Corinne's Blog

This is an example of contemporary propaganda made by Frank Shepard Fairey who is best known for his Barack Obama "HOPE" portrait. This particular artwork can be considered a piece of propaganda because it influences its viewers to really think about war and violence and then persuades the viewers to take an alternative: making art. I think it is an effective piece of propaganda because the message the artist is trying to convey is really clear and and persuasive.




This is another example of propaganda except this time created by yours truly. I took a phrase from President Franklin D. Roosevelt's speech and turned it into a persuasive propaganda idea.

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So this is my threaded image that I put together in Photoshop. The pictures are from a sheep farm in Wales - randomest topic ever? But I think it turned out well and I think I disguised the edges of the separate pictures pretty well although the angle might be a little funky. Oh well. Can you tell which sheep I photoshopped in? :]

Originally, I drew sketches for a redesign of the Burger King logo and although my sketches looked promising, when I brought my ideas to Illustrator, the logo didn't turn out quite as good as I wanted it to be. So I decided to change to another idea and came up with my own taco/fast food joint called Macho Nachos. Please forgive the corniness of the idea, but I think the logo came out okay...

My "Gangsta" word illustration was done in Illustrator and made to express the character of the word. I was trying to go for the graffiti look and I repeated the word in the background so it wasn't so plain. I think it adds a busy-ness that translates well for the word Gangsta.


This is my type illustration, using a word to depict its meaning. After a lot of indecision, I chose the word Swing. This is a simple picture but I think it fits the word, reminds me of kids playing at a park.

This is a picture of the assignment we did using a song to choose an appropriate type face. I chose the song "Set the Fire to the Third Bar" by Snow Patrol and then picked a scripty font for the headers because the song is elegant and moving.


The song "Hands of Time" by Groove Armada inspired this assignment. We were to make an illustration using a song as inspiration. This song is basically about accepting the passing of time because "you can't turn back the hands of time" and so I decided to make a clock. I wanted to go for more of a pocket watch type feel to give it an older, more antique feeling, which is also why I chose the rusty gold color of the text.

My fashion logos here were for the assignment to make an illustration with type and a picture. I had obviously been watching too much Project Runway when I made this and that's probably what inspired me to use the dress form as the picture. I couldn't decide which version I liked better. I think the black is more bold and makes a statement, it's to be taken seriously while the pink and purple one is more artsy and has a more small clothing boutique feeling.

All of these illustrations were made in Illustrator, using various type tools and effects. I had fun making these different projects and I think I'll be using the type on a path tool more often. :]

We watched a movie in class called Helvetica and it was all about the typeface that gave the film its name. I think it was a really interesting film and I was surprised to see how many different places that font is used and I never even realized it! I thought it was also an interesting look into how typographers view type. It was like the movie opened my eyes to a whole other language I'd never known.. or never realized even existed.

I admired the passion and the deep thought all of the artists and typographers put behind their seemingly simple pieces of art. I also appreciate typography more now and the mechanics of it. After watching this video, I will definitely be more aware of selecting typeface. Even when I'm walking around, I'll probably pass by a sign and analyze it to see if that type is Helvetica.

The illustrations above were done in Illustrator when we started working with typography. The first pictures was just to experiment with type in the program and I used the poem "To a Mouse" by Robert Burns. The second and third examples are just pictures that show the technique of negative space.

This was a combined symbol of the airport symbol and a heart.

Original version

When you looked at this symbol, did you think of a rock concert? That's what I was going for. I'm rather proud of this one. I really like the purple outline and the three colored lights at the top. I couldn't get the microphone to look quite right and I'm not sure if I like the placement of the music notes. But overall I like my little symbol. I'm definitely getting better with the pen tool.


Edited versions

After the feedback I received on this symbol, I went back and revised it to better reflect the concept I wanted to portray. The left symbol is more geared toward a Hannah Montana or Taylor Swift concert because of the sparkly, pink guitar and the lighter, brigter colors of the lights and music notes. The version on the right is the one I tried to give the more hard rock feel. The colored lights are not as bright and the brushed border gives it a more grunge feel.

This is my final product of attempting to create my own digital woodcut. The inspiration behind this was the astrological sign Pisces. The sign is often characterized by two fish pulling in opposite directions of each other, symbolizing the conflicting motivations and desires that those under this sign deal with. Whether or not you agree with the philosophy of astrology, I thought the idea of two parts of a whole pulling against each other for something completely different was interesting to say the least. But beyond that, I thought we all might be able to understand the message of an inner struggle.

Let's forget that this shows that I have zero drawing ability, kay? >>

Hi everyone,

I've been trying to work on my computer illustration, but I realized in our class yesterday that I still needed to learn more about the pen tool so I could use it more efficiently to create designs.

I found this really great tutorial site with videos and a nice lady explaining things better so I just thought I'd share it in case anyone else needed a little more practice with the pen tool. Here's the link:

Click here!

And some random junk I got off her site and then traced with the pen tool:



- Corinne

These are my complementary color grids. I like how it turned out even though I couldn't match the colors from my magazine squares exactly to the computer colors.



This was my attempt at the Live Trace option in Illustrator. I took a photo of my little cousin Emily and I from last year's Fourth of July. After I did the Live Trace, I also brought this photo into Photoshop and gave it a little extra coloring.

Here's the color wheel I created in Illustrator. The placement of the lines and circles is a little wonky but it was simple to create and put together.





Basically during this exercise we got more familiar with the shapes and different tools of Illustrator and also explored the different options for coloring and changing the shapes. I especially like my rectangles with the teardrop-shaped cutouts. I think they look nifty :]





This was the pen tool exercise we did in class. It took forever to learn how to use the darn tool, but this exercise helped a lot!

So we just finished watching a film about Milton Glaser, a graphic artist based in New York. Before I watched this film I knew nothing about the man and had never heard his name before. However, I discovered that I had seen his work before like his "I love New York" designs and the "We are all African" posters. It's an interesting idea to be so influenced by an artist that I know nothing about.

On Milton as a person, I find myself admiring him not only as an artist, but also as a human being. At one point in the film, he said "I don't have the right to be indifferent" as he talked about Darfur and the issues in Africa. It was refreshing to see such a successful artist working for the greater good of everyone, working to communicate his ideas to the general public. I found it intriguing to find that he was more an artist for the people than for the money or for the recognition.

Overall, I'm glad to have watched this film for the experience of Milton as a great graphic artist, but also as a genuine human being.