Not Everyone Is a Jerk

It's times like these that I have to remind myself that not everyone is a jerk. Today it just feels like everyone I care about is getting screwed over in some way or another by other people in my life. It makes me so angry. All I want to do is make things right, and help the people I care about be happy again. But certain jerks keep making that pretty difficult. If people stopped being so selfish and started caring more for other people, the world would be a better place. 

I know it might sound kinda dumb to say WWJD (aka What Would Jesus Do), but I actually think that to myself sometimes. Jesus would never be an inconsiderate jerk, so neither should we.

All I gotta say is these jerks better stop hurting the people I care about or I might flip out on them.

So here's a goal I'm gonna put out to anyone who might be reading this: Instead of focusing so much on what you want and how you feel, stop for two seconds and try to put you in another person's shoes and focus on how they are feeling as well. It just might change the way you act, in a good way. I think everyone could be a little bit happier that way.

Scriptures are More Interesting When They are Artsy

This is sweet.

It is the Pocket Canons series, with book jackets designed by Angus Hyland. Basically it is each book of the bible separated into its own book. 

I would like to get it someday :)

Something To Look Forward To

I can already tell that 2012 will be a good year. For movies at least lol. There are some awesome movies coming out next year and I can't wait.

The Avengers

May 4, 2012

What's better than Iron Man, The Hulk, Captain America, and Thor all rolled into one? Nothing. 

The Hunger Games

March 23, 2012

If you've read the book, then you know it should be an awesome movie.

The Dark Knight Rises

July 20, 2012

Dun nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh BATMAN!!!

Snow White and The Huntsman

June 1, 2012

Hopefully Kristin Stewart doesn't ruin it.

And The Great Gatsby, which doesn't have a trailer yet but is being released in December of 2012 and stars Leonardo DiCaprio. There are other movies coming out that have the potential to be good, like Taken 2, Step Up 4, and The Bourne Legacy, but they could go either way.

Anyways, I'm supposed to be studying for finals so enjoy :)

Getting Out of the Bubble

Traveling is something I have always dreamed about. I watch the Amazing Race and I always think, "Man, I wish I could go somewhere awesome like that someday." Well I finally decided to do something about it. There is a month and a half long Art and Design study abroad in Europe through BYU this summer and I have decided to apply. The majority of it is in London:

But there are also stops in Basel, Switzerland:

Mainz, Germany

Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Edinburgh, Scotland

And Paris, France

Doesn't that seem amazing? The program includes visits to tons of museums and I would get to see all the art I have been learning about in my art history classes IN PERSON instead of in a textbook. 

This seems like the most amazing opportunity ever and I really hope I get in. I have started the application and now all I have to do is write a letter of intent.....guess we'll see how that goes lol. 

The only thing is this costs tons and tons of money. I have put so much effort into being careful with my money and not wasting it. I don't have any student loans and the only debt I have is my car loan which I always make payments on way in advance. I think if I don't try and do this I will regret it. The money will be worth it....if I can come up with $5,600, plus a passport, airfare and cost of food and personal expenses while abroad....

Luckily, my half tuition benefit will be applied to part of it, plus any financial aid I may be lucky enough to get. I have some money saved...and hopefully I can earn enough by the deadline. If anyone wants to donate to the cause I won't turn them down lol. 

I think that at this point in my life, this is the perfect time for me to do something like this. I don't have any responsibilities holding me back right now and I think this kind of experience is just what I need to get out of the rut I've been in for so long. I'm really nervous but also excited at the same time, if I get to go. 

Wish me luck :)

When Chocolate Calls Your Name

Have you ever had a craving for something that you can't stop thinking about until you get it? I have been thinking about chocolate ALL DAY. I found one of those frozen Marie Callender's chocolate creme pies in our freezer and was so excited. 

Then I saw these directions:

Who wants to wait overnight for what they've been craving all day?? Or even 4-5 hours?? That's torture. So I decided to speed the process along a little bit and came up with this:

Pathetic, I know. I happened to look at the directions again and saw this:

About 40 minutes to go! The individual slice is just sitting here in front of me, mocking me. Once the time is up I'll devour it and get my revenge. I guess it's true when they say revenge is sweet. Haha lame joke.

Anyways, check out my awesome nails:

They are called Jamberry Nails. It is a Utah company that basically makes skins (like for your ipod or laptop) for your nails. They are like vinyl stickers for your nails. They are pretty sweet. It lasts way longer than nail polish, doesn't chip, and comes in cool designs. I got a few different ones but this one is my favorite.

Anyways, you should check them out cause they are awesome, and they have a buy 3 get 1 free special going on right now. 

Enjoy :)

Do the Dew: Retro Style

For my final Illustration project, we got to choose from making a travel poster, a menu for a restaurant (or something with a restaurant, I didn't really pay attention to that part), or redesign a label for a product. I decided to redesign the Mountain Dew label since I probably help fund their company with how much I spend on it. So here is my final design. 

