Workin on the FINAL PROJECT.. At least one of them...

Hey guys, Prof. Speyers wanted us to start working on our Final projects in class. One of the them is to make 3 logos for different design competitions on websites; such as 99design.com. The other project is to write a really long.. boring.. paper.. like 6-8 pages.. we also have to apply pictures and make it look "designy" lol.

I started to work on the logos and already submitted 2/3 of them :). One was for a company called Captain Mobile and the other was for one called Up There. For the Captain Mobile logo I submitted my Mr. Sparkle logo but modified it by taking out the sparkles and putting "Captain Mobile" above and below the head. So yea... lol.

For the Up There company I combined the words "Up" and "there" where "Up" is above "there."
I put it in a cursive font. Finally, I applied an arrow between the words where the curve of the U in "Up" is used for the top of the arrow.

So yea thats it.

Keep it fresh,
Brian

Furry Monster Project Part TWOOOOO

After I've made the outline of the bat I colored it in. I added a purple gradient to the body and outline of the wings. The eyes are blue. For the inside of the ears and wings, I added a yellow-to-orange gradient to kinda replicate skin.

After I got the colors down, I applied the hair. I wanted to make the hair look like fur, so I made it short but also crazy/wild looking. I put the hair all along the body, ears, and the wings. The last thing I did was I applied green eyebrows. I made them green to make him KKRRAAAZYYY!! lol

So yea, thats it.

Keep it fresh,
Brian

Furry Monster Project

Hey guys, a few days ago Prof. Speyers gave the class a new assignment where we had to apply hair/fur to a monster. He gave us instructions on how to apply the hair but we were to make our monster on our own imagination.

For my monster, I decided to make a cool looking, scary bat. I chose a bat because I was playing Pokemon and I kept running into Zubats... no lie.. lol. The first step I did in making the bat, I worked on the body and ears. I got the shapes for them from the past "Basic Shapes" project. Once I got the shapes for those right, I added a mouth and teeth. The teeth are very warped and actually look really cool/different. Then after that I made the eyes. Prof. Speyers provided us with detailed instructions on how to make the eyes look really good.

Finally, a bat cant be a bat without wings.. so.. I added some creepy looking wings.

Basic Shapes Project Part Dos

After I did the Monster and waves I decided that landscape was needed in the background. So I added a giant green hill, made out of a piece of a shape. Of course a sky and clouds were needed sooo.. I added them lol. The sky has a light blue-to-dark blue gradient to it. The clouds are mainly white but have a dark gray gradient to represent the figure of each cloud.

And you cant have a sky and clouds without a Sun.. so the Sun was added. I put the Sun at the top left of the picture and applied a yellow-to-red/orange gradient to it with the rays coming off of it the same way. The gradient on the sun reminded me of a hispanic theme.. so.. the Sun has a mustache and an excited face to make it really happy looking lol.

The last thing I added was a castle on the big hill in the background. But its just not a normal castle, it has arms and a big smiling face on it. Its holding a sign that says, "Hey!"

Overall, I think the project turned out pretty well.. for me being completely random and having to only use 7-8 shapes lol. Tell me what you think.

Keep it fresh,
Brian

Basic Shapes Project

Hey guys, Professor Speyers gave us a project where we were given 7-8 shapes and were to make a picture without modifying or stretching the shape. We were allowed to enlarge and shrink the shapes as long as they kept its congruence... ooohh congruence.. thats a college word... lol.

I decided to do a picture of random things that would randomly pop in my head.. lol so yea..
The first thing I decided to work on was a depiction of the Loch Ness Monster and the waves it was going to be sticking out of. I made the giant hump back with a neck and head.. kinda cliche when it comes to the Loch Ness Monster.. but still... its the Loch Ness Monster.. its amazing. I made the color of the Monster with a light gray-to-dark gray gradient.

I then did the waves. The waves have a dark blue-to-light blue gradient with lighter blue "wavy things" to add an emphasis of water current.

I put a smile on Nessie's face and a sombrero on his head to top him off :).

