly easy to make. This book is available to order through MeatlessMonday.com for free and shipped through the mail.

A simple layout, loose illustrations and hand-done typography keep Meatless Mondays friendly in the mind of the meat eater.

There were two other ads in this campaign that I will revisit during winter break. I think the booklet could use some work as well, color tweaks to relate a little better to the heavy maroon feeling of the beef shirt is something I'm considering. As always, I love feedback and critique!

Weekend of Updates and Loves

2010-10-05T01:42:00.004-04:00

Painted the not-so-sunny-sun-room. (Finally)

Great shot of the sun shining in the living room around 4pm.

Roscoe taking it easy on my/his bed. New lamp shades!

I love the storage/drawer bench my dad build for me. It's the most functional piece in my room at the moment.

I purchased some more of the same hardware I got for my armour for my dresser. Much more elegant now me thinks!

Poor Roscoe had to go to the vet this weekend and got two shots, an ear cleaning, hair trim, nail trim then another shot for a possible allergic reaction all in one visit! He was such a big boy about it, we went to Pet People and got him a new toy. To my surprise, it's still intact and he seems to love it.

Isn't he cute?? (say yes if you know what's good for you. just kidding, but no, really.)

ElefantaSprout on Design*Sponge!

2010-09-16T16:10:00.003-04:00

Thanks to Design*Sponge for featuring my kitchen back splash on their Before and After category. Thanks a bunch!

Bedroom gets a feminine facelift

2010-08-29T11:47:00.005-04:00

I recently decided to get a new roommate which meant moving all my stuff out of the small bedroom upstairs I've been using as a walk-in closet and consolidate it all into the room on the first floor. This room has no closet and is already pretty small so I knew I was going to have to be crafty to get all the things I wanted in this room while still being functional and maintaining an eye pleasing look. Being that the walls are already a dark charcoal gray I decided to sell my dark wood dresser and get a smaller white dresser from Ikea. Also, I needed somewhere to hang my clothes that can't be folded. I found a nice solution in white, also from Ikea. I didn't have a bed frame yet so while I was there, I picked up this cute little number. Nice and cheap and simple lines. Also a light color to keep the room airy. When I first arranged the room I had the bed crammed up in a corner against a wall with no room for any endtables so I got two of these hanging exposed light bulbs to hang over each pillow to act as a "bedside light".

But even with the light furniture and curtains, the room was still uncomfortable and felt very much like a boys dorm room with my black comforter and awkward furniture arrangement. I didn't have a lot of space to work with and had quite a bit of furniture in the room but I was determined to make this room feel more like a grown up girl's room rather than the sports den it felt like.

Que in the makeover! it kind of struck me one day that I could arrange the room in a different way, it would be tight but probably doable. Once something is in my head like that I have to try it. The very first thing I did when I got home was try the new arrangement. At first, I didn't know if I liked it, but the more I realized the room is just freakin small, there isn't anything I can do to hide or fix that I realized this would be a much more convenient arrangement.

So far I've found two really cheap chairs that were sturdy and just needed some love. I've refinished them and am using them as entables.

I think the Ikea furniture is great and simple but needs a little something special so I found these great pulls at Home Depot. I think they really help the Anedoba feel a little more grown up and girly.

The icing on the cake really is, for me, the bedspread I found at target. I was dying to try and find a sturdy, quilt-like spread, that could withstand the wear and tear my dog was going to put it through. This beautiful creation by Target really did the trick. A graphic floral pattern in gray and yellow was just the bright dash of sunshine this room needed. I was so happy to see that black bedspread go!

With that yellow in mind, there was a sad little table that was giving me the puppy dog eyes to get a little makeover. This table has been with my family for a long-long time and I thought it was about time, it got a little love.

So far, Roscoe seems to be loving it just fine! As long as I let him lay on the bed, I don't think he really cares what my room looks like I guess!

