The identity of a dog boutique

Though there may be a font change on part of the logo, I've moved on to other aspects of their new (albeit fictional) identity. Here is my first crack at the letterhead, envelope and the front and back of the business card.

My first scratchboard illustration

Nine hours, an Xacto knife, and possibly a few expletives later and we have a fairly successful first attempt at a scratchboard illustration. It was such an interesting process and I will definitely be taking a few more stabs (pun recognized) at this technique later. Right now other projects are calling.

Scratching an itch

with an Xacto knife. It's called scratchboard and it's the next illustration technique we are delving into in Illustration for Graphic Designers. I have never done this technique (well, there was that one time, but I was 8 and it didn't involve drawing with sharp blades). It's a little bit intimidating. You have to reverse your way of thinking and focus on pulling out the highlights instead of the shadows that I focused on in the stipple illustration.

The source photo above is by local photographer Alicia Dickerson of Four-Legged Photo. She was kind enough to give me permission to use her work for the project and of the few I picked, this is the one that my instructor favored. Below is about four hours worth of work.

To freelance, or not to freelance

That is most certainly the question for me and most of my friends lately. Graduation is right around the corner for us and that leaves us with a lot of what if's and should i's. Continue on and get a 4 year degree? Start or continue our own business? Work for someone else? Scrap it all and travel Europe? Though Europe sounds delightful I found this food for thought for us to consider.

Lexi a logo

This is the latest on the Lexi logo. I'm still playing with the colors and aspects of the L. We are naturally inclined to think of something as being more expensive or high end if it is black so I am using a 90% tint of black. I'm currently sticking with a shade of purple similar to what the logo currently uses for the other text.

Greetings

As mentioned, I had to design two greeting cards with the stipple illustration that I did. This is the front of one of them. We could only use black and one other color.

Circle gets the square

Or dots, rather. Lots and lots of tiny dots. I mentioned a couple weeks ago that I was going to be doing a stipple illustration and posted the source photo I'd be using. After 16 hours of work, here is how it turned out. This weekend I will be turning it into two variations of a greeting card.

Logo revamp...take two

I wasn't happy with my first attempt at the logo revamp. It's important for me to incorporate luxury into this logo. I want it to look like spoiled puppies reign supreme at this place because, well, they do. I've managed to keep it playful with the puppy that's tugging on the last letter and the font change for "Lexi" says luxury instead of trendy. I can't say I'm done, but I can say there's progress.

Undercover logo revamp

I decided to redo the logo for Lexidog Boutique & Social Club. They don't know I'm doing it. It's a class project. I'm actually redoing their logo, business system, and some other collateral pieces. We've done logos for fake campanies and for ourselves, but this is the first time we're doing it for a business that already exists. It's to teach us to research our client and write a logo brief long before the designing begins. Now that those steps are done we are working on our logo. I'm shooting for playful and trendy with this one.

Seeing dots

I am working on an illustration that is strictly stipple. Stipple is a technique where you strategically place thousands of dots (or mayhaps millions) in varying density to achieve the necessary values that you're looking for. I selected the above photo by local photographer, Craig Mitchelldyer, and he gave me permission to use it for this project. I have agreed to send him a copy of the final illustration so, the pressure is on! I really want this to turn out great and give him something amazing as a thank you. Wish me luck.