CD Cover: Street Green

Smeezaleen: Street Green

 

I completed this cover a couple months ago now, it is the second cover I've done for Smeezaleen.  Smeez wanted it to look like a $100 bill, but with a modern feel.  The challenges include working within a square format and getting the images to blend with the style of the bill.  I think it turned out great and my client was happy...that's what matters! 

Celebrate You! print ad

This is an ad I created for Dawn V Gilmore fine art photography.  It will be used in a publication she shoots images for.  I LOVE how it turned out.  Her images are amazing, the hardest part was choosing which ones to use, I liked them all!

Boudior photography: rack card

Recently, I've been doing work for a photographer in Port St Lucie, Fl, she specializes in "Celebrate You!" sessions.  They are like boudior sessions, but she really places a focus on loving the skin you're in no matter what size you are.  It's especially satisfying creating work for a business that is so great at helping ALL women realize they're beautiful. 

 

 

Check out Dawn V. Gilmore Fine Art Photography here.

Updating an old logo

A friend of mine is the director for the Bedford Audubon Society, she came to me and asked if I'd be interested in updating their logo.  Of course I would be :)

This was their old logo:

Not awful, but not very good either.



I came up with several options and we narrowed it down to 3:

 

The two are slightly updated versions of what they had and we decided to go out on a limb (pun intended) and give them a completely different 3rd choice, much more sleek and modern.  

They chose to go with....(drum roll please):

I was very happy they went with this one, it was my favorite.  It's nice when the client picks the right one :)

Another CD cover design...

This CD was re-named, so I altered the cover to reflect the new name and info.  I also changed the font of the title to something a little more dramatic.

CD cover design

This is one of my latest projects...a CD cover design for Smeezaleen's "Payphone Conversations."  I was given this picture:

and came up with this design:

This was a challenge.  It was a lot of photo manipulation.  The end result turned out great though and the artist was very happy.  I did a lot of running around and taking pics...the funniest had to be going to the only car dealership in the area that sold fancy cars, finding an Audi A7, hopping out, snapping as many pics as I could to make sure I got the angle I needed, hopping back in and leaving before a sales person came out to ask what I was doing.  You've got to do what you've got to do!  And the car fit in perfect...complete with a customized license plate :)

Trakdealaz Instrumental Mix Cover

My latest design is a cover for an upcoming instrumental mix tape

I was able to get a really nice glow on the type.  It looks pretty cool!

Web Design: XHTML/CSS

I haven't posted in a while...I've been taking another class.  This one is in XHTML and CSS.  I feel like I've learned so much!  This is my last week, and I've started to re-do my website.  I've found it's too hard to update it as we go along, with only 1 week left, I'm to the point where I know what I want it to look like and I can get started on the updating.  I've developed a process that works really well for me.  When I'm working on the computer I tend to want to just jump in start creating, but I've learned that I need to take a step back and really plan first.  I sketched out a few layout options, then I created the one I like the most in Photoshop before I started coding.  This really helped, because as I'm coding and viewing what I'm creating in my browser, I can compare it to the Photoshop version.  I think this process will help if I start designing for others as well, because I can show them what the web page will look like prior to coding and make all of the necessary changes at that point, instead of after the fact, when it's harder and more time consuming.

I changed my logo a bit...

I felt like my logo needed a little something, I wasn't completely happy with it.  I really like it now.  It's the same idea, but I added a gradient to the "!" and changed the type underneath a little.  I think it looks nicer now.

NEW

OLD

www.trakdealaz.com

This is a promotional flyer for the launch of www.trakdealaz.com.  It's created with a combination of Photoshop and Illustrator.  This is definitely one of my favorites!  Creating work for the music industry is a lot of fun and lets me experiment and push myself.

Pur Uncut Radio flyer

This is a flyer I just finished up for the TrackDealaz new radio show that is going to be airing on SiriusXM.  It turned out really good.  The biggest challenge was working with a large amount of type...I got everything on that was needed and it looks cool too!

My new logo

 This is the logo I've created for myself.  I wanted it to be classic, yet fun.  I also really like logos in boxes, not sure why, I just like logos that are confined.  Sehnsational is a spin off of my last name...I think it works!

My real website :)

My cool thing for the day:  I finished up my HTML class and now have a fully functioning website.  I still have some work to do on it, but it's a good start.  I have to link up my blog, add an about me page and replace the fake contact info with my real info.  I wanted to share my site with the class and we weren't allowed to include any personal info.  I need to adjust this blog to reflect my business identity too...Sehnsational Designs.  A fun play on my last name :)  I think it works!  Now to start promoting myself and getting more work!!!

The Creative Gap

I watched this video on pstuts about the creative gap.  It is such a great watch for anyone working in a creative field.  I know I tend to get down on myself, as do a lot of artists, when I see work that is better than mine, but this video reminded me that there will always be someone better than me.  My goal should be to try to close "The Creative Gap".  Pay attention to artists you admire, figure out WHY you like their work and what makes it "good."  And then practice, practice, practice.  I've decided to join other artists who Make Something Cool Everyday.  I may not be able to get something posted everyday, but I'm going to try. 

Save Our Gulf Banner

A good friend of mine works for the Water Keeper Alliance.  She needed a banner created for Save Our Gulf events...so she asked me to help.  This is what I created for them:

It's nice to be able to help out not-for-profit companies.  They do such important work, yet have to struggle to get things done...money isn't something that non-profits have a lot of!  And this is a cause I believe in, so I definitely wanted to help :)

Learning is fun...

So far, I'm really enjoying this class I'm taking.  I knew a good amount of html before...but I'd never actually been taught it, I learned it on my own as I needed it.  I feel like I'm filling in all of the holes.  Our professor goes into a lot of history, the reasons we use certain codes, etc.  He does a really good job teaching to all of our levels.  I'm anxious to learn CSS...there is a class that starts in May.  I have no experience with that, so it should be a lot of fun.

Back to school...

Monday, I signed up for an online course in web design.  I'm very excited...I think it's so important never to stop learning.  I also think it's great for my kids to see my husband and I continuing to learn new things and working on bettering ourselves at the things we already know.  Plus it'll make me more marketable as an artist....that's never a bad thing.  My first lesson was today...I learned all about the origins of the internet and world wide web.  I always though they were the same thing....nope.  The world wide web is a way to navigate the internet, interesting :)

Mountain Sports Festival

This is my submission for Creative Allies Mountain Sports Festival Poster contest.  I am really happy with how it turned out.  I've been working on finding my "style" and I think this is a great example of what I want to be creating more of.  Color, layers and pattern.

Camp Bisco: Creative Allies poster design contest

This piece was done in Photoshop with a little help from Illustrator.  It was done for a design contest posted on www.creativeallies.com.  Camp Bisco is a music festival featuring electronic and live music as well as art.   My concept was based on what I feel electronic music would look like...clean, colorful, edgy.  The client asked that we use the existing logo and design our poster around the elements of the logo.  I feel this piece is very clean, cohesive and pretty cool!  The space in the center of the piece is where the artists who will be playing at this years festival will be placed.

Sketching....

I've been doing a lot of sketching lately....something I hadn't been doing enough of.  Sometimes it helps to get back to the basics and just draw.  This is a sketch I did in Photoshop of a Gorilla at Animal Kingdom.