Sunday, October 9, 2016

Essay

                                                                                                          
James Evertsen
Graphic Design Emphasis

                     I really enjoy the process of creating new designs from nothing. The challenge and the endless creativity is what fills my senses. It is stimulating and energizing. I can’t get enough of these feelings, especially once I have unexpectedly come up with something unique and impressive.  I am honestly still in the process of finding my own uniqueness. I am very passionate with art and the process of creation and design. I feel like I am able to do about anything in the artistic field, but I am far from mastering one specific area.
                    Several years ago I attended Salt Lake Community College with the eagerness to pursue a career in the design field. As I was in the process, I acquired a natural eye for form and dimensions, and was lead in the creative direction of fine art techniques. While at SLCC, storytelling and developing symbols that define a scene or subject became a passion. This is why I sought an AAS in Illustration which I acquired in 2006.  During this time I also had the opportunity to attend a semester at Taos University in New Mexico. I took a course on children book illustration and production. I have a dream to one day illustrate children books. I have a sketch book with more than a dozen ideas that one day I’d like to put my name on. I learned some great fundamental skills and techniques that have since benefited my drawing and painting skills. While attending SLCC, I also learned I enjoy the process of any art project. The steps I learned from them I still continue to use. I research and brainstorm ideas and doodle with a few sketches. I then add the sketches to a storyboard layout and with some redefining and personal adjustments I begin designing my vision.  I gained and developed general key design and structural rules that I could apply to any art medium. I learned and became familiar with a variety of different computer programs and equipment that are not used any more. In fact, I still have a few unopened Zip discs kicking around.  These introductions have been very valuable and beneficial to me especially as I now pursue a degree in Graphic Design.                   
                    For several years I have had the opportunity of creating murals, business logos, and other design projects, but have never had the opportunity of doing this as a career full time. As for now, I want to learn and experience new mediums to help me find my true passion, and find my own personal style.  Graphic Design is in a constant incline and I want to continue learning new techniques to keep up with improving technology.  One day I hope to find that the skills I learn as I become a graphic designer will aid my other passion of illustration.  My hopes of this program are to gain the confidence and skills I need to pursue a career in the field I love. To design. To create. To be an Artist.

Identification Document


1.       James Evertsen BFA: Vector face design. Adobe Illustrator. Adobe Photoshop. 6” x 6”. Art 3430 Typography 2016

2.       James Evertsen BFA: Created Alpabet. Adobe Illustrator. Adobe In Design. FontFinder. 14” x 3”, 6” x 8”. Art 3430 Typography 2016

3.       James Evertsen BFA: Poster Quote. Adobe Illustrator. 8.5” x 11”. Art 3430 Typography 2016

4.       James Evertsen BFA: Word Expression with Helvetica. Adobe Illustrator. 8” x 8”. Art 3430 Typography 2016

5.       James Evertsen BFA: Moon Moth and EleKat. Ink. Art 2200 Intro to Print making. 6” x 9”. Art 3200 Intermediate Printmaking. 2016

6.       James Evertsen BFA: Vector development and designs. Adobe Illustrator. Adobe Photoshop. Adobe InDesign. Varies in sizes.  Self-directed and Commissioned. 2008-2016

James Evertsen BFA: Vector face design. Adobe Illustrator. Adobe Photshop

 

I wanted to create a unique self-portrait for a book cover assignment. I had a variety of sketches in my sketch book that I scanned in and converted into vector outlines and made a pattern out of them. I exported them to Photoshop and in multiple Layers I converted a picture of myself into these doodles that I had created.

James Evertsen BFA: Created Alphabet. Adobe Illustrator. Adobe In Design. Font Finder.

 
 


 
 
I had the opportunity to create a couple of alphabets with some random words provided. The first words were Wave and Rhythm, which I pictured sound waves in motion. The second set of words was Flight and Church. This one I pictured Gothic church steeples and architecture, plus adding a slight Italic slant on it to represent flight. The first alphabet I created using Adobe Illustrator and In Design and the second was done on an online program, Fontfinder. I had a difficult time figuring out the idea of how this program worked but once I was done I figured it out and wish I could have had time to completely start my design all over again.

James Evertsen BFA: Poster Quote


An assignment for Typography was given to make a poster with a unique quote and design that would attract our audience to take a minute and focus on our piece. I decided to put my design in a shape of a foot print to help illustrate my quote. My original piece was created by hand with ink. I converted this one to vector in Adobe Illustrator.


James Evertsen BFA: Word Expression with Helvetica Font




 

In typography we were given an assignment to create a collection of words to express meaning with using just Helvetica font.  We were not allowed to distort or manipulate the appearance of the wording to illustrate our ideas. I enjoyed this project and really want to play with more ideas.

James Evertsen BFA: Moon Moth and EleKat. Ink. Printmaking.


 

This year is my first year experience with printmaking. This was an entirely new challenge for me. I really enjoyed the whole process from carving, to ink mixing, and then to finding the accurate amount of ink on my stamp to produce an ideal print. I hope to work on a series of animals as I'm experimenting with new equipment, techniques and processes as I create my next pieces.