Some recent pages

Haven't posted any pages since I started working on a new group of papers- the Central Wisconsin group.  There are four papers in the Central Wisconsin group: the Wausau Daily Herald, the Stevens Point Journal, the Wisconsin Rapids Tribune, and the Marshfield News Herald. Here are just a few examples of what I've been up to since working with these papers.

Here's a fun challenge: Design an A1 without
a single photo (except for the  Packers promo)

It's the most wonderful time of the year

Okay, I'll just say it.  I hate summer. I know- I can hear the disbelieving shrieks of schoolchildren everywhere, but it is just awful.  Okay, maybe not awful, but it's about as close as you can get to being awful without actually being awful.

My two main reasons for disliking summer are as follows:
1. It is extraordinarily hot outside all the time. Some days I wonder why I even bothered to shower before work when I sweat two gallons walking from the parking lot to the building.
2. The primary sport of the season is baseball.  I used to rag on baseball all the time for being boring.  I have since retracted those comments and warmed up to it, but it's not soccer or football. Baseball is like that last resort friend you keep in the wings. Well I have nothing better to do...I guess I'll watch baseball.

Anyway, apparently this isn't the popular view because every year on Ohio University's campus around March, or whenever the temperature rises above 40 degrees, students flock to "South Beach," throwing frisbees and playing basketball in shorts and t-shirts or sunbathing in bikinis.  And every year, I laugh at its ridiculousness.  It is just way to cold for that stuff still.  But people do it because they can't wait for it to actually be warm enough for both this behavior and apparel to be acceptable.  They grab on to any little taste of summer they can get and dive in. This is how I am about fall. 

As soon as it drops below 70 degrees, whether we have passed Labor Day or not, it is fall, and I am wearing jeans and a hoodie, drinking hot beverages like it is my job, and talking about football and leaves to anyone who will listen, which often means that I'm talking to myself.

Maybe it's just residual excitement from the years of my life when fall meant it was time to head back to school, start to soccer and marching band season, and wear the same hoodie every day for a week without judgment, but I just don't get this excited for any other season.

Maybe it's because fall weather is absolutely the most beautiful and comfortable weather of the year.  I wish I could spend all day hanging out under a tree with a book.  I can enjoy a cup of coffee without sweating at the same time.  Fall even smells good.

Maybe it's because when fall arrives, I know that Thanksgiving and Christmas are just around the corner, and I am a total freak about the holidays. Oh, it's October? Josh Groban Holiday Pandora station, here I come.  Not to mention, I have already scoped out nurseries where I can buy a real Christmas tree (they're the only kind that count). Little known fact: Santa himself despises fake Christmas trees and skips over the houses of people that harbor them.  Okay, that's not true, but this one is: the first commercially manufactured fake Christmas trees were made by a toilet brush company. Your fake Christmas tree is a giant, green toilet brush, and that is how I will forever see it.

Or maybe it's because fall is the season for me to get my hopes up every year that my beloved Cincinnati Bengals will win the Super Bowl.  You're all laughing, aren't you?  Yes, I am aware that the Bengals haven't won a playoff game since I was born, but hey, go big or go home.  Some day it will happen, and I will be able to say I believed the whole time. Haters gonna hate.

Whatever it is, I'm happy that fall is here and ready to enjoy it.

More ink and watercolor pencils...

Let the countdown to Homecoming begin!

I finally bought my plane ticket to go back to OU for Homecoming, and in the wise words of Becca Warhola, "It's my thing to look forward to."

While I am loving Des Moines, and my new life here, it is still difficult to leave behind my life as a student and Young Life leader at OU.  The past 18-ish years of my life have been spent in the structure that comes with being a student, but in June, that phase of my life came to an end- at least for now. For the first time in my life, I do not have a timetable for the next phase, and I will admit: that's pretty scary. 

When I thought hypothetically about where my life would be going after graduation, it was exciting to think about the lack of boundaries I would have. I could go anywhere and do anything.  But that was all hypothetical.  Now it's real. I could go anywhere and do anything. Sounds exciting, right? Maybe it should be, but I find it a bit terrifying.

For the most part, I have always known what the next year would hold for me. I knew how long it would take me to finish high school. I knew that after high school I would go to college. I knew (or assumed and prayed) that I would finish college in 4 years, and then begin my job search. Now I only know what I am doing right now. I know that I am currently living in Des Moines, Iowa working as a newspaper designer.  There is no roadmap or Cliff's Notes for my life.  Although, I guess it has always been that way.  I could have been in an accident that prevented me from graduating high school or run into financial troubles that forced me to complete college in 5 years instead of 4.  These things were never "givens," but I had assumed they were. Life seems so much more real now.