It started with a post-it

2010-07-14T16:34:00.006-04:00

We have this new motto for our national campaign for CCAD, "We see things a bit differently". I think it's kind of a ridiculous statement and so I've come up with this little guy based on our Art Sign. Nothin beat a monocle. NOTHING.

Fellow CCAD students and grads... If I made this into a t-shirt, would you buy one? Maybe I'll open a Screened shop.

Kitchen Backsplash

2010-06-27T21:18:00.003-04:00

In my kitchen I have a chalkboard backslash which at first seemed a little weird, what could we put on that other than lists and recipes? Well it's actually proven to be a lot of a fun and a great idea! Most people spend a lot of time deciding on a tile backlash that's right for them. Me, I can change it as I see fit. And being as indecisive as I am, it's a great option. So far we've had monsters, candy land stripes, and as of tonight, there are chevron block prints. Awesomeness!

Quick Kitchen Jar DIY

2010-06-23T16:10:00.002-04:00

I did this a couple weeks ago to help my spice/random boxed food situation in my pantry. I go through cereal, rice and spices like it's my job so I buy in bulk and big "family sizes" so that leads to some stale rice and cornflakes. No good. So I bought these jars from Ikea a couple months ago and they sat in my trunk for a WHILE. Finally I got to them and took out the remaining chalkboard paint I had from painting my kitchen walls. This was the result.

I'm really happy with them except for when I accidentally smudge the chalk which is really more of a problem for the spices than the obvious. But this lets them be very versatile and I can change their uses anytime.

Bathroom Finish... for now.

2010-06-07T18:46:00.003-04:00

Finished up the bathroom/dressing room last week. I still need to make/buy/hang art and I'd still like to get a stool from Ikea and a new hamper.

Honestly, painting the bathroom was the most painful experience of fixing up my apartment thus far. Just working my shower schedule around the paint drying process was DEATH. But I'm really happy with the way it turned out and I think that it makes a VERY small bathroom look as spacious as possible as well as gives it a more modern appeal.

CCAD Student Handbook

2010-05-29T15:53:00.004-04:00

Hiya all! My lack of updates are coming from my crazy busy life as of late. My boyfriend just left Friday morning for his summer internship with Jim Henson's New York Creature Shop. Preparing for that and working full time at work and starting my new internship with Igloo Letterpress has left me with little time to get on here and update. But here I am!

This past week, work has been kind of crazy finalizing changes for the CCAD Viewbook, getting that press ready and quick last minute changes. In addition, I've been working on a concept for the new Student Handbook/Planner. The current version is a horrible, 6"x6", thick, spiral-bound booklet with bad graphics and type. The version I proposed (and got approved) is a 6.5"x9", saddle-stitch book with craft paper cover and completely new layout. Sorry for the crummy mock-up shots but our office is in a basement and the paper we print on is crap-

Cover: blank craft paper for students to sketch on (since they'll do it anyways).

Semester Schedule Block Spread.

Left lists dates, days of the week, as well as important events. Right is blank grid area to sketch, thumbnail, or draw mental notes.

Back cover has a tab 3.25" wide with year at a glance that can function as a bookmark/placeholder.

Thanks to all my CCAD comrades who helped me with the research and feedback of this process. Just have to get it done now! Hahha looking forward to seeing it printed and being used by the students!

Summer Time!

2010-05-13T21:53:00.008-04:00

Finally! As of 12:20pm tomorrow, it will be summer vacation! I'm already cracking on my apartment fixins. Now, I'm attackin' the second floor which consists of our very tiny bathroom and the second bedroom with two closets we've made into one big "master closet" or the dressing room as we call it.

Today I'm posting on mostly the bathroom, though I'm working on them kind of simultaneously.

Stay tuned for dressing room plans and finished photos!

Hatch Show Print

2010-04-18T18:30:00.008-04:00

Here is my finished Hatch Project. More shots of mailer, the part of the project I worked on the most, on my website.

New [abbreviated] Brand Standards.

Direct Mailer Envelope.

