Portfolio Evelina Sara Stasyte 2016
Hello and Welcome to a little tour/guide through my life with graphic design and illustration. My name is Evelina Sara Stasyte, aka fatcopycat (tumblr nickname) I am graphic communication design student in Westminster University. I love illustration and all artsy little things with all my of heart. Besides my passion for illustration, graphic design brings out the disciplined and fully functional side of me which I appreciate as much. This little book contains the essence of who I am and what I love doing and planning to do the rest of my life. The starting point as you can see on the right side of this text box is a funky portrait of me, picture was taken about 2 years ago so I just tried to bring it to current time. As you will move on from reading to further pages, you’ll get to see where I am coming from, through what stages I went to get where I am right now. I hope you will enjoy this depiction of what I am as much as I did while making it. Thank you for your attention.
GRAPHIC DESIGN Projects from 2014 to 2016 Briefs given in National M.K. Ciurlionis school of Arts University of Hertfordshire University of Westminster
My journey through design world started in National M.K. Ciurlionis school of Arts, as in final 2 years there was a choice to be made to focus on one subject. Although even throughout those years graphic design wasn’t the only thing I was taught, I got excitement mostly just from graphics instead of furniture, product, interior, landscape design. The very beginning of graphics was basically photoshoping, retouching photos and learning Corel Draw for vector area. The first project was to choose an animal, create nine different logos using the most recognisable features of the creature and create a brand that would suit the style of icon. My choice was fox as it is really refined and graceful creature (without considering the public opinion about the animal). The challenge was to find and differ it from wolf shapes while simplifying. The final outcome I came up with was quite consistent icon with the head of the fox in black and white and because the shape looks almost like a tuxedo I created a brand for a suit salon.
After getting accepted to University of Hertfordshire, I’ve had the chance to experience a variety of distinct briefs, including editorial design, branding, type design. In this page as it might be clear it’s an editorial project, the brief was to find a modern day subculture that particularly interests me, find suitable article about it and present it in an appropriate way that would suit the style or purpose of the subculture. The choice was made to be hacker society which plays an important role in evolving cyber world. To narrow down such a broad subculture the option was to choose one of the ‘cyber terrorism’ groups or personas to create a more specific outlook. The most notorious group is “Anonymous”, formed in late nineties, it has still has remained the most influential cyber terrorists. Using Guy Hawkes mask I made photographs that contain mystic look and a feeling that the members of the group could be found hiding between us. The text matter design, I kept it simple and clear as an accompany to the photographs with their complexity it seemed obvious to keep it rather plain with typeface and layout.
One of the first briefs from Hertfordshire University, of course a branding project. Brief was to create a corporate identity for a restaurant. Three choices were given : mexican, british or japanese. Considering how different all three are there was a possibility to create an equally interesting outcome for each. I made a choice and took my chances with japanese restaurant called “Soto�. To start with we were asked to research about the culture in depth and to design a logo along the way. Considering I decided to express widely practiced discipline in both art and other subjects - combining the old with new. In this case I used linocut print and digital elements to create a fulfilling look both sophisticated and simple.
Designing a typeface was one of my biggest challenges so far. Even with given freedom of choice what audience this typeface applies, to make an interesting type is difficult on the technical level. There were given a few platforms to work on which restrained me in every way possible not because my typeface is complicated but cause my own personal goal that I aimed to achieve exact way I planned. Using my favourite concepts in sci-fi genre, I came up with typeface I called “Juno” named after character in well-known game series “Assassin’s Creed”. As it appears this is custom lettering just with a complete set of letters, so it has to be taken in consideration when it would be appropriate to use it. As a result the typeface I created turned to be both functional and decorative concept type.
After first year in University of Hertfordshire, I decided to transfer to Westminster University which turned out to be a great choice and challenging at times while adapting to a new system. I decided to add this particular project for ISTD competition as it is my biggest accomplishments so far. The brief was to create graphic notations for Robert Wilson’s and Philip Glass’s opera “Einstein on the Beach”. At the very beginning it was quite complicated and difficult to clearly understand the most avant-garde opera in decades. Usually it’s quite easy to visualize music and put it into some kind of system. In this case it was rather obscure which gave the freedom for any interpretation yet obligated to create something that would ‘make perfect sense’. My solution contains plain letter ‘T’ from futura typeface and patterns created along actual notations, according frequency and tonality.
ILLUSTRATION Self-inniated projects and illustrations from 2014 to 2016 Created durring 2 years of study in universities mentioned above
My first encounter with Adobe Illustrator, being big fan of gaming, comic content of course I chose one of the best artsy games recognised by really distinctive style - Borderlands 2. Although my version lacks more accuracy on colour pallet and density of lines it absolutely represents my technique and style. As first digital illustration it lacks a lot of things but overall it served its purpose being as part of magazine cover and spread.
Continuing on improving my illustrator skills I’ve shifted to more trendy subjects like animals. In this case wolves are stylised as all of the features, lines are quite exaggerated to create more aggressive and powerful feeling. Although roughhousing probably is supposed to be more on the playful side. But considering how much of might wolves as creatures carry out this was the right way to represent the bond.
Another character from Borderlands 2 - Maya the siren. Quite complicated detail wise character design. All of the texture sets used I had to improvise and make it my way. As all of my copycat illustration this piece has my own style added, making a less professional but more artsy. Overall this point was for me to move to my own creations as I properly learned how to manipulate Illustrator.
I consider these illustrations as my first step towards finding my own style and creations. After a couple random sketches I decided that these objects could have a common topic. The objects seemed quite mythical or just rather unrealistic so accordingly I chose witchcraft, more precisely fortune potion recipe as a common ground.
After a long break, I came face to face a widely discussed issue cruelty to animals. However, I used the crude illustrations of animals to represent how cruel people are to each other and it is the source of all that’s dark and brutal. It appears to be like a chain reaction which can start from a mere spoken word. My aim was to shock people and at the same time maybe find closure with the imagery they see.
CONTACTS
Portfolio websites http://evelinasarah.wix.com/portfolio https://www.behance.net/Evelinasara email: evelina.sarah@gmail.com tumblr: fatcopycat.tumblr.com