I actually don't mind working eight hours every day. I expected that to be a lot more of a shock to my body than it turned out to be.  I was ready to be done with school and put all my learning to practical use.  The most difficult thing about moving into this next phase is that my friends aren't as accesible as they have been for the past 4 years.  I don't live within a half square mile of everyone I would possibly want to hang out with, and I don't have time to hang out until 4 a.m. every night of the week, or any night for that matter.

I'm still trying to get into a rhythm with my daily schedule. Working nights can be difficult because my schedule is the exact opposite of most people's, which means that when I'm not at work, everyone else is, and vice versa. I sleep a lot, and I go shopping a lot.

It's not that I'm lonely, just lonelier.  Over the past few years, I have become accustomed to hanging out with my friends every day, but no matter what career or life choices I made, this was going to end when I graduated college.  I miss hanging out with no particular plan- wandering into 11 Stewart Street, knowing that there would be a friend or two or ten or thirty sitting in the living room.  I spent at least 25% of all my time in college at this house, and probably 75% of my best memories took place there. Where else would you find someone over the age of five drawing cat whiskers on their face with a marker completely sober (and it wasn't Halloween either)? In fact, the summer before senior year, I definitely spent more time at 11 Stew than I did at my own house. Way more.

I have been so lucky to have this place and the people that frequented it in my life. It was my source of entertainment,  my method of procrastination, my support system, my home and family away from home. Life is a lot different without it, but more importantly, my life is different because of it. So here's a shout-out to everyone who's ever been in that house: I love and miss the crap out of you, and am so, so, so grateful for you. To the people who live there: Thanks for the enormous sacrifice of privacy, alone time, and peace and quiet you have made by opening your home. It is so much more than the typical, structurally questionable college house. You preached the Gospel through your hospitality, showing Christ's love to everyone who walked through the door. Way to be.

"They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved." Acts 2:42-47

Never have I seen this lived out so well.

So let the countdown to Homecoming begin! 15 days...

I've been playing with pen and watercolor sketches lately, so here's an early one. I bugged my friend Tim repeatedly to send me a picture of his house, which he finally did, but then of course I accidentally deleted the text before I did the drawing. Therefore, this one's from memory, so it's not quite right, but close enough!

Whew, that was a long one!

Fun fact: A middle school teacher once offered me a whole bucket of candy not to talk for the rest of the day. I talk that much. (And yes, I did it.)

On today's episode of Crafting Redemption...

You may well remember my last attempt at painting furniture. I do. It's still sitting in my garage. Despite my previous epic disaster, I decided to try again.

I had been looking for something unique to serve as my bedside table, and found this perfect little cabinet at a great place in the East Village called Found Things (http://foundthingsdsm.com/). I could spend hours wandering around in there.  The cabinet was just what I was looking for. It was clearly homemade, and the wood was unfinished with a few marks on it, so I thought it would be perfect to paint. First I sanded the cabinet, wiped it down with a damp cloth, and let it dry. Then I began to paint it with a paint/primer mix that I had made at Home Depot. It's a little hard to tell from the photos, but it's seafoam green. It's a nice accent to the black and white of the rest of my room.

I was shocked that it turned out so well. It's the perfect place to set my books, phone, glasses, etc. down at night. It's definitely better than the pile of stuff that was accumulating on the floor next to my bed.

On the other side of my bed I have a much simpler, but still fun project.  I bought this bookshelf at Target, and put it together. Before I nailed on the backing, I Mod Podged scrapbook paper onto it. Easy and adds a bit of color!

   

Two successful projects. Ahhh...Redemption.

Some Recent Pages

Still trucking away in Des Moines!

Here are some more front pages that I've designed over the past few weeks.

___

This page might be my favorite I've done so far.  It is definitely right up there with the "Splash" page. Kind of a fun story about a father and daughter who have been riding bikes together for 20 years.

This page had pretty uninteresting art- a static family portrait. It was a pretty interesting story about three young brothers who have all decided to be Catholic priests, which is very rare these days, so I wanted to do something more interesting with the treatment than just running the portrait.

I thought these two bad-ass fourth graders deserved a pretty bad-ass design.

A Treasure Hunt!

