Building Time-lapse

Playing with my building blocks.
Music: The Goo Filled Hills, by Kyle Gabler

Walk/Run of Faith

T-shirt design, digital media

T-shirt design, digital media

T-shirt design, digital media

Form & Space: Art for the Airwaves

 Poster for WPSU Art for the Airwaves competition.
Mixed media collage, 24x19"

Art for the Airwaves sketches,
pencil, conte crayon, charcoal on newsprint, 24x18"

InDesign: Period Vinyl Covers

Tori's Period covers
Gloss prints, 12x12"

Tori Amos 30's cover, front
Digital media 12x12"

Tori Amos 30's cover, back
Digital media 12x12"

InDesign & Photoshop
Period Vinyl Covers
Luciano Sormani, 2011

Tori in the 30’s
The 30’s style I used for the vinyl cover can be best defined as: high contrast, sepia toned and heavily decorated. The main image looks like a still from a silent movie, dramatically contrasted. Tori’s makeup features dramatic eyes, dark colored lips and pale skin. I added a grainy texture and some noise to make it look more like a movie still. To that I added some decorative elements reminiscent of 30’s art nouveau as well as plenty of borders to tie the typographic elements together, as well as a vignette to further enforce the silent movie feel. For the fonts I used some typical 30’ looking fonts to emphasize the period style. To me, the 30’s style is devoid of bright colors, but instead features mostly browns, creams and pale pastels in combination with white. For the logo I used the original logo for the Okeh label, which in the 30’s was a subsidiary of Columbia records (to keep the continuity with the 50’s and 70’s covers.). I also invented the vibra-tone sound system, which is reminiscent of some of the aural technologies featured at the time. My inspiration for the look of this cover comes mostly from 30’s (film) posters and book covers. It was hard to find actual 30’s record covers as it wasn’t common to have fully printed covers in those days, the records usually came packaged in a simple sleeve. More inspiration came from an actual Okeh label and sleeve.

Tori Amos 50's cover, front

Digital media 12x12"

Tori Amos 50's cover, back

Digital media 12x12"

Tori in the 50’s
My 50’s cover was a lot easier because there are plenty of examples to be found. The hardest part about it was having it look distinctly 50’s and not early 60’s which have a very similar look. Originally I was planning to use a Playbill font, but after looking at a lot of examples from the time, I decided to go with a condensed sans serif instead, in combination with a playful type for the title and a streamlined one for the subtitle. The cover incorporates typical design elements from that time; multiple colors used in the typography, ‘space age’ elements like stars and decorative line-art. Originally I wanted to include some ‘lounge’ imagery like martini glasses, but they looked too corny and detracted from the more sophisticated look I was going for. The colors are bright, but not very vibrant, faded reds, blues, purple and green. The photo I found had a distinct 50’s feel to me, but I did change her makeup a little bit to fit more with the times. I added some striking red lipstick and a touch of blue eye shadow, as well as a soft blush and darker eyebrows. Up until the 70’s, when the art on the cover became really important (and art directors probably frowned on having their precious cover art covered by a company logo,) record labels always had at least their logo on the front of the cover, but usually they would also have their name, logo and some kind of ‘technical’ information on the front, like the ‘stereo’ logo. I incorporated this idea into both the 30’s and 50’s covers. Another important style element for the 50’s was the use of the track listing and performers on the front. This seems very strange compared to the styles of the 70’s (a cover usually dominated by a single striking image,) and 80’s (crazy typography that sometimes did away with a track listing altogether). In the 50’s and early 60’s they definitely weren’t afraid to fill the cover with text, in some cases repeating the same information several times in different fonts and sizes. Both the front and the back feature the 50’s era Columbia logo.

Tori Amos 70's cover, front

Digital media 12x12"

Tori Amos 70's cover, back

Digital media 12x12"

Tori in the 70’s
The 70’s cover was the first one I did, as it felt the closest to me. I have seen and own many 70’s albums. It was a time when printing techniques were becoming more sophisticated and art directors had a firm grip on the style and look of the covers. Many iconic covers were created in this time, but it’s hard to emulate those as they are so unique. Instead I decided to go for a style that was ubiquitous during that time, especially for female singers. The main image of Tori gazing dreamily by a window had the perfect feel for a 70’s cover. I softened the colors and added a blur around her to create a soft-focus look. For the design I decided to keep it as simple as possible, adding a frame and some scripted text. The layout for the back cover was inspired by covers for The Eagles that had a modernized ‘western’ feel. I used an image of a keyhole and made it look older and colored it to match the browns and oranges of the front. The rest of the typography is kept simple and unobtrusive. The scripted text for the track list is borderline unreadable, but that also fits with the period feel. Included here is the 70’s version of the Columbia logo in a single matching color.

