Can I please work for Aperture?

I nabbed Portal2 on the PS3 a few days ago, and I finally had a chance to play it.

I was a major fan of the first Portal, but the second one – I was in even more love with it. Since I’m a designer, I found myself being a bit nerdy by just studying the logo of the game.

/designdorkalert

But really – just look at it.

Any coincidence that the O in portal is the same shape as an actual portal hole? Well of course not, they did it on purpose.  And that half bit with the person running through the portal? Brilliant.

But lets not forget Aperture. I know its just a clever work with the angles of an actual shutter image, but that A placed in that specific area is just beautiful to me.

I made my portfolio box blue for Senior Portfolio Review. Though now I’m thinking I should be making a separate box and paint it orange for when I eventually apply to Aperture. I might even bake a cake for Glados too.

UTC Senior Thesis Exhibition – Show Two

My "Kawaii" World

Today was install day for show two. It was an all day event for me. From 9:30am to 5:30pm I was in the Cress Gallery installing. I never expected my senior thesis to take that long to actually install. My work is based on the world of the “kawaii,” the Japanese term for “cute” or “adorable.” When I originally started working on my thesis it was done in panels vs a staged scene. I am very thankful that UTC had a wide format Epson that I was able to use to print the pieces.
Each piece is secured by two lines of fishing wire. Using screw posts I was able to easily hang the work between the rafters of the overhang at the front of the Cress Gallery. I have to say that GlueDots were a God-send. They made installation a breeze. Especially since they come in various sizes. I was able to use the mini dots to attach hangars to the back of the pieces.

If you are in the area check out the Senior Thesis Exhibition – Show Two. It happens on April 19th, with artist presentations starting at 4:30 and the gallery opening at 5:30.

Portfolio Progress

My professional portfolio is due on April 19th, and since I have such a crazy schedule I’m doing as much work as I can now to save myself stress later on.

One of the major things I had to accomplish earlier this week was painting my portfolio box. I’ve always liked creating things with my hands, but I have to admit that I was a bit nervous painting my portfolio box. If I messed it up I was concerned that if I *HAD* to order another one that I might not receive it in time. Thankfully that wasn’t the case.

My box after multiple coats of acrylic paint.

When I began to paint the box I noticed little fuzzy spots on the wood, almost as if the wood had its own little sprouts of hair. It made me panic b/c I wanted the box to be nice and smooth. Luckily it was fixed with just a light pass of some sandpaper and another coat of paint.

 

The inside is done in a dark gray, and when I drop it off at WonderPress on Monday, the wonderful people there will help me create a sturdy paper tray that will also hold my portfolio cards.

Taping the edges so I can make the paint lines straight.

 

The only thing I need to do before now and Monday is to apply a clear coat of gloss on the box, and order some vinyl lettering to go on the front.

Tap into the Rhythm! (…of design)

During spring break I decided that I was going to buy myself a Nintendo DSi because my old DS system was one of the 1st generation systems. It was huge and bulky, had a small screen, and wasn’t as bright, shiny and new as the DSi.

So when you get a new console, you need to get some new games! (That’s just a given.)

One of the games I stumbled across was Rhythm Heaven, a rhythm music based game that requires you to be skilled in… you guessed it. Rhythm. Ok. So maybe I’m not the best when it comes to matching tempo changes but at least I can spot design in a video game.

A screen shot of one of the mini games involving 3 singers.

It’s not just the title screens for each of the mini games, but it is clear that Nintendo goes to the trouble of designing the actual in-game screens. During my frequent bouts to get “Perfect” on all the mini-games, I sometimes catch myself identifying certain design aspects on each level. “Hey, they are using the rule of thirds! Hey, they are trying to lead the eye downward with that subtle inclusion of birds!”

Notice how the flock of birds leads the eye downward?

If I could pick a dream job, it would literally be to work at Nintendo. There is a reason they are the top console makers, and that their official games are best sellers. They actually use design in the games! Rhythm Heaven is no exception. Are you extremely gifted with the power of perfect rhythm and also like design? Give Rhythm Heaven a try – I think you’ll be pleased both musically and visually.

Here’s some other stills from the game  – so simple… yet so design.

Taiko drum minigame

Maraca-style Lizard Minigame

Rhythmic Turnip Stomping Fun!

Why I love Vectors

Today I spent the entire day working on my senior thesis. My senior thesis is centered around “kawaii”, otherwise known as “cute” things. When I work with any project I like knowing that I have some flexibility with the work. If the work needs to be x3 bigger or x3 smaller, I want to be prepared for that possibility. That is why I work primarily in vectors. Vectors give me so much freedom, and they are really the only way I ink my illustrations.

It’s taken me a while to finally tweak the Illustrator settings to match with my wacom pad’s pressure sensitivity. Now that I found a way for me to ink weighted lines that are vectors I am extremely happy.

Done entirely in vectors.

Here’s an example of my vector work that I am doing for my senior show. I’m glad that I decided to work in vectors for another reason. A few weeks ago I found out my budget for actually printing this work was going to have to be cut in half. So now I can take a sigh of relief and know that the work I have made is in a format that allows me to scale it down without any negative effects. A lot of my friends swear by pixels, and maybe its because I’m a bit of a control-freak in my work, that I just have to say I’m a part of Team Vector. At least vectors can be easily converted into pixels… the other way? Not so much. ;D

Fanboy Photography

I’m a big nerd. So I tend to associate with other geeky people who share my interests. One of them was my friend Erica whose boyfriend was looking for some logo work to be used with his starting cosplay photography business.
For those of you who don’t know, cosplay is the act of creating and wearing the costumes worn by popular anime/scifi/fantasy characters. At anime/scifi/fantasy conventions people gather and cosplay proudly, and some cosplayers want to have a professional made photo of themselves in all of their regalia.