Direct Mailer Catalog.

Print Ad for Print Magazine.

Guerrilla outdoor hang-tags with address, phone and website on back.

Admissions Ambassador Campaign

2010-03-09T20:06:00.008-05:00

Yes, it was I. I was responisble for the "LOVE" posters around campus at the beginning of the semester. I know a lot of people were confused by them so I want to kind of explain the process behind them. CCAD's admissions department was in need of new tour guides "Admissions Ambassadors", and they needed to recruit a special kind of student. Through brainstorming we pinned down the main characteristic of an Admissions Ambassador as someone who really loves CCAD. Someone who would speak highly of the school and everything it has to offer. We knew this would have to be a mini-campaign to recruit.

Further meetings and brainstorming sessions hit on topics like, What Stands Out in a School Full of Posters? My solution was clean design that only said as much as it HAD to, and BOLD graphic prints with simple type treatments. "LOVE" just seemed like a good idea. To further get people's attention, Admissions thought it would be a good idea to have each poster be a little different and to put them up one-per-day.

There was also a need for something to give to students hand picked by admissions like, RA's, orientation leaders, etc. So we came up with the idea of a hang tag to go on some special cookies. Kind of like a gift. If someone gave me cookies to try for a job, I'd definitely go to that informational meeting. Just sayin'.

Anywho, this is how it turned out. If you were confused by the posters, I'd be interested to know why. There was 8 people total that showed up to the informational meeting... Pretty disappointing but I still like the piece.

Goof

2010-03-07T23:55:00.002-05:00

I'm finding it hard to concentrate on what I should be lately. I've just been goofing off. Tomorrow will undoubtedly be a reality check as I start my new internship. Keep me in your thoughts, I'm terrified.

CCAD's Honor's Program Branding

2010-03-02T15:32:00.002-05:00

Hi all, here's another post of my work from work. Myself and two other designers were asked to concept some ideas for CCAD's Honor's Program. Mine was the idea chosen and I thought I'd share some of it with you.

Logo with full color, b&w, and spot color application.

Poster application.

Form application.

Tshirt design proposal.

So far it's been a pretty fun project to work on. I'm hoping the t-shirts end up just as I designed them but considering the cost it would be to create something that dynamic something tells me they're going to end up differently.

Critique and feedback is always welcomed and appreciated!

Work from Work

2010-03-01T10:18:00.005-05:00

I'm going to start sharing some of the design work I do at my job. I'm not sure how much I'm actually allowed to show before it goes to press so I'll just post some unfinished works.

First up is a spread I'm doing for the CCAD Viewbook. The Viewbook is a publication sent out to prospective students to showcase what the school is all about. Pretty important piece. This spread is designed to convey the intimate atmosphere of CCAD. I took our campus buildings and drew them in illustrator, then printed them, cut them out and had our wonderful photographer take a shot of them.

Photo Credit: Pei-Yin Chen

I'll be posting more work throughout the week as well as my finished West Elm Catalog.

Blogland

2010-02-24T16:40:00.003-05:00

I was recently asked to name my top 5 favorite blogs to read. That's like picking my favorite children. It seems like if I go one day without catching up on my blogs, I've missed a lot. That got me thinking I'd like to offer some links to share with you, to hopefully inspire you, or maybe just add to your daily procrastination!

Graphic Design/Typography:
Brand New - (http://www.underconsideration.com/brandnew/)
Design Work Life - (http://www.designworklife.com)
For Print Only - (http://www.underconsideration.com/fpo/)
Oatmeal and Cinnamon - (http://oatmealandcinnamon.blogspot.com/)
The Dieline - (http://www.thedieline.com)

Home Decor/DIY/General Lovliness:
Decor8 - (http://decor8blog.com/)
DesignSponge - (http://www.designspongeonline.com)
Door Sixteen - (http://www.doorsixteen.com)
Freshly Blended - (http://freshlyblended.blogspot.com/)
Mint - (http://www.mintdesignblog.com/)

