Category: portfolio

This is a portfolio of my work in many forms. It should give you some insight as to the products I might help you to create.

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portfolio requests

156 of 365 is the Tragically Hip in #Inkscape #lyric

Hundredth Meridian
Hundredth Meridian

Peter Bromberg, a very good friend, suggested using a Tragically Hip lyric as a basis for a sketch.

Would you be willing to create a sketch illustrating the Tragically Hip Lyric, “Driving down a corduroy road/ Weeds standing shoulder high / Ferris wheel is rusting off in the distance. You can give it a listen here to get the vibe: Some more context at: http://www.facebook.com/l/e3d30;www.hipmuseum.com/100.html Thanks my friend, Pete

Thanks so much for the suggestion, Peter! It’s a great song, and I loved the visuals it evoked for me. I’d love to try this a few more times, as what I see in my head in response to the song is not quite what I was able to fit in 500px square, but that happens pretty often. 😉

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portfolio

155 of 365 is a nod to #libraries in #Inkscape #typography #design

When in doubt
When in doubt

The message here is a simple one — if you need a clear answer, a library is a great place to start. You may notice however, that I’ve broken a major design rule.

In this sketch, and some others that are coming up, I’ve tried to disregard the well known rule about no more than 2 fonts per design. The reason for the rule is that theoretically when you choose a new font you ask your viewer not only to adjust their reading continuity, but depending on the difference of font style, you may be asking them to stop and contemplate the differences in and of themselves, which could very easily get in the way of your primary function in communication: getting the message delivered clearly. I’d say that in my case, at least for these sketches, my primary function is to get viewers to notice font forms as shapes, to make you stop for a moment and contemplate form versus function, and also, to a lesser extent, deliver some message. So, yes, I know you’re not supposed to generally, but knowing the rules and the reasons for them help you to break them sensibly. I hope I’ve done that here.

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portfolio

154 of 365 is a trio of flying armchairs in #Inkscape #design

Flying armchairs
Flying armchairs

This is another quirky look at what happens when you take one ordinary object and another ordinary object and put them together in an unexpected way. I want one, myself. In Inkscape, I used the rectangle tool and node editor to quickly sketch out an armchair. Then, I used the calligraphy tool to create wings. Hope you like it!

Categories
portfolio

153 of 365 is a lot of bubbles in #Inkscape

Lots of bubbles
Lots of bubbles

I really love the new spraypaint tool in Inkscape’s 0.48 beta, likely to be released this summer. I’ve begun using it quite a bit to create spontaneous backgrounds and textures, such as this one. Normally, you’d have to create an item, then drag it about the canvas, choosing where to lay duplicates with the spacebar, rotate them all individually, then choose to bring all of those shapes together withe the combine path operation. With the spraypaint tool, you can do all of those steps in one movement. It’s amazing for a certain kind of productivity. Hope you like the effect!

Categories
portfolio

152 of 365 is a whale in the deep sea in #Inkscape #design

Whale in the deep sea
Whale in the deep sea

I’ve been drawn to recreating some of these silhouette images in Inkscape, and a deep sea scenario works very well for it. The colors and darkness add drama and depth, and the silhouette of what we imagine to be this massive animal is at once awe-inspiring and frightening. In Inkscape, I used a dingbat font to get the silhouette of the whale, then worked with the calligraphy tool to create blurry ridges of massive rock formations. I also used the calligraphy tool to create an overhead light. Hope you like it!

Categories
portfolio requests

151 of 365 is a form for disgruntled photographers in #Inkscape #design for @girlpluscamera

Form for disgruntled photographers by John LeMasney via http://lemasney.com
Form for disgruntled photographers by John LeMasney via http://lemasney.com
A form for disinterested designers
Image by lemasney via Flickr
Form for disgruntled photographers by John LeMasney via https://lemasney.com/consulting/
Form for disgruntled photographers by John LeMasney via http://lemasney.com

So, after the TEDxNJLIbraries event on May 7th, I was at the post event dinner with the cast and crew, and I was sitting next to Girl+Camera LLC herself, M. Elizabeth Williams.

I gave a preview of my upcoming show pieces after the event ended while the tapas and wine tasting was going on.  She had seen my piece called “Form for disgruntled designers” in which I faithfully recorded all of the ways in which designers are often given short shrift in projects because many of the project leaders feel like okay design and great design and no design at all are the same thing, and are all effortless, and should all be free.

Elizabeth (who did our event as an in-kind sponsor, essentially for free) really loved the design and said that she’d love to have one about photography. I told her that my project, in great part, was about requests and fulfillment, and that I’d love to make it for her. I hope you enjoy it, Elizabeth!