More Graphic Design

Did I ever tell you that my mom is in a band?  Yep.  My mom is super cool.

She sings in a double-trio of women called "Tapestry," and recently they've decided to go modern and build a website.  They asked me to design a header for their site using the frilly bits I employed in my recent JBB graphic.  This is what I came up with:

 This is the my first design - this time around, I discovered some cool ways to make a drop shadow, which gives the frilly bits a nice 3-D effect.  The tutorials online have been a great help.

This is how I changed the image after some suggestions and requests from my mom.  I think it's so cool that she's in a band!  Go mom.

BEHOLD! PIXELMATOR!

I downloaded Pixelmator yesterday, and I tell you what this is a gnarly little program.  Look at what I made (from scratch), using free downloadable content from the internet:

(If you really want to admire these, click on the image to view it full size)

Jon of the JBB has asked me to take over some graphic design for the band.  I'm pretty excited and these are some preliminary images from what I worked on today.  Took me about 2 hours to make these guys, but they're pretty cool, right?

Recent Artwork

Well it was quite a crazy summer, but in my small bit of free time, I managed to read Three Cups of Tea, finish the Old Testament, and render this portrait of Starlee:

Starlee Holman 2010

(Sorry about the slightly awkward angle - I neglected to get anti-glare glass for the frame, so if you take the picture "head on,"  you see yourself in the glass.)

This is the first formal portrait I have attempted in a few years, and since her father happens to be an artistic director for the LDS Church, the pressure to do a good job was a little intense.  In the end, I'm really happy with it.  I had a lot of fun doing it, mostly because I chose the subject matter myself and there was no real deadline for its completion.  All in all, I consider it the finest wax pencil drawing I've done.

The final product was compiled from a few photographs, mainly in sepia tone.  I "cheated in" some additional color (reds and blues, mostly) to add some vibrance to the piece.  Isn't it lovely?

Base Painting.

I have never tracked my own progress on a piece of art before, but I thought it might be fun to do it on my blog, so in between regular posts, I'll upload the weekly progress of my painting so I can show you what I've done. Hopefully, this will motivate me to put in some time every week, and also be a good way for me to see how I might improve my technique. Here is what I've got after my first 3 hours.



I selected a photo of a man, laughing after being covered in colors at the Hindu Holi Festival. I'm painting from a black and white printout of the photo (seen taped to the canvas) and a full-color image on my computer screen itself, in hopes that it will maintain the integrity of the colors. As you can see, so far I'm just laying in the base color. Looks like our Hindu friend got blasted with blue-green the most.

And She Swears That She's Artsy...

I used to do a lot of painting, but in three years, I haven't started a single project. Well, that streak ended today! I can't tell you how excited this makes me. I don't have a photo to show you, but I'll post again when I finish up.

I love portraiture. Here's a couple that I've done:

a little self portrait - when I was 16

my nephew - a quick study in oils
(I had to complete the picture from sketched-on gesso in 3 hours)

my personal favorite - a 4'x4' oil painting that hangs above the piano back home.

With all the news of horrifying events that threaten to engulf a hope for a peaceful future, it's a blessing to use my hands to create.

I wish I knew who my late grandfather was quoting, but he loved to say,

"Art is man's attempt at imitating the hand of God."