Illustration/Fine Art:
A Print a Day - (http://aprintaday.blogspot.com/)
Katie Kirk Illustration - (http://www.katiekirk.net/)

Fashion
Altamira - (http://altamiranyc.blogspot.com/)
Copenhagen Street Style - (http://copenhagenstreetstyle.dk/)
Face Hunter - (http://facehunter.blogspot.com/)
Garance Dore - (http://www.garancedore.fr/en/)
The Satorialist - (http://thesartorialist.blogspot.com/)

All of those fine blogs inspire me everyday and I thank their contributors!

West Elm Catalog Project

2010-02-17T08:38:00.004-05:00

I thought I'd take the opportunity to post my progress with this very long and drawn out project.

Assignment: Chose an office supplies carrier. Create a catalog to server their needs.

My take: West Elm furniture store. Focusing on office furniture and accessories.
Goal: Create a design guide for people who want the west elm look but need some hand holding.

Here is my schematic, color pallete and two cover options.

The Magic of Snow

2010-02-17T08:03:00.003-05:00

Classes were canceled at CCAD yesterday so I took the opportunity to do some family bonding with my boyfriend and my dog. I loved it.

SNOW!

2010-02-10T18:21:00.002-05:00

Hooray! I love snow. Originally, I'm from Cleveland, Ohio which gets a pretty fair amount of snow each winter. Moving to Columbus is a bit of a change considering we never really get any substantial snowfall at all. We finally got hit with some snow the last couple days and it's created quite the frenzy down here. I guess Columbians just aren't used to it snowing. But me, the Clevelander, will simply relish in it.

My dog, Roscoe and I played for a bit outside before I had to come back indoors and attack the dreadful homework gobblins waiting for me in the basement. Ugh.

House Work

2010-02-06T23:28:00.004-05:00

Ah, back to school. The normal, sleepless routine. Thankfully I had a wonderful (short) break. And I am proud to say I barely touched my computer. Instead I took the opportunity to work with my hands for a while.

I started fixing up my apartment. I; made new curtains, painted three rooms (one of those rooms I painted twice), I made two trips to Ikea in Cincinnati for various things, built a faux fireplace out of an old headboard and refinished some chairs (pictures to come later I suppose).

It would be a life goal to get on Design*Sponge or Apartment Therapy someday!

Two recent finals

2009-12-13T11:04:00.005-05:00

Here are two of my last finals. I had one more huge final project but unfortunately I'm contractually unable to show it at this time. Keep your fingers crossed that something good comes out of that!

First up is my Ad/Graph sub brand final. The objective of the assignment was to image a sub brand camping company to any existing company and come up with branding, logo, launch ads and some sort of packaging for a chosen camping related product. My brand was designed to be a sub brand to Pottery Barn Kids and is titled Kakuee. A large part of my launch ad branding was the idea of children's imaginations and the ability young minds have to see a reality of their own anywhere. This project still needs tweaking but this is what was turned it. I feel so so about it.

The second project is one of two finals I was working on for my packaging design class. The assignment was to create a soap decide how much it would cost, what materials it would be made of, and how it would be packaged. I came up with one idea which my teacher thought "boring" so I went to a different idea and decided to finish my first idea up at a later time. Here is what I turned it. "Debutant Soap" for girls of any age. The soap is clear and in the mold of a diamond (which I painstakingly carved by hand). It's inset in a holster on the inside of the box. The exterior of the box is the abstracted cuts a diamond possesses. Simple geometric shapes will stand off the shelves against the cluster-fuck of all the other soap packaging.

Like I said, I'd like to be able to to show you my Web II final project that I've been coding for the past month but I probably won't be able to show that for a few months if one of my designs is chosen or up to a year and a half if it's not.

Thankfully, it's break and although I'll be working a little bit, I am going to have a lot of time to work on my own project. I hope to touch my computer very little over break other than to read my favorite blogs, tweet and check my email. Tyler and I will be painting the living and bed rooms today. Which is very exciting!!!

