Vince Michael poster

I think the Vince Michael poster is done.

Friday I registered on LinkedIn.

I've been swamped
Today's schedule:
8-10 a.m. - Video editing project
10-? - Talk to Matt about printing poster. Possibly print it.
11-11:30 - Lunch
11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. - Finish interactive InDesign project
1-2 Illustrator perspective project
2-4 Illustrator class
4-6 InDesign class
6-6:30 Eat something
6:30-8:30 Work on cover letter and resume for Meeting with Job Squad tomorrow

Portfolio presentation II

I announced the results from my portfolio survey too soon. It turns out I'd only looked at about half of them. I found some more at the bottom of the stack, under some blanks.
The final results are, from most popular to least:
1. Seurat
2. Oz
3. Grackle
4. Grad Card
5. Calendar Snake
6 (Tie) Photoshop House, Rudolph
8. Los Muertos
9. (Tie) Ethics Chess, FiloSofia
11. Protesters
12. Chupacabra

I take three things from this:

1. I ought to drop Protesters and Chupacabra from the portfolio. They finished in the bottom two by a sizable margin.

2. For PowerPoint presentations, simple and clean trumps complex. The top four are all relatively simple compared to 5 through 9. (I would put Rudolph in the simple category, though). Photoshop House was 20 times more difficult than Seurat. But I think pieces like PS House and FiloSofia have details that are hard to see on a projector screen. Also the survey group only had about 15 seconds to look at and comment on each slide. Again, I think that favors the simpler, cleaner works.

3. It helps if you can show steps involved in the process. If I'd shown Seurat on it's own, it wouldn't have worked as well. But by showing the original painting and the original photo of the girl I inserted in the painting, it guided the viewers through the process. That can't be done with every work, but it's something to keep in mind.

Ethics Chess drew the most diverse comments. Some picked it as their favorite. Some picked it as their least favorite.

Last week, I finished a Butterfield Stage map and a how-to on how to hit a golf ball from a sand trap. I think they are both portfolio-worthy, especially given Matt's comments about demand for informational graphics.

Portfolio Presentation

I gave my portfolio PowerPoint presentaion today. It went well. No embarrassing snafus. When I tallied the scores from the surveys, there were a few surprised but nothing that offended me. I was shocked that "Oz" finished No. 1 in the polls. It was a late addition and I considered it a candidate to finish last. And my favorite, "Photoshop House" finished 8th. Shows how much I know. I realize it's not a scientific poll. Still, it's interesting.
Here are the survey results:
1. Oz
2. (Tie) Rudolph, Seurat
4. Grackle
5. Grad Card
6. (Tie) Calendar Snake, Chess/Ethics
8. (Tie) Photoshop House, Muertos
10. Protest
11. FiloSofia
12. Chupacabra

 Oz

Rudolph

Seurat

Job Squad/Résumé

Rosa De La Torre Burmeister, of the Job Squad, talked to the Portfolio class today. I worked with her brother, Joe, a long time ago at the newspaper. It's the third time I've heard her presentation. The first was in August in Technical Writing class. The second was a much shorter version a few weeks ago in Media Productions class. Each time I pick up something different. Today she reminded me I need to get references. I've been thinking about it all day. Here are a few names I've come up with: Supervisors, Jim Lawitz, Lucas Peerman, Craig Massey; co-workers, Walt Rubel, Deborah Massingale, Diana Alba, Brook Stockberger, Norm Dettlaff, Josh Byers, Chris Boland; Instructor, Abby Osborne.

In the next couple weeks, I ought to get in to see the Job Squad. I've been waiting until my résumé was more polished. But I think I'll just go with what I got, and they can help me polish it.

Accent marks (résumé) and tildes (Doña Ana) are so much easier on a Mac than a PC.

Something to ask Rosa next time I see her: Should I put "Mr." before my name? I read somewhere that if your name is ambiguous, to do that. Often, because of the spelling of my name, I get a lot of mail addressed to Ms. Jerri Wells. On the  other hand, sex isn't supposed to be a factor in hiring for most jobs. If I don't put "Mr." it could lead to confusion, but if I do use the title, it looks like I think it could help land me a job.

The best thing I got out of that Technical Writing class was how to write a résumé. Casey Gray, who taught the class, said he would be available for résumé consultation if needed. I probably won't need his help, but it's good to have backup, and it was a wonderful gesture on his part.

Project update

I can't sleep, so I might as well blog. I don't blog enough.

