Binghamton University Art & Design

December 4, 2019

Project 4: Timeline

For this project, I decided to research the history of women's swimsuits because of my interest in fashion. I liked that this topic would be very visual with pictures from history, and I decided to focus on the societal expectations and details that influenced each time period’s style of swimsuit. I also added in some swimsuit related pop culture references and turning points for certain time periods. I started off by researching the evolution of women’s swimsuits and putting the information into the Illustrator file. I then found pictures from each decade online and edited them in Photoshop with the quick selection tool to isolate the elements I wanted to use. To make the timeline fit the swimsuit and beach theme, I made the background a light yellow color and added texture on top of it so it would resemble sand. I also created a river in Illustrator and dropped the opacity and put it in the background to connect the different time periods and create movement throughout the piece. I chose to use a vibrant blue, orange, and pink in the text to bring in some retro, vintage colors. To finish up, I created an illustration of a seashell and a starfish in Illustrator using the pen tool to add more to the beach theme. I dropped their opacity and put them in the background to make them more subtle.

November 3, 2019

Project 3: Article Illustrations

Meat the Family: new reality TV show challenges carnivores to eat their 'pets'

For this article, I decided to design an image of a woman about to eat a hot dog, only the meat is an actual dachsund. I thought this design represented the message of the article and TV show pretty well since it shows how ridiculous it seems to eat a common household pet. I started by creating an image of a woman's face, a hand, and a hot dog bun in Illustrator. I added details to the face and hand by using the pen and pencil tools and used the free form gradient tool to give the woman's hair some dimension. I thought it would be interesting to give the woman and dog similar hair colors to connect the two as living creatures. Next I cropped an image of a dog in Photoshop and stuck it inside the bun and drew some ketchup on its back. To finish, I placed a photo of flashing camera lights in the background to hint that people do crazy things just for media.

Social Media Is Fostering A Big Rise In Real-World Stalking

Once I read this article, I immediately knew what I wanted my design to look like. I thought a creepy hooded man looming behind a girl on her phone would represent this article pretty well. I wanted the girl to look like she was completely oblivious to the stalker behind her, so I added Instagram like symbols around her phone to reinforce the idea that younger generations are consumed by social media and technology. I started by creating images of the girl, the like symbols, and the hooded man in Illustrator. I added most details to the objects by using the pen and pencil tools. I then edited a photo of creepy eyes in Photoshop, placed it on the dark area of the hood, and dropped its opactity to give it an eerie look. I finished up by adding texture to the hoodie and placing a photo of a city in the background.

Commentary: The sexist demand on female superheroes: Save the world and look hot

With this illustration, I contemplated a few designs but ended up putting Wonder Woman on the cover of Playboy to represent the overly sexy portrayal of female superheroes. I thought this was a fun way to illustrate the message of the article while hinting at how superficial media can be. I started by creating images of Wonder Woman, a man's face, a magazine, the Playboy logo, and hands in Illustrator. I added text on the cover of the magazine and used the free form gradient tool to add shadows to the magazine to make it look more realisitc. I added texture to the man's beard to give it more dimension and finished up by added a picture of a bedroom in the background.

October 2, 2019

Project 2: Scalable Icons

For this project, I chose to create icons of a book, a sunrise over the ocean, and a dog to describe my personality and passions. I chose a book because I love to read and I'm majoring in English, a dog because I have four dogs and deem a dog as my spirit animal, and the image of a sunrise over water because I am a cheery but also laid-back person. I wanted to keep my icons minimalistic, so I chose to design them as simple as possible so they would scale down nicely. For the colored icons, I chose a pastel color theme and reused the medium blue, dark blue, and yellow throughout each icon. I also decided to use rounded edges on each icon to make them more cohesive. For most icons, I only had to adjust the stroke weight as they got smaller. However, for the smallest dog icon in color, I decided to add a stroke around the dog's face in a darker yellow for more definition.

I brainstormed a few different options for each logo. As I looked at my sketches and drafts, I decided to make my icons flat with minimal detail. Although my icons were simple, I tried to make them more interesting by adding a second layer to the book, combining my ideas of the sun and water for the sunrise icon, and doing a close up of a dog's face instead of a silhouette.

September 5, 2019

Project 1: Isometric Avatar

For this project we had to create an isometric avatar of ourselves. I used minimal facial details and added shadows to my clothing to add depth. I included an image of a dog to describe myself because I have four dogs. I chose to only add a nose to the dog to match the small amount of facial features on my avatar.

My process for creating the avatar. I thought my original avatar was too flat, so I redesigned it into a more 3-D model while using the same aesthetic elements. Since my new avatar stood at an angle, I had to adjust a few elements. I had to tweak the angle of my sneakers and I added shadows on my clothes.