SIMPSONIZED

25 / 12 / 2011

I have always wondered what I would look like as a 'Simpson,' I recently found a website called 'Simpsonize Me' but the website has been down and unable to Simpsonize anyone.

So I took it upon myself to Simpsonize myself, my other half and my cat. I used an Adobe program called Illustrator. Here's how it turned out:

Then for a Christmas present I decided to Simpsonize Hannah, Cory and Taylee, because they love the Simpsons. I got it framed for them, and sure enough they loved it! I downloaded the Simpson font called Groening to add to the Simpsonized effect!

Unforgettable...

14 / 12 / 2011

Program cover design

This post is dedicated to my loving Grandfather Geoffrey Palmer who passed away last week.

1921 - 2011. He loved three things, his grandchildren, his church and his garden - and it was these three aspects are where he spent all of his time.

Every year he would take Mum, Sheldon and I on holidays to Port Macquarie, he'd wake us up in the morning and make us breakfast, then we'd be off to the beach. He would always play with Sheldon in the surf and then collect shells with me! He picked some amazing shells! He even accidentally picked up what he thought was a shell and took it home in the 'shell bag' and later on a crab crawled out of the bag with one of the shells on his back. He could not stop laughing. We would also go to the theme parks and he was into everything!! He would be more excited than us half the time.

Grandpa always had time for us, and he loved taking me shopping - especially to GO LO, that was his favourite shop. Whatever I picked up he would say 'do you like that do you?' 'well, put it in the basket.' He loved buying Sheldon and I stickers to put in our sticker books. He always encouraged me to draw by buying pencils, art books and paint.

He loved his garden, and would always take me out the back to show me his strawberries. His favourite flower was the Orchid. He had a huge greenhouse out the back where he would make his own variations and he had every colour imaginable. The flowers were always around the house.

Grandpa always had a great sense of humour, always laughing and making jokes. He would always sing this little made up song when he walked through the kitchen 'honkey ponkey, honkey ponkey tonkey.' He collected things - currency, stamps - you name it. He would buy me a yowie every week - he would go and tell me to open the cupboard and sure enough two would be sitting there, one for me and one for him. Thanks to Grandpa I have every yowie in the collection - and there was about 6 series haha! He realised the rarer yowies made a different sound when you shook them, so when he would go to the shops he would stand there shaking each one haha! And we got all the rare ones too!

Grandpa hated getting up and answering the doorbell, Sheldon and I used to ring it and run off. He knew it was us and we always got smacked. The next time we rang the bell, we put books down our pants so when we got smacked it wouldn't hurt.... that theory was wrong, Grandpa took the books out and we got an even harder smack. He also hated up swinging on the clothesline - but thats another story. Sheldon and I were naughty when we were together, but Grandpa soon sorted us out!

Grandpa was a great cricketer, he would always want to play when the whole family was together. Seeing as i wasn't such a great cricketer we had our own game where he would hide the tennis ball in the back yard and I would have to find it.

Unfortunately he got dementia. He had such a healthy strong body, but it was his mind that went first. We would go and see him in the nursing home and sometimes he would remember us, and sometimes he would have no idea, other times he thought I was Mum. He slowly deteriorated and towards the end he just slept.

He stopped eating while Mum and I were in Hawaii, and the doctor thought he would pass away on the Saturday. We came home on the Tuesday and Nanny told us about Grandpa, straight away we went to the nursing home to see him. He passed away the next day. It's like he waited for us. It's amazing how some things happen, even Nanny got to see him for the last time.

I'll never forget you Grandpa, and all our special memories. You're only sleeping now, I'll see you again.

You are cordially invited...

23 / 11 / 2011

These days I spend my spare time designing invitations. I want to develop a mini portfolio of designs that I can show future clients to give them ideas for wedding invitations, also to show them my style and capabilities. After invitations ill do the same thing for business cards and logos!

Here are some designs I have been working on over the past few days:

My first real design job...

15 / 11 / 2011

I have a job!
The day after i finished uni I was offered this job - talk about great timing!
I am now the proud graphic designer of a company called Suvee who specialise in training resources.


What do I have to do exactly?
They have all the information all ready for me in word documents, then I put them into a text book format, two columns, nice stock pictures, re-design the original covers,  too easy! I get to work my own hours and it's great pay!

Before SUVEE came to me

After SUVEE came to me

Suvee is really pleased with what I have done so far! I think my design looks very professional and thats just what they wanted!

Next step: Get my business up and running!

'If you can dream it, you can do it. Your limits are all within yourself.' - Brian Tracy

Goodbye Newcastle, hello big world....

07 / 11 / 2011

So it's official, I finished uni today! I can't believe it!!
The past three years have just flown by so quickly.
So now I'm just sitting at home twiddling my thumbs.... I have absolutely nothing to do and it feels so weird!

The last month I have been full on with designing, printing, mounting and finishing my website and now... nothing.... I just can't really explain how I feel! It's a neutral feeling ha ha!

I went into the 15 minute interview quite nervous, but I was surprised as to how laid back everyone was. Before me sat a panel of 4 judges all highly experienced in design, and i had to show them my portfolio, which consisted of 15 tasks which i have completed in the last 14 weeks! They were really positive and just fantastic! They made me feel very comfortable and very confident.

Rich gave me some great advice, he said 'If you pretend to be confident you will look confident,' and 'It is just like when you take your L's test, it's over before you know it.' He was so right!! I walked in with my shoulders back (what Rich told me to do haha) and the lady said to me straight off 'oh don't you look stunning.'

It's been an incredible experience, I have learnt so much and I'm going to miss it thats for sure!

Tomorrow I already have a small job lined up, which is re-designing some work books! So that should keep me from going insane!

