Battastic

A Banner Year

Worked some more on Batman and the suprise holiday attack last night while watching Red State (Geeze!  Disturbing movie...good, for sure, but...damn.  I mean, seriously.) Anyway, here that is: 

(The snow is coming back...that layer is just turned off.) 

This has been a big year for me, both personally and professionally, in a lot of ways.  

I started to post a detailed recounting, but it was too long.  Who wants to read that?  Instead, a summary, perhaps: 

In January, I began my final quarter at The Art Institute of Pittsburgh. 

The next three months were spent frantically working to complete my schoolwork, portfolio, business cards, etc., and doing full-page illustrations for a children's book of terror and tragedy that I made.  

In March, I graduated.  My portfolio got glowing comments from my teachers and I got 'best in show' at Portfolio review.  Then...I was done.  After four years of art school, I was on my own.  

Over the next two months, I tried to find a job, did a little freelance and generally felt depressed about my lack of ability to find a job.  I doubted my skills and my talent, and became convinced no one would hire me ever.  

But then, at the end of May, I interviewed at two places -- the Post-Gazette (where I was surprisingly relaxed, engaging and all-around awesome in my interview) and Inventionland -- a place I had never heard of inside a business park (where I received my first ever in-interview high-five). 

At the beginning of June, I accepted the job at Inventionland, despite the fact that I would need to be there at 6am every day, and turned down the job at the Post-Gazette.  

On June 06, 2011, I became an official graphic designer.  Technically, a packaging concept designer.  One of the coolest jobs I could want at a place that looks like a fantasy land, issued me a company-financed nerf gun (necessary) and has parties at the end of each month (...which, to date, I have been too socially awkward to attend.) 

In August, my boyfriend of almost 10 years broke up with me.  Honestly, it had been coming for a while and we are still friends...but it brought about a big life change.  Specifically, having to get my own place. 

At the end of September, I moved into my own apartment.  

I am still only partially moved in...I have boxes of books that still need shelves and my kitchen drawers are too small to fit a silverware caddy. the floors aren't flat and everything is messy.  But I aim to improve it all.

Somewhere in the middle of all this, I got pulled into a giant high profile job at work, doing illustration for a product that will actually be in stores (most of my work is for prototype packaging -- a package to send a company to show what the product would look like, in the box). 

In mid-October, my dad passed away.  I skipped out on work and an illustrative art show a friend of mine was throwing and flew back to California.  

In November, I learned that networking can sneak up on you when you least expect it.  

Now, it is almost New Year's.  I can't wait to see what next year has in store for me.  I hope it is good things.  

some new sketch-a-doodles

Now that I finally finished that darn jungle priestess picture that took me a year or so to do, I've been busting out my sketchbook and doing some doodles.  I've been itching to do some fan art, so I have.  Some Batman: 

 Was playing with a two person pose without any reference^

Some more batman:

And a little Sherlock, as I recently rewatched the first three episodes in excited preparation for the show's long awaited return next week: 

Again, clearly, w/o reference^  I got a lot wrong, as I was just guessing on features and styles from memory.  And I think I made Benedict Cumberbatch's bangs swoop the wrong way. 

Anyway, one of the three, I kind of wanted to develop more, and though I'm past the holiday on my start, here's a bit of that: 

aaannnnddd...finished!

After way too long, mostly working on this over lunch breaks in which I DIDN'T have to work on other projects, silly Aztec priestess picture is done: 

Freelance for Geneva College

After meeting a drunk friend of a friend at a nearly empty Halloween party, and learning she is a designer too, and exchanging website information, I was contacted a couple weeks later by her boss, looking for someone to do some freelance.  

She wanted to give her team custom gifts, in the form of personalized wine glasses, each with their name, a quote from scripture and an image that suited both them and the verse.  I was somewhat trepidatious, as glass painting was a new technique for me, and did have to practice a bit and had some ups and downs with the materials, but I did get her glasses done, and she was very happy with them: