Latest MOG project

My latest project for Museum of Glass: two text panels for the upcoming Mosaic Show. I really enjoyed putting these together; I think the best part was editing the images. There are some amazing pieces and it was fascinating to review them all and decide which to use. I had more leeway on the Materials panel, as there were more materials than images! I decided on a charcoal header bar, just to go a little softer than black, then pulled in the green from a logo used by the mosaic artists society. I opted to use that green on the image header captions as well. Can't wait to see this show when it opens!

FIRE sign

Another fun project--FIRE, FIRE!!! The unit requesting this project provided only a .ppt file with the soldier, fire, and smoke image (see original image below). They wanted a 2x6 foot finished sign.

I saved a pdf of the ppt file, brought it into Photoshop, deleted the text and background, resampled it a little larger, then saved as a .png for transparency. I placed it into a new Photoshop file over a black gradient background, extended the ground using the clone stamp, varying sections so it didn't look too repetitive. I then smudged areas to blend and alter the ground and smudge flame areas upward. I found a GREAT set of fire brushes and patterns online (thank you Obsidian Dawn!) along with a tutorial on how to use them (highly recommended). Then it was add lotsa fire and smoke; I also softened the hard edges of the original smoke cloud using the eraser and a smoke brush, in addition to adding more smoke here and there. I'm really happy with how it turned out, although I wish I had had more time to fine-tune it! Definitely want to play with FIRE brushes some more...

Another Poster Design

I always get a little excited when I get any kind of design project at work, since so much of what we do is outputting run-of-the-mill signage. This is my take on the photo collage look that is so popular with many of our military customers: flag, Rainier, c-17,  plus more specific elements such as the computer-related stock images I used to convey the 627th CS mission. I wanted to do something a little different than the standard, which seems to have been a border with "blah" Times font--ugh! I updated to a more modern font and decided to tie the logo into the header with a bold bar treatment. Originally, I had a skinnier red bar and smaller CS logo at the bottom to echo the top. When they requested the JBLM logo be added, I played around with various options for keeping the bottom bar, but it just didn't look right, so I removed it. I ultimately added the subtle black gradient to "anchor" the bottom of the piece. This poster is now displayed just down the hall from our office, outside the 627th CS offices, so I get to see it every day!

Bulletin Board Makeover for 446th ASTS

Talk about a large-format project! Lt. Col. Jennifer McCleve of the 446th Aeromedical Staging Squadron at JBLM wanted "makeovers" for all the bulletin boards in her department. After consultation with her, I designed the basic format, adjusting the content and images according to the differing needs for each board. They were printed on 4 x 8' foamcore and trimmed to size, then attached to the existing cork bulletin boards. Lt. Col. McCleve was so thrilled with the results that she talked me into an "honor ceremony" during training for her squadron. It does feel good when your client is happy with the end result.

Poster Design in Action

This is a nice image of a set of posters I designed, in action! The border and shields/logo is a previously-designed template that is used for the 62nd Air Wing hallway posters. They periodically provide a series of images that they want placed into the template; we then output 18x24 posters and mount them on black foamcore. I was surprised to see that one of the recent images featured the largest of a series of "Resilience" posters I designed, being used during "Wingman Day" at McChord! This was the master poster, with their "Bounce Back" tennis ball theme, listing various resilience strategies they teach. There were 12-13 in total, each illustrating one of the strategies. A fun project, allowing me to flex some design muscles!

JBLM Recycling Program Logo

I had a great opportunity recently to design a logo for a new recycling program at JBLM. The customer had some ideas about the look, but was also very open to other concepts, so it was an exciting and fun challenge. I had a strong feeling for the leaf shape, from an environmental perspective, and to make it stand out from a standard and expected round or elliptical logo shape. Interestingly, the captain who had the final say did not appreciate the leaf logo at first, but ultimately returned to it after the next round of ideas. He also did not initially want the recycle logo combined with the sun image, but I felt it was the most effective way of incorporating it and persisted in including it as an option, and, as you see above, it was the winner! The top version will be used as a sticker; it was originally an alternate logo option, and they liked it enough to include it for other uses in their program.

New Job Projects!

Yes, folks, I have found gainful employment! I've been working as a graphic artist for a military contractor (!) since August. Much of the work is routine signage, but these two are examples of having to re-create logos for a brigade or division. Often, all they have is a low-res jpg and they want to output a 2-foot logo to be mounted on foamcore and cut out so they can put it up for a wall display. That was the case for these, so I had to completely redraw both, and in Corel, no less! Challenging, but it definitely honed my drawing skills. Corel is actually very similar to Illustrator, at least in how the drawing tools work, and it does have a few nifty features. I was very glad for the Help feature, though! I had to "translate" several functions that Corel just processes differently.