Phoenix Logo

We had to take an existing logo that we thought was bad, and revamp it.

Here's my version:

Canadian Stamp

My stamp, made for Design and Layout class.

I am very happy with this one.

Caligramme

We had to choose a poem or song and use the copy and font to illustrate some part of its meaning.

I chose Natalia Lafourcade's Un Pato, from Natalia y La Fourquetina's album, Casa.
It's about a duck who likes to sing, but is terribly off key, so much so that it's song is offensive to the cat and goose and other animals that it meets. So when the duck is on its final note, they put him into the water and he is forced to swim away.

I would have liked an extra hour or so on the project to give some of the type a little more flourish, make some of it more bold, etc. Instead, I spent too much time getting the perfect spacing of the words on my rough, then had a hard time transferring it to a non transparent board. In the end I exaggerated some of it, and the duck's torso and feet were elongated, making him stand at the bottom of the page. Otherwise, I am very happy with the placement, and the way the project turned out.

An added bonus was the fact that I had Natalia's cute, catchy song in my head for about a week.

My very own Trademark

In our History of Design class, we were given the task of making our own logo. It had to be in black and white, and had to incorporate an animal or bird along with name and/or initials.

This is mine:

I chose the lion and crown because it appears on my family crest and represents strength and honour. The rest is a direct reflection of me; the princess style of the crown, the curly wavy mane, and initials as I have drawn them many times before. I truly like the simplicity and femininity in this one, and find that it really does represent me. I would be proud to make this into a stamp or woodcarving to be able to reproduce it on works and documents.

That would be nifty. 

Honourable mention:

I spent a good deal of time working out the celtic pattern and symetry in this logo. Though I adore the way it has turned out, I find that the previous logo better represents me as a person, while this one represents our family well. Perhaps I'll reproduce it for the invitations to our next family function.

Jazz Poster Illustration

Here's pen drawing for a project for my illustration class. The assignment was to draw a poster that felt like New Orleans, but I wasn't in the class during that lecture and didn't quite grasp the right feeling. I began with an outline of Billie Halliday and got feedback from my prof, who told me I should have gone in a different direction. I quickly threw in some other elements so that I could hand it in by the end of class. Bref, this one was on time, but it's not my favourite. There are a million elements I would change if I had a do over. I'll just make the rest of em pop instead...

Photography - Settings

Photography Assignment

Take 4 select pictures of a white subject, 1 indoors choosing the proper white balance, 3 outdoors choosing the proper ISO, aperture and shutter speed.

I had originally planned to post all the photos, but some differed from others and seemed haphasard. Since the statue below was anchored outside, I obviously could not shoot it indoors, and had to use a completely different subject. The others were taken a day earlier than the following photo, during a storm, which cast the statue in a softer light. Out of the group, the picture below conveyed the truest white balance, and the shadows and angle made for a more compelling shot.

This photo was taken on a clear night in February. Due to the utter darkness, I turned on a flood light in the distance rather than a flash, and then fiddled with my settings.

White Balance: Tungsten Light

ISO: 1600

Shutter Speed: 3.2

Aperture: F14

Kids' Puzzle

Assignment: Design a kids' puzzle using 4 geometric shapes with red handles so that they could be removed from the background. Then make the rest of it fun (I'm paraphrasing, of course). Program: Adobe Illustrator.

New Letters and New Businesses

In this first assignment, we had to create a new letter for the alphabet and present it in capital and lowecase form.

Then the challenge was to use any portion of those letters and/or your initials to create two different logos. One logo had to be a mirror image of itself, and the other rotated, and represent a fictional business.

All of these had to be to scale with Roman type, and the lettering for the fictional businesses took the longest of all. Though I rushed some of the logo design, I am happy with my results.

Onomatopoeia

I made this into a silly little keynote presentation where the hand creeps in and steals the word "Yoink!"

Keynote was less than cooperative, but it worked out pretty well in the end.

Practicing My Penmanship

These pen and ink illustrations should have been posted earlier, as they were my practice subjects before the sumo. They were done fairly quickly, and, as you can see by the ballerinas, they helped me refine my pen strokes and lines.

I had tried two different styles with these ballerinas, and find that the simpler strokes and finer lines on the right produce a daintier image. This was not so necessary with the quarterback below, but I'm still happy with the rendering. 

Couleurs vives dans la neige blanche

Photos taken outside a temple in downtown Windsor. I have always been captivated by the bright colours of this building and the calm that embodies its gardens.

The pictures do not do it justice.

