Steve Jobs 1955-2011

     Ok, this is the third time I have re-written this post so, lets hope I feel it this time. This post is about Steve Jobs, the incredible man who founded Macintosh and Pixar.

     To me Steve Jobs was a man of great wisdom, he knew what to do and when to do it. Like all other human beings he made mistakes but somehow he managed to fix them or make them into something better than before. I admire this incredible man for his innovations in technology. As most of you know, I am a lover of computers and without my delightful Macintosh computer, I would not be into graphic design. My family has always used Apple computers and never once have we owned a Windows. This was and is because Mac is put together so well and is so safe. Only a man so creative and so innovative could create a device like this. The thing is, Steve jobs has created even more than great objects, he has created a world where students and adults can aspire to change the world in ways as big as Steve did. I want to create amazing technology like he has, I want to inspire students like he has, I want to change the world as much if not more than he has. So yes, Steve Jobs was amazing, is amazing. I hope he has inspired you as much as he has inspired me.

Package Designer?

     Lately I have been thinking a lot about what I will become when I launch out of school. There is also the enormous question (which I drag around everywhere) of what I will go to collage for. Well, I figure that since I love graphic design so much I can use that.
   
     For quite sometime I have wanted to become a package designer. I sure love cool packaging, and packaging is growing every day. It is not a job many people think of, It came to me when I was at the grocery store trying to find a good shampoo. I had no Idea which shampoo I wanted or how they are different. So I went with fun way of picking out a shampoo. I searched the isle for the most interesting, cool, unique and colorful bottle. And I found several! Then I narrowed my choices to which shampoo was best and not animal tested. After about twenty minutes my dad (who was shopping with me) came to me and said, "I didn't  know picking out a shampoo was so difficult." My response was simple, "Well dad I did have to search through about fifty bottles to find the one that I want to see every day in my shower." He laughed as expected. I then held up two bottles to him and asked, "Which one looks more interesting?" He pointed to one, and we headed to the checkout. So now when I wake up I can admire my bottle of shampoo. It is silly but I figure I must not be the only person who determines what they want by the packaging. So, why not be a package designer, It would be both fun, inventive, and it includes graphic design. My idea came out of no where, so when you are somewhere like the grocery store, think about what intrigues you. Their is no guarantee you will like this job till you get into collage but all ideas lead to the greatest idea of all.

   To show you just how fun package designing is, and would be, I will show you some of my favorite packaging. Maybe you have never noticed how cool things like packaging can be.

                                     

Tea Bags

Soy Milk

               

Dino Gum!

Sport Drink

A really beautiful bottle for Evian

A YKM shopping bag

Headphones

A sports shoebox

Happy Birthday To Me!

Hey everyone, I felt like bragging today because it is my birthday! Yep that's right, I had to tell somebody so why not tell the world! It isn't that big of a deal but this is a big birthday for me and I decided to announce it to my few followers. Nope, this has nothing to do with graphics, and this post is extremely un-detailed so I hope that is not a problem ha ha. Anyways, happy birthday me, I am pretty proud that I made it this far and that I am doing just fine.

Re-Discover the Joy of Learning

     Oh the joy of learning! For many graphic makers learning is enjoyed and loved and shared through art, but every so often we go through a moment of boredom and hopelessness. When this happens we must re-discover the joy of learning! This topic of re-discovering the joy of learning can relate to many things such as writing, reading, drawing, math and so much more. The topic of this blog is graphic design so, I will apply this concept to exactly that.

     Lets start with when your stuck in a rut, and by rut I mean, you are tired of learning graphic design and practicing it. Yep you're not alone, it happens to the best of us. I personally have taken months to get out of this rut, but that's ok since I eventually got out of it. Now I am up and running learning more about graphic design than ever! But what did I do to get out of this rut? How can I help you re discover the joy of learning? Aah so now your interested, I have you by the hand now and am pulling you into the fact that you can enjoy learning. In fact, I have you waiting for my next paragraph just to figure out the  keys! Well, as much as I would love to make learning so fantastic for you, my tips don't work for everyone, but they are certainly worth a try!

