Fruitful Design
A lot of people ask me what it is that I do for a living. But I've found that even when I explain it to them, they still don't really get it. In this post I want to show you some of the illustration and design work I do for my job, as well as some of my recent school projects. All of these images and more can be found on my online design portfolio at: www.coroflot.com/benlueders
As Graphic Designer for the Hawaii Coral Reef Initiative, I've worked on a lot of different projects. My current project, however, is illustrating, designing and implementing hundreds of pages, in a colorful, K-3 science curriculum. Below is a typical spread. Everything you see here I've drawn and designed.
The most daunting part of my curriculum task, is it's sheer size. There are 5 different Units, 4 Lessons in every unit, 6 activities in every Lesson and 6 pages to every activity. That's approximately 720 pages! Keep in mind that every page needs at least one full color illustration and plenty of hand-drawn design elements. Needless to say this is a large under-taking! (Below are some recent illustrations.)
But what I really do all day is draw these cartoony kids like the one below. These kids act out each science activity for added clarity. I've been drawing these guys for years, and have got them down to a science...
First I sketch em...
Then I ink 'em...
Then I scan them...convert the lines to vector in Illustrator, and color them in photoshop.
And that's my day! Right now I have 21 of these cartoony inks, all vectored-up and ready to be colored in Photoshop. Fun times.
Another big part of my day has to do with my school assignments. This spring I am finishing up a Graphic Design degree at Metropolitan Community College, and I've had a lot of fun projects. Here's a few recent ones. Again, you can see a much more varied selection of pieces on my Design site: www.coroflot.com/benlueders
The first project in my illustration class was to illustrate the cover of a classic. I did Treasure Island. I ended up laying out the entire Jacket Design later...
My illustration teacher was Mike Hagel, an exraordinary American Illustrator and brother of Nebraska Senator Chuck Hagel. I did this ad for one of my first projects. Mike liked it so much he showed it to his brother Chuck and had him sign it for me.
Had to make an "Illustrated Alphabet". But what should my theme be? This didn't take very long to figure out...
Each frog was originally a 6-8 inch pencil sketch that was scanned and painted digitally.
An illustration I did for a Henry Doorly Zoo ad. I had a blast with this one...
Some wine labels...
Brochure...or is it a menu cover? Hmmm....
One of three logo designs I did for this project. I think this was the best received.
And here's probably the dumbest assignment ever. I had to do 5 cartoony fruits...
And then I had to implement them. Yes, I realize that this is dumb...and that you can't really read the words "The Movie."
This one has the best story of all...
For our final project, Mike let us choose a project of our choice. He said that it wouldn't be due until the last day of class. I decided to do another book cover for a classic, but had been too busy with other projects to do much more than a few thumbail sketches. For some reason I thought next Wednesday was supposed to be my last day of class...but it turned out that it was LAST NIGHT. I realized this at NOON yesterday! I also realized that I had a dentist appointment at 1:00! I was yet to begin my illustration!
But instead of worrying, I simply cast all of my cares upon Christ and determined to do my best to meet my deadline: 5:30 that night!
So there I was, in the dentist office, sketching away on my project. When I got home it was already 3:00...only 2.5 hours away from my deadline. By the time I got home, the sketch only needed some minor touches. Here's what it looked like:
So I simply scanned and began coloring in photoshop. Since I had been doing this technique a lot lately, it didn't take me long to whip this thing out. I am so thankful with how well it turned out.
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