Well thats it so far. Keep it fresh.
-Brian

Distressed Text with Background

Hey guys, I decided to keep focusing on my band for the projects. I made a cool background, at which its a burgundy color with gold "scratches" going all over it. As I mentioned earlier, I made a weathered text for my band. I took my past project and placed it on top of the burgundy and gold background. I put the griffin under the name of the band and enlarged it to make the project look more uniform. After that, I thought of a CD name (Hearts for Last) and put it below the griffin.

I made the CD name with a different font and added the same brush effect that was used for the band name. To make the text more legible, I changed the colors to a goldish-yellow color. Finally, I centered everything.

I'd have to say that the final result looked pretty legit and could be one of my band's future album covers!

I attached a pic so yall can take a looksy :)

Well thats it so far. Keep it fresh!
- Brian

Weathered Text Project

Prof. Speyers gave the class a new project to do and it consists of making a cool weathered text font. Have you ever seen the screen printed t-shirts that have that have that old vintage look to its words? Yea.. thats what we're doing. I decided on making a cool font for my band, Along The Lines.

I made it in a cursive font and connected the words together. I also made the lower curves of the G in "Along" and the H in "The" sharper and pointy. After I did those steps, I applied the weathered graphic to the font. It looked pretty legit... but it was still kinda plain.

To fill up blank space I added a picture of a Griffin silhouette to the bottom right corner. Yep, I said it... a Griffin.

Well thats it guys, I'll keep yall updated.

Keep it fresh,
Brian

Finished The Logo Remakes

Hey guys I finally finished the 2 logo remakes. The first logo I finished was the TY Toy one. If you dont know who TY is, it is the company who made the infamous Beanie Babies.. yes, I've owned a beanie baby... ok maybe it was 3 of them jeez.. But yea I changed it from having a heart to having a paw print. Then I put a circle around it... It sounds simple.. But its effective.

Then once I got that done, I got the Captain D's logo done. I took a ship wheel and turned the colors of it blue with red handles. Their is a white blank middle. In the middle, I have the Captain D's Seafood text colored black and arched. It's pretty legit.

Well that's it guys.

Keep it fresh,
Brian

Making New Logos.. AGAIN! lol

Today Prof. Speyers went over what essentially makes up a logo. We interpreted some well known logos and he went over how they were well/badly designed. One thing he told us was how Coke changed it's can layout a while back and then the company ended up losing up to $1Billion because of it.. yea... thats not good lol. He then showed us a few logos he had come up with in the past for companies.

Later, he assigned us a new project where the students have to design a new logo that could be better than already existing logos. I chose to redo the Captain D's and TY Toys logo's.

Hopefully they turn up awesome lol.
Aight, well I gotta go.

Stay fresh,
Brian

New Project!!

On Tuesday, last class, Prof. Speyers gave the class a whole new project!! whoopieeee!!.. The project consists of researching anything related to computers (Apple, Microsoft, Printers, SoundCards, etc.) and make a PowerPoint presentation based on the subject you choose, while implicating our graphic design skills we've gained so far in the course. Of course with my luck, all of the good topics were taken so I was forced to choose a "not so cool" one.. I chose CRT Monitors.... yea.. those are the big, bulky old computer screens that you would now find in a public library or in your grandparents house. At least I'll be learning something new while researching about them..

So yea, thats pretty much it so far.

Keep it fresh,
Brian

Correctional Facility Logo

I figured out what I want the logo to look like for the SC correctional facility. Picture this... a silhouette of a man standing with his arms stretched out with beams of light/energy coming out from all around him.. yea.. pretty sweet huh?

I Googled "man silhouette arm stretched" and sure enough I found an image that would be good for me to work off of. I took the image and traced the outline of the silhouette and the area it was standing on, and then I filled it all black. I have yet to get started on the beams of light/energy all around him but I have an idea of what they'll look like.

To incorporate the state of SC involved, I was thinking about putting all that on top of an outline of the state. The state will be white and the silhouette and beams will be black. Should turn out well. Hopefully I can win some cash monies :D

Decisions, Decisions...

Hey guys, after I got done with the Mr. Sparkle logo project guess what? You guessed it, Prof. Speyers laid us down with a whole new project... lol. BUT this project is essentially two in one.. we get to choose which one we want to do.

