Final Exam

So the end of the year is here and this is my final project. The task was to take a piece of art, and turn it into a graphic design. I choose to use a previous project of mine, which turned out to be my tattoo design, as it didn't really sent a clear message, so it's more of art than graphic design. I then tried to figure out how I could take that and make it send a message. I thought, what better graphic design than to make an advertisement. I choose to take my blog's name, Red Eagle, and make that the name of the company. The company being a graphic design company. Put in the name, and motto, then played around with the position of art, to work it into the advertisement. That lead me to the final draft of the advertisement, being this. Simple but gets the message across. The name of the company, the motto, then a logo to represent the style of the graphics.

Broadcaster Images

This is yet another one of the images for our schools online news paper, The Broadcaster. This image in particular is for the article about Michael Fowlin, creator of the, "Your are Beautiful", assembly he presents at schools.

Project #8: CD Redesign

    So for my next project, I figured why not do a redesign of a cd cover for one of my favorite bands. however why stop at a redesign, and why not just create an entirely new album cover for a fictional future album. I am already working on it now, and will be honoring Motley Crue.
    Basically the theme for this cover was in reference to an album called "Dr. Feelgood". The first design I wanted to implement an aspect from an old T-shirt I had, that being the "Dr.X" logo that you see below. As per the title, as its a reference to the "Dr. Feelgood" album, I named it "The Doctor Is Back". However this cover just seemed lacking and overall boring.



















    So I went back and took an aspect of the original album cover and replaced the "Dr.X" logo with the medical symbol. I put a red glow around it and then a gradient to the black background to further add to the overall design. I also looked up other album covers by them to see the kind of style they used. They had relatively simple designs, but designs that were eye catching. That what I tried to achieve with the final cover design.

Project #6 Science Academy Poster

Description: Finally this project is coming to a close. The purpose of this project was to organize imformation given to me by a Science Academy student into a professional and visually appealing science fair poster for him to use. Each science student was given 2 graphics students, ad at the end would decide which design to use. The poster underwent several changes over the course of our collaboration, so that the poster met all of his specifications. Eventually he approved the final product, and has been printed. All that is left to do is have him pick it up and everything is said and done. This project had taken almost 2 months, as he had gotten the information out late and due to several absences of mine, the overall progression was hindered on more than one occassion. The poster includes around 20 slides worth of information and 8 pictures. If he choses my design, it will be used at the science fair.  

Skills Learned: Over the course of the project I was able to develope better organizational skills along with collaboration skills. 

Self Reflection: I feel that in the time I was actually given to complete the design I was able to produce a decent representation of information being presented. I took on the responsibilies and accomplished the task at hand. Could this project been completed much sooner, yes, however set backs had well set back the project, set backs that happen and need to be taken with a grain of sand. 

Project/Participation: 9/10

Broadcaster Images

I created this image for the schools online news paper called the Broadcaster. This particular article is called,"A Reflection on the 2011 Oscars". I started work on this months ago but kinda just forgot about it, finally got around to finishing it today. This now gives me three total images ive created to hopefully make up for a missing project. Comments and opinions are appreciated.

Project #5 Band Logo

Description: This was a project my friend had commissioned me for. His band, The Dakota Badlands, needed a logo created for upcoming shows during this month. After providing him first sketches he chose a few that he liked and I then translated them on to the computer. These werethe first four, simple, got the point across and room to build upon.


That was the next step to take those four and bulid upon them. Thats when I can up with the next set. As much as Id like to post all 8 sets, Ill spare you the headache. This is a compilation of all the logos thus far. They are organized in basically the way in which the evolution of each had taken place. Some designs as you can see usually got cut, then revisited down the road. However at this point, I have lost communication with my friend in regards to the logo, clients drop off the grid sometimes, the world is not perfect. So in this case I chose my personal favorite to alteast wrap up the project within class and revisit the design when and if i hear word back. I chose the deign below because it was simple, recognizable, easy to read, and looked "cool" and "hip"as my friend would say. this was actually the final design he wanted me to continue with. Well aside from that this poject included much back and forth to achieve a final design. So hopfully in the future this will be used to represent the Dakota Badlands, as is its intention.
Skills Learned: During this project I definately learned better about the skill of development and collaboration. I have a better grasp of some of the tools in Illustrator and am better skilled in logo design.
Self Reflection: This project was by far the longest ive done so far. Took the time that usually would make two, due to the client factor introduced, could not just pick my own favorite but rather go by what he wanted the entire way. However I think I did well all in all through out. Though, I come times where I had no input or direction to go by, leading to many logos being scrapped, but thats what comes with design.
Participation/Project: 10/10

Project #7: PGC Recycling Poster

Description: So for this project we had to create a recycling poster for the schools PGC program. We were given a list of slogans that we had to choose from. I my self chose the slogan "dont be trashy..recycle" With this I came up with the following poster. I already knew exactly what i wanted to do with this poster and the slogan so i began work immediately on the computer. The goal was to keep it simple and to the point. These posters are to be hung up around the school to spread the word to recycle and promote going green.
Skills: Photoshop skills, organization skills to create a readable poster message.
Self Reflection: I thought this came out fairly well. Did not encounter too many issues, if any, for this project in the time frame we were aloted.
Participation/Project: 10/9

Project #7: PGC Recycling Poster

So currently i am working on a recycling poster for the PGC department. The slogan I chose to use was "Dont be Trashy, Recycle". Basically translate that into a simple, eye catching poster to get the message across to recycle.  The below image is what I have come up with, please comment and give feedback. It would be much apprieciated!

