Biannual Post

So I honestly don't have a good excuse as to why I only updated twice this year (so far). I will continue to apologize on my lack of posts in every post so don't worry! I've been out of my artsy loop I guess. I found out a while ago that 2 of my greeting cards I worked on at American Greetings were published! You can buy them online at www.just-wink.com or at your local Target ;)

Oh I randomly sent out letters to friends and made doodles for them. I took some photos with my crappy phone beforehand. I was also part of a Halloween "Monster Mash" art show at The Bear and Bird Boutique + Gallery. It was really nice to work on something all the way through and get all nervous about prepping it for the show and finally seeing it on display. Maybe I'll get that same feeling about this post and want to update every week and show you all my work. Let's hope. Anyway, here's some stuff. (Click on them for a bigger view/slideshow!)

Anniversary Card

Baby Shower Card

"Gossip Ghoul" My piece for the Monster Mash show! I've been obsessed with Gossip Girl lately so I wanted to do bitchy monsters hanging out at a lame party.

Doodle for a friend.

Doodle for a friend in NY :)

Doodle for my sister I think.

Found this from a trip I took to Chicago / NY. I looked good obviously.

fashun sketch

another fashun sketch 2

I'll just leave you with this.

Senior Thesis Project at Ringling

So it took a while for me to find the time to upload this, but I can finally show you my Illustration Senior Thesis!

my display

me hanging out with my thesis

To quote my artist statement, "For my senior thesis project, I created editorial illustrations based on articles that dealt with psychological issues such as interpersonal relationships, personality, happiness, confidence and willpower. I took the main idea of the article and created a simple image for the viewer to think about and possibly reflect on how it relates to them. Psychology is an important subject because everyone is on a path of self-discovery, and understanding why I am the way I am or why people act the way they do is an enriching part of life."

It was such a great/grueling learning experience. Since I put this update off for about 2 months and I'm looking at my thesis with fresh eyes; I'm truly proud of what I did. Enjoy.

“Together Alone”
Original Dimensions-13 x 15 in
Acrylic and Photoshop

This image is about how technology has negatively affected relationships and how we are losing the desire to interact with others in real life because we are hooked to the internet.


“Food Addiction: Ice Cream”
Original Dimensions-13 x 17 in
Acrylic and Photoshop

This image is about how food addiction is just as bad as drug addiction.


“Food Addiction: Donuts”
Original Dimensions-13 x 17 in
Acrylic and Photoshop

This image is about how food addiction is just as bad as drug addiction.


"How Optimists and Pessimists View Their Worlds”
Photoshop

This image is about the different viewpoints an optimist and pessimist have when overcoming an obstacle. The pessimist can only see the roadblock while the optimist sees the potential after.


“Spreading Happiness”
Photoshop

This image is about how easy it is to spread happiness. A mundane commute becomes a great start to the morning all because of a clown nose.


“How Failure Makes You Stronger”
Photoshop

This image is about how a person who dealt with the weight of failed relationships is able to be strong in her new relationship.

Intro to Web Work- CSS, Coding, and Cool sites

So last semester I took Intro to Web which is an open elective GIC class. It was really fun learning Dreamweaver and coding because it reminded me of my old myspace days and learning what code to put in to change my background color. I made 5 sites and we had to compile them in a final site which is http://webspace.ringling.edu/~kcruz/ if you're interested in seeing them online and in action!! My first few sites suck but it was fun once I got the hang of it.

This is the main page with the highlighted hover action.


My first site! ughh so bad lol.

My second site! so bad yet so cute because of my cat Sushi.


This is 3rd site, a mock music site.


This my portfolio site, the final site I made.


My favorite site was an informative site about an simple object that we picked. I chose glasses but wanted to explore them in a fashion timeline. I made all the icons/patterns and picked colors that reflected each time period. Here are some screen caps it.

Glasses vectors

Objects from the different eras.

Main page

Bifocal page


Cat Eye page

Hipster page

All 9 pages together


Hope you enjoy!!

MUPALIA

Deaf Poets - All Your Lies from Mupalia Pictures on Vimeo.

This summer I asked my cousin if he needed help with a logo for his film production company, Mupalia Pictures. They had a few things under their belt and had just released this video by the Deaf Poets who are an up and coming band from Miami that are really great performers.

I wanted to see what it was like to do a piece without the help of a teacher. His team said they wanted to have something iconic, and involving a cool guy with a beard. It's funny because my cousin usually wears wayfarers with his an Al-Queda looking beard so it matched haha. The first one is the one they went with, and the second is something I came up with tonight after not seeing it for a while. I figured the black beard makes the words easier to read.

THEY ARE SUPER SO CHECK OUT THEIR WORK! Vimeo and Mupalia.com
Also, check out The Deaf Poets!






(Judging from my header, can you tell I like drawing Wayfarer sunglasses? lol)

Throwback Junior year Illustration

This is some work from Junior year. I realize I like primary color schemes a little too much lol. It was a busy year and I was able to get some great work for my portfolio.


Remember this first doodle? Well she turned into the next two pieces!


My pretentious girl character sheet. Her name is Michéle and she is a recent NYU drop out who first came here from France. She felt she was too good for school. She's was inspired by all the cool hip art students I've come across.


Her favorite spot to judge people who pass by.


This assignment was to create a poster for a job. My job was sheep shearing and my teacher suggested I have the text sheared into him.



Sheep Shearer final. During critique classmates thought he was in a bubble bath lol. I was having a pattern/ texture phase last year so I spent about 1 hour drawing those swirly circles. The piece is about 20 in by 30 in so my hand was tired. Acrylic and color pencil.



This was an assignment to create a series where our pieces had to be develop from monochromatic to complementary to triad. The subject matter was self consciousness among women and their body image. I wanted to focus on those parts they try to hide and use color to glorify them because women are beautiful yo! Acrylic on 16 by 16 in canvases.

This was a sketch about a femme fatale and her relationship with her loser dancing partner.They are using each other to get something they want. She uses her boobs to get to his wallet. Ain't that the truth. The final wasn't great, but the line drawing is cool.


This was in advanced media and the theme was fantasy/ folktale. This cute satyr is just chilling with other kids during lunch and no one cares that he's different. yay!


Portrait I did of my friend Lindsay. Oil is awesome.

Some computer Illustrations

Computer Illustration stuff I've wanted to fix and finally had time to. Illustrator is such a nice program!! I don't want to go completely digital but it's doesn't hurt to know your stuff.


Fixed this old piece. We had to do 3 vector icons with a common theme and I chose Fatty Foods. My teacher thought they should have something to sit on so I made plate shaped circles.


Vector portrait of my sister! The shadows were more blue before but I sorta fixed it. I took away some weird shapes too. I'm content with it now!


Corel Painter Project!! We had to take a picture of a still-life, draw it, scan it in and paint on top. This was the beginning stage of my thread themed piece.

This was what I turned in and my teacher thought I should incorporate more color into the other objects to unify the piece.

This was the final where I "unified" the piece by putting color into the other objects. I think I like the original better.


So I work at the Office of Development and they asked me to design an Annual Giving postcard for faculty. My boss Heather sketched out what she wanted, I refined it and finished it up in Illustrator. She wanted something cutesy for spring and I tried my best.


Final postcard design. I had a small taste of freelance? It wasn't that scary...

Enjoy!