This One's for Annie

I had originally hoped to post a photo for each day. Clearly, this is not happening with everything else that goes on in the circus that is my life. So I will now say that I will do my best to post something once a week. Hopefully many somethings. I have been busy taking lots of photos this week, and catching up on school work, so there's plenty to show, that's not the problem. The problem is one of prioritisation.

I am happy to announce that I am finally caught up in school after my short absence since the death of Grandpapa Poisson, and I am really excited about the work I am doing. I'd just like to take this opportunity to bask in the awesomeness of finally finding a craft that makes me happy. One that will give me not only a good, paying career, but will also provide ample room for creativity and opportunities.

*Basking*  : )

This guy is also basking in his awesomeness.

A pen and ink illustration made for class.

I loved inking him... with Annie on my mind, of course.

Holy Rosary, Batman

There's a church in town, on Riverside Dr., that I believe is called Our Lady of the Rosary, nicknamed "Holy Rosary". I have driven by it many times and have always wanted to stop and look around. Today I did so, and brought my camera along for the ride...

And then it started to snow. 

I really wish that I could have gotten a better picture of the grandiose edifice. It's really something when you stop and look at it from all angles. This shot would have been lovely except for the silly wires and lampost. Though the sign on the post is special, and grounds the image to this fair city, it still acts as an obstruction that continues to irk me. Though imprefections such as these that come up in my artwork really get under my skin, the assignment in class this week includes good and bad obstructions. Personally, I would rather a clean photo, and would enjoy plucking away these elements before I shoot rather than adjust them digitally.

I know it may sound strange, but I love churches and cemetaries. They are full of history and their ornaments are crafted with care. I would really enjoy going back and photograph this church in the spring and summer, and hopefully get some pictures of the inside.

The Death of a Great Man

Last weekend my Grandfather passed away. He was a Great Man, who taught me much, and so I feel that a word or two should be said about him. He was my mother's Stepfather, but was more a father to her than any she had ever known, and was the perfect grandfather for us. He loved family, and with ours, got a second chance to love unconditionally, and got to raise us better than any before. Life certainly isn't the same without him, but it's better this way.

His health had been failing him for a decade now, and, after all the funeral arrangements were planned and paid for, he decided to slip away peacefully at the hospital. He knew that my Grandmother could no longer care for him by herself at home, and that the decision to put him in assisted living would tear her apart. It's not something he wanted, after all. He was a stong man, once an officer in the navy, who liked to fix everything himself. It was hard for him when he couldn't get from place to place easily, and so he gave up his favourite things, including golf, card games, and most social activities in the end. He was embarassed, but more than that he was too weak to leave the house without needing a nap shortly after.

This King of Cards, the man who taught me the subtle art of sliding out of Grandma's view for a quick turkey nap, chose to depart this world on his own terms. He was tired, oh so tired, and his heart had done so much over the years it just couldn't sustain him and his love of life anymore.
I will always remember him for his larger than life attitude, even when he was sick. For the Great Love he showed his family. And, of course, for all the teasing, just to make life a little more interesting. He teased me about boys, about my sisters, about picking the biggest cookies, about beating him at cards (until he changed the game and/or rules). He had a great sense of humour.

This is the last picture I have with my Grandpa. It was taken at Christmas 2009, just after I had gotten the first stages of the tattoo on my arm. He took one look at it, and rolled his eyes. He didn't have to tell me how much he hated it, nor did he have to tell me that it was my body, my choice. It was a moment, and I was still his grandaughter. I remember poking fun at it while someone was taking this photo, and I am happy to see that we caught him chuckling. Despite his weakness, he always had a great laugh. One of those that comes from deep within and emanated throughout your whole body, shaking you belly full force. A Great laugh looks good on such a Great Man.

Arthur "Joe" Poisson

July 11, 1933 - January 22, 2010

Rest In Peace

Grandpapa Poisson.

Tu me manqueras toujours...

C'est toi qui m'as appris les valeurs de la famille, les jeux de cartes, et plusieurs facons de taquiner Grandmaman. C'est toi qui m'as appris a brosser les dents en enlevant tes dentiers pour des instructions plus claires. C'est toi qui m'as appris a pecher, a trouver et a attacher les vers de terre. Tu m'as appris beaucoup, certainement comment aimer de Grand Coeur. De plus, tu m'as appris que la vie, et l'amour, nous offre des chances renouvellees avec lesquelles il faut faire de notre mieux. Je t'aime de tout mon coeur et j'espere que tu trouves de la paix et de la bonne biere a l'infinie.