So I've been in Des Moines for about a month now, and I have been meaning to take a day to just wander around the city with no particular itinerary.  I was waiting to choose a day that was a nice walking around kind of day, but clearly after a straight month of 100 degree weather, that's not going to happen anytime soon.  So I thought, what the heck- I'll go today.

I started wandering around the East Village, a great area that has a lot of boutiques and interesting shops.  I went to a few really neat antique and vintage shops in which I could easily spend hours upon hours exploring.  I had a few good finds, including:

an old rake head which is now holding jewelry in my bathroom

some awesome old printing press letter blocks

(of course I spelled out my name-What else?)

And a print from the coolest store I've ever been in

The store is called Domestica, and it sells all kinds of jewelry and accessories, but mostly they sell really neat prints.  I spent so much time in there, but only walked out with one print because I was so overwhelmed by the sheer awesomeness of the place.  There were so many to choose from, and as much as I'd like to, I can't buy them all.  So I chose a small one that I liked for now.  I will definitely be back.

Here is their website:
http://www.ilovedomestica.com/

Here are some of my personal favorites:
http://domesticaprint.bigcartel.com/product/blue-edition-artcrank-2010-basemint-design

http://domesticaprint.bigcartel.com/product/usa-map-hey-day-collective
http://domesticaprint.bigcartel.com/product/andrew-bird-boats-methane-studios
http://domesticaprint.bigcartel.com/product/it-s-not-that-far-really-postcard-rar-rar-press
http://domesticaprint.bigcartel.com/product/peacock-methane-studios

Either the map or the blue bike art will probably be adorning the walls of my room soon...

A challenge

My junior year of college I took my first newpaper design class.  Let me tell you- I was not looking forward to it.  Everything about newspaper design to me said boring, boring, boring.  When I thought of newspapers, I thought gray and boxes.  That's it.  I remember on the first day of class our professor, the wonderful Julie Elman, said that in the past she has had many students who began the class completely uninterested in newspaper design, but left loving it.  Of course I thought, "Well that certainly won't be me."  Technically, it wasn't me- yet.  It took another year before I realized it, but I did fall in love with newspaper.

I am incredibly competitive, and I love a challenge.  Winning is thrilling.  That's what newspaper design is- a challenge.  Finding a way to make newspaper design not gray and boxes is a challenge, and it is what makes my job so fun.  Some days are more challenging than others.  Like days when your A1 centerpiece art is 3 photos of dogs that look like they were shot with the first camera ever made and are all cropped in the strangest ways possible.  Finding a unique solution to this challenge is exciting.  And on top of that, each day is a new page, a new challenge.  If you fail one day, it's okay because you get to do it again tomorrow.

Also, I think it's making me better at puzzles.

The paper I work on the most often is The Fond du Lac (that's in Wisconsin) Reporter. 

Here are some of my pages from the past couple of weeks:

This "splash" page was really fun.  I love how the water is spilling over into the other stories.  It's surprising.  I was given decent art, but wanted to do something a little crazy. Hence, the giant splash of water over the whole page.  I also worked with the editors to write a new headline to echo the feel of the rest of the page.  Fun

I thought the art for the story was pretty cool- great colors, interesting content.  The story was about a world Atlatl competition.  It's similar to javelin throwing, but using a thing called an atlatl, which is an ancient Aztec hunting tool dating back 25,000 years.  The headline was pretty basic, so again I worked with the editors to create a head and subhead that would fit with the feel of the art.  I thought the most interesting aspect of the story was the backstory and uniqueness of the atlatl rather than the competition itself, so we worked with that angle.

Day 6: Make Life Colorful

Day 5: Happy Independence Day!

It's been forever since I've posted a hand-lettered thing, but I WILL NOT LET THIS PROJECT DIE!  

Happy Independence Day everybody! (Please excuse the typos, er, write-os?)

On Today's Episode of Crafting Disasters...

Since moving, I have been putting my room together one piece at a time so as not to run up any huge credit card bills or spend money I don't actually have.  I am generally a pretty crafty person; I like to make all kinds of things from jewelry to blankets.  I needed a bookshelf to put beside my bed, but since my bedding is black and white, I didn't want a neutral color bookshelf.  So I bought a cheap shelf from Walmart and picked out a light blue spray paint, excited to get to crafting.  But it didn't exactly go as planned...

