Illustrator
Fall 23 Classwork
Propaganda Poster
Artist Statement
This is my class propaganda poster. From the very beginning, I knew I wanted to create a poster that advertised a message relating to music. So, when I took my original selfie, I put on my large Bose headphones. From there, I used that selfie to create a self-portrait of myself in Illustrator. This task was much easier than I had originally anticipated, the most challenging part was putting all the pieces together so that they all cohesively fit. Next, I created the background and layout of the poster itself. I wanted everything to center around my selfie and large headphones so the viewer immediately knows this poster is related to music. Then with the addition of screaming silhouettes and "enjoy the silence, listen to music", the reader picks up the message of music being a tool to drown out the rest of the world. In this sense, the music is silence because of its ability to calm people and silence the world.
Inspiration
Logo Project
Artist Statement
This is my own personal logo. In class, we were tasked with creating a logo that represents us, so much so that we would be okay with tattooing it on our forehead. I knew from the very beginning that my sketches would be inspired by tattoos that I hope to get in the future anyway. I was thinking of phrases and sayings that I feel as though describe me and that I live by. After a few sketches, I decided on this design of a wave and sun. I believe it represents me because I love being in the water and being active outside. The simplicity of the design also speaks to who I am because I am a very organized and structured person. I like things completed in a neat and orderly fashion, and this logo’s clean lines represent that part of me.
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I chose these colors because I wanted the colors to jump off the page and catch the viewer's attention. These combinations were decided with respect to individuals with color blindness, so they will still be able to perceive a bright logo.
Sketches
Calligram Project
Artist Statement
This is my calligram project, self-titled “The Fish”. Growing up as a swimmer, my parents often reminded me to “swim like a goldfish.” The meaning behind this is the fact that the goldfish is known as the happiest fish in the sea because of its ten-second memory. So, this was my parents' way of reminding me to always enjoy the sport that I love first, and not stress about the little things. I reference my love for swimming a lot in this letter and when I grow up, I hope I still “swim like a goldfish.”
To create this calligram I first traced out my drawing twice. The first layer was for all of my general shapes, that would later be filled in with the blue text. The second layer holds all of the fish’s outline in blue text. After creating my layers, I simply transported and edited my letter into the shapes or onto the outline. The only text within the image that is not directly from my letter is the eye and the bubbles. The fish’s eye is simply the letter ‘O’, and the bubbles read the word ‘goldfish’ to give a hint to the viewer.
Letter to my Future Self
Dear 39-year old Olivia,
39 is old. I have so many questions! What are you doing right now? Do you have a job in sports? Do you love it? Do you have kids? A family? A husband?! I really hope you’re happy. To be honest, I don’t really care all that much if you’re successful. I mean it would be nice of course. But right now, if I had to really think hard about it, I see myself living in a city of some sort, definitely working in sports, wearing lots of pantsuits, and probably (hopefully) married with kids. But also, it kind of hurts my brain to think 20 years into the future. So I think I’m just going to stop and talk about myself.
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Right now, I’m a sophomore in college living with my three friends Emily, Keira, and Olivia. We’re only a few weeks into the fall semester but I’m really loving my living accommodation right now. I decided to room with these girls super last minute, but it’s been the best decision so far. I’m studying Communications with a minor in Sports Management as a part of the honors college here at the University of Tampa. So far sophomore year is running smoothly, I don’t hate any of my classes yet, I have all A’s, and somehow I find time to be a part of the Club Swim Team board.
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Swimming is still a very big part of my life. It fades out a little bit more each day. But I’m trying to be as committed to it as possible for as long as possible. I only really miss the pool when my friends who are collegiate athletes explain to me what their lives are like. But it’s ok because I’m kind of the coach of club swimming, so I write the sets every day and can challenge myself whenever I feel like it. I challenged the group today, it was a lovely 200s free set. I died. But that's ok. That's the beauty of swimming. I wanna be a coach for real one day. I think that’ll be really fulfilling for me.