New Semester - Photography

Well, I didn't get a chance to post everything from the first semester, but you've seen some examples of some of the better work I've done. Looking over it all in this format makes me feel like I'm leaving out a lot, but I think I just spent more time on some of the projects than I ever anticipated.

There is another project that should receive an honourable mention as it could not be posted here. In my final Mac class last semester, I designed a trivia game based on Clone High, one of my favourite cartoons. I spent a good deal more time on it than necessary, and am so proud of how it turned out. After many painstaking hours, I was able to extract the exact chunks of video that I had desired to accompany the questions and answers envisioned in the wee hours of the morning. Really, the show offers so much hilarious content that the trouble wasn't finding quality content, it was extracting quality images and video from good sources, and, finally, editing it all down into what was manageable, not just what would be awesome. Let's put it this way: my first draft had 14 questions. When I was done the project, it had dwindled to include the 5 questions necessary, and a bonus question, and well over 200 slides. I would be happy to showcase the Clone High Questionnaire to any friends who ask, and I hope that the friends who love the show and read this blog inquire.

So that's it. One semester under my belt. I was super relieved to have some vacation time over the holidays. Of course, I wasted the time away playing my guitar, seeing friends and family, and reading some great books. And none of this was enough.

I am happy to be back in school again, however I am still having some trouble settling in to a routine.

New and exciting on the horizon is my photography class. I received a Canon Rebel XS camera for Christmas (thank you!) and am beginning to learn about it many fun functions, but I know I have a long road ahead of me. The class is starting off slow, and to get us all acquainted w our cameras our first assignment was a self-portrait. I submitted the picture below. 

I had taken several photos for this, none of which I was really happy with. Many were much more dynamic that this one, but there was always something in the corner, or something slightly out of focus. In the end, I chose this one because of the star, the smirk, and my tattoo. I have been trying to get a good picture of the claddagh on my arm, but most of them were boring. This photo is more than just the skull, hands, heart and crown, it includes many of my favourite accessories while keeping it simple. The main thing I don't like about it is that I look a little akward because my arms are double jointed, but, hey - I'm not perfect. You get the fun and the flaws, take it or leave it.

So, as my first self-portrait, it works. But i can do better.

This was submitted for our second task: simplicity.

It's a painting that I had once bought at an art in the park in Ottawa. What a great day.

The colours are simple, the themes look simple in nature. If you look at the painting itself, the strings and the bubbles may look excessive, but the overall effect of the photo, I feel, is simple enough. And pretty.

Which brings me to my new take on my new carreer...

Soon I'll be a Graphic Designer. People will pay me to make things pretty     : )

Final Project for Design and Layout I

In our final project for our Design and Layout class, we were supposed to create some merch for a fictional band, or for a band that is not well known.

I chose to create some product for a friend of mine, a songstress who goes by the name of Birdie Whyte.

I had originally designed a vinyl record cover and decal

but could not get these printed to size anywhere in town. 

I promptly formatted the design to fit a CD cover, back, the CD itself as well as the insert.

These had to be accompanied by real merchandise, so I made a logo using the bird on the back of the CD (a photo taken by my uncle), ironed it onto a Tshirt, and made a bunch of buttons with that image as well as many cowgirl images found online.

I would have really liked to have a photo shoot with Ms. Whyte for the project,

but she resides in Ottawa and could not supply photos in the genre she was looking for. Perhaps one day in the summer we could change that.

For the purpose of the class project, I had to seek photos from the web.

Please note that these are not for resale, they are simply for educational purposes.  

Nevertheless, I am very proud of the work that I have done here, particularly on the CD cover itself. I hope to be able to work on another such project soon.

Last Semester's Illustrations

Anthropomorphic drawing combining a fish and a rooster...

That's right...

this is my Coq-Fish

The following pieces are my favourite pieces from the portfolio I submitted at the end of the semester:

Last Semester's Projects

My deepest appologies for the lack of blogging in the end of 2010. I got busy, but that is no excuse. Without any further delay, here most of the projects handed in in November and December for both my Typography and Prepress Production classes.




Mr. B

Newsletter Project

Medal Design, Front and Back for

Ontario Technological Skills Competition 

Wine Logo

(the whip actually swoops around to connect with the R in winery but scanner cut it off)

Business Cards for Wine Logo

Title Page Project

Using only Gothic or Roman Script

Final Project for Prepress Class

Design of box for Crystal Clear Tape