Painting, Pixel Art, and Logo Animation

This week I worked on three different trainings. One was brush painting in Photoshop another was creating pixel art in Illustrator and the last was animating a logo in After Effects. I learned a lot of new things in all trainings and am looking forward to using these skills in the future!

Photoshop Painting

My task was to replicate a teapot design, then use a photo of my choice to create a new painting. I then animated it within the program to add a cuteness factor 🙂

Pixel Art

For this, I followed the pixel art tutorial on the KB. I chose a picture of my cat because I thought it would be challenging, but rewarding – and it was 😀

Logo Animation

For this task, it involved more planning and iterating. I started with a story board which I ended up altering after hearing from Lila. Then, I had to separate my layers in Illustrator from my original logo. After watching a ton of videos of techniques and styles, I began working in After Effects.

Reflection

Overall, I had a fun productive week learning new skills in PS, AI, and AE. Hopefully there will be opportunities for me to uses these skills in other areas of my work.

My Break

This summer I was able to go to Spain through a program called Absolute Internships. For 6 weeks, I studied at an self publishing editorial firm called Yerro Books. I worked on a few different projects including filming and editing a portfolio showcase, designing a book cover for a client, and researching methods to ethically work with AI in book cover designs. Communicating with my supervisor at times was challenging because of the language barrier, but through translator apps and visuals, we were able to stay on the same page. Something I learned outside of my workplace was how prominent design conventions and methods are used across the world. I thought there would be a greater difference in visual communication due to differences in culture, societal norms, politics, etc., but I noticed that graphic design in spain followed conventions used in the US.

Projects + Images

Icon Graphics Training

Task: Create a set of branded icons for the College of Fine Arts

Status: Complete

Final Icons

Doodle motif to tie to to a creative arts background

Process

First, I started by sketching different ideas out, then I began vectorizing the chosen icons in Illustrator.

Feedback

I got feedback from Lila to make a few changes to the video icon because it felt a bit out of place with pointed corners. I rounded the corners and added a bit of motion to the lines to keep the doodle motif consistent across my icons.

Final Design

Overall, I think the icons created are unique in that they speak to the specific college program.

Reflection

This was a fun activity to learn how to create icons because I’d never done that before. I think there are definitely creative ways to make something small/unnoticed communicate effectively.

Personal Logo Design

Timeline: 2 Days

Task: Create a logo for yourself

Status: Complete

Final Logo Design

I wanted to create a logo was simple and carried my minimal style of design.

Process

First, I started by sketching different ideas. I was stuck on this for a while, but then decided to just make some of them in Illustrator and see what happened.

Feedback

Along the way I got lots of feedback of how I could improve my logo. I tried to mess around with different colors, but ended up really liking the outlined design.

Final Design and Reflection

After picking my final logo, I added secondary text and make a few mockups of where my design could be used. In the future I might change the colors, but right now that’s my favorite. I hope this logo represents my desire for simple design, with a polished finish and quality.

Psychology Course Poster Design

Course: PSY 309: Personality WB

Timeline: 3 Days

Task: Create a course poster for any course that is rooted in typography and highlights key course information using hierarchy.

Status: Complete

Final Poster

I wanted to create a poster that was playful using imagery from many psychology courses my roommate takes. I often see letter blocks when peeking over her shoulder, so I decided to use that as my starting point. After much iteration and feedback this is the final poster!

Process

First, I started with a basic layout structure. Then I started creating assets in Illustrator which was a lot of fun. I learned how to make pixel art using the live paint tool.

Feedback

Before getting to my final design, I wasn’t happy with how the poster looked. There was something very flat about it so I asked for feedback from Lila and she helped me push my design further. I messed around a lot with where to the the “WHY” and how to orient them. I finally settled on the star-step look because it filled the space well while still providing a lot of movement.

Final Design

After showing my designs to Lila, we decided this was the best design because it followed the color scheme that I had created and had fun movement. Lila also really liked how the mouse connected with the lines to lead the eye through the poster.

Reflection

I had a lot of fun with this design and I was really happy that Lila kept pushing my designs. There were a few times I got stuck, but in the end I’m happy with the results. If only this would be used for the real course…