Logo design… In a group… Spread out across the province…

Logo design has become a focus in my sketchbook lately. One logo is still in the developing stages and under negotiations, so hopefully I will get to post more on that one soon. The other is for my collaborative blog that I have mentioned here before: Nivå6.

We have developed a few projects for ourselves and our readers, so we thought that it was about time that we give ourselves a name, which we did, and now some sort of visual identity to work with. The development of this identity through a logo is what we are working on right now. We are all contributing our ideas and then we are discussing the options, ideas, and where we want to go from there through the project’s page on our blog.

This is probably the most challenging of the projects that we have encountered so far in that we aren’t working individually but as a group, and that group is located in London, Ottawa, and Toronto, Ontario. Yeah… so the progress on this project should be a interesting one. I have no doubt that we are going to come up with something awesome that will represent the three of us really well. I just know that the process will be a little slower than the normal brainstorming session.

If you want to follow the madness check out the page here, there should be a lot more activity over the next couple of weeks. And feel free to jump into the conversation through comments, fresh eyes and minds are always welcome.

A Circus of Inspiration…

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“You may tell a tale that takes up residence in someone’s soul, becomes their blood and self and purpose. That tale will move them and drive them and who knows that they might do because of it, because of your words. That is your role, your gift.”

— Erin Morgenstern

 

Since the completion my thesis last April I have been spending a lot of time with the things I had to put aside temporarily. The first is my art. The second is the pile of books that were piling up beside my bed throughout my research.

One of the books that I read was “The Night Circus” by Erin Morgenstern, I read it on the recommendation of one of my best friends. This book is unbelievable, especially when it comes to the imagery that it presents to the reader. This was the first time upon finishing a book that I said, “I can’t wait to see/be involved in the movie.” It would be a beautiful movie!

The story is based around an ancient challenge that takes place within a travelling circus. There is magic, history, costumes, and quotes that painted the most vivid, beautiful pictures I’ve been given from a book in a very long time. I highly recommend that you take some time to read this book. This book will be the inspiration behind many of the images that will be coming down the line here in this blog.

The Nikon D300!

This wonderful project was commissioned by one of my best friends to serve as a gift to her boyfriend for Christmas 2012. This was my first shot at doing a personal technical illustration since I graduated from Sheridan in 2009 so I was pretty excited about the whole thing. Not having a D300 of my own I had to do all of the research online, at the library, and through photo reference (taking a picture of a camera is a bit of a bizarre concept). Once I had a large enough pile of reference material I got down to work.

One thing that I did not think of when I got started was the fact that the shape of a camera body is nearly completely organic. Isometric curves can be BRUTAL! But once I figured out a system things ran really smooth from there.

Then came the fun part… colour! I am not great with colour, something I am looking to improve upon in the upcoming year, but I had a lot of fun with this. I wanted to keep the lines but also get somewhere near to the camera in real life at the same time. Finding the balance isn’t always the easiest but I think that I can to a pretty satisfying solution in the end. Through many tweaks and alterations, many emails back and forth with the “client” ;), and talks with the printers, we came to the final result.

I had a lot of fun with this project. After all of the research, line art, sketches, and painting (all done in between work and moving) the Nikon D300 drawing took me nearly 6 months to complete. Being the perfectionist type, I still see more work that could still be done but overall I am very happy with the final result!

Happy New Year!!!

 

Happy New Year everyone! I can’t believe that it is already 2013, how the time does fly!

This is the time of year where everyone is making their resolutions, workout and diet plans, starting new journals, planning to drink less coffee in the morning, the usual right? I didn’t make any resolutions like that this year, but seeing as this is my first year not being in school, I have promised myself to spend more time with my sketchbook and spend more time developing the ideas that I have scribbled within it.

And lucky you, dear reader, I have also made a plan to make a regular post schedule here. I am declaring this here, right now, because if I don’t follow through then I am a big fat liar and you will all know it. Not wanting to disappoint you lovely readers and supporters I promise to post to this blog once a week with my inspirations, new sketches, progress on some of the larger projects, and anything else that is related to this blog and its current/future contents.

I am getting started right now with a quote:

“That which goes awry in life, goes well as art.” – Jules Feiffer

This is a quote that I read on the cover of Chris Thompson’s book Blankets over the holidays. These words are so true and I can already tell that they are going to have a strong impact on many of my pieces this year.

If any readers have any requests for what you would like to see her over the next 52ish posts please leave a comment below. But for now I am off to create!!!