Illustrator & Designer
..... Branding 1. 3. 5. 9. 11. 13. 15. 17. 19.
de Erté ..... Illustration & Publication
Album Cover ..... Illustration & Music Packaging
Magazine ..... Editorial Design
in Wonderland ..... Illustration Series
Little Book of Muses ..... lllustration Series
Love ..... Illustration and Packaging
Branding & Packaging
For this project we were asked to envision an art show, design a brochure for it, then create a promotional poster in the featured artist’s style. chose the fashion illustrator Erté because I found his dramatic figures, exquisite designs and attention to detail inspiring. For the poster I looked to prints of Erté’s work for stylistic references, and created a classic portrait of a porcelain skinned, dark haired beauty using acrylic paint, Sharpies, and ink pens. I attempted to imitate his attention to detail and lin e quality, and adopted a circle motif often found in his work. For the display typography, I created my own by hand. The final design is printed on metallic paper with the portrait background and display type cut out to allow the gold to shine through. For the brochure, used the same gold metallic paper for the cover and created the title lettering by hand. chose a natural white laid paper for the interior pages to give it a sophisticated feel.
The History of Album Cover Design was one of my favorite classes. Every week we studied a different decade of album covers. Then we were challenged to create our own designs that appeared as though they were made in the same time period. I’ve always romanticized the 60’s and psychedelia, so I was thrilled to create with The Yardbirds in mind. To age the piece I included an actual label from one of their releases through Epic Records in the 60’s. Then dove into the illustration work, using a photo of the band as a reference. I created the figures with one continuous line and then added the logo beneath them. The swirling colors in the ir clothing were cut and pasted from hand-painted tissue paper had left over from an old art project.
During my time at school I discovered an interest in editorial design. When we were asked to develop our own magazine for a Typography class, I was excited to explore this medium. For my theme chose travel, which is one of my passions. After deciding on the title Abroad I created a masthead by modifying a typeface called Ave Fedan with the objective of conveying a theme that was friendly and accessible. I didn’t want it to seem too casual or too refined, but nicely balanced. The idea for the magazine was that each issue would focus on a new destination. I decided on Thailand for the first location. I designed two spreads for the first publication, one about the street food they are world famous for, and one about an elephant sanctuary that travelers can volunteer at. I particularly enjoyed creating the digital collage which is featured in the volunteer article.
gravitated toward the writer and decided to create an illustration for Fight Club . My primitive Illustrator skills showed through, but the roughness seemed appropriate for the nature of Palahniuk’s gritty novels. I enjoyed the process and decided to turn the project into a series, imagining that it was a limited edition imprint of Anchor Books. I created images for Invisible Monsters and
Rant as well, and created my own lettering in areas of emphasis to tie in rough edged visuals.
Changing my major from Fine Art to Graphic Design was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made, because through the design program I discovered my passion for illustration. For our Illustration II class, we were challenged to illustrate a story and c reate a bound book. We were free to choose a tale, so I decided to re-create an old favorite of mine, Alice in Wonderland. I recruited a few good friends of mine to model for the characters, and scheduled a photo shoot. We decided on costumes, packed up props, headed out to Percy Priest Lake and hiked deep into the forest. The photos turned out beautifully, and I used them as references for my illustrations. With watercolor and Microns, attempted to create realistic images with a hint of pyschedelia. For the final book I also drew chapter icons, using animals from the story as inspiration.
Watercolor has been my medium of choice for years, but more recently I’ve turned to marker and pen. While working on the previously mentioned Erté project, I became very inspired by his work. decided to create my own fashion illustrations of the Greek muses. I asked some girl friends to model for me, and set up photo shoots. Then I used these as references to create small drawings using pencils, a Uni-Ball pen, Sharpies and Stabilo Markers. I kept Erté in mind, imitating his elongated figures, elegantly draped clothing and dramatically poised hands.
Typefaces
Baskerville
Savoye
RGB 177 14 19
CMYK 21 100 100 13
RGB 250 96 36
CMYK 0 77 95 0 Color Palette
RGB 250 242 24
CMYK 6 0 92 0
RGB 104 119 140
CMYK 64 48 33 6 13
In our Promotion & Packaging class we were asked to create a piece promoting a brand of paper. After discovering the SKIN
Curious Collection, fell in love with the velvety texture and the gorgeous print quality that could be acheived. decided to create a collection of handmade greeting cards. I’m a proud cat lady, so illustrating the various breeds of felines was super fun.
I used Stabilo Markers and Sharpies to draw the kitty cats, then added the name of the breed with hand lettering in a cute and funky style. Once the illustrations were finished, paired the colorful cat with a vibrant shade of SKIN paper, then packaged them in a small black box with a hand-lettered label. Typefaces
In our advanced graphic design course, Promotion and Packaging, we were challenged to come up with a business idea, create branding for it, then design a brochure and a package of related objects. For my project, I imagined a creative co-working stud io called Whitespace. I designed the logo with an old typography lesson in mind, where we choose a word and take away as much of the lettering as possible without making it illegible. imagined the space as very sleek and modern with clean lines, and decided
to limit my color palette to black and white. For the objects designed labels using Mohawk’s Skin Curious Collection paper, and
printed two layers of white toner on the black matte finish to create a sophisticated look with a smooth, tactile element. I ch ose the objects with designers and artists in mind. When a new client becomes a member of Whitespace, they receive this inspiring little welcome kit to get their creativity flowing.
The final project for our Professional Practices class was to come up with an idea for a business, create the branding for it, then write and design a business plan as if we were pitching the idea to investors. decided to have fun with the assignment and played with the idea of opening a bakery that specializes in cannabis infused edibles. I developed a playful, colorful logo in the shape of a cupcake with a cute little weed leaf on top and hand drawn type.
In Graphic Design III we were prompted to design a logo for a boutique hotel located in Germantown, a historic district of Nashville that has been gentrified in recent years. For this project we were additionally challenged to come up with a name for the business. To play off the name of the neighborhood, I used the
German word for house, “haus.” I chose a typeface for its simplicity and then began experimenting with various ways to stack H’s to create a monogram. I left the logo black and white because I imagined how cool it would be if the entire hotel were decorated only in these colors.
Another prompt from the same class was to create a logo for a jewelry store located in Hillsboro Village, a hip and expensive part of Nashville. wanted to design something elegant yet youthful. I chose distinguished typefaces, then surrounded them with fun and fancy curly-cues. Foil stamping really made the image pop, so decided to stick with gold and black for the store’s branding.
For a final collection of logos decided to rebrand local Nashville bands. Doctor Jungle Cat, an experimental rock n’ roll group, was in need of branding. I created a simple circular icon using a cat head and the band’s
initials in a straightforward, impactful typeface.
Typefaces
University Roman
Bodoni Smallcaps Book
Gotham Black
I was born in Nashville, TN. My parents are musicians, so the creative spirit was always alive and well in our home. As a kid I spent a lot of time coloring, experimenting with watercolors, and decorating my bedroom walls with elaborate murals and collages. I had lots of dreams and I was never sure what my path would be, but I always knew I wanted a career that would allow me to express myself. After working odd jobs and doing some travelling, I decided to settle down and eventually found my way to Watkins College of Art. I started out in the Fine Art department but soon felt it wasn’t the right choice. That’s when I moved to Graphic Design and began to truly flourish. I’ve discovered my passion for illustration, hand lettering, packaging and editorial design. I’m a proud cat lady, and I also love photography, writing and singing. I’m excited that I get to live my life as an artist. I can’t wait to see what’s next.
