florence and cait

No, Cait is not another city in Italy. She is one of my best friends from home who I spend about 2/3 of my time at Stout with. I haven't seen her for nearly ten months save for a couple skype video chats here and there. So when I heard that she was planning to do a two month long summer session in Florence, Italy my head almost exploded with anticipation!

So this past weekend I was able to head south one of the most beautiful country sides that I have seen so far, the wonderful Tuscany landscape. Landing in the Pisa International Airport threw me off a bit considering it was about the size of a football pitch with no more security than one. They didn't even have a customs check, which disappointed me because I couldn't get my passport stamped. The one good thing about flying into a country is getting the stamp and I got jipped... Oh well.

The train ride between Pisa and Florence was the perfect way for me to get acquainted with the amazing place. There is something about Italy that was just kind of dirty and messy, but in a beautiful way. All the houses are very old, with the plaster facades chipping away in multiple places revealing faded clay bricks beneath. There are window shutters hanging lopsided on one hinge. And the vegetation grows ramped throughout yards. But then I noticed some old buildings that just weren't used anymore and half caved in, which had to have stood there for a long time because there were huge cypris trees shooting out of the interiors through the open roof. It hit me that the civilization has some quality where it blends into nature seamlessly.

Once arriving in Florence Cait found me right away and I couldn't have been happier! She brought me back to her extremely huge apartment, which was situated right behind one of the cathedrals in the center of town, and I got to meet the whole spectrum of her roommates. Over the weekend I was there we really took it easy and just explored the city through the narrow streets, more just site seeing and not doing too much of the tourist stuff (ok we explored some of the churches and the like). I was really enjoying seeing everything considering Italy was one of the important ones on my travel list to make and I was finally there but I was really just there to see Cait again and experience a bit of Europe with her.

I do wish I would have been there a bit longer so that I could have seen some more of the Tuscan landscape but I couldn't complain when I got a beautiful view of it all from the Ryanair jet. I am sure I will be heading back to Italy sometime in the future to take some more in. All - in - all it was an amazing trip!

this is a German party

So the friend of my girlfriend here sent her a picture of the after - party - morning... and I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw this picture. Well... actually I could considering this is Germany and beer runs through these peoples veins!! See if one day you can throw a party that can beat this...

Completely ridiculous...

redo = success!!

Jake - Conflict (6 color)

So as I said in my entry on the 26th I have redone the poster of my friend Jake. This time I held myself back from exceeding 6 colors and overworking it like I did this previous week (thankfully). I was beginning to think that I couldn't save this one. I loved the color palette from the first to the last color laid down, all of which were pretty spontaneous. I think I have finally gotten down the technique of screen printing to a science. I turned out all the copies of this print in about 3 hours. Not to shabby. I really think I could pick up screen printing as a career. It involves enough illustration to satisfy me while keeping in the graphic design elements that I love so dearly.

Who knows, maybe one day I will be setting up a little self made lab in my kitchen apartment. Haha! Anything is possible! Enjoy.

a blunt blow

I have been working on my Absolventen Katalog (Alumni Catalog) layout and design work for my big project class this semester with relentless effort. This class is made up of four German students, one Russian exchange student and myself along with the professor who is actually a working professional with the sole task of getting this catalog developed each semester through a group of students

Our small group has moved along and progressed with our ideas and themes further from week to week but we seem to slow down more and more on the development toward the final layout. The blunt reality of it all hit us this week when we met in class on Thursday to review and finally decide on the theme that we were going to strive for in the actual catalog. Our professor sat us down in class before some other professors came to review what we had and she came right out by saying, "I have to tell you all, I find this group to be... somewhat difficult. As a group you haven't been showing enough quantity and quality of work that we need to get this project off the ground."

My heart sank as she finished up by saying, "I don't think you could handle the turn out of the final catalog with all the effort and work that we need to put into it..." BAM!! What a blow that was (although it is something that I have come to appreciate about being here is that the professors and students alike are not afraid to hurt your feelings when it comes to giving an honest critique on work).

In some sense this little talk from the prof. woke me up (as well as the rest of the group) to really look at their work more seriously and start buckling down on the turnout of quality layouts. There is a sense that comes with being shot down that brings in an extreme desire to prove yourself to the best of your abilities. Sometimes it is just hard to get that smack up-side the head to make that happen.

The other professors came in shortly after and reviewed our work and discussed what would be the most desired layout, giving us a bit of feedback here and there but mainly just talking amongst themselves while the group and I waited in anticipation on the final decision. In the end my theme / rough layouts were chosen as though a sign of fate dropped down upon me to test if I could handle the challenge. I was told a few things that they would like developed and the reviewers left, my mind completely jumbled from the excitement / anxiety / fear of the next few weeks and the work that had to be done along with the expectations of not only the reviewing professors but the entire student body that would have a copy of this in the end of the semester.
A quick random note: Design is possibly the greatest thing ever. It makes my blood rush and my mouth go dry. Life lessons can be taught through it when least expected and I can use it to express myself wholeheartedly to everyone who sees my work. It makes each day another step in discovering new things about myself and the world around me. I = Design Nerd.

This catalog should be a great experience. Keep an eye out for updates on my progress in it.

another day of screen printing

Absentminded - 4 color

Split - 6 color

So today I decided to put my huge screen to good use and kill two birds with one stone. Of course that means I stayed up late last night to get the compositions ready for this morning but I was still able to get it done. I worked on my Toast project only today, trying to get that finished so that I can concentrate fully on my faces.

I did these two compositions completely on the computer by painting in photoshop, which in the end kind of shows... need to work on that. I also was much more satisfied with the compositions when they were on my computer screen compared to them being all down in ink. I was trying a new illustration style, which probably has something to do with the reason I am not digging them so much yet. Still have to develop it a bit. For throwing them together quickly they turned out alright.

I used two different colored paper for each work. The first is of a burnt piece of toast and a question mark representing someone who is absentminded, forgetting about their toast in the toaster and burning it to a crisp. The second composition is of a piece of toast split down the middle, one side with jam, the other with nutella. This is representing the split personality with two opposites rigidly separated.

Enjoy! Comments and critiques welcome!! Thanks.

less is more...

Worked on this print all day yesterday with complete excitement to see the final outcome, yet when it came down to the last couple layers... I was completely unsatisfied. 9 layers of color just didn't serve this composition right. I am planning on redoing it tomorrow or next week with the goal of keeping my colors to 4 - 5 layers maximum, thinking more about the actual quality of the composition than relying solely on the eye candy of color blobs.

The first picture is of the first 4 colors, and I really dig the composition. The follow picture is of the final piece and of disappointment. Well, learn from your mistakes! Enjoy the lesson.

view through a window

I was going through a few of the pictures on my computer and found this one in particular which really grabs on to me. The world through a window. Flying by but sitting ever so still. Somewhat resembles the feeling I have been having this past month or so. Just realizing that the time here has pasted by so fast but it is still lingering in front of me, waiting to be explored and discovered even if for a brief second.