#007 Fresh Fun!

Straight from the fridge: a spiffy ad by yours truly.

I should have made some joke about James Bond since this is post #007, but I won't. Instead, I am serving up fresh fun from the advertising agency of Will Kelly. Hopefully you will want to take out a loan from Acme Financial services after viewing this ad, in order to completely renovate & remodel your home. If not, then you may simply enjoy the retro-vintage goodness of this wholesome graphic design layout, and then move on. Have a wonderful Tuesday.

#006 Right On!

I have had a great weekend!

School, although very stressful last week, is going great, and my assignments have been getting good feedback from the profs.

I went to a church retreat with some of my best friends this weekend, and had a lot of fun, even though we had a little rain. Spent some time during the day playing volleyball, and spent a couple of evenings studying with my two friends who are going to school to be nurses. 

And the weather is all-around fall-ish, and fall is the best season ever.

So, right now, life is "Right On"! What a great saying.

#005 Fantasy Album Art

Did you hear? Coldplay is releasing their next album: And We Lived... 

Or not.

Okay, sorry to get you all excited, but I came up with an interesting idea as a challenge for myself in my precious little free time. 

Since I'm learning Adobe Illustrator right now, I thought about using vector art to design an album cover for a band. I like Coldplay quite a bit, so I thought it would be fun to design their next release, especially since their 2005 release X&Y featured a vector-like cover.

So, I came up with a dumb album name, and some sappy song titles and created a front & back for it:

I had the concept of a setting sun in my head, and just played around a little with an interesting horizon line, some cool fill colors, and a bunch of circles. In the end you get a really nice clean graphic look.

Looks like a chart-topper to me. Not to mention it's got a bonus remix of Lovers in Japan on it. Can't beat that. Okay Chris Martin, if you need art for the next record, call me up!

#004 Mini Cooper, Illustrated

Well, it's module 2 of Design Technology this week, and I'm hard at work with my next assignment. Here's a shot of it getting close to being done.

What I'm doing is tracing over a photo with the Pen Tool in Illustrator. Very handy tool.

And of course, the Mini is the coolest car ever, and one of my favorites, so naturally that's what I chose!

#003 Onwards

Onwards from AKQA on Vimeo.

This is a cool little video I saw on Drawn! the other day. 

Drawn! is a fun illustration blog for cartoonists, animators etc. They highlight artists that you've probably never heard of. This video is one of those viral videos disguised as an ad for Nike. But it's cute, and the music is really neat.

You can read the original post here.

#002 School Begins

Well, School has started for me, and I am a bona fide student here at the Academy of Art University Online. I am getting my Associate of Arts degree in Illustration, and hope to become a real-life illustrator! Oh Yeah!

So here's my first Assignment in progress. I'm working in Adobe Illustrator in a class called Design Technology. It's really fun (it feels like playing) and my professor Ruben Mosqueda is very good. Our assignment was to create an insect using only basic shapes. Harder than it looks!

My workspace in Illustrator (and my insect)

#001: The Sword is Drawn

Creativity is what you make it. It's a quest, where you have to find inspiration, take it and do great things with it. You have to bash down the monsters of atrophy and complacency. Topple the towers of fear and pride and say "I will create because I was born to create!" Art is something that is done, not something that is dropped in your lap. All great artists have struggled to gain the title of artist, and find that getting there is half the fun. And then they go beyond. It's more than a title. It's a lifestyle, a mindset. A Godsend.

I am on a quest to take creativity captive. Ladies and gentlemen, Draw your Swords.