On the Side
Outside of the 9 to 5
Sun and Shadow
Still my favorite project from my college days. We were assigned to create a poster of a line in a song. The phrase “if you walk in the sun, I will be your shadow” comes from a verse in the song “Venus” by the band Air.
This was such a fun project and went through many phases before I landed here. I’ve played with see through letters, other forms of shadows and trial and error. What tied the whole project together was the song phrase. The emotional feeling of affection and warmth was one I tried to convey. The final product was a 20 x 24 printed poster displayed at the UW School of Art + Art History + Design in 2011
Family tree
I have a large family, a very large family and for my great grandmother's 98th birthday we wanted to plot out the family tree. Well with so many names, a traditional family tree layout would make every name illegible and with 2 new names added since the start of the project I needed a different format.
What else has large families and organize groups? I took a hint from biology class, specifically the phylogenetic tree of life. The circular map was able to encompass large amount individual information, still hold hierarchy and make every name legible. The final product was a 20 x 24 printed poster distributed amongst the family.
Watercolor
I have recently discovered watercolor as a medium I extremely adore. I find it more freeing than any other painting mediums. It is just as portable as a sketch book. I am able to pull out my little kit and make a little doodle or take time to create a large intriguing piece.
At this point, I have been studying character design, whether real or fiction. I can ponder on what the man in a puffy coat is thinking as he buys his coffee or I create a storm cleric for Dungeons and Dragons who is sweet, yet a strong axe wielder.
D&D battle and spell sheet
Dungeons and Dragons was and is a great passion of mine. I’ve played weekly before college and with the recent release of 5th edition, I was really eager to jump back in. The rules have changed but in subtle ways to “balance” the game. Subtle ways that greatly affected game play. Game play would come to a halt as less experienced players would fumble through the 200+ page rule book.
This halt to the game was pretty noticeable when it came to combat and spells. Players didn’t know off the top of their head what options they had as a unique character. So they would write them down but there was no room on the original D&D sheet to write down the effect. In fact, the original D&D sheet fits every single bit of information about your character on one paper.
After this realization I created a dedicated battle and spells sheet to clearly convey the character's options during combat. The player can pick an action, roll the appropriate dice, see the effect on pass or fail, and see what the requirements are to recover that action back. We were soon back to battle that bug bear.
Let's get creative
If you are interested in hearing more about side projects, contact me and let's chat.