Coffee

2009-12-02T13:54:00.002-05:00

...is the only thing keeping me alive at this point. We have entered the finals demension. Thank you Starbucks baristas for keeping me fueled with the triple grande mochas!

I'm working on finishing up some pretty cool projects in school and at work so please look back for those to be posted shortly!

Junior Year Update

2009-11-14T09:50:00.003-05:00

Here is some of the work I've been doing this year. I feel big changes going on this year.
Trends in Design, Ad Campaign for Anti-Steroid Abuse. Collaboration with Jordan Edwards.
Packaging Design made with cut paper for Lexmark color ink.
Ad campaign for Suzuki. Collaboration with Emily Shirk.
Identity re-branding for Phoenix Coffee in Northeast Ohio. Letterhead, Business Cards and Envelope design.
Ad campaign concept for Oreck Vacuums. Collaboration with Sami Nummi. Photo taken by Steven Vanscoy.
Not a school project but something I worked on in the summer/fall. The animal insider is a non-profit publication put out by the people at Animal Outreach. I was brought on to re-do the newsletter and give it a more magazine like appearance. Here is the PDF Issue.

That's all for now. Feedback welcomed and appreciated.

Saturday Morning Art Class

2009-07-22T14:04:00.002-04:00

This is a poster design for my job at CCAD for what they call "SMAC" which is the Saturday Morning Art Classes. It's basically a program for kids grades 1-12 who can sign up for classes like Drawing, Painting, etc.

Self Portrait

2009-05-11T00:20:00.004-04:00

Pretty excited about this piece because it was final for a class I've been forced to do realistic renderings and paintings for all year. Finally, we had no style restrictions on us and I could be as stylized as i wanted! All that was required was use of, pen and ink, waterbased paint media, typography, and collage. I used Watercolor, Micron Pens, News Paper and Graphite on this piece. Pretty satisfied.

Jess' Bee Natural

2009-05-02T20:33:00.003-04:00

Almost done working on the Mailer project for school. For this particular assignment I wanted to try something new. I'd tried out two different mailer layouts before this one and finally decided on doing something traditional. Inspired by my book Hand Job, I created something pretty organic in appearance.

It was done in watercolor and micron pen on illustration board then scanned in. All the type was done by hand by me.

3/50 Project

2009-04-29T10:59:00.003-04:00

I'm going to try this out this summer. I feel like it's a worthy cause and it's more "Green" than people realize. Getting your shitty produce from Giant Eagle takes a ton of gas to ship from California/Florida, vs. buying home grown around you. Plus on top of that the positive impact it would have on your local economy. Win/Win.

Try it out!

Forest Stewardship Council Done!

2009-04-06T01:05:00.003-04:00

Finally done. Feedback is appreciated!

Spring is coming

2009-04-05T10:08:00.006-04:00

I love when it's so bright and beautiful in my living room. I have the prettiest view when the tree leaves are there. I cannot wait for them to come back. my bird is especially happy when the sun is shining on her.

There are 40 days left in the semester and I couldn't be happier. This has been the worst semester of my whole life. Sheesh. Almost done!

The tough part now is I need to find a job for the summer. Bummmer.

FSC Progress

2009-03-27T02:17:00.004-04:00

Still going... One more. Kind of playing off the idea of forests just floating in little pieces of the world. Hah. Scary.

Spring Break Work

2009-03-23T02:33:00.009-04:00

Thus far I've worked on finishing my Electronic Publishing Book, KenAy Kash's website and the FSC Ads. One ad pretty much done for that. Just gotta tighten things up. So. Much. Work.

Word Play

2009-03-19T04:21:00.003-04:00

The objective of my current assignment in Advanced Typography is to create a list, it could be about anything, and then illustrate it using only type. Here are my current sketches.