Step 1: Put together bookshelf

Overall, I did pretty well on this step thank you very much.  That is until I got to the very last nail, which I drove in at a 45 degree angle, through the side of the bookshelf.  Other than that, it was quite delightful.

Step 2:  Carry bookshelf outside to driveway for spray painting

Now you would think this would be the easiest step of the project.  Little did you know, it is very difficult to carry things that are much wider than you when you have tiny T-Rex arms.  While carrying the bookshelf outside, I let it slip from my hands while trying to open the door.  The corner of the bookshelf ripped a nice slit in the screen in the screen door. Yep.  Sorry Bridget and Amy! I promise I'll fix it!

Step 3:  Spray paint the bookshelf
This should be easy right?  It turns out spray paint is very difficult to control, especially when the nozzle malfunctions.  It. Went. Everywhere.  Everywhere except where I wanted it to. It left a very uneven coat of paint on two sides of the bookshelf.  There were drips running down it, and it dried before I had a chance to wipe them off because it was 95 degrees outside.  Additionally, I got spray paint all over my arms, legs, and fingers.  I quit after covering about a tenth of the shelf in paint.  Then I had to figure out how to get spray paint off of skin.  Fun fact: Canola or vegetable oil spray removes spray paint from skin because spray paint is oil based.  Yep, I sprayed canola oil all over myself.  It smelled great (sarcasm).  Then I put dish-washing soap (which smelled infinitely better than the canola oil) all over myself.  Well it worked.  My skin is mostly spray paint free!

Step 4: Try to rectify situation with acrylic paint
Nope.  Doesn't work.

Step 5: Put bookshelf in back of garage facing the wall because you don't want to look at it or think about it as it is a visual reminder of your failure.

Did I mention it was 95 degrees outside? I did?  Well let me tell you again.
IT WAS 95 DEGREES OUTSIDE.

Next week I WILL fix it, and it will be beautiful.  Look out for the finished product.  I told you about it, so now I can't leave the dang thing sitting in the garage until I move again and throw it out.

I'm a Real Person now

Well I guess technically I have always been a real person.  This ain't no Pinocchio business.  I just feel more real now that I have a full-time job and place of my own.  I even have my own benefits. I now know what a 401k is. When did that happen?  Well actually it happened this week.  Monday to be exact.  This past weekend I moved from Cincinnati to Des Moines, Iowa to start my career as a designer at Gannett's Design Studio.  It is the first time in my life that I have lived outside of Ohio.

My first day of work was a little overwhelming.  It consisted mostly of watching, taking notes, and trying not to make a fool of myself.  It was all sort of a blur.  After a few more days, I can say with a fair amount of assurance: I have a really cool job.  Seriously. I LOVE it.  I get to make a career out of something I love doing anyway.  AND, I get to work in a place where I am surrounded by immense creative talent.

When I initially heard about the job here I was lukewarm about it because it was in Iowa.  I thought, "Who moves to Iowa?"  But I accepted the job because it sounded like such an amazing opportunity.  Every time I told someone I was moving to Iowa they would make an obligatory joke about corn and cows.   I became somewhat defensive about Iowa. I would reply to their jokes with something like, "Oh, you're right. Appalachian Ohio, where we currently are, is sooooo much more interesting than old podunk Iowa. There's absolutely no corn or cows around here.  How will I ever make the transition between big-city Athens and rural Des Moines?"  I may have even threatened physical punishment for the next person who immediately brought up corn when I said Iowa.  Honestly I was so defensive because I myself was hesitant about moving here, and I was looking to others for reassurance about my decision.

Well Iowa...I'm sorry I judged you.  That was unfair. You did not deserve that. You are more than just corn, and I love you already.  

Iowa, overall, is treating me really well.  God has continued to heap blessings upon me in this new chapter of my life.  I have two awesome roommates who immediately made me feel at home, and after living in Athens, 45 minutes away from the nearest mall, it is nice to live within 5 minutes of a Target. Des Moines itself is a beautiful city.   It has the definite feel of a big city without all the negatives- crazy traffic, excessive pollution, litter, and expensive parking. It's really small, which means it's also really clean and easy to navigate. The easy to navigate part is imperative for me because I am incredibly skilled at getting lost.  The first day I drove home from work, I took several unintentional detours before I finally made it back to my townhouse.  I am really enjoying working in the city, although I spend way to much money at Panera already.  They are definitely going to know me in there.

This is where I work!

The city is very clean and beautiful.  And look-
no traffic!

