April 4, 2010. The last day of Graphic Design of the year and the most relaxed. We got to bring food and drinks for the first time all year, so it was more fun. Today we came in and just turned in our final logo projects after all the people came in. We waited for everyone to come in today because it was raining really bad outside. Once everyone came into class and turned in their final projects under the right format and right name, we looked at everyone's projects on the projector and talked about what they designed, why they designed it, and how they went about finding it. Today is the last day so it probably wont be until next year that I'm back on this thing. So have a good summer, and I'll be back before you and I know it.

May 1, 2010. Ok, we had to come to class on a Saturday and first off that was the problem. We didn't have to be here until 1 so I guess that was ok for coming in on Saturday. Even though we had to come to class, all we did was sit down and talk for a little bit and finally turn in our essay on the workings of a computer from the minute you push the power button. So it was the shortest class we've had so far and it was the second to last class left and we had to return the following Tuesday for the final exam period, and turn in the AI file that I completed on the day that I came in when no one else was here.

April 27, 2010. So I was more than positive that yesterday was the last day of classes for MWF. What I was not aware of was that it was also the last day of regular class and Tuesday was just a break day between class and finals. What did I do? I came into class thinking that it was the last day for Graphic Design. There was one person in the lab when I showed up, and I felt like an idiot but regardless I needed to finish my last logo project for the contests to turn in on May 4. So I was there from 11 to 2 making sure that all my logo were presentable to turn in as my final, and writing the briefs for the three different projects. We had to make three different artboards in Illustrator and put your logo in the top left of the artboard, the winning logo in the top right and have the brief of the project directly below both of them. So I didnt have to come in Thursday because I had an exam which I made a 98 on.

April 22, 2010. First design down three to go. Back to the searching for the contest that struck my interest. I searched for a good bit because most of them were for web designs but I came to settle on a new logo design for Brookridge Golf & Fitness. They recently lost a lot of sales and members so they are rebuilding their facility to include a a state-of-the-art Fitness center, along with reworking their golf course. They wanted their logo to be what the name says and to include golf and fitness. So I was still working on this logo at the end of class but the majority of this one is done. So Ill be finishing this logo next Tuesday and hunting down the final logo for the year.

April 20, 2010. Down to the last projects of the year, which in fact will count for our finals. Yet, we also have to chance to win money with them also. We must enter at least three different contests online to design a logo for, and take the final logos we made for those contests and submit them for our final projects. If in fact we are to win the contest, we win the money and receive an automatic A. So I started browsing through the different contest and the first one I chose was for Mecitoglu Homes who wanted a new logo for there overseas homes business. They wanted their logo to incorporate a Mediterranean theme so I attempted putting in olives and olive branches. I made five different logos from that idea which I completed at the end of this day. I will include the logo in this entry

April 15, 2010. It's Thursday and today I've been working on the fuzzy monster project in both classes. In the first class I had to start over because I left my flash drive at my house, so starting from scratch, I was really pleased with the final result of my monster, which is a rainbow of colors. I will be including a picture of him later on in this post. I found out that our final project will be to sign up for three different design contests online. If you when then you are awarded an A automatically but if not then we are to turn in our designs to Professor Speyers for our final grade. So by next week we are to be signed up and begin working on our final designs. That's pretty much all the went down today, so I'll be putting more up next week!

April 13, 2010. Only two and a half weeks of school left, and I still have to come and use my brain to design with the shapes from last week. I had no idea what I wanted to do so I just started moving the shapes around and made an octopus and then decided to make a clown fish that looked like Nemo. Then I decided to make it look like there is a shark's mouth right behind them like in the movie. That's where my project ended since there was only a handful of shapes and you could only make them bigger and change the color. Another project was assigned while I was completing the shapes project. We have to download the tutorial to make a monster that has fur. That is the farthest I got because I didn't download the tutorial yet. So, I get to go brainstorm some more and I'll include a picture of my shapes project.

April 8, 2010. Today I have to finish my project of when I had to choose from three different tutorials of how to make different textures. I chose the Western theme that looks like wood grain, with the letters engraved. I chose to do The Kickin' Chicken Restautant which took longer than the rest of them because we ran into a few technical difficulties. I played around with it til the end and I was very pleased with the results. I will show the final result in this post as well. As I was finishing up my project, another project was assigned. We had to download a file that had several shapes in it, which we had to either make bigger or change the colors to make a picture using the shapes. I didn't get to start so I'll see you back next week.

