Filing System Activity

Another day, another activity!

For this one, the task was to really understand how important File Structure is within the Graphic Design and Prepress industry. This was actually my first time using Adobe Indesign and I think it turned out well. I always like playing with "new technology" and challenging myself to learn something new, so I quite enjoyed this activity. Anyway, one of the requirements was to make a promotional advertisement flyer(?) using pre-set images and text. Here is the result:

Although not a main requirement, I went ahead and added a nice "party-themed" border just to make it a little more colourful and grab your attention. As I mentioned, I'm quite happy how it turned out. Really enjoyed this activity and in due time hope to master Indesign!

Typographic Portraits (My name is...)

So for today my learning activity was the very fun Typographic Portraits. Basically, the task is to provide a specific personality as described in the designated areas on the A4 template supplied. If you look below, you'll see what I mean. This is the finished product:

It made me realise that I'm so out of practise when it comes to hand-drawing. All in all I feel it turned out good. Believe it or not I spent quite a bit on time on this (a couple hours at least!). I spent most of my time stuck in my Visual Diary making drafts. Speaking of, let me show you how that turned out too:

** Apologies for the quality of the scan.

As you can see, most of my original designs were included into the final cut. The crossed out parts were obviously designs I felt were not fantastic. And as you can see, I removed the hand/arm from the "Headache" portrait as I just couldn't seem to be able to draw a decent looking arm. Hopefully the final product seems satisfactory. My favourite design was the Chameleon portrait. Had a lot of fun with that one and believe that one turned out great. The only one I'm not particularly fond of is the "Gender Illusionist" sketch. I was stuck on that for a really long time and unfortunately I don't think it turned out great. Too simplistic? Aside from that, fingers crossed it looks ok to you!

I certainly welcome constructive criticism or any comments at all. Don't be afraid. I like to think I'm friendly :) 

See you all next time!

Introduction: What inspires me?

Hello. Pleased to meet you!

Not a very riveting and inspirational looking blog at the moment, is it? Well I'm very new to blogging in general so I'm just now learning the ins and outs of blogs, so you'll have to forgive me.

I just wanted to share some of my inspirations in life, and in particular - graphic design.

My family have always been artists. both professional and recreational. So growing up with relatives like these, I was bound to have some kind of "artist-within" symptom right? Well, I like to think so. I've hand-drawn since I was very little. And for the past few years I have absolutely loved creating and manipulating images through Photoshop, in particular - fake movie posters. Yep.

My biggest inspirational artist/graphic artist is the team behind some of the greatest movie posters ever seen, Mondo. In particular - Australia's own Ken Taylor.

I absolutely love the colours, textures and just the passion you can clearly see when looking at his prints. 

The image above is just one example of his many works, and so happens to be my personal favourite of his. Seeing art like this just inspires me to create my own workings, even if it'll never match up to Taylor's craftsmanship. 

If you want to see just how amazing this man's art is, check out their website right here!

Whilst on the subject of great graphic designers, another two absolutely worth mentioning are Richard Davies and Martin Ansin. Both these artists are out of this world with their designs. I can spend hours just looking at their movie posters (you'll notice I have a thing for movie posters - I'm a film-buff I admit it). All three of these artists are what drives me and ultimately inspires me when I am both doing and pursuing Graphic Design.

What else inspires me? You would not think so when it comes to graphic art especially, but hiking and long walks do just that. Inspire. Taking in the fresh air, observing the views, having a clear mind - it all helps my creative juices. It seems so simple, but simply just taking a walk somewhere scenic can help me when I'm out of ideas or stuck on one. Odd, I know.

So maybe I'll wrap it up here. I just wanted to start of with a bang and share my inspiration with whomever reads this. I would love to hear your opinions and even better - some of your inspirations!

Rosco1986, signing off.