show me a story

Illustration II was a class I just finished up this semester and truly enjoyed. Dan Brawner, our professor, makes class so fun complete with field trips and surprise projects (that you actually want to do!)
Our biggest project was based on illustrating narratives, including Alice In Wonderland and then a children's book of our own choosing. We had to focus on character development, create numerous book dummies and complete 3 final pieces along with a full size book dummy. Plus, Dan hooked us up with the opportunity to have a gallery show to feature all our hard work. It was a lot of work and a lot of fun and I wanted to share my final work here, along with some pictures from the show. Enjoy!
I illustrated the classic Grimm's Brother's tale of Rumplestiltskin.
Show me a Story, the name of the exhibition is being kept up for a little while at Lush Gallery, which is next to Watkins, behind Neely's BBQ. I'm not sure when it comes down, but if you have a bit of free time and are in the area, check it out!

ain't it funny...

How do days and months suddenly sneak up on you, when it feels like yesterday they were far, far away? It's Christmas break and I am done with my last Fall semester at Watkins. I feel really good about all that I accomplished in the last few months and I'm looking forward to the Spring.
I'm actually going to...graduate.
It's unreal. I feel like as soon as the first day begins in January, that suddenly it will be May and everything will be over. There's a mix of emotions for me at the moment, excitement, anxiousness, a tinge of sadness...But it is time. I've been blessed to have been able to take extra time to find out what I truly wanted to do with my life and pursue the right program and major. Lately I've been thinking about how funny it is how things end up the way they do.
Six years ago I was a senior in high school and I thought I had it all planned out. I'd finish school in four years and I'd be a therapist and I'd live in Charleston for the rest of my days. I never imagined my life as it is now and god, am I happy it has evolved the way it has.
A word of advice to juniors and seniors in high school: You don't have to have it all figured out yet. It's very (VERY) unlikely that you will know what you want to do with your life at 18. You may be getting pressure from parents or teachers to choose a major, and figure it all out already, but trust me, you're not ready yet. Keep an open mind and try as many new things as possible. You never know what might pique your interests and turn into a new passion that changes your life forever.
And also, don't think that you can plan out your entire life. I thought I could at 17 when I graduated high school and received a rude awakening. Embrace the fact that you don't have complete control over everything. Now I relish in the fact that I could have a completely different life in a few years. Sure, I'd love to stay in Nashville and land a totally killer design job but I may end up in a city or a state or even another country. And man, that is so exciting.
On that note, I'll wrap it up by saying I am so excited for what the next six months will hold. I'll be taking a Special Topics Advertising Campaigns class (which I am extra excited about since gaining so much experience at my internship), Senior Portfolio, and also working as the work study designer for the Graphic Design department. Plus, redpepper is still my internship home, although I'll be working less hours so that I can dedicate more time to polishing my portfolio. It's gonna be great.

rpInterns

I have been working on a project with the other intern at redpepper, an experiment of sorts. We're keeping a blog as a part of it. Here's our first ever post from the beginning:

"Hello and welcome. We are Lindsey Armstrong and Allison Greene, creative interns at redpepper, the fantastic advertising and strategic marketing agency in Nashville, TN. We have been extremely lucky to be chosen as interns within the creative department, The Trailer as it is known in the office.

And this is our experiment. What happens when we visually express the things we have learned while working at redpepper?

This project is an undertaking that we hope challenges us and allows us to try new things with new mediums and just create for the sake of creating. We will be using the Exquisite corpse method, where one of us will create a piece and then show only a small portion of it to the other, who will then be inspired by whatever she sees and create her own. There will be six lessons in all and we’ll show you the small images as we work, but you will have to wait to see the entire piece until it is complete! Even each of us won’t see each other’s work until then."

To date we have completed all the lessons except one and have had creative days with Stefan Sagmeister inspired typography, do it at home printmaking with erasers and photography downtown. The fun continues!

Take a look...

polaroid composites

I LOVE THESE Polaroid composites from Juan Felipe Rubio
lovely.
Check out the rest on his flickr.

diy crazy

Lately all I can think about is DIY projects. I have been searching and compiling a list of all the things I want to do for my new place and also for making Christmas gifts (and also to sell in my etsy store which has been a goal for quite awhile now).
I thought I'd post some of the sites I discovered that have the best projects:
oneprettything.com has Daily DIY
Readymade.com
designspongeonline.com
http://mayamade.blogspot.com/
http://bkids.typepad.com/bookhoucraftprojects/
http://www.i-do-it-yourself.com/
http://blairpeter.typepad.com/weblog/

LOVE IT!

the end. almost.

Again, I need to apologize for my severe lag in posting lately. As the semester has marched on, so has life and my "to-do" list. I'm currently visiting South Carolina for Thanksgiving and it has been lovely. Relaxing, delicious, and family filled, the last few days have been very enjoyable indeed. head back to Nashville tomorrow and am truly looking forward to this week because I am moving to my new townhouse! I can't wait to get organized and do some serious DIY projects and paintings! Also, starting Monday, it's the last two weeks of school. As always, everyone is asking how this snuck upon us so quickly but I am feeling good about what I have accomplished this semester. We're finishing up finals which for me include my swine flu prevention kit design for Design IV, completing my new retail website for Web Development III (which I got done before Thanksgiving!), and my complete book dummy for Illustration II. We're going to have a gallery show thanks to Dan Brawner to display our completed children's book illustrations and book dummies in the fantastic gallery space behind Neely's, LUSH Gallery. It's really a unique space and I can't wait to have the show.
I have been setting goals for myself lately, as I have many things I want to attain before the year's end and also plans to prepare for my FINAL SEMESTER!!! I am finally going to graduate and the timing feels perfect. I have set the goal to build my personal portfolio website that is easy to update over the holiday break so that it will be ready to post my final portfolio to in the Spring. I will continue interning at redpepper (which just gets better and better) and will also be taking on the main position for the work study in the Graphic Design department. I'm looking forward to this so that I can have some more work for my portfolio. Very exciting.
In other news, I'm working on a freelance project building a website for a local business here in Nashville. It's already been a great learning experience and I'm glad to have the opportunity.
In closing, the end is almost here for 2009 and the fall semester. Christmas decor is making appearances all over town and I am looking forward to more family time come December. Life is wonderful!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hello readers! I apologize for the lack of updates this month but things have been quite busy. I am packing tonight to head home to South Carolina and I promise to write more over the holidays!