Des Moines has a great system of skywalks
 that connect the buildings 

And this is where I live!

(And for the record...aside from the initial 10 hour drive here,
the only corn I've seen so far is in the grocery store.)

I Want this Book

I stumbled upon this children's book in Target the other day, and I am so happy I did.  Initially I was drawn to it because of the unique illustrations, but after reading it I am convinced this is the funniest book I've ever read.  I can't wait to own it.

Watch it read here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vS0x72_nflU&feature=related

And see more of Jon Klassen's work here:

http://www.burstofbeaden.com/

The end of an Era: Goodbye Ohio

Exactly half my life ago, I visited Ohio University for the first time and stood in front of the building that housed my future major. I was eleven years old, and we were moving my sister, Katie, in for her freshman year at OU.  I immediately fell in love with everything about the school.  And when I say everything, I mean just the campus because I didn't know a thing about the school itself.  Athens. Is. Gorgeous.  Lucky for impulsive-decision-maker me, the school itself turned out to be pretty awesome too.

OU essentially had me at hello.  When the time came for me to decide where I was going after high school graduation, there wasn't even a choice for me.  I didn't go on a single college visit- I knew where I belonged.  So 11 years after my first visit, and many fond memories later, I have graduated from Ohio University.

I honestly can't think of anything that would have made my time at OU any better.  Heaps and heaps of blessings were laid on me these past four years.  From my friends at Nelsonville-York High School to my awesome roommates from C3 and C1, I got to hang out with the best people in the world.  I'm not going to lie; I cried the whole drive home from Athens.  I will never find another community like the one I had in Athens County Younglife because there is no community like it in the world.  It is amazing to look back and see how much I have grown in my relationship with Christ over the past four years with the help of these people. It is incredibly hard to say goodbye to them all, but I am excited to see where God will take me next.  And thank God I live in a time where we have Skype, Facebook, Twitter, email, cellphones, and airplanes because it makes the distance seem considerably smaller.

And besides, it's only goodbye for now...

To all my Ohio friends who have loved me through these past four (or more!) years: THANK YOU!

I'll be seeing you :)

Doodles on doodles on doodles on Toms

I've been doodling like crazy, so I decided to doodle on a pair of shoes!  I seem to only get these projects done when there is another, less fun project I have hanging over my head.  Right now that "other, less fun" project is packing and getting ready to move to Des Moines, Iowa, where I will be in nine days.  Nine days.  Oh gosh.

I will be working at Gannett's Des Moines Design Studio, creating graphics and layouts for several papers in Wisconsin.  I'm pretty stinkin' excited to see what I will learn and contribute there.  Take a look at some of the excellent work coming from the Design Studio: http://newspagedesigner.org/profile/DesMoinesDesignStudio.

Here's a sneak peak at how the shoes are turning out:

Doodles on doodles on doodles on Toms

Stay tuned for the final result!

Day 4 - Made in the Image

I originally created this blog for an art class Winter quarter of my senior year, so it wasn't anything special design or content-wise.  It turned out that I actually liked sharing my work and thoughts through my blog, so I have been working to create something that really represents me and the goals in my work.

So, drumroll please....

I introduce to you the new name and face of my blog.

Why "Made in the Image"?

Well I'm glad you asked.  My faith is the center of my life, and is, therefore, very important to me.  I believe I was created in the image of God (Genesis 1:27).  So why do I have this built-in urge and desire to create?  Because I was created in the image of the greatest and first creator.  My creativity is a tiny bit of God inside me.  I am creative because He is creative.  Yeah, I know.  Pretty amazing.

Anyway, I hope that I can grow closer to God through using the gifts he has given me.  This blog serves as almost a form of accountability to make sure I am exercising my creativity in my everyday life, not just for work and school.  I hope you enjoy the results.

Ampersand Redesign

Earlier this year I had the opportunity to redesign the Honors Tutorial College's alumni magazine, Ampersand.  I created a user-friendly template to give to the editorial staff of the publication to enable them to easily layout the content of the magazine.  After looking at the magazine, I took a page out of Thoreau's book and decided to "simplify, simplify, simplify."  I implemented a grid to easily place content while leaving room for white space, limited the number of typefaces, and added splashes of color.

The HTC team that put together the latest issue did a great job.  It looks awesome!

To see more of Ampersand online, visit:

OLD:
http://issuu.com/htcampersand/docs/ampersandspring

NEW:
http://issuu.com/htcampersand/docs/special_connections_full_book