Harlequin 30DoC Day 2

"final" colored-in version

Ink and pencil sketch. I used watercolor pencils, but I'm a bit trepidatious about attempting to activate them as it's sketchbook paper. I think this turned out nicely.

Inking done

Pencil shading done

Sketchbook cover, 30DoC Day 1

I am participating again in 30 Days of Creativity, which runs for the month of June. I'll be posting my work here and on (several) Pintrest boards, and making announcements via the various social networks of which I'm a member.  If you want to see what I did last year, it's on this pinboard.

So, what do you do when you've got too many projects going on at the same time? You combine them!

Today, I created a cover for my Art House Co-op Sketchbook Project sketchbook.

Sketchbook Cover

I will probably add some additional shading in pencil or a shading markers and I'd like to put some highlights in as well. Maybe some dilute white acrylic. Not sure yet.

EDIT: I discovered over the weekend that I have a white watercolor pencil. Added highlights that way.:

Sketchbook Cover, With Highlights. Pencil and ink.

 If you are also participating in 30 Days of Creativity, please let me know in the comments here, and I'll follow you!

Mandalas (an interlude)

The other day, I was directed to this video by one of my FaceBook friends, and I've been dabbling with these mandalas for a couple of weeks now. This past Sunday, I had a lunch date with some dear friends that I hadn't seen in much too long, and I was the first to arrive at the restaurant. Since I had a few minutes to kill, and had my sketchbook and micron pens with me (as I do most days these days), I started drawing a mandala. I finished it at home in the evening. I call it "Lunch with Friends"

Today, I decided to try re-creating it in Illustrator, as a vector drawing.

I like both of them, for different reasons. I will be pleased if I can manage to get a similar level of control as the woman in the video. The nice thing about the vector version is that I can play with coloring it in much more easily than the hand-drawn one.

Challenge 07: Gridlocked

This challenge has to do with layout. I had 60 minutes to design an interior spread for an 11x17 (tabloid) brochure (folded to 8 1/2 x 11) for a juvenile diabetes treatment plan. Prior to the starting the clock, I was to come up with a name and logo for this thing.

The number of grids on the spread are determined by a random dice roll.

There are 6 required elements: 1 3" x 4" picture, 500 words of text (4-6 paragraphs), 100 words of "legal" (tiny type), 1 inset/pull quote (20 words) 1 8-word headline, and the logo, shown at least 1.25" wide.

Of course, I rolled a 1 on the die.

1-column layut

 After this version is done, create a new version where the logo is at least 2" larger than it was before.

1 column layout with larger logo

 Then, re-roll the dice and add that many columns to the layout and re-design. I rolled a 4.

5-column layout. This one is my favorite.

I went over time on this challenge, I blame my lack of expertise with InDesign. I am not completely in love with any of these layouts (or the name I came up for the treatment plan, but I am so ready to get past this assignment and move along to the next one).  I used some stock photos from an old library I have from some even older software that's been sitting on my hard drive. I would have done more with color and "artistic elements" if I had more time. Every time I look at these, I see things I want to tweak and change. But this is what you get for 1 hour and 24 minutes worth of work.

Challenge 6: Blu

That hiatus was rather longer than I had planned - work and other projects got in the way. It had nothing to do with being blocked for ideas at all. Seriously. I mean, how hard could it be to come up with a concept for a magazine named "Blu" and then design the cover of the first issue? In an hour.

My Blu magazine is a fiction magazine, with some art and possibly some irony thrown in.

How to get More Hits on Your Blog

Post something about Bacon. Here is my Bacon Flowchart, version 1.0.

Please excuse me while I cook and eat some bacon.

Interlude: New Sketchbook

Real life and chores have gotten in the way of my weekly design challenge, so I thought I'd post what I drew in my brand new Moleskine sketchbook this afternoon.

Taking an instructor-led figure drawing class has really improved my overall comfort level with my tools: paper, pen and ink. After attempting to draw people, drawing inanimate objects seems a lot easier.