Fabric Contest Entry:: Art Deco

I just entered my second fabric contest entry at spoonflower. This weeks theme was Art Deco. 
The design had to be flat color and could only be 4 colors.


It took me a while to get inspiration for this one but once I started playing with commonly used shapes in the style it came very easy. 


I am so happy with the result, it reminds of floor tiles! :)

Detail

Fabric Contest Entry::Street Art/Graffiti Inspired

A friend told me about this awesome fabric site spoonflower.com and they hold weekly fabric design contests. I have just uploaded my first entry that is inspired by graffiti/street art.


This is my design>>

Inspired by these pictures taken form the F train (pretty sure it was the F train anyways...) This place is absolutley beautiful and I probably didn't capture the actual beauty of this place in my design but I am pretty happy with how the design came out anyways. 

 

Im thinking about doing a couple more with more texture if I find time before Tuesday...

Super Excited!

So I am trying to patiently wait until Wednesday which is when my new tablet the bamboo create! comes in the mail!!! I currently have an older version of this tablet and I cannot wait to try this new one out! 


Keep on the lookout, I feel a swarm of monster characters coming in the near future! :)

Challenge #2: Finding an Internship

The first thing I wanted after getting thrown into the "real world" was to get a job. But I found a huge catch, when applying for a job everyone wants someone with experience but no one is willing to give you a job to get that experience...


The next option was an internship. I never had time to do an internship with all my classes and homework so I thought maybe that would be a good place to start now. This however had a catch too...everyone offering internships wants your work but they don't want to pay you! (never take an internship was what I have always been told.) For me I got super lucky that a former professor of mine knew pretty much everyone in Syracuse looking for designers and also who would give me a paid internship. 


I love love love having an internship! I am learning way more in the few months that I have been there than I did my last year of school. Not only am I learning how to manage clients but I am also learning alot of the more detailed features of design programs like inDesign and Photoshop. 


So far I have done everything from branding (logo and identity design), print (brochures, business cards, posters), and website design. I also designed the company's holiday card! Check it out >>

 

 






company>> stressdesign.com

Challenge # 1: Moving back home...

Taking a little flashback to about 8 months ago...


This is when I graduated school and "designing my life" really began. I want to look back on this time and possibly give advice to any design student who might be in the same place I was 8 months ago and to let all of you know that you aren't alone and that everyone is going through the same thing you are right now. 


So after 3 months of searching for a job/internship before graduating school and trying to find an "affordable" place to live in Brooklyn and having no success at either I was forced to move back to upstate NY after graduation. This idea really just sucked but I had no choice. After spending two years in the big city moving back to a place with nothing to do did not make me happy. 
But...
I did it and surprisingly found this awesome internship, got a kick ass car (vw beetle) and have some cool design people to hang out with. Still not my ideal place to be but I am enjoying it for now.


For all you kids graduating college this year who are going to be moving back home my advice to you is DON'T WORRY ABOUT IT! Things will work out if you make the best of them. AND on the plus side you get to save money! 


I would however advise you to not give up looking for jobs in your desired city. Go to as many interviews as you can get because you really do learn from the bad interviews. Also don't worry about "branding" yourself while you are still in school, as you can see I still haven't and I am doing just fine. 


Take a deep breath, try to relax, and focus on doing good school work as well as making your portfolio look awesome! 


Thank you for reading, more challenges will come because I have been faced with many so far. If there are any questions please ask because I feel like I forgot to mention alot of detail, like freaking out everyday before graduating and beating myself up inside about crappy interviews. 

Happy New Year!

Today I woke up inspired and spent some well needed time with my neglected sketchbook. I have have always been drawn to swirly designs and fonts but have stayed for the most part away from designing this type of stuff in my own work but now I have decided to just let all my "swirlyness" out. My inspiration for this goes back to a project a did a year ago that I have recently framed. 

 That led me to decide that this year I want to work on more typographic designs and incorporate my swirls into more stuff. I know the whole swirl thing isn't anything new but it's what I am into so I am going to do it! :P 

 I then went on to sketch my initials in this new found font of mine :) 

I think I am finally getting closer to a logo for myself that I am happy with...almost...

Happy New Year!!!