1) Mexico, United States, Texas
[Illustrating the immigration of mexicans to the united states via texas]

2) Cumulus, Status, Cirrus
[Illustrating cloud names by their position in the sky, body density, and colors.]

3) Benjamin, Franklin
[Very few people know that Benjamin Franklin invented the bifocal lens]

I'm sure my teacher will hate them all, because I like them and we disagree on most things. We shall see.

Snappy

2009-03-06T13:37:00.002-05:00

I do believe I'm the only one that likes the new Snapple Logo and thus I'm here to state why.

I didn't particularly find anything in the old packaging that I didn't like but I do believe the new packaging is clean and well done. The font face used for "Snapple" is simply beautiful. The subtle "S" on the glass bottle and the "all natural" slipped into the "S" and "l" space up top were great ideas! I think most people are just offset that the "Snapple" is no longer diagonal. I'm cool with that. I think it's great that more brands are taking away that tacky "LOOK AT ME and my cluster of obnoxious colors and geometric shapes!" look.

Thought You Were Done Voting?

2009-03-02T19:23:00.002-05:00

Not quite yet! Vote for Earth!

Please remember to turn your lights off for just one hour. Take that time to play cards with friends, read a book, go for a bike ride, whatever you do for an hour remember on March 28th at 8:30 pm, turn off your lights! It's a cause worth participating in and so easy to do!

March!!!

2009-03-01T09:11:00.006-05:00

About one second ago I realized that it is now March. Where has all the time gone? It's so crazy. Although when it feels like time is going quickly, when I think about it in terms of projects I've completed at school, I realize I haven't been back at it that long.

Illustration Methods isn't going as well as I had hoped it would be. But the next project should be great. The assignment is to pick a demographic and come up with your own line of desk supplies. I'm heading somewhere between adult and young adult. My theme is retro designs with modern colors made with Eco Friendly materials, like FSC certified woods and natural fibers. I'm going to call the line, Sundance Supplies. Should be fun. We're just working on preliminary sketches now.

Other classes have been going well I suppose. My Team Ad and Graph class is working on an assignment to advertise for "Tools". Now my team wasn't my first pick in the beginning but it's really ended up working out for us. We chose to represent Utrecht Art Supplies. I've kind of been labeled the art director of the group which is fine because I'm the only serious Ad Graph Major in the group. I've been in charge of the Logo and Packaging mostly.
Presentation for that project is in a couple weeks. Hopefully it goes weel.

One assignment I've wrapped up recently is my Ad and Graph two page spread assignment. We had to chose and article that did not come with any photos or illustrations and chose a magazine to lay it out in. I chose an article related to the Mayan prediction of 2012 and this is what I came up with.
The illustrations are done in Micron Pen and then later I scanned them in and colored them in Illustrator.

I'd appreciate any and all criticisms of these works.
I'll check in soon again. PROMISE!

JustineArreche.com

2009-02-20T23:36:00.003-05:00

Finallllyyyyyy. My website is starting to birth itself into this world! I'm really excited about it. Check back later for updates on the site's progress. I need more free time to work on it! Damn CCAD is taking up all my time!

Second Semester

2009-02-16T10:02:00.002-05:00

I've been working really hard this semester to build up a great portfolio and make this year even better than last. I feel like I finally know the direction I want to go in terms of my graphic style. I realized over break, I lean more towards a modern and handwritten style of design. Finding this direction to take has definately helped me get project concepts down faster.

My most important projects in the works are, rebranding Utrecht for my Ad Team class, Two Page spread for a National Geographic article on the Mayan Calendar, Type Matters book for my Electronic Publishing Techniques class, and well unfortunately my WebDesign class is a drag and Advanced Typography takes up all my time.

I'm sure I'll be updating with some of my own work soon but for now I'll leave you with some of my favorite inspirations I've saved as of late:
Floating Island from A Print A Day

From: Freshly Blended

From Oatmeal and Cinnamon

Enjoy! More updates soon!