April 6, 2010. Another day another project. Today Professor Speyers uploaded three different tutorials for Adobe Illustrator incorporating the creation of three different textures, knife strokes, old fashioned wood burn, and psychedelic look. I chose to do the western wood burn on wood look. This one he told us would take the longest and was the hardest but I was determined to get it right. I worked on that project all class but could not get it to work out. So my professor said that he would help when we return to class on Thursday. So I guess I will be thinking about it til then. See ya on Thursday

April 1, 2010. So I decided to quit college, and this is gonna be my last post. HA not! APRIL FOOLS. So yea I got you good, and no I am not quitting school. As a matter of fact, I came back today to finish up the Bridge Program Logo that incorporates the Aurthur Ravenel Jr. bridge. I was trying to think about how I could use the bridge but not the same way everyone else in the class had used it. So as I sat brainstorming, I was looking at a painting done of the bridge at night, and the reflection of the lights on the bridge were on the water. So I got the idea to reflect the bridge and the words into the water when I made the first one, but also stretch the reflection to make it seem more real. So the final result was pleasing, which I will include a picture of in this posting. After the bridge was done, Prof. Speyers introduced to us a new style of writing which he called Distressed Text. This is where you take a name for something and almost make it antique looking. I chose the brand name Fossil to do mine which didn't take long, and I will include a picture of that also. That was all for today so I'll be seeing you next week.

March 30, 2010. Like I said last week, facing an unknown logo which will be due at the end of today. So I started my searching through the hundreds of logos trying to find something I could relate to and use that to help with my creativeness. I finally settled on doing the McDonald's logo. Going from he perspective of anyone who knows McDonald's like me, I created the new logo which I will include in this post, along with the first logo of this project. After I completed the two logos, Professor Speyers gave us another logo project which has to do with CSU itself. We are to make a new logo for The Bridge Program here, incorporating the Ravenell Bridge. So when I get back from lunch I think we are going to discuss our logos, and after that if I have time, I will start on the Bridge Program logo. Be back on Thursday

March 25, 2010. Thursday has come back around as the days continue to go by and the logos are staring me in the face. So last I told you, I had chosen the Open Road logo but had started changing it yet. So all it had was the words in white "Open Road" on a green background. So I made a background of a road (black with yellow stripes) and set the words on top of it. This gave the logo a new outlook on its actual meaning. After I finished that logo, I began looking for another logo that I could use as well as I did the first one. As the end of class came around, which was early because Professor Speyers had a meeting to go to, I still had no idea for a second logo. So I was stuck facing an unknown logo the following Tuesday.

March 23, 2010. Another Tuesday back in the lab, and yet comes another logo project. Professor Speyers gave us a file that is filled with hundreds of original logos for the most common organizations known to us. Our assignment was to pick two logos from all of them to make a copy of on Illustrator and remake the original to our liking but still incorporate the original meaning. Originally I chose the Dunkin' Donuts logo and the Gatorade logo, but come the next class I thought that they wouldn't work the way I wanted so I started looking again. I found one logo of something called Open Road, and that's where class ended.

March 18, 2010. Today was very enjoyable to me because I already presented my PowerPoint to the class, so I sat back and watched and learned about the rest of the projects be presented. I actually learned a lot just from these projects, but I'm not sure if anyone learned much from mine 'cause all the technology that comes with a transistor isn't the easiest to understand, unless you have worked very specifically with computers before. All in all, I did learn a good bit about many components of how computers came to be. You'll hear more next week

March 16, 2010. Another week started of Graphic Design, and back from spring break. Had to complete the PowerPoint Project on a specific element of the history of computers. The topic I chose was transistors. So today we started presenting all the projects to the class and I didn't have to present until the second class after lunch. So this class mainly consisted of a certain amount of people presenting their projects until the time ran out. Be back on Thursday.