One choice is for the COCSAC (funny to say if pronounced... yea.. im mature) association and the other is for the SC Correctional facility for all those delinquents out there. The COCSAC one seems kinda boring to get started on and they didnt really give us much instruction on what they were wanting for their logo. The correctional facility one should be a little funner AND it involves cash rewards for 1st, 2nd, 3rd place winners. 1st gets $500, 2nd gets $300, 3rd gets $200. Thats a freakin sweet deal! I think Ill do that one :).

Now what should I do for a logo??

Mr. Sparkle logo Pt. 3

After looking at my "finished" logo over some I decided to add the name "Mr. Sparkle" over the image of the face, to get the products name recognized. I arched the text and used a 1950's style font to keep the vintage theme going on for the logo. I asked Prof. Speyers on how he felt about it and he said it was good but all the sparkles distracted him from reading the products name on top. I made the logo just plain black and white (you don't want it too detailed or else it wont look as good on business cards and stuff).

I then removed some sparkles (leaving 4 remaining) and re-arranged the ones I had left. I made the size of the text spelling out "Mr. Sparkles" a little bit larger and centered it above the face. Asked Prof. Speyers what he thought of it then and said it was much better. I decided that the logo as it was, was going to be the final/finished product.

Mr. Sparkle logo Pt. 2

Hey guys, after I decided on how I was going to approach the process of making the logo I started to get creative with what I had in mind to use. As I said before, I had an image of a 1950's characture of a man smiling. I decided to use the head/face of the man as the main idea of the logo. I cropped out everything except the man's face from the original logo and traced it with Illustrator's Pen Tool. I then added a few of my own touches here and there (shadowing, some more hair, etc.) and BAM! I had the face for Mr. Sparkle down.

I then pondered on how I could make this logo a little better without using just the face. I then thought, "What about sparkles?" and so I searched "Bewitched" (classic tv show) on Google and came across images of vintage looking sparkles. I used them as the design for the sparkles I was going to put around the face. I added about 10 of them around the face and I have to admit, even though the logo looked kind of flamboyant, it still looked good.

After the color replication project

Hey guys, sorry for keeping yall outta touch. Since the color replication project Prof. Speyers gave the class a new project for us to work on. The project consists of the student making a logo for a company's product, Mr. Sparkle. Mr. Sparkle is used to clean different kind of glassware.

So after getting the sheet that gave all the instructions, I started to brainstorm on how I was to approach this logo. I was thinking that the name "Mr. Sparkle" sounded kinda cheesy/cliche and something from the 1950's, so I search on Google for images of 1950's posters. I came across an image of a characture of a man smiling and giving a thumbs up and decided to use that as the basis for the logo.

Then it was time for me to get my creative side working. I decided to work on it more for the next class.

The Color Replication Project is DONE!!

Hey guys, guess what? My color replication project is done!!! :)
I think it turned out really well and other students in the class were surprised by my final result.

After everyone was done, Prof. Speyers did an evaluation for everyone's project. I thought mine was really good, but dang.. there were other finished projects that made mine look like crap lol. A student named Alex in the class did his project on a sports car and I believe his was the best. Kudos to Alex.

I added a picture to this post of my final project.

Well thats it.

Keep it fresh,
Brian

This freakin project.....

Hey guys today has been a very lucrative day. Prof. Speyers gave us a new project to do where the students learn more about Microsoft Office for Macs (Excel, PowerPoint, Word, etc). The whole class pretty much worked on that during our first class.

Then I had a lunch break.

When I got back to class I picked up where I left off on my color replication project and continued to... replicate colors... I got more of the Jeep done and its turning out very nicely but this project is sooo time consuming!! It's a pain, but its an experience that teaches me more about Adobe Illustrator. The project is due at the beginning of Thursday so I have a lot of homework to do to get this thing done. Shouldnt take that long though... hopefully.

Well thats pretty much it. I'll keep yall updated.

Keep it fresh,
Brian

Still Working on the Color Replication Project..

The very beginning of the day Prof. Speyers gave us a fresh new project dealing with Excel. We had to make a chart and put in data for the average amount of rain a day got for each month. The town it was recorded for was called Manville... yes people.. Manville.