Watercolor

2009-02-08T21:01:00.001-05:00

Was somewhat successful. Better than I expected at least.
I will be rendering allllll night. UGH.

It's 5 degrees

2009-01-16T15:29:00.003-05:00

..and that's not even including wind chill! Ridiculously cold and I have to leave to go to Columbus tomorrow. Hope my car starts!!!

Until the big move back, I'm vegging out, drinking coffee and reading my favorite blogs!
Delicious coffee made a la me!

Later Edited:
After looking through some blogs I was reading Design Work Life and read an post about William Staehle's Silhouette Masterpiece Theatre!It's amazing! Check it out!

ElefantaSprout is on Facebook!

2009-01-14T22:56:00.008-05:00

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Tsang Kin-Wah

2009-01-14T18:22:00.006-05:00

I found a link to Tsang Kin-Wah's, a Chinese Artist, online portfolio through Pitch Design Union and after browsing for a while I found an AMAZING instillation piece called, "I LOVE U"

Click for details.

I think this is one of the best installations I've ever seen and I would've killed to see it in person!

Go Veggie

2009-01-13T16:24:00.005-05:00

Just a small little ditty I made for me and some friends to post on our websites, blogs, myspaces, etc.

Feel free to use it, I don't need credit back. I just want to get the word out :)

Nothing Borrowed

2009-01-13T14:57:00.007-05:00

This is all some of my original work. I thought I'd post some personal work instead of inspirations. I'd really love to get some critiques! Thank you

How Green Is Your House?:
This series was for my Ad Team class. The assignment was to create a series of ads for a non profit organization. My team chose GreenPeace.

For My series I decided to go with a hand drawn idea of leaves representing the changes you can make in your house for Greener living.

Century Cycles:
This series was for my Ad class. The assignment was to create three ads (i chose to do a cohesive series) based on a randomly assigned demographic. My demographic was Women 55+.

For my series I chose to narrow my demographic to more elderly women. The idea behind my series was creating retro/old fashioned wallpapers (in illustrator) and taking vintage photos from the 40's and 50's of women on bikes to inspire older women to get back into biking.
Prince Edward Island:
This piece was for my Ad Class. The assignment was to create a poster advertising pretty much anything you wanted.

For my poster I created an Ad for Prince Edward Island Canada. I've been really interested in using patterns in illustrator in vector shapes. This poster is quite large. The final poster is 10x25
World Wildlife Fund:
This series was for my Ad class. The assignment was to create a series of ads for a non profit organization without using anything other than type and the logo of the organization. Another catch was to keep a minimum use of color for cheaper printing. I chose one of my favorite organizations, The World Wildlife Fund.

For this series I went for something of a harsh idea. I created intense sentences and presented them in a somewhat toned down composition.

Shannigans

2009-01-07T10:51:00.005-05:00

So because of my creative block (aka lack of motivation) a friend from school and I went to a local coffee lounge to sketch some ideas and hang out. So nice to see my friends from school again.
I'm sure you're thinking to yourself. How much did I get done? Tons... yeah... right.

I got a little ahead of myself

2008-12-30T03:12:00.006-05:00

I was so inspired today I think I was over-inspired. If there is such a thing? I just kept looking at blog after blog and getting all these ideas but didn't really do anything! hahah.

Here are some of my favorites that I compiled in my inspiration files today!
And just so everyone is AWARE. I officially want to move to New Zealand so I can play with these little guys. They're called Kiwi's and their and endangered species! Save the KIWI!!!Hopefully tomorrow will be a more productive day :)

Sassy!

2008-12-26T22:57:00.004-05:00

I found this entry at Dieline.com called Recession Bites which is a charity design done by Fresh Thrills Design. I absolutely love the "no frills" appearance the the witty idea behind it!I think it's well done. No too harsh to upset people. I think anyone could appreciate this weather you're feeling the hard times or not so much. Also, the materials are absolutely brilliant.

