collection of thoughts

you guys, it is raining sideways outside right now. like pouring buckets, howling wind, the whole nine yards. and it's one of the things i like about living on a tropical island.

*****

i've been working on my graphic design classes and just finished a class on design & composition. i took quick a few art classes in college, and most of them seemed to expect that i possess an innate ability to know what a good composition is without anyone ever telling me. this particular class was SO helpful - very straight forward and clearly stated explanations. here's a couple of projects i turned in:

the first two are addressing different kinds of negative space, using the theme "ode to bicycles"

the second image is a poster for a "mostly mozart" concert. i used images on flickr, found under the creative commons license.

what do you think?

*****

last night, during another bout of insomnia, i was perusing some websites and guess what? i found a doula on island who teaches a natural birth class!! just in time too...my due date is coming up quickly. i am so excited to start the class and relieved to have found another way to approach childbirth, rather than the negative stories that i addressed here.

tournament

hello there! it's been a while!

my martial arts school is hosting a tournament this weekend and since i'm on the committee, most of my time has been taken up with meetings and planning. we've been working on this project since january, so i'm looking forward to it being completed.

in addition to gathering all of the competitor information and creating the divisions for each category, i also made the t-shirt design:

i had a chance to practice my illustrator skills, which was challenging, but fun!

i'll be taking a break from blogging until the beginning of may, since i just can't seem to keep up with everything else that's been going on. looking forward to talking to you then!

illustrator cd covers

i've moved on to my next class & this one is on adobe illustrator basics. so far, it's pretty difficult. but i'm learning quite a bit and am having fun trying out new things.

i thought i'd share my last assignment with you. i made two cd covers that are part of a series. so here's what i did:

cover 1:

cover 2:

i used my wacom tablet a ton for this project. my eye/hand coordination is improving (slightly). what do you think?

bamboo

it's not quite what you think... {and i meant to post this a long time ago}

for christmas, hubby bought me an awesome gift - a wacom bamboo pen & touch tablet:



i finally set it up (which took way less time than i anticipated) and have been tinkering with it often. it is SO AWESOME!! especially since i just started a class on adobe illustrator. the tablet can be used as a track pad or with the pen as a drawing tool - it's so sensitive, it adjusts to pressure as i write, just like a pen/pencil would.

it will take some getting used to....you would think years of playing video games would have helped my eye/hand coordination.

its official..

i will be starting classes in DECEMBER!!!

honestly, i'm a little scared & excited all at the same time. this program is a pretty big commitment for the next couple of years. sending in the first payment actually had my heart rate speed up...

but these classes are a step in the right direction, a start to having a solid foundation in the digital world. i'm looking forward to some new tools (hardware & software), trying something new, and taking some classes (which i haven't done in 6 years).

i'm excited at the prospects & opportunities this will bring me down the road. now i just have to stay focused on the tasks at hand...the upcoming art shows!

classes

for quite some time (years actually), i've been looking into taking some online graphic design courses. i've dabbled with photoshop & illustrator over the years and realized that i needed a foundation with these programs (plus others) in the world of digital art.

my college training was focused on traditional methods of work (meaning no computers allowed) and the head of the art department at the time did not embrace the idea of learning digital methods of creating art. this left me with a pretty big handicap when it came to working & manipulating my images on my (old) laptop...

letterpress printing has gone from traditional hand set lead type to photopolymer plates...and, with that, the possibilites for letterpress printing have expanded to a whole new exciting level! and because photopolymer plates are the direction i want to go with my printing...i've decided to do something about it and take some classes.

i won't plan to start until december, but i'm getting signed up pretty soon. with this new adventure, i'll also be purchasing a macbook pro (YES!!!) and adobe software (YEA for student discounts!!) i'm just waiting on some answers to a few last minute questions before i sign up...wish me luck :)