It seems like all my projects are coming due at once. In Illustrator, my graphic on Aggie football winning percentages is due today. It's pretty much done. In InDesign, the commencement card is due today. The card is 90 percent done. I've just got to do the little personal card that goes inside. Plus there was an InDesign test Monday.

In Media Production, I'm tying to wrap up two projects. I'm doing a poster for DACC thanking the sponsors of the golf tournament and dance. I intended to get it done yesterday, but I spent all day on it, and it's still not right. It feels like the separate elements don't go together. I'm trying to give them what they want and do something I can be proud of. Right now, I feel like it's neither.

At the same time, I'm trying to wrap up a T-shirt design for the children's theatre. It's basically three characters from the Oz play they're doing. I'm happy with Tik-Tok and Dorothy. Princess Ozma is being a pain in the butt. Her style doesn't fit the other two. It's like putting Prince Valiant in a Peanuts cartoon. What's difficult about the Oz project is I'm not clear on the story line, who the characters are and what they look like. I've found stuff online, but it doesn't always match this particular production. Their rehearsals are at a time I've got a class. So I just send them pictures and say "like this?" They e-mail me back and say, "Not really. More this, less that."

I was thinking of going to a PowerPoint workshop at the main campus today, but after yesterday's non-progress on the poster, I'll probably be working on it instead.

I'll have to work on the career goals paper on Thursday.

It's a good thing I pulled out of the motion graphics conference. I've got a video editing project I need to work on this weekend.

Logo

My two basic logo designs. Soon I'll have to settle on one.

The oil well, I blogged about in an earlier post. It ties into my name, Wells. It symbolizes tapping into creativity – creative ideas gushing out.

The other one, I was thinking desert Southwest (where I've lived my whole life), which got me to thinking Native Americans. I like the art of Native American pottery and rugs – in fact, I own several. That led my thoughts to petroglyphs and pictographs. It's a real treat to see them and usually requires some work. I do a lot of hiking, and I've seen (and photographed) many. They are interesting on three levels:

(1) Design. Shapes, colors, natural materials and natural setting.
I enjoy nature. I don't like my designs to look to sterile, like they were created by a machine. Computers allow us to do amazing things with design, but sometimes I think they make it too easy to make dazzling effects, but they have no soul.
 (2) Communication. What were they trying to say?
Isn't that what graphic design is all about?
 (3) Historical. They've been around for hundreds or even thousands of years. But what they were doing is basically what I'm doing.

The hand is often seen in this rock art. Staring at my hand, I realized, it's shape is a "J" and "W" – my intials. So I looked up some information on what the hand symbolized in Native Amercan art. To quote, "The Hand, represents the presence of man, his work, his acheivements, his legacy.  It also represents the direction of the creative spirit through a man, as a vessel for the Creators power."


Perfect.


My hand logo still needs work. I like the spatter outline. The JW doesn't quite work.


Whatever I choose, I need to find a way to make it work with my online portfolio.

Photo shoot & motion graphics

I got word that Ceci Vasconcellos of the Doña Ana Arts Council was looking for photographers to shoot the "Color Las Cruces" events this weekend. I volunteered. I thought the experience would do me good. I spent 5 hours Saturday shooting the Mesquite Gallery Walk on Mesquite Street and the creation of a coffee-mug sculpture on the Downtown Mall.

Besides Ceci, I met many artists including Norma Hartell (above), Penny Duncklee, Linda Hagen, Mildred Grossman, Mel Stone (photography), James Gamble (ceramics), Antoinette Hague (glass and mosaics) and Karen Dahmer and Judi Miller (fiber arts); gallery owners, Mel Stone of Mesquite Art Gallery and Victor Gallegos of Nopalito's Galeria; Preston Thayer, director of NMSU art galleries; and Chris Bardley, organizer of SumArt, "Southern New Mexico's Alternative Arts Organization."

Also, I spotted some festivities going on at Klein Park, so I stopped and took some pictures there too. It was some church function with lots of kids' activities and live music – good photo subjects. Then hours later, on the Downtown Mall, some guy asked if I had been shooting pictures in the park. I said yes. He introduced himself as "Pastor Bob" and asked if I would e-mail him some pictures. I said I would.

They're not paying gigs, but it's good practice and fun and makes people happy.

This evening, I received an e-mail from the motion group saying I've been accepted as a volunteer for the motion graphics conference in Albuquerque. I didn't think I would because I don't know a lot about that field. I guess I'll soon learn a lot about it. The bad news is I will miss a couple days of school, which could be a pain if I have to play catch-up.