Word of the week " Swamp"

Hello everyone,

When I seen the word of the week , first thing that came to mind was an alligator.
Information about a Alligator ,

	Habitat:	The Alligator lives in the swamps of Australia, South America, Africa, and the southern part of North America.
	Population:	Alligators are not endangered.
	Eating habits:	The Alligator eats mostly fish, turtles, and snails.
	Size &weight:	The  Alligator can weigh up to 1,000 pounds and can grow up to 12 feet long.
	Life span:	Alligators can live up to 30 or more years old.

I wanted to create a kids postcard about the world of the week " Swamp". Had a lot of fun trying to draw my alligator and create it in illustrator.

I created everything on the postcard from the moon to the background, also I played around with my blending mode, and wanted that feel of a dark late night in a swamp with your favourite creatures. 

Happy Easter , Thanks for stopping by :) cheers !!

"Field Trip Downtown Hamilton "

Hello everyone,

On March 27th /2012,

A beautiful afternoon for a field trip to downtown hamilton.

The first place we went to was to meet a couple of graphic designers, named
 Jeremy Freiburger and Steph Seagram , we learned a lot from being there, there website is:


 http://cobaltconnects.ca. 

The second place we went to was called " Mixed Media , a wonderful place to get all your graphic or arts needs, from paints to books, to art work on the wall , it was a very warm and comfortable environment.

A group of us went further into downtown James st, went into stores such as art stores, and art galleries, and a shop that sells books and records. We asked questions like " How business was for them? ," How long they have been doing the career they choose", "How they got started".

We went into a gallery and spoke with a man named " David Brace", a very warm and welcoming person to meet with. He is the owner of the store front called" B Contemporary", fine Art and Custom Picture Framing.

We were glad that he took the time to answer all our questions. We asked him how he got into the business of art and he replied"that it was a natural step for him, ever since 1990 he has been working with art, he worked in a lot of galleries , he started at the age of 12.
It started to pursue when he was 14 -15 in high school, taking art classes, etc.

We asked him why he choose to have his business in hamilton, he relied with cause its were he grow up here in hamilton, it was the right place at the right time when he started the business.

Brace says the street is changing a lot these days. The most time hes usually busy is on fridays and weekends, the way he chooses  the art work that goes up, well he has artists that have long term relationships with him that go back 20 years. Most of those art works go on display as well as new artistis wanting to show there art to the world.

People will email him a lot wanting to show case there art work, if he likes the person, and hits it off then they come look at the studio and book shows and dates. Now with everything changing in a new way, he said that photoshop is used a lot these days.

On a average painting depend on the artist , can average from 3000$, to 4500$.

The Last place we went to was called " Books & Beats. 

If your looking for New and used books and Vinyl Records, Here is the place to go. The owner was great help to us answering questions and letting us walk around his store. Before I left I had to buy a book from there, It was documentary stories about Marilyn Monroe. 

Hope you all enjoyed your visit on my blog , come back again soon!!!

Word of week " Shades"

Hello everyone,

Hope everyone is having a wonderful week, This weeks word is "Shades", the first thing that came to mind was sunglasses. Hopefully summer will come sooner and we wont have anymore of this on and off weather.

Sunglasses are important to everyone , we use them outside when its sunny of course :) , on the beach, on our way to work or school. There are many kinds of sunglasses you can buy these days, ones for females and ones for males.

I have been inspired by a photograph that helped me create my design, it was Illustrated by Milton Glaser in 1971.

I had taken a lot of shots , this one was my favourite the way the angle of all the building went together. Above is the original Image, that I have taken in toronto downtown.

My original image that I have edited in photoshop, I put a threshold on it to make it a darker effect. Also I have created three sunglasses in illustrator to go with my design.

My final design I have created on a post card. Its very fun and eye catching.
 I am very happy with what I have designed.

Thanks everyone for stoping by and checking out my site, Check back very soon I will be posting a lot more stuff.
Have a wonderful Weekend Happy Easter!!!!