     Finally I will tell you my tips for re discovering the joy of learning graphic design.
-Step one, take a break! Constant learning can cause you to forget why you are learning about graphic design

-Step two, take out a blank canvas and work on any project your heart desires. Do not work on a previous project or an assignment. Let the ideas flow and try your best not to concentrate too much on what you are making. Enjoy your project and if you get bored of it quickly, let go and start a new one.

-Step three, get online and download free brushes and fonts! This step may sound skippable but resist the temptation and at least download a couple of brushes. Trust me, you'll get into it. Once you download a few brushes or a ton of brushes and a few fonts or a ton of fonts, load them into your program and play around with them. It is always fun to have new tools to play with, kind of like a kid getting a new toy. This step always gets me excited to start learning graphic design again.

-Step four, find some awesome tutorials online for a specific image or design! Then, try those tutorials or just become inspired by them. I will post a few great websites below for these types of tutorials.

-Step five, pick up one of your old projects and continue it with your new brushes, fonts, and techniques.

-Step six, open a tutorial on a website or look through a book of how to learn graphic design. Even a picture can help you learn stroke techniques for paintings, or blending tools for blending images. Get inspired by tumbling through images across the web.

-Lastly, evaluate whether or not you are enjoying learning graphic design. If you are not, and you have completed all of these steps, consider picking up a new hobby for a little while and maybe come back to graphic design later. Learning something without enjoying it is completely pointless.

     Alright, my little shpeal is almost over but hold on a little longer. I just want to tell you that loving learning is what keeps me alive and hopeful. Loving learning causes me to be so so proud of my artwork and skills. So keep enjoying what you are learning and if learning something is becoming boring, fix it right away before you fall deeper into your rut.

I recommend the following websites for steps three and four.
http://www.dafont.com/    - for some fantastic free fonts. (be sure to look if they are completely free or only free for personal use)

http://www.brusheezy.com/  -for a fantastic selection of free brushes for photoshop. If you use another program, check out deviant art and search for  "your program" brushes. Of course be sure to check if the artist says they are free or not.

http://www.photoshoplady.com/  -this is my favorite website for specific tutorials, it is photoshop specific but most of the tutorials con be modified for your program.

Now scurry off and re-discover the joy of learning

Shading Tutorials!

Ok, now after all these days you have been waiting, I am going to post some tutorials. These tutorials are for learning shading for digital painting. I have always struggled here and finally found some decent tutorials. They are mainly for photoshop but most, if not all f the tools used, are available in other programs. So enjoy, I hope they help you as much as the helped me.

http://www.itchstudios.com/psg/art_tut.htm - This is a detailed description for everything shading, it is a great place to start but it is very extensive. Don't let this tutorial scare you.

http://www.cellesriaart.com/resources/basic-blending/ - This is an overview of blending techniques if you are struggling with how to blend your shading

http://www.melissaevans.com/tutorials/pencil-sketch-to-smooth-digital-shading - This is a tutorial on how to turn pencil sketches into digital paintings. I found this very unique and helpful if you are better at traditional drawing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxO8u-loAEc - This is a tutorial on how to shade a sphere

Soon I will have some tutorials on how to shade people because I find that very helpful.

i made these with some shading help. The orb is from the YouTube tutorial 

Latest and Greatest

Hey everyone surprise its me! Over the weekend I had a fantastic experience of learning how to shade people, It is only a brief start and with all the flaws, I am still proud. I have been trying to learn how to shade people for quite some time. Oh, keep in mind this image is not meant to look completely realistic. Enjoy
I will have several shading tutorials up in a moment

oh and the hair was just a last minute effort

I forgot eyebrows! that's what was missing. I will fix that.