March 2, 2010. Last class before I'm outta here for spring break. Alrightey, I left off saying that we had to brainstorm about the topic for our Computer History Powerpoint project. I settled on doing transistors. So I started researching and designing my powerpoint with the basic layout and trying to figure out what all I want and need to include. Not much new for this class, ans spring break starts Friday, I'll do what I can for the rest of this class and be back in a week. Have a good one

March 2, 2010. It's a Tuesday and it's raining outside. It feels like the right place to be sitting in front of my computer. So today we are just finishing up one of logo projects to turn in today, so we have until the end of Art 216 (our second class of today) to turn in the logo. We received our next project today also. We are to make a power point no shorter than 10 slides and along with the powerpoint we must have a presentation from 5-8 minutes on the history of something that has to do with the growth of the computer the modern day. So we have to turn in our topic by the either then end of our first or second class. I'm going to brainstorm now, just had to update the latest of the graphic design world. 'Til Thursday, Carpe Diem.

Nothin' much new today, just completed all of my powerpoint tutorials. We have been given more logo options from different clients. The first is for the South Carolina Correctional Association which is in charge of all the prisons and correctional facilities, and their website isn't top of the line. So we've been given the task to create a new logo. The other logo project is for the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges department. They are holding a logo competition to replace the old logo with the first prize being $500. So this is where I'll leave off today to go work on one of the two. probably the one with a money prize lol.

So back to another week of Graphic Design learning, and were getting farther into the designing part. So far this week I've finished up my design for a company that specializes in shower glass repair. He has a company that does frameless shower doors an bathrooms but this is a product he patented that is made to repair cracks or scratches in the frame-less shower doors without having to replace the whole door. The name for the product is Mr. Sparkle and our assignment was to make a logo for this product. So today i finished up two ideas along with completing more tutorials for Microsoft Powerpoint. Now I'm off to start on another logo idea.

I'm getting slack on these post so ill bring you up to date on what been going on. My color replication project was started and finished, and I chose to do a Ford F-150 Saleen. I learned that when you do a color replication project it is best not to use a picture outside where the paint job on a car will reflect all the colors from around it. So I will show the picture I chose to work with and the completed project.

Along with doing this project in Adobe Illustrator, we began a short tutorial using Microsoft Word, Excel, and Powerpoint which only took two classes to complete, giving us helpful tips and advice to make use of these programs faster.

Next we started another project using Adobe Illustrator using one of the books projects to take us further into the many different aspects and abilities of Illustrator. Going through the directions we were able to create an ad for a soda company.













Now to bring you completely up to date, we have been given a Real World Logo Project where one of Professor Speyer's client's wants a logo for his company and we are to brainstorm and create different ideas for the logo, so this is where I'll leave and start brainstorming, Peace

OK, finished with the less is more project of the Ferrari Enzo. As of Tuesday, we were assigned in Art216 to make a brochure of a place of our choosing, using four large rectangles as pages in a brochure. Then along with the rectangles we needed to include five or more pictures of the place we chose along with facts about the place itself, the climate, and what you should bring if you were to visit. I chose to do Germany because I myself went there this past summer and I loved it. I loved to catch the human eye so I created my brochure to be very creative with bright colors. Today i finished the brochure and submitted that and am now waiting on the next project assignment.

Back again to another week. This week I created a resume so i can have a clean copy right now and learn how to add onto it while my career path unfolds. In Art 216 I have resumed Adobe Illustrator, in what we have named line art, making an outline of a Ferrari Enzo in three different pictures. The first is just a general picture of the car, and I have outlined just enough to know what it is, the outline of a car. The second picture will be slightly zoomed with more detail of the car outlined, and again for the third picture it will be further zoomed with intricate detail. As of now, I am almost finished with the first picture, so now I can concentrate on detail to a more confined area.

First of many

The first blog of the semester and I never thought I would be writing a blog, ever. As of right now, i feel like the guy who is on the Twix commercial who only says he wants to blog cause he messed up with his girl, only writing this out of necessity. Yet, its only day number one so I' m sure I'll figure out the meaning of a blog lol. As for today, I'm just excited I no longer have to use construction paper and glue, staying up in the late hours of the night, not finishing my project, but after it is already completed having to peel all the glue off my fingers before I could sleep. Not to mention the paper mache with my cousin (Bekah) and her partner in crime (Stella), day after day putting the gluey mix on my hands, face, and clothes. It wasn't even over when it dried, because that was when the paint started and they decided to paint me on numerous occasions, including Bekah painting my Hollister shirt. After which I ripped it off and started scrubbing it in the sink with the wire brush. So it came off and it was all worth it in the end. I love 'em both they make the day fun. Now we will see what the future has in store to put on the next blog. Peace out