I started out wanting the label to have a graffiti feel, but then I was inspired by Mountain Dew's new Throwback Mountain Dew commercial which helped me get to the final project. 

Here is that commercial:

I hand drew all the line work and the words, and then I added all the color digitally on photoshop and also photoshopped in the nutrition information. 

Anyway, I had a lot of fun working on this assignment and think it's my best work yet for this class. 

Enjoy :)

The Most Idiotic Assignment in the History of the World

When I signed up for my History of Graphic Design class, I thought all the homework would be history and graphic design related. I was wrong. Apparently, to my teacher, monkey vests fall under the category of history of graphic design. He came up with the bright idea to force us to make a freakin vest for a monkey like in this picture. 

 Yeah. Retarded.

So here is what I spent literally ALL DAY today making. 

Yes, I made it all by myself. Yes, I sewed it completely by hand. And yes, it is supremely awesome given what it is. I've never sewn anything before so I think I did pretty decent for my first try.

I designed a freaking sweet cubist version of the superman logo a while ago for an idea I had for a drawing but I never ended up using it. I was going to sew it on the back of this but after spending all day on it, I didn't want to waste anymore time on the lamest assignment ever given. 

After he gives it back, (IF he gives it back. He might keep it for a creepy doll collection he possibly has in his basement and tricked us all into making clothes for it.) I am going to give it to my little sister to put on her stuffed monkey. So if he does give it back, I might sew on the logo cause it is quite awesome.

Anyways, enjoy. But don't go thinking I am going to start making clothes for pets or anything and ask me to make a sweater for your dog. This was a one time thing, and once was more than enough.

The Beginning of Quote of the Day

I'm currently at word 2,214 of a 3,600 word paper about graphic design and I'm going insane. Who has that much to say about one topic? Not me. I'm BSing the crap out of this thing now. But while I've been researching for the paper I found this website that has tons of awesome quotes by or about graphic designers. So I am going to start sharing them as a quote of the day, possibly with an awesome picture, as I see fit. This quote fits perfectly for today.

"Life beats down and crushes the soul, and art reminds you that you have one."

                     -Stella Adler

Enjoy

The View Makes It Worth It

This view makes driving up huge hills and walking up my almost vertical driveway worth it. 

(I edited out a church steeple that was sticking up in the middle of this first picture because it was ruining it. Yay for the content aware button!)

November 22, 2011

 

October 1, 2011

July 6, 2011

May 29, 2011

April 25, 2011

Enjoy :)

Every Newsie Shufflin

This post is gonna be short. I saw this video on facebook today and thought it was hilarious. Enjoy :)

Everyone Is Getting Married

 

Oh Barney Stinson, you read my mind! 

Here in Happy Valley this is how it feels ALL THE TIME. I'm only 20 and already most of my friends from high school are married, some even have kids. It's like every other day someone is posting on Facebook how they are engaged. Ridiculous. It's an epidemic.

I personally believe people should do whatever they feel is right for them when it comes to marriage and kids, no matter how other people feel about the situation. They are the ones who are going to have to live with the consequences, be them good or bad.

Because of this belief of mine, I am SERIOUSLY sick of people constantly asking me if I'm dating anyone and telling me I need to get married soon. It's like the second people hear that I'm single they ask me a million questions trying to dissect every little thing to figure out WHY I'm single. They try to fix me. They give me all these suggestions about how I need to change so my knight in shining armor will come galloping in on his horse and save me from my "wretched single life". 

Let me remind you: I am only 20 years old. I think the amount of pressure around here to get married the second you get out of high school is ridiculous. I think a lot of people rush into marriage too young just because they feel like that's what is expected and they should get started making a family as soon as possible. 

I don't think a lot of people give themselves enough time to figure themselves out before they tie themselves to another person. It takes a lot of time to get to know yourself, and I believe it is worth taking that time before making the biggest decision of your life. 

Because my parents are divorced, I am in no rush to marry the first guy who comes along. I may be too cautious when it comes to this, but I have seen how divorce affects people, even without kids, and it is my life goal to never get divorced. To achieve this, I am just going to make sure that I am 100% positive that the guy I marry is "the one" or whatever. 

I'm going to make sure that I don't hope he will change somewhere down the road.

I'm going to make sure that he brings out the best in me and I do the same to him.

I'm going to make sure that I can picture a life with him, without ANY doubts.

I'm going to make sure of a lot of things. 

Making sure of all these things will take time. I'm sure when I meet whoever I'm supposed to marry, I'll know. So I would really appreciate people stopping putting their two cents in about my life and how I'm behind on popping out babies. It's not like I'm 50 and I've never been married. 

I've got time. I'm doing my own thing. I'll get married when God wants me to. So if you really want to know why I'm not married, how about you ask God and leave me alone lol.

Three Little Piggies

So my latest Illustration project was to make a book cover. We had a list to choose from and Animal Farm was on the list. Since I'm currently reading Animal Farm I thought I might as well do it. So here is what I came up with.

