Design Fundamentals

My second graphic design class is Design Fundamentals for New Media. I'm almost done with it. These are a few of the projects that I've done. Some I'm a little more proud of than others. I'm definitely getting better with Adobe Illustrator. I've really enjoyed learning how to make cool images. I've learned the most from online tutorials on the Adobe website and other online tutorials, like illustrationclass.com.

This is called "Matter unorganized." I was suppose to create an abstract (non-realistic) image from a realistic image. I used a typical view of the earth from satellite. This one actually has hidden meaning, which was fun to do. That's what abstract design is all about, except the the kind that's not. =) It was fun to create images that have a bit of mystery to them.

"Who will eat the last cookie?" This image lacks balance, so there is a bit of tension. I've really been enjoying oatmeals raisin cookies lately.

This was one I did after doing a bunch of research to make my images more interesting and detailed. I went over and beyond with this one. I was suppose to create an image using 2 vanishing point perspective. I tried to do a transparent cabin showing a Christmas scene. I couldn't get it quite the way I wanted... the Christmas scene looks like it's on top of the cabin rather than inside. But I like how the trees are transparent and you can see the leaves of the trees behind.

This is me working on my assignments! My children are sleeping and and crawling on me. haha! At least they were letting me do my work. Other times I can't even sit down. Notice Jordan going for Elizabeth's hair. He always does this!

Fire Rain. This is a "visual pun" which means that there is something that is used in an unexpected way.

This one is suppose to illustrate a word. I think it's pretty obvious which word. I call this one "Fast Sunday." I made it on Saturday while I was fasting. haha.

This one I was really excited about! At first I was not thrilled about drawing a "person sitting in a chair in perspective" but I was inspired by looking at some very cool images done by other people. I love the effect of using "transparancy." This took all day to make.

This one I drew "freehand" on the computer. I found a tool that smooths out your strokes - when you draw a line with a trackpad it's never smooth.

There are more projects at the link on the right along with family pictures. I'm so happy I'm taking these classes. It has been even more fun that I thought it would be! I get really excited about some of the things I am learning or seeing online.

Lizzy's Snow Adventure

We had quite the snow storm before Halloween! Elizabeth was very excited to go outside. She had her monkey costume on along with lots of other warming articles and she played outside for about 5 minutes before coming back in.

We went to our ward Halloween party. Lizzy pointed to one guy who dressed up and said, "dragon!" I didn't even know that she knew this word. But she does, and she can identify dragon costumes. She uses new words everyday. You tell her what something is called and she doesn't forget. She still doesn't use sentences, but it is awesome how we are able to communicate now.

Here's a better look at her costume. Autumn lent this to us. =) It has a tail, too.

This morning Lizzy woke up insisting that there was an elephant in the garage. She had to stare into the garage for a long time before she was convinced otherwise.

This is me and Lizzy playing with the camera on the laptop. =)

Last night Elizabeth spontaneously took a crayon, pretended to pop it in her mouth, puffed out her cheeks, and pretended to chew on it. It was SOO funny. She learned this from Morgan. Apparently she was on to him because she knew not to really put it in her mouth!!

Lately Lizzy has been trying to pull a trick on us. She'll say "Potty!" which is of course, exciting for us. So she undresses and goes to the bathroom, but then refuses to sit on the toilet… her real motive she informs us was to take a "Shower!" If she had her way, she would probably take 5 baths a day.

Late one evening she tried to pull this trick so we dressed her in her pajamas and put her to bed. It was past her bedtime, anyway. We are trying to train her so that she does not need to have the door guard in her room, so it was off. Maybe 10 minutes after we put her to bed and we thought she was already asleep, she opened the door and announced loudly to a sleeping household, "SHOWER!"

Jordan's Halloween

This is what Jordan wore for Halloween while he was outside. He had an orange onsie with ghosts on it that he wore while inside. This was Elizabeth's 2 years ago.

His little smiles are so sweet! We love when he smiles and laughs.

He is chewing on my water bottle topper. Yesterday he got his first tooth!

Autumn age us this fun toy for Jordan. It's funny that we caught him with this face. Elizabeth makes this face all the time. She will come up to me or Morgan, get really close to our face, make this face, pause for an intense moment, and say a single word, like, "food." or "Elmo."

Another intoxicating smile. I love the little sounds he makes!

Lately he's been doing this funny little trick - he bites on his lower lip. And then sometimes he SMILES while biting it. I realize, of course, that this is no big deal to most people. But I'm his mother and I find this extremely cute and worthy of a picture and blog excerpt.

You'll notice that he has a toothbrush. This is a vibrating toothbrush that we found at Walmart for only 5 dollars. No, we did not buy it for Jordan. We bought it for Elizabeth. And for some reason she's not as possessive of this as she is about her toys, so Jordan enjoys playing with it A LOT.

There are lots more pictures of Jordan at the link on the right.

I caught a lot of these cute smiles in videos. I'll take a video and then take a "snapshot" in picasa of the captured moment.