The keyhole
I used the keyhole image as a motif to give continuity to all three designs. The original cover featured the keyhole image, so I decided to incorporate it in different was on all three covers. The 30’s has it as a small decorative element that ads to the ‘mystery novel’ feel. The 50’s has a simple black and white image that substitutes for an exclamation mark. The 70’s has a photo of an actual keyhole, inviting the viewer to take a closer look.

Typography: California Job Case

California Job Case
Pen and marker on bristol board 48x19"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Job_Case

Form & Space: Diorama

Street Theater, diorama.
Mixed media 18x12x13"

Street Theater, diorama. Detail

Street Theater, diorama. Detail

Street Theater, diorama. Detail

Street Theater, diorama. Detail

Street Theater, diorama. Detail

Street Theater, diorama. Detail

Street Theater, diorama. Detail

We have looked at a number of ways to help us understand the form and space that objects, buildings, people are comprised of. Our final project puts this understanding to use by a 3D diorama or "sculpto pictorama" such as the Red Grooms piece we saw at the Palmer museum. Create a multi-dimensional piece... materials and methods are up to you... including both buildings or interiors and people. Figuring out the assembly process is part of the challenge here... the artwork may be illustrated or computer generated but must be primarily your own artwork. No real limitations otherwise as far as size, medium, etc

Typography: Diminuendo

Diminuendo, quote from 'Blade Runner'
Marker and pen on bristol board 19x24"

Since Roman times, diminuendo is a type arrangement in which a large letter or word leads the eye, gradually, to smaller and smaller words until a standard text size is established. Real-world tie-in: An abbreviated diminuendo is often seen today in the initial cap or large single letter that is sometimes used to lead the reader into a chapter of a book or a section of an article.

Typography: 1337

1337, paraphrase of lyrics by Tori Amos,
Marker and pen on bristol board with punched through holes.
11x19" Font: PT Courier 

Objective: develop an awareness of the Gestalt ideas of visual perception as it may apply to typography by creating a l33t. (Leet)
To quote wikipedia, a l33t or Eleet (sometimes rendered Leet, 1337, or 31337), also known as Leetspeak, is an alphabet used primarily on the Internet, which uses various combinations of ASCII characters to replace Latinate letters. The term is derived from the word "elite", and the usage it describes is a specialized form of symbolic writing. Different "dialects" or varieties of leet are found on different online forums. 
For our purposes,see the examples provided as a pdf resource and think along those lines, substituting numerals for letters, etc. Create a "l33t" word or phrase - minimum 7 characters. Any word, name, city, etc... just keep it PG rated. Identify font or fonts used on the back of your project... they need not be from your book, but must be "real" fonts.
Rendered by hand, in either full color, OR no less than black, white and one additional color. (The color should accentuate, not overpower or obscure your typography!) Render no smaller than 11 x 17", board, canvas, watercolor paper, etc. as appropriate to your choice of medium. Margins or not, up to you

Typography: ampersand

The ampersand is one of the most beautiful characters or glyphs, flowing and curvy; simple in function but great in beauty. Design a series of 3 new ampersands. Size: each individual letter should be designed to fit a working area no smaller than 5" x 7". You may gang these up on one board or use 3 boards - illustration or bristol board, or watercolor paper. You may render this in black and white or color, but remember the focus of the project is the ampersand, not the colors involved. Avoid "special effects" like glows, drop shadows and textures on the character; concentrate on the design of the ampersand. 

Ampersand design #1
Marker and pen on bristol board

Ampersand design #2
Marker and pen on bristol board

Ampersand design #3
Marker and pen on bristol board

Ampersand design #4
Marker and pen on bristol board

Photoshop: Webpage layout

Kare-free event planning web layout