Then after that I continued to work on my Color Replication project. Its turning out pretty good because I'm starting to learn the Illustrator tools a little bit better. Then I had lunch..

When the 2nd class started I continued to work on the project again. Thats pretty much all I did today. So far I have the front bumper, back bumper, grill, back door and back window done.

So yea... I'll keep yall updated.

Keep it fresh,
Brian

Color Replication Project

Hey guys, today Prof. Speyers gave us a free day for our first class to catch up with past projects. While all the slackers were trying to catch up I started working on the Color Replication project. In this project students find a picture and duplicate the best they can while using the Pen Tool, Gradient Tool, and color in Illustrator. I chose a picture of a Jeep.. yea.. its pimp. Solid black with tinted windows.

At about 12:00 the class was over so I had lunch.

At 2:00 class started again and I continued working on my project. I pretty much only got the front bumper and one rim done today... lol. But its all good. I will continue working on it in and out of class.

I'll keep yall updated.

Keep it fresh,
Brian

Brochure is DONE and Less Is More project is DONE!!

Hey guys I knocked out two of my Graphic Design projects today. One was the brochure on my backyard I was talking about and the other was the Less is More project with the pirate ship. My brochure looks legit! All colorful with pictures and what not. Now I am a masta designa at using Microsoft Word... at least at just making brochures lol.

Today has been an easy day so far, but Prof. Speyers plans on giving us a new project later today... booo.. But it shouldnt be that bad... At least I hope it's not lol.

I'll keep yall in touch.

Keep it fresh,
Brian

Brochure and Less is More Project

Hey guys, today Prof. Speyers gave us a new small project to work on. We had to make a travel brochure about any destination people would want to travel to... I picked my backyard :) lol. Made it sound extravagant and awesome but in reality my backyard is a dump. Like really... theres a giant leaf pile and I once found a dead squirrel in my pool... yes... a dead squirrel.

After I worked on the brochure I went back to working on my Less is More project. I think I'll be finally done with this project today! w00t! But yea I'm on my last layer and I'm working on those dumb crossbones on the sails.

Well, I'll keep yall updated.

Keep it fresh,
Brian

Workin on the Less is More Project still...

Hey guys today I'm continually working on the Less is More project for Graphic Design. I picked a pirate ship and finished the first layer, where its just the outline of the ship. I just started the 2nd layer (the cross bones on the sails are a pain in the butt with that pen tool!!). So yea.. thats all I have been doing today. I will keep yall updated :).

Keep it fresh,
Brian

Graphic Design Class, Blog Dos

Well its the 2nd week in the Graphic Design program here at CSU. Today Prof. Speyers taught the class on how to find resume templates on Google and how Google's G-mail is the best way to go for e-mailing people. He also talked about the Internet and how the domain names are also a series of numbers that can be typed in the search bar to find the website instead.

Then we had lunch break and me and friends went to Subway. Then we came back.. bet you didnt see that coming..

Today, I used the pen tool in Adobe Illustrator to highlight the pirate ship I'm working on for a project. Oh yea.... a pirate ship.. its that awesome...

Well thats pretty much all that happened today. Ill keep yall updated.
Well I guess I'll make like a baby and head out.

- Brian

Graphic Design Class, Day Uno

Hey guys! This is my very first blog for Charleston Southern University's Graphic Design program. Yea, this is the real deal (100% legit). Even though this is my 2nd day in the program, I believe that this major is what I really want to do in life. One cool thing about this program is the Mac Lab that is ONLY for Graphic Design majors. It consists of 27 Mac's. Even though I have never really worked on a Mac before, I think I can get used to using one... hopefully... lol.

Professor Speyers is a really cool teacher and is very laid back. He is very helpful and funny, but can also be serious when needed. The other students in the class are pretty cool and laid back too. No Drama!!

Hopefully this class will help me pursue my "hope to be" career at being an animator for big corporations, such as Pixar or Midway (Mortal Kombat!!).

So yea, I'll keep yall updated on the Graphic Design adventures.

Keep it fresh
- Brian