 

It looks a lot better in person. This is a photograph of it so the colors and texture are completely off. But oh well, you get the point. I painted this with acrylic paint on an illustration board and it is 15x18 or something like that. 

I couldn't come up with a good layout for the text so I just left it off. It isn't exactly the idea I had in my head but it works. 

Anyways, I'm about to take a test so enjoy!

William Blake Says it Best

I'm not gonna lie, the first time I ever saw P.S. I Love You, I bawled my eyes out. Don't worry, it doesn't have that effect on me anymore, and don't even get me started on Hilary Swank. That's a whole other blog post waiting to happen. But one quote in that movie has stuck in my mind even after all these years.

(This picture is from the scene where she said this quote)

"I must create a system or be enslaved by another mans; I will not reason and compare: my business is to create." 

                                   -William Blake

I don't know when or why I developed this problem with authority, but it exists. And I have found that it's mostly with men......there's probably a psychological explanation for that but I don't really care to analyze it too much. 

I like to do my own thing. I don't ask for much, I'm responsible, so I don't like when other people tell me how to live my life or what to do with my time. This might be why I feel so connected to the art world. Artists get to be themselves and express that through their work. Because art is so subjective, there is always someone who will accept what you do. It's not like math where you have to do it a certain way or you're wrong. There is no right or wrong in art. Art give me a complete sense of freedom. 

I know I am going to have to work for clients in the future, even if I just decide to go the freelance route, but I will still get to do what I love and stay true to my own style.

Anyways, I just really love that quote and thought I'd share it.

Enjoy :)

Homage to Vintage Art

Let's face it, without past artists and all their work we would have pretty much no media today. Imagine a world with no images. Can't do it can ya? Probably because media is an overwhelming part of life nowadays. 

Recently my Illustration teacher, Greg Newbold, showed me some vintage art and I think it's awesome. So here is my homage to retro American art. 

This is the work of Coles Phillips. The way he uses negative space and blocks of color to give the illusion of objects is amazing. As you can see from the images I'm putting up, he did a lot of work for magazines.

I love this black and white one; I think it is genius.

I love the colors on this one.

I thought this one was clever. I like the composition and I want those dishes lol.

I love love love this one. Everything about it. If I had a greenhouse or something I would hang it up in it.

And then we have Coby (Coburn) Whitmore. 

This piece is similar to Coles Phillips' work when it comes to color style

But then he has done stuff like this as well, which I love. I just love his style.

And then we have Richard Hamilton. Ever since I saw this piece of his in my art history class forever ago I loved it. 

It's kinda weird but I like the collage feel of it and how random it is. 

And of course, you can't forget Andy Warhol.

I love bright colors, and what is Andy Warhol but bright colors?

Respect the past, cause without it we wouldn't have a future. 

Anyways, enjoy!

Uphill Both Ways

You know how old people say, "When I was your age, I had to walk to school in the snow, uphill both ways!"

And you know how you would always laugh and say, "Oh silly Grandpa, that's not possible. Go take your meds." 

 Well guess what. It IS possible, and I can prove it. "How?" You may ask. Well it's because I do have to walk to school uphill both ways. I took pictures on my walk from school back to where I have to park out in the boonies to prove it to ya. 

Here is where the walk began.

Today was a chilly, yet gorgeous day. 

This gorgeous view makes waiting at the crosswalk in the freezing cold totally worth it.

After walking across that street, you look to the right and see this:

 

But instead of getting to walk on the beautiful, flat path I get to hike up Hill #1:

Which is essentially, three flights of stairs. I hate these stairs mainly because they are too short to take them one at a time, yet too wide to take two at a time. So the options are to take lots of little baby steps or fewer really long steps which are basically uphill lunges. Either way, you get a good workout.

Once you get to the top, you get to walk down Hill #2.

 

I took this once I got to the bottom. But this is how it looks when you are about to go up it on the way to campus. It's not super steep or anything but a hill is a hill. 

Here are some pictures I took walking down the hill.

That is on the left when I walk down.

Ain't it perdy?

On the way to school, I go up this hill and down the stairs. When I go back, it's the other way around (obviously).

So I made my point about the uphill thing, but I took a bunch more pictures on the rest of my way home because today was gorgeous.

This is the view from where I park every day.

Even though I've lived in Utah my whole life I'm still amazed at how gorgeous the mountains are.

I live basically on a mountain. So to get up the mountain, you have to go uphill. Yep, more hills. I took this while driving when I was about halfway up.

Where that huge cloud is is basically my backyard. 

Here's another shot of it. I think it looks awesome:

This is as far up as I go, right before I turn:

And here is the last stretch of road before I get home:

Here is the view from my front porch:

You can't really tell but it was snowing when I took this. 

And here is a pic of my backyard,  when it was also snowing. You can see it better in this pic.

I am lucky to live somewhere so gorgeous. 

This is my favorite time of year so I hope you enjoy these pictures as much as I do :)