Student projects from my time at the Savannah College of Art and Design, 2010-2014
An assignment for one of my final classes as a student at SCAD, I combined my years training as both an Illustrator and Graphic Designer for this book jacket design. The Blue Sword by Robin Mckinley is my absolute favorite book of all time - I re-read it about once a year - and I often return to it as subject matter for sketching and other artistic explorations.
I distinctly remember struggling to work out how to render the smoking cloud in the background. As I looked up from my computer and out my bedroom window, lo and behold, a dark cloud of smoke rose above the Savannah tree-line. It just so happened that the tire-factory about a mile away had caught on fire. The smoke from the fire was the perfect reference and I’m still pretty pleased with the results on the book jacket.
In my senior year, I took Advertising Illustration as one of my required courses. We had the opportunity to work with students from the Advertising major on a mock-campaign for United airlines. My parter and I decided on a “magical” message, complete with a business-man riding a sparkling, flying elephant. For this assignment, I tried a new method for developing a color palette, which I still think was successful.
Arguably my favorite class at SCAD was: Edible Illustration. For this assignment, we were required to create an illustration to submit to They Draw & Cook. I used my mother’s mac & cheese soufflé recipe - but I wanted to include some mascot to frame the food itself. I decided to use an elephant because the shape of the macaroni is like an elephant’s trunk and tusks. To help the yellow food really pop, I made the elephant purple, and included a little toque for whimsy.
I made this watercolor illustration while studying abroad in Lacoste, France. As part of our studies, we spent 5 days in Paris and the illustration students were asked to create a “map” of Paris to submit to TheyDrawAndTravel.com - the map could be literal or abstract. My map represents how overwhelmed I felt, visiting one significant site after the other, and how I found respite in the small, world-renowned bookstore: Shakespeare and Company.
The original is ink and watercolor, then scanned into the computer to push the colors further. The Savannah College of Art and Design bought the original, and it hangs somewhere on the SCAD-Lacoste campus.
The semester after I returned from my time abroad, I took “Illustrating the Edible.” Our first assignment was to create spot illustrations of food around a theme. Having just returned from Southern France, I wanted to highlight foods that use lavender as a main flavor.
Not to be confused with macaroons (the coconut-flavored treat). Macarons are a French specialty, made up of two meringue-based cookies with filling sandwiched between them. My rendering of macarons look more like hamburgers though.
You use dried-lavender and mix it with honey, let those sit for a while, strain and press the juices out, combine it with lemonade, and voila! Lavender lemonade!
Lavender is combined with another fruit, like blueberry or peach, to create a delicious jam, perfect for spreading on toast.