"Emotional Labour "

Hi there, 


Today I'm here to talk about "Emotional Labour" , The definition is a form of emotional regulation wherein workers are expected to display certain emotions as part of their job. 


Some examples that require are, 
-Doctors
-Nurses
-Actors
-Waiting staff-  ex.Smiling & expressing positive emotion to clients or customers.
-Flight attendant
-Teachers 


An example from the podcast I listened to the other day called " Spark 97". Seth Godin defines" Emotional Labour" as difficult work that, other people don't feel like doing. " Its Labor, thats what we get paid for.The harder you work, and get your work out their to show others, the more it will pay off. Some of us don't get paid to blog or create a design, we are trying to show our talent, and make ourself known.


As a Graphic Designer, we show Emotional Labour in our art work, each day I check out a few of my favourite sites, and blogs that inspire me or help me out each and everyday. To me I find my inspiration from looking at photos and reading peoples blogs. 


1) We heart it, Is a way for people to express how there feeling, love, or pretty much anything random.


2)Google plus, is a way to post a blog and show the kind of work others do and things that people like or have made.   


3)Piccsy is a place to show the work you have done or simply like an image, its my spot for inspiration, and great ideas to show the world. 


Below are a few links for you to check out: 

http://weheartit.com/

https://plus.google.com/u/0/ 

http://piccsy.com/?tag=illustration
Below is a link to the "podcast" & Seth Godin's blog http://www.cbc.ca/spark/2010/01/spark-97-january-3-5-2010/http://www.sethgodin.com/sg/

Hope you all enjoyed your stay and hope you all learned something new today!!
Have a wonderful Week :) 

PhotoShop Techniques

Hi there everyone,

Just thought I would stop by and leave a blog post about my new creation of my book cover :)
Im very happy and had a few feed backs to make some changes so here it is !!!

First Page of my book :)

My second page of my book, I love creating and designing new things especially ones that take time to put every little thing together.

Check Back soon will be posting the "word of the week which is " Intention & Yield " !!

Word of the week "capable"

Hello Everyone , 

Today is a beautiful day , hope everyone had a wonderful weekend :) 

This weeks word is "capable", I decided to change my theme this time to a post card.

I'm pretty sure everyone loves receiving and send post card to someone, I know I love postcards, especially when the front of them have awesome scenery and designs on them.

My inspiration came from Leif Pengs (flicker account), the red and dark blue in the image stood out the most to me and the way the composition is laid out. For my design I thought I would incorporate these same colours and put my own twist to it.  

My first image was taken last week, and I thought This would be perfect to use for my design. 

The second image I added a few effects to make it look dark and gloomy, I also wanted the blue to stand out more.

For the third image I added a little bit more red to the background, and added my text " I want to be all that I am capable of becoming".  

For my final design I wanted it to look like a postcard, would you like me to mail one to you :) 

Hope you enjoyed my blogs thanks for reading !!! 

Have a wonderful day.

Word Of the Week is " Fluid"

Hello everyone , hope your all enjoying a wonderful week :)

The word of the week is " Fluid" , the first thing that came to mind was an image of fluid being poured into a glass. We all have different kinds of fluids that enter our body, and all have fluid in our system all already. Its a fact that we should be at least drinking eight glasses of water a day, I should start drinking !!

Below is a link to a quiz of how much water you need ? CHECK IT OUT!!
http://nutrition.about.com/library/blwatercalculator.htm

My image of inspiration came from Leif Peng( flicker account). http://www.flickr.com/photos/leifpeng/sets/  A lot of images to use for inspiration.

As soon as I seen this image , I knew exactly what I wanted to create for my design. I started to sketch some ideas down, sorry my rough sketch its kind of hard to see, photo quality not the greatest.

My final design, I'm really happy with the lay it turned out. I like the way the bubbles look kind of real and how my colours blend together just right. My favourite drink is orange juice with extra pulp :) this week I had a full jug to myself and boy was it delicious , Whats your favourite drink?
Have a good weekend < CHECK BACK SOON :) CIAO

For My next blog " the word is " Capable".