Tag: design

Grad School

One semester down…

Jessica Smith

Yesterday evening was my last class of my first semester of grad school — woohoo! Six credits down, 30 more to go. Next semester I am taking a 6-credit class that is a prereq for pretty much everything else in the program, and then I’m able to take a whole slew of awesome classes (Magazine design, Creative concepts, Book design, Typography II). I’m pretty excited about it.

I really enjoyed both of my classes this semester. Typography I was fascinating to me. Our final project was to typeset the Constitution, which was a fun challenge. And my photography class taught me the ins and out of my camera, how to use Lightroom, shoot in camera RAW, and all sorts of other super useful things.

For our final projects, we had to shoot a series of photos that all fit together. I opted to drive all over the area taking photos of water towers. Yes, water towers. Odd, I know. But I’ve always had a strange fascination with water towers, so it worked well for the project. The final product was six creepy photos showcasing water towers in Howard, Anne Arundel and Prince George’s counties.

ASmithofAllTrades_WaterTower_PBDS638-4ASmithofAllTrades_WaterTower_PBDS638-5ASmithofAllTrades_WaterTower_PBDS638ASmithofAllTrades_WaterTower_PBDS638-3ASmithofAllTrades_WaterTower_PBDS638-6ASmithofAllTrades_WaterTower_PBDS638-2

I’m quite proud of how they turned out. Plus, now I know the location of about 12 different water towers…. that’s useful, right?

Anyway… one semester down, at least five more to go! Now I just need to make it through a bit more work, then it’s CHRISTMASTIME.

Uncategorized

Home sweet home

Jessica Smith

I cannot believe I forgot to share the darling illustration I created of my house. I made this last month after working on a similar project for work, and I just adore it.

HOME-SWEET-HOME

How stinkin’ cute, right?

I designed this one of my building at work for a giant poster right when you walk in the building.

VMH

I think they are so charming. I am tossing up the idea of selling them on my shop — not that folks want to buy an image of my house (creepy!), but I could do theirs! So cute.

Speaking of designing things, I have exciting news! At the end of the summer I am going back to school to get my master’s degree in publications design. I am pretty freakin’ excited about it. Also terrified because, you know… homework. Haven’t done that in five years. But on the whole, I’m pumped for all of the awesome things I’m about to learn. In fact, I’ve started dreaming in Photoshop and inDesign — anyone else do that? It’s like I am editing my dreams. Strange, but cool.

Speaking of my sweet home, my pride and joy, my garden, is doing phenomenal. this season. Last night I made my first batch of pizza sauce from some 50+ tomatoes I picked over the weekend.

tometers

I also and the proud grower of a watermelon! Brian wants to pick it so badly, but I think it needs a few more days. I have never been so pumped to have grown something in my life haha.Watermleon

In other news, B and I just got back from a weekend trip to Buffalo, NY. My family had a family reunion and we had a great time.

I’ve got a few furniture projects I want to finish before the summer is over and I get crazy busy with school — a dresser and two nightstands to be exact. Here’s hoping I can find the time and cool weather to tackle each project!

Graphic Design

Mobile Togs phone cases

Jessica Smith

I hinted a few weeks ago that I had an exciting new opportunity/project in the works and yesterday I got the email I’d been waiting for!  Four of my graphic designs are being printed onto phone cases for a company called Mobile Togs.

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It’s a pretty neat opportunity for me and I am pretty pumped that they reached out to feature my artwork.

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We chose four designs. My first choice was my Do What You Love print. So many people have reached out to me to ask about printing this design, so it seemed like a great design to pick.

Togs_top_Vivacious_DOWHATYOULOVE

 

We also chose my Maryland state love print.

Togs_angle_closed_Emerald-Green_MARYLAND

The third print we went with was one of my Adventures with Remmy the Dog. I had to tweak this a bit to make it fit on the phone just right, but it is so flippin’ adorable!

Balloon-Acai

The last design we chose is one that I haven’t even shared with you guys yet! I’ve been working on a whole suite of animal prints for my Etsy shop and decided to choose one of the critters for the phone cases.

Togs_angle_clsoed_Poppy-Red_FOX

The cases are pretty cool. They have a slot to slick your IDs or credit cards, which is awesome for metro riders or students who need to carry their IDs/card everywhere with them. They also have mirrors at the back (that’s why you see the grayed out corner on the cases — that means the designs are printed on the mirrored surface!). You can pick any color with any design, too.

I’m so excited to finally share this on my blog. It’s been tough keeping it a secret 🙂