Joy: Illustrating an Emotion

Our project in ILLU 415 that we just wrapped up on Tuesday called for us to illustrate an emotion three different ways: Symbollically, metaphorically, and through a narrative. I chose joy as my emotion to illustrate. FYI: My narrative rendering was not very good so I'm not going to post it (with two projects due on the same day, my graphics project took priority and I ran out of time on the third composition, it got done just wasn't very good). 

Hammock in the Sun: Symbol (that's only kind of a symbol)

Sunbeam Swings: Metaphor

Ticketing Kindness: Urban Intervention

In VISC 404, Designing for Social Interaction, I also got the opportunity to conduct an "Urban Intervention." The goal was to create an "intervention" in a public space (without breaking the law or getting arrested) that raised awareness and encouraged participation within the community. Banksy (some of his works are below) is a really famous urban interventionist but he does a lot of illegal things (and has gotten arrested on multiple occasions) so we were instructed to kind of stay away from his "style". I created an Urban Intervention board on Pinterest to find inspiration (http://www.pinterest.com/k583w822/urban-intervention/). Here are some more acceptable examples by of an urban intervention (Banksy examples are at the end).

Banksy

Banksy

Banksy

My concept was distributing parking tickets that ticketed kindness e.g. uplifting, encouraging messages instead of parking violations. I designed, printed, cut, and distributed over 300 tickets around KU's campus and the Lawrence area. Recipients were asked to tweet their reaction (#ticketingkindess) and then asked to pass it on to other people.

Check out the hashtag search: https://twitter.com/search?src=typd&q=%23ticketingkindness

Check out my completed project on my portfolio site: http://www.behance.net/gallery/Ticketing-Kindness-Urban-Intervention/11982065

JFK: 3 Presidential Portraits

Finished up yet another illustration project for today. The project called for an experimentation in media. Our compositions and subject matter had to be the same but the way in which each composition was executed had to be dramatically different in style, medium, and overall treatment. I chose to continue on in my presidential portrait journey and push the profile portrait of John F. Kennedy. I used this picture mainly for reference, as well as a lot of others. Go to my board on Pinterest to see all my reference photos: JFK Illustration Pinterest Board

Started out by doing a series of quick portraits of JFK (Left: Charcoal, Middle: Ebony pencil, Right: Ink)

I then transitioned into breading down his profile into simplified, basic shapes that would allow me to experiment with more expressive mediums.

01 Final: Collage
Using water-based oil paints I made a series of different color swatches layering the paint and creating texture with a comb. I then cut exact shapes from these swatches and collaged them together to create the image.  

02 Final: Sewing
Using one of the charcoal drawings from my early composing stages, I used sewing as a medium to create a linear, hard-edged element to juxtapose the organic and looseness of my charcoal drawing. Thread has been built up, making reference to the American flag.

03: Type as Image
Taking a graphic approach, I built JFK out of the words from his 1961 inauguration address.