What's Up with Grapefruit?

Project two for design foundations was 'branding'. The objective of this assignment is to promote an object "unique qualities, its assets and its potential uses." To me the assignment was asking me to create an advertisement with a logo. But my professors advised me to think about my intended audience and try make the graphic representation iconic. Hence, I wanted to show the health benefits of grapefruits and my audience is people in general. Of course I wanted to add humor to my representation. Therefore, I sketched three people at a bus stop; two people that eat grapefruits become grapefruit people(their heads turn into grapefruits) and there is random guy freak out by this.

I played around with photoshop to practice my beginner's level skill. One of my professor suggested to make the background black and white and leave the grapefruit dude in color so he can pop. I received a lot of good feedback and suggestions during my critique; so once I find a computer with photoshop I will changed and add a few details to the end result. Basically, if you eat a grapefruit, you will become a cool grapefruit dude; there will be a few haters, like the young woman on the left, but they're secretly jealous.

Grapefruit + Ants = Crazy Imagination

For my first design project, I made a 4x6" postcard which expressed my reflection/analysis of my object of choice, which was a grapefruit. At first I did not understand what my professors wanted; they just wrote "let the post card 'breathe' the essence/style of the selection." What exactly does that mean? Should I fill the entire page with grapefruits to the point that I'm sick and tired of seeing grapefruits? Is the essence of a grapefruit its sweetness? I do not know; therefore, I started sketching and brainstorming ideas.

I was going to pick lemons for the postcard project. Since, citrus fruits evoke vibrant colors, fun, and summer; and I wanted to incorporate that into a postcard. But how? My first idea was a small town obsessed with lemons. Every store or inhabitant was associated with lemons such as a Starbucks that only served lemon flavored coffee or a farmer who only grows lemons. However, I thought this idea was a bit of an overkill and overpowering for a 4x6 card. So, back to the drawing board.

During class, I draw or doodle on my notes to stay awake. I'm sorry but astronomy and art history of European decorative arts is sooooo boring. It is truly a struggle to stay awake. I draw whatever comes to my mind and the little characters always look cartoonish (probably because I still watch cartoons). In astronomy, I came up with this idea of ants enjoying summer by chilling on a lounge chair, playing volleyball or swimming just like humans. Of course, an actually swimming pool will seem like the vast oceans of the world to ants; but a fruit is a great alternative; especially for greedy sugar ants. Also, I changed my fruit from a lemon to a grapefruit because grapefruits have two hues that give me a lot of options when designing. So, I started sketching again.

My choice of medium for the end product was watercolor on cardstock. I had some left over cardstock so I might as well use it. I used watercolors because I wanted to experiment with a medium I never used before. Thank God the postcard turn out decent because it would be embarrassing if my professors tore me apart for crappy craftsmanship.

Summer Days

Sketch Blog Inspiration

Suzanne Cabrera's Plant Man

Recently, I visited several sketchblogs in order to compare how people approached blogging their thoughts with graphics. Needless to say, all the sketchblogs inspired and motivated me to start my own sketch journal that will document and reflect my experiences with design, art, and life in general. Suzanne Cabrera's blog, http://www.anopensketchbook.com/, is my favorite because she blogs about the most random things but her sketches makes them so captivating, humorous, and her personal style is charming too. For instance, Suzanne posted a sketch about a imaginary man who grows out of the ground instead of a daffodil. The sketch is cute and quirky; it allows me to relate to her on a comedic level because I like to incorporate humor into my work whenever I can. Besides, who doesn't like to laugh.