Project #5 Band Logo(continued)

     Alright, although my client hasnt really chosen a final design yet, the project is coming to a close. There have been several logos created and they are all below. When i have the final design I will post it along with the entire end of project descripsions.

Project #6 Science Academy Poster (FINALLY!)

So i have finally begun working on the science academy poster project. i have a same poster done and have sent it to the studenet who i am working with. although i still dont have the information that will be eventually put into the project, i can atleast say that there is now some progress being made. this will be worked on along side project #5

Project #5 Band Logo (continued)

I am still working with the client on reaching a final design for the logo. It appears that this will take more time that anticipated as he has just now finally put some input on what he actually wants. I have made serveral more variations but most dont reflect his new specifications. Something hip, looks like its from new york city. This one is the best representation of that spec., almost looks like something you'd see in a club. Again i am continously working on this project and will keep everyone updated on the progress.

Project #5 Band Logo

Alright so at the moment the info graphic project with the sciene acedemy is on hold until I recive the information. So as on now I am currently working on the logo for my friends band. After a few presentations to him of possible final designs he picked out these last 4 to continue to work on. The name is Dakota Badlands, so I felt a kind of desert/desperado look would fit the name and fortunately he liked a few of those. Will continue to work with him until a final is chosen, will keep yall informed

Project #5 and#6

Hi everyone, so for my next two projects which will be done back to back with each other are desgining a logo for my friends band and an info graphic for the school science academy. The info graphic how ever is on hold until the student supplies me with his information, the logo however is going good. I have narrowed down the best ones with my friend and are working off of those. This shouldnt take too much longer, im smelling a pay check soon

Project #4- Videogame Cover Redesign

Description: This project was a continuation of a project from last year that never was fully finished. I redesigned the box art, both front and back, of the video game called "Gears of War 2". In creating this cover I went online and found a basic "Xbox 360" box art template already scaled to the right proportions and dementions for the actual box. With that I didn't have to waist time recreating everything from scratch. For the front portion I gave it a simple look and gave it attributes of the limited editions which I found to be the coolest and most simple. As for the back portion, I kept all of the original text so that nothing was made up or mis-worded. Fonts I tried to match up to keep authenticity and style of the overall game. And to keep the back recognizable as a game description tool, I kept snapshots of the game and then the descriptions.
Skills Learned: In the design of the cover, I had to spend a lot of time looking at already created covers to see proper layout of information such as ratings and disclaimers. Although no new photoshop skills were learned, I did learn a better grasp of layout and organization.
Self Reflection: I feel that the final product came out well. Although a problems that I did run into were finding fonts that matched the theme and completely scraping my original design that was made last year. I did feel though that the back portion could have been better, more eye catchy to make you want to read the description. Also it was quite difficult to find a picture where I cold read the text to recreate it in the new cover, I ended up bringing in my own copy of the came for all the text eeded. Aside from that I enjoyed working on this project and the cover looks pretty good when its in a game box.
Project/Participation: 10/8

Project #4- Game cover Redesign'

So I've been working on a redesign of a video games box art called Gears of War 2. I'm relatively pleased with the progress of it and just need to find the back information such as plot synopsis and other text that is needed. I'm going to have to actually bring in the actual copy since I cant find a descent sized image on the internet where I can reference off of. I should clearly state that all rights reserved to Microsoft and Epic game studios and that this design is not intended for retail. Anyway, here is what I have at the present moment. Comments are welcome, and I should have the final up at the end of the week.

New Project #4

So along with continuing on some of the broadcaster images I'm going to continue a side project I had started last year. I recreated a video game's box art but it never went any further than that. To go along with the front side I want to create the back side portion so in the end I will have a complete cover. I would like to eventually finalize the design so that I can replace the box art on my copy of the game with my own.

Broadcaster images

So while Ive been thinking of ideas for new projects, Ive begun to do work on some images for the broadcaster news website.  As of now I have two and are posted below. The first for a movie review of Black Swan  and the other for 10 things to do on a snow day.

Project #3 Tattoo/Decal

Description: This is a design for a tattoo and or car decal. The design was inspired by a tutorial I found online, http://www.slicktutorials.com/skull-tattoo, by slicktutorials. I wanted to keep it similar because I liked the look, however wanted to alter it slightly to make an original design. First I went to sketch possible deign changes, particularly the skull in the middle. I then proceeded to recreate the design with #1 and #2, as you can see in the picture to the left. However I wasn't completely happy with the overall appearance and decided to replace aspects of the design and that is how #3 came to be. Although it looked cool there was just too much going on so I removed aspects and then took others from #1 and #2 with alterations in the look, this making the final design. Unlike its original purpose of just being a tattoo, the final design really jumped out at me as something I could see on the hood of a car or enlarged to be put on the rear window such as the ones you can buy for trucks that are one way decals and can see through them from the inside.
Skills Learned: In this project I learned how to properly use the pen tool in Adobe Illustrator. Everything in this project was created using the pen tool and I now have a firm grasp of what can be accomplished with it.
Self Reflection: For some reason this project was in a way a lot harder than anticipated. I was working with a tool Ive never really worked with before and had to get each side symmetrical with each other. When I eventually got the hang of the whole prosess everything became easier and i was more confident in my work. I feel in the end that I did a fairly decent job in meeting the goal of creating one sick looking tattoo and even the possibility of a car decal which is something profitable. Yes it did take quite the while to finish but in my mind its time well spent.
Participation/Project: 10/8

Project #3 Update

So for those who have been following my posts, I'm in the middle of creating a tattoo. Now with the latest version of said tattoo being this one right here, I just had a thought. How would this look on the hood of a car? Instead of a tattoo, I'd make this into a car decal or a stencil to just paint it on to go with my car's much needed paint job. Thoughts?