ILLUSTRATION - Book Page

Here was a book page that presented quite a challenge during its creation. Originally we did not want to depict this African community as the stereotypical primitive village we always see on TV. We felt that in 2010 it was unlikely Africa was still that way, but after doing research we found that a vast majority of Africa is actually still not modernized. With that being the case, I changed my focus from finding a "modern" village to exalting the beauty of the African land and a close knit community. Creating the characters for this page is always fun. Above I show the process as some of the new characters went from sketches, to ink, to flat color, and then to fully colored. You can see the sketch of the woman was the only one revised before inking, along with her instrument.

GRAPHIC DESIGN - My Business Cards

So here is my business card. This is a design I've been wanting to share for quite some time with you all, but I never posted them online because previously they had my cell number (this number is my business #). It always seems to be the most challenging to design things for yourself. I went back and forth for weeks about how I wanted to design my card and finally I found inspiration in the black card a.k.a. the American Express ultra exclusive centurion card. The power the black card gives its possessors is very similar to the power I want to give my clients that I hand my card to. This card should be a reminder of the commitment I make to them. With my card in their possession they now have an experienced designer on their team, not just a "one and done" engagement. I intend to be a reoccurring force in the lives of my clients, and look forward sharing my compelling visions along with an outstanding delivery.

ILLUSTRATION - Redone page

BEFORE

AFTER

AFTER AFTER

Here are snapshots of one of the earlier pages in the storybook I'm currently working on. Of all the pages I've done this was the one I was least satisfied with. I finally made time this weekend to do revisions. The characters looked very flat, and I felt the cheetah, Numbi, didn't resemble himself (he can be seen in a earlier post). So the after snapshot is a result of a complete redesign of Numbi + color adjustments + an attempt to "unflatten" the characters. Photoshop never ceases to amaze me with the wide variety of ways to enhance color and helping me achieve satisfying results.

** The newest addition to this post (the bottom photo) shows another revision I made to the page. On this illustration I now make it more evident that the character are running through grass and not on flat land. It was not hard to make that change, it simply just did not occur to me until examining it again. Errors like that make me want hold off on posting things until a couple days later where I can re examine my creation with a fresh outlook.

GRAPHIC DESIGN- We Care Logo

Its been a little while since I have posted any of my graphic design work. Here are logo drafts for the non profit organization We Care. The organization came to me in quest of a logo to represent their new business, a day care. I believe my favorite is the top right. We Care strives to educate and provide quality childcare.
"We strive to provide an unmatched experience for students, parents, and educators alike. We Care’s position on learning is it is never too early to prepare for the future. At We Care, we care about kids."
- We Care

PHOTOGRAPHY- America The Great

And this is for America. lol. This is from a shoot I did this past week, the shot I choose to display is probably not the strongest from the shoot, but I felt it was the best one to express the concept I had in mind. The conceptual goal of this shoot was glorify the American made Chrysler convertible - as a photographer my goal was to emphasize the American colors in this Southern setting with first time model Jamez Blount. Whether I work with a scared first time model, or a cocky first time model I always give the same advice - practice, practice practice. Which do you think listens? Neither. Modeling is a skill, no matter how attractive or unattractive a person is we all have the ability to be captured from an interesting perspective and as Tyra once said, "No one should look worse in photos, only the same or better." Being conscious of how you position your entire body and how its affected by different lightening is something I think no one can know naturally. With all this said this shoot was a learning experience for Jamez and a fun experiment for me I believe I got some cool shots :) Check out the models blog @ www.poorlilrichlife.blogspot.com

PHOTOGRAPHY - Shooting at Dusk

Here's a shoot at the park along with Trey (Photographer Trey FX) and model Jeremy Jackson. Its always fun to shoot with other photographers to learn and share techniques. We shot this while the sun was setting so lightening was pretty good, but the mosquitoes were attacking us with no mercy! Meanwhile the ducks were pretty bold, especially the one pictured above who came within a foot of me showing no fear, I called him Divo Duck because he let me shoot him in every angle, and gave me a wide variety of poses ::sigh:: a photographers dream.
There was one point where we saw a family fishing out of the lake at this park. It was slightly disturbing since the water was a greenish color (which is why I changed the color balance on the photos I used with my logo.) Below is a shot I was able to get of them, while pretending to shoot pictures of Trey (although he believed he was the focus the whole time.) I believe the family spotted me getting shots of them and dashed to leave the scene. As they passed us Jeremy said, "Are ya'll going to eat those fish???" They politely ignored him and continued to flee the park.

FUN - The Big Frog Expedition

This past Sunday I had the thrill of rafting in Tennessee. A cool new experience that has opened my curiosity up to many other experiences I have yet to try. This trip was a 2hr journey north of Atlanta. For any interested in trying out this experience I strongly recommend water shoes and not choosing a raft that has children on it (the guide will be forced to take a more cautious route and make it more into a tour). On our raft we had twin girls probably around 12 (wearing way too heavy make up for their age if you ask me) and the guide was telling us about how a few years ago a major landslide caused rocks fall onto the road and as people came to check it, more rocks started to fall. One of the girls was like, "Wow that sounds like one of those situations where right before it happens your on the road and your car breaks down right below it.... and your door won't unlock... and your seat belt won't unbuckle." haha I thought it was funny, almost as funny as when the water splashing caused her make up to run, and the guide was like "You look like you just broke up with your boyfriend," and the other twin said "Oh Girl!! I got you!" and she wiped away the running mascara from her twins face. Oh, if you have the opportunity to jump out the raft (not in fast/dangerous rapids) make sure you do!