It's so hard to keep up with all of these sites that are now available for marketing yourself and your business. I love it! I have an account with
myspace,
etsy,
indie public,
lov.li and most recently
Flickr. I went ahead and got a pro account so I would be able to upload photos into more than 3 sets. So far I have 11 sets. It's so great being able to see all of my photos in one place. Last night I decided to add my
design portfolio in with all of my handmade julz photos. This set represents my work as a designer in dallas, tx. from 2000~07.
This was the first poster that I created, while at my first job as a designer. I had no idea how to even begin thinking about how to design a poster and I'm really not even sure I had an illustration style at the time. I just know that I've always been drawn to lots of color and texture. To illustrate my idea I took black and white construction paper and literally cut circles that were about 1.5" out of the black paper and then cut out the shapes of all of the different food from the white paper. I then taped the 'food' onto the 'plate' and proceeded to the copy machine with my 16 circles. Next I shrunk and enlarged the circles to get the rough look that you see. The final step was coloring everything on the computer. After all of that, and the client didn't pick this concept, but it's still one of my favorites.
I created this logo for the Dallas Museum of Art's annual fundraiser while at my second job in Dallas. I was pleased with this logo that the client chose as I feel it sophisticated, yet playful and a party that anyone would have liked to attend. To illustrate this I drew everything on the computer in Illustrator.
My last job in Dallas was an art director for women's apparel graphics. I remember being so excited at the thought of my artwork being translated into artwork for apparel. This was the very first shirt that I designed, of course using every technique that I knew at the time, embroidery, applique, and screenprint.
My first experiences with formal art lessons began with watercolors. When I was in 5th grade, I took weekly private lessons from an artist in her home. One memory that I have was painting a large panda based on a national geographic photo. I recall making a grid on the photo in the magazine and then making a grid of 1" squares on my watercolor paper. Next, I painted that panda square by square. I'm sure that it took weeks to finish, but i don't remember that part. So last month I decided it would be fun to give the watercolors another try. I've been thinking about them for quite awhile, but you know how that goes. I illustrated these 2 owls, drew them out in ink and then tried out my paints.
I think the hardest thing for me was adding water. And now that I'm thinking about it, I do recall having that same problem in my lessons. I would often daintily dip my brush into the water and be told not to be 'scared' of it. I've got a lot more experimenting to do, but here's my first painting after the rediscovery. It's for sale in my etsy shop, It can be yours if you'd like it.
