Poster Design—Adoption

This is my latest poster design for my GD3 class.  I wanted to do a typographic portrait—but I had no idea it would turn into something quite this large!  It took me a long time to make this, and while it's not yet perfect, I need a break from it!
I'm struggling still with the "abortion" and "adoption" balance—I want you to see "adoption" as the more dominate element, but I want "abortion" to still have an impact.  It's kind of the foundation behind some of the symbolism in this piece, so it's important.  Also, can you read the text?  I know it's difficult, but I hope after a moment or two you will be able to catch the verses (there are only 2)
Feedback would be MORE than welcome on this piece—I'm leaning towards making this one of my show pieces for the semester, so I would like to perfect it before then :)

A Break for Sanity

Due to the fact that Facebook is being very difficult today, I am uploading the photos up here. See mom, I DO upload photos! ;)

So here are some photos from my spring break—relaxing and enjoying family company!

Playing Uncle Ken's game — and look how big the baby is!

My girl is getting so big!

Artist's Prayer

Dear Heavenly Father,

Thank You for the artistic abilities You have given me. The vein of creativity in me has sometimes been wide as a river, and other times as narrow as a thread. With Your Divine guidance, I ask that You would open my mind and heart to the creativity You planted in me from before I was born. May my art work be an inspiration to others, but more importantly, always be honoring to You.

Amen

Master Author

For my devotions this year, I am reading through "My Utmost for His Highest", by Oswald Chambers. Daily little snippets of simple, yet profound concepts about living the faith and giving everything over to Him. Even if I've "heard it before", Chambers is bold enough to put an extra sting to my shortcomings, and I'm finding myself challenged every day.
I would very much suggest it :)
God has been using it—as He uses everything else, but this rather specifically at the moment. I have found the very topic that I am frustrated with, I am excited about, or that I am musing over within my readings for the day. I love how God works! Not only that, but it also somehow connects with my other readings for the day, and with the sermons and conversations that I undergo throughout the week!
I can't imagine how He manages to work everything out—it is crazy how He is able to spin so many things together, to intertwine lives and encounters so carefully. I am in awe of how vast His abilities are. I can't even imagine trying to organize all of that for ONE person's life—let alone, for the entire world.
I'm so glad He's in charge, and I am not. Though I find myself resisting stubbornly sometimes, I am so thankful that I can lean comfortably in His powerful, compassionate, and loving arms—and allow Him to lead me, to teach me, and to help me to become the woman He longs for me to be.

Spoiled

My favorite young man bought me flowers on Friday :} Isn't he fantastic?

Yes, he is. And not just because he brought me flowers and chocolate (he's a keeper!). I am so blessed to have him around—and it was great to spend some time with him and my family on Friday night. He gets along with them—sometimes too well... they are not above getting together in order to prank me. But that's okay :)

God has spoiled me—and I am very okay with that :)

...8 months and counting...

PhotoShop—Weakened

Photoshop is one of my least favorite programs. I know everyone loves it, but I guess I would rather not work with photos—I'd rather draw! Anyway, for this project (better image coming soon...) I was forced to work with a weakness. So out of my many photoshop weaknesses, I selected photo manipulation. I found a tutorial and worked from there.
Target audience wise, my roommate has a beautiful voice, and she has always wanted to work with and encourage young girls who struggle with body image and are trying to trust fully in God. It's a great mission :)


My classmates suggested the texture in the background. I'm still unsure about it and will probably mess with it a little more, but this is what I turned in for my midterm. I thought the crinkled paper might be a little too cliche, but maybe not...
Feedback? :)

Illustrated Origami

Here is a book cover design that I created for my Graphic Design 3 class. I had to make it in illustrator (fav!), but do something I haven't done before. And I haven't done a more realistic piece yet. To be honest, I have no interest. If I want it to actually look realistic then I would rather do it on paper.
But I did this design for the class—and it didn't kill me :) If you zoom in you can see that the entire piece was created with the pen tool—just layers and layers of colored shapes.
The hand still isn't done, the photo I used as a prop was a weird angle, so I might just re-do the entire thing. But for now, I need to take a break from it!
Feedback is more than welcome as always—at least one more revision will be made before the end of this class.

Weaknesses—uncovered

For my Graphic Design 3 class I had to make something in InDesign that incorporated my weakness.
Layout.
Phooey. So this is the result: a tri-fold brochure. For someone who also dislikes feet, this piece is challenging. I have no idea how it came across—but I suddenly had a heading (that I didn't use...) and the brochure was in process!
Feedback? Please?
I am not too thrilled with the current heading (center left), but I didn't get any comments on it (good/bad) during the critique and didn't even think about it... hmmm

Hands Off

I've been feeing some pressure this week. Not just from academic sources, but from other areas in life. Let's face it, I am at a really exciting time in my life—lots of things are changing, and I am really thrilled about everything that is happening! But at the same time, I am feeling some pressure to perform and decide. I have to pick which country I am going to visit next year (required to graduate from Arborshire), and there are so many options! And not every option is available for every term that it is offered! I've always wanted to go to Italy, but now that it is time to decide, I'm second guessing myself and trying to 'be sure' that I pick the best option for me.

I also have a big midterm coming up for Graphic Design 3. This one will give me a clue as to how well I will do in this class as a whole. While I am trying my best, I am still not excelling in the way that I fear I should be. I know this is a hard class to pass through, and I am not sure how my academic scholarship will hold up against a low grade, let alone my pride. And as my classmates begin to discover what they are going to do when they graduate, or at least what they want to pursue, I am growing frustrated as my own lens grows more faint. I will have a job when I leave here, even if I work in a drug store again, get a job at the bank, or work my other odd jobs. But... of course, I would rather do something with art!

Though I've had a strange sense of peace about it. I am
rarely
never calm when it comes to what the future holds. I am constantly trying to get my goofy little ducks to line up all in a row. And I would really rather they be in order of hight—is that too much to ask? But while I am still thinking about it quite a bit, the fact that God is in control has constantly calmed me down! When has He failed me before? I have never been left alone, and even when my large list of plans was pulled out from under me—I found an even better set lying right underneath. A year ago, I would never have expected to be in the place that I am now. And I would even have been afraid to move forward, despite the fact that so many great things have happened—but I am so happy where I am at now!

God provides. And I am so thankful! How many times have I worried about not having enough money, and then I turned around only to discover that I had more odd jobs than hours! And yet I doubt, how silly. My hands are off the wheel—and not only that, I think I'll take a nap in the back seat. I trust the driver, and I'm not very good at this 'control' thing anyway.

Yes, a lot of things are changing. But they are exciting things, and wonderful things, and will surely lead to things that I am not brave enough to hear yet. In five years I could be living in a different country, or starting a home business, working for a company, living on my own, or even married. Who knows? "'Not I' said the fox". And I don't' know either. But I am excited to find out :)