Hope everyone had a Happy Holiday :) I will post about my lovely gifts at a later date. I'm not feeling very productive tonight...

2008-12-20T23:19:00.006-05:00

Finally left the house. I went out with Chelsea to shop a bit (window shopping for me) and then went to a coffee shop to sit and sketch for a little while. Sooooo nice to get out. I think i'll try and escape again tomorrow.

Found this really nice graphite rendering today here.
Going in a completely different direction for the website now... I know i know, how many times am i going to redo this stuff? But i really like the new concept I'm on and I think that I was thinking far too literal and now I'm going out of the box which represents my personality WAYY more.

But for now, I'm watching HGTV. My one true love. Sorry Tyler ;)

By the way, here's a recent photo I shot of the new family pup tonight. He was finally being good enough to snap a quick one!

Cabin Fever

2008-12-20T15:25:00.005-05:00

I haven't left the house in three days. Actually I moved my car from the street to the drive way... It's ridiculous. I need to get out. My main source of entertainment is video chatting with my boyfriend.
I've been trying to work on my new online portfolio but my original idea failed, miserably. I wish i had tracing paper. to draw it out again would be rediculous. Maybe my public library has wacoms. I highly doubt it.

I need to get out.
Cabbbiiinnn Fever.

Plug and Socket

2008-12-18T18:06:00.003-05:00

These are the things that are inspiring me right now. I have so many things i want to do I really need do make sure that I time manage my break from school to do everything i want to do and have things to show for my time off.

Done Done Done.

2008-12-18T01:07:00.002-05:00

Finally its all done. I couldn't be happier. I was above the grade point average I was looking to get although i was disappointed in on of my grades.

Being home is nice but I'm already bored and definitely have some crafts planned out.

I'd like to list of what i'm going to try and accomplish mostly just to keep myself on track.

Crocheting.

I'm doing it again. I'm really not that interested in knitting because I've heard how hard it is, so I'm going to relearn crocheting and if you use the right gauge needle and the right yarn you can get a similar effect to the thick knit scarfs I'm looking to make.

Online portfolio.

I really want to finally brand myself and put up the portfolio I've been talking about doing. it'll make applying for jobs and internships a breeze and will help to get my name out there. I've already thought of a name and concept and I'm definitely going to start making headway tomorrow.

Sketchbook.

I have a hard time keeping regular entries in things like sketchbooks and diaries but this break I'm forcing myself to sketch everyday. No matter what it is, whether it's fonts, animals, people, etc. It has to be done. I need to start formulating what my "style" is.

But for now, excitement is in the air and I'm pretty sleepy so I'll start with a clean slate tomorrow. I'll most likely integrate this blog into my new website and portfolio. Maybe then, someone would actually read it ;)

Finals Week

2008-12-06T10:06:00.002-05:00

This is it! The finals stretch! And I couldn't be more nervous. I'm worried about a couple classes and I'm hoping the GPA doesn't suffer. I need to get a 3.0 in order to keep my academic scholarship at school, which is something I can't afford to loose with the tuition rates at my private art college. I'm really proud of a lot of the work I produced in my Advertising classes but in my Illustration classes, I've really let myself down. I just didn't try.

I think a lot of that was due to a lack of motivation this semester. I also have the worry that if i do really try hard and it isn't good enough I'd rather not try at all. If that makes any sense? Kind of like, how you'd rather make a goofy face in a picture that run the risk of your real smile looking goofy?

My new years resolution is going to be to put forth a harder effort in my traditional art classes and create work that I'm proud of and use it to make my graphic design more diverse and stronger.

Handmade

2008-11-25T09:31:00.002-05:00

I've been really getting into handmade graphic design lately. I think it is just so genuine and real. No photoshop effects, or tacky overlays. Yeah, I know really cutesy but I enjoy it nonetheless. Especially handmade fonts. It takes a lot of patients and passion to hand-make fonts.

Those are the people that love type.

Going home for thanksgiving in a couple hours. Killing time in class.