Here is one design in particular that the entire panel just LOVED! It took me no time at all and I did it a few nights before the presentation!

I love life!!! xx

It's that time of year again...

22 / 10 / 2011

I have been so busy over the last few weeks, overloaded with uni work. Only two weeks to go now, it's a very scary feeling. So this week I have been working on a Christmas card design for the University of Newcastle, they wanted a card that reflected these attributes:

- Australia & Newcastle
- The hope and inspiration of Christmas and the New Year
- Reflect education as the hope of the future

So this is what i came up with:

To reflect Australia I used the Southern Cross.
To reflect Newcastle I used the Newcastle city logo.
To reflect hope and inspiration I used a candle.
To reflect education as the hope of the future i used the Newcastle University logo.

Seasons Greetings xx

These lakes are great...

12 / 10 / 2011

Here is some work I have been doing for Great Lakes Home Modifications, they sent my logo design off to get it made into a sign, which I am very excited about. I'm also taking photos for their upcoming website. I love working with them.

My design made into a sign in the left.

The bar with no name....

09 / 10 / 2011

I recently had an internship with a bar in Sydney called 'Name this Bar' where I did graphic design work for them. It was a fantastic experience. I was asked to re-design their logo and create invitations and handouts about events occurring within the bar.

Here are some of my creations:

What do I want to do?

08 / 10 / 2011

When I first started my degree, people would ask me what do you want to do when you're finished? I didn't know, I still don't really know.

I thought it would be great to start my own t-shirt brand called 'Oh dear' and print cute, summery illustrations onto t-shirts. But that was short lived. I might still do it one day, who knows. Below are some of my ideas.

THEN... the beginning of this year I completed a business plan and feasibility study on a business idea which was - 'She's the one wedding photography.' I then wanted to do wedding photography. I had it all planned out!! I even got to take some wedding photos with Shane Chalker - a national and international award winning photographer. That was a great experience.

My logo design for my future business.

So the wedding photography idea was a bit overwhelming, there are so many bridezillas out there, I almost think I would be killed if i missed an important shot. So the wedding photography idea has taken a back-seat for the moment.

Now, I have started a business called 'Shell Designs.' Where I can do photography, create logos, make invitations and business cards - and do everything I want to do! I have even started to sell artworks.

Life is great.

Paper thin

07 / 10 / 2011

This is one of the most complex things i was asked to do at uni. We were only allowed to use one sheet of A3 paper, double sided tape and a stanley knife. But there was a catch, you weren't allowed to cut pieces off and stick them together..... it had to be one whole cutout that you could fold together while still being attached to the base paper. We had to base it on a memory, so here I have represented the first time i went ice-skating.

Peter Callesen is an incredible artist who uses a similar technique. You will be blown away by his creations.

The only way out is the slaughterhouse.

06 / 10 / 2011

You make sure your eggs are ok, but what about the hens that laid them? Each and every ‘cage-egg’ takes around 30 stressful hours to lay, cooped up in a confined cage.  In a natural environment a hen will live 10 years, but a battery hen is lucky enough to live one year before they are stuffed into crates and trucked off to the slaughterhouse, never to see the light of day. This is animal cruelty- don’t take part, every time you go to the supermarket purchase free-range eggs or egg free alternatives.

This is a series of advertisements i designed in my second year of uni. We had to choose an Australian organisation and create an advertisement campaign for the chosen company. Then create a billboard design and a bus shelter design that was site specific. Also create a television advertisement using the program After Effects. This is what i came up with...

30 confined cage hours.

The only way out is the slaughterhouse.

Debeaked with a hot machine blade.

The average car holds five, so does the average cage.

You're only here for five minutes, try a lifetime.

I never knew how terribly hens were treated until i completed this campaign. It was a real eye opener. I hope that if you are reading this, you too will stop buying caged eggs.

For more information please visit: Animal's Australia

It's not what it looks like...

5 / 10/ 2011

This is a design I created for my University's Summer Design Ball. At first glance it looks like a stripy ice-cream, but what it is really made of is paint chips, the ones you get from hardware stores. I hope no one saw me, because I did take LOTS!

First, after a lot of attempts I created the circular shapes out of two of the same colour paint chips, cut two slits in each side, then used double sided tape to stick it all together. The cone was created using about 5 paint chips of the same colour rolled up into a cone shape. I then placed them on A3 coloured paper and photographed it. Then I completed the finishing touches in Photoshop and Illustrator.

Paint chips from a local hardware store.

Trying different coloured backgrounds.

The shapes placed on A3 coloured paper

Birds, bees, flowers and trees.

2/ 10/ 2011

This is part of one of my projects I completed in my 2nd year of University. We had to take our own photos of the Hunter Region Botanic Gardens and then create a small booklet to advertise and offer information to the public about the site. I love photography, so it was great to wander around the magnificent gardens and photograph all of the beautiful flora and fauna.

Food for thought.

1 / 10 / 2011

Art major works - 2008

For my major, I pondered upon many themes then decided I wanted to go in the direction of food.

Why food? Whether we like it or not, food involves everybody, without it we cannot survive. Too much and you get sick, too little and you get sick, our lives revolve around it. There are many themes and issues that involve food. I based my art on obesity and the fact that it is becoming an epidemic.

While the issue is quite serious, I chose to give my artworks a humorous touch with the addition of quirky quotes that cause the audience to think. The final artwork included six A1 sized drawings. The smaller drawings took me about 10 hours each to draw while the larger took over 25 hours each.

Dieting is not a piece of cake.

I'm so hungry I could eat a horse.

Donuts and pies equal very big thighs.

I'm on a seafood diet, I see food and then i eat it.

A balanced diet is a cookie in each hand.

You are what you eat.