The epic logo from The Legend of Zelda series.

So my friend Erica asked me to do the logo for Fanboy Photography. I was really glad, because I wanted to do Graphic Design work that is in tune with some of my own interests. It was expressed that they wanted the logo to look like the JRR Tolkein logo. I began to disect what they really meant behind that request. To me, it meant that they wanted a logo that was symbolic, iconic, memorable, epic, etc. So my inspiration for the logo came from the actual Zelda triforce logo.

 

Mock businesscards made to show the client.

I wanted Fanboy Photography to have some of that legendary, epic feel. What resulted was a logo that incorporated a sword, camera and ‘epic’ wings. The typeface used was St. Ryde regular which was kindly offered for free by its designers on Myfonts.com. The colors chosen were retro colors since a true fanboy is ‘oldschool’ remembering how gaming/anime/scifi/fantasy was in the 70s and 80s. I showed them to the client and guess what… they loved them.

A dust jacket with a hidden surprise

Japanese Artbook: Shugo Chara

A few days ago I decided to put together two new bookshelves for my art room. When they were finally constructed I made a point to go through every art book, comic book, reference book, etc. Whilst moving the books I stumbled across one of my artbooks that had a really interesting cover.

I’ve always been a fan of Japanese design. Manga art books are no exception. The nice thing about this art book is that it is a cover and a poster all in one.

 

 

 

 

The bookcover is just a clever use of paper folding

The front part of the cover is done with a nice matte finish. The inside is a beautiful highgloss poster of some of the characters that appear in the artbook. When I originally bought the book I did not notice that the cover was also a poster. Those kind of little design secrets always make me giddy. Though I’m not really sure who would want to actually ruin the book jacket just to display the poster. Still, it made me think of possible ways that I can be inspired from this cover and be able to use it for my own endeavors.

 

 

The back of the book jacket - a gorgeous highgloss poster.

Design in Scifi

I’m a huge fantasy/sci-fi fan. Thanks to netflix instaview I’ve been able to catch up on some of the scifi shows I have missed since I dropped my cable plan a few years ago.

So that means I’ve been able to watch awesome shows like Firefly, Battlestar Galactica, etc.

Besides having awesome stories, awesome scifi shows also feature really great and memorable designs.

Logo for BlueSun, used in Firefly.

Let’s take firefly for example. The company, Blue Sun is apparently a huge corporation in the Joss Whedon universe. The logo appears everywhere in the show, from food cans to advertisements. I really like their logo because it is so versatile. I’ve been to a lot of conventions and seen this logo plastered on anything, and you can tell what it is from across the dealers room.

 

 

 

Battlestar Galactica's ship emblem.

Of course there’s also the fantabulous series Battlestar Galactica. It’s made me giggle with glee not only because of its awesome story, but because I just love some of the designs used in the show. I think many viewers take the props and other designed elements for granted. We expect the world to be believable, that its a livable place, but it takes a lot of time and effort to hand craft that world. I give the designers for this series serious kudos. The Battlestar emblem is one that I really love. It just gives the feeling of military, the future, space, etc.

 

 

 

BSG Military Ranking

BSG Military Ranking

Then there is also the ranking for Caprica’s military ranks. The designs are just so simple, but so great. I am also a fan of how the designers kept the geometrical theme constant throughout all the props. Even the paper used by the crew of the Battlestar was cropped.

Nerds and geeks love the little details to any show, but I think that designers maybe be just a little bit more obsessed (and with good reason).

Example of the paper used in BSG.

My Life Plan

Last week we were given a sheet to fill out (not too seriously mind you), that details out your general plans for the next 20 years. There were three spots on the form, for three desired job positions.

I had trouble trying to fill out two of the three columns. The first column, which ideally should be your first choice of a career, was an easy guess for me.

What was it? It wasn’t to be a designer at a famous company, like IDEO. Or a head designer for Starbucks.

Example of my manga work that I try to fit in during work and school. (It's still WIP)

It was to be a published manga/graphic novelest. It’s a pretty common theme with me. I have a few stories that I really want to have made into graphic novels, then possibly movies, animated series, toys, etc. It was one of the driving forces for me to go back to school.

When I wrote it all down, I had a brief moment of panic. I have spent 3 years trying to finish my degree in Graphic Design. Did I choose the wrong profession? Should I have even bothered to go to back to school?

Even with that moment of panic, in the long run I am glad that I went back to school. Because having a 4-year degree, was one of my life goals. I think since I’m so close to graduation that I forget that fact.

So what should I do now? Well graduate… then just try to do what I want to do as a career (even if its on the side while working the normal/boring 9-5 office job). After college I plan to try to finally create my graphic novel. I’ve learned so much from being in the Graphic Design program at UTC, that before I was highly doubtful that I could ever plan/design/publish my own book. But I have experience in that now. I have knowledge in the programs that are used for book publication. I have typography skills. I can letter and design the covers of my graphic novel. etc etc etc..

My career/life plan may change in a year from now, or 5 years from now. All I know is that for 2011, I am going to use my graphic design skills to follow my dream of being a graphic novelist. Hopefully it will be a positive step forward in the career that I want out of this life. : )