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EPK Deck

This gallery contains 19 photos.

Just one of a zillion marketing pitches designed for Afrika21.com

Facebook Tabs

These simple Facebook Tabs ( seen on special company pages) were made based of the artwork for the latest mixtape. I did NOT design the mixtape art (my friend Ebreezy did that) but I used her work below to bounce off.

So Hum Studios

Can you spot the typo? No worries it was fixed before going to print! 3X5 Post Cards for So Hum Yoga Studios

Buttons & Stickers Oh My!

Society HAE launched a new campaign to promote AFRIKA21 Mixtape and Radio. These buttons and cool shiny stickers were a blast to design! Revisiting the idea of old school cameo portraits the designs were based on photos of Nigerian superstars Naeto C and N’neka Egbuna taken by the amazing photography genius Delphine Fawundu .

 

Source Photos by Delphine Fawundu

 

The final version as a sticker

Red Summer Pictures

This Canadian film company needed a new logo.  We started with a few samples and ended up with this gem!

Girl Crush: Denitia Odigie

In 2010 I interviewed Nashville native Denitia Odigie for a story on African artist at SXSW and fell instantly in love with her smokey voice and drop dead gorgeous dandy style. Back then she was living in Austin, Texas getting her feet wet on the local music scene.We chatted about music, art, life, love, Africa and of course the future. Fast forward a year later I bumped into Denitia at the Blue Note in New York City. She had been living and working in the city for about two months. chasing dreams. Some of the things we had talked about had come full circle and she was aglow, excitedly chatting me up about what was new in her career. Although we had met only once a year before on the set of an interview I took her joy and success personally, I was happy and proud for her. I felt connected. Maybe because Denitia is the kind of performer who makes it look easy and cool. Or perhaps because she is the type of artist those of us without a drop of musical skill dream of being if only we had half the talent. Her throaty, clear, pitch perfect voice possesses southern-fried-funk-folk-soul by the pound.

Today I got an email in my inbox with this video of Denitia singing an acoustic version of a song called ‘Shoes’. Pack light…

Logos Used. Work Cited. My Process + FINAL POSTER

After I submitted my poster I did a few (probably unnoticeable to anybody but my ocd) tweaks with the alignment and spacing of the text. I also adjusted the blue and stars to more accurately reflect their position on the American Flag. I do have some color issues that I am having difficulty solving ( the final version colors seem to be a bit muted) If anyone has any solutions I’d be grateful for the feedback.

Fast Food Nation Final

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This is the flag that I created without the text and stars. I included this so that you can more easily see the logos and how they were used. It was interesting to work with these types of graphic images in Photoshop as opposed to Illustrator. In illustrator I would have probably been able to create this image but it would not have been as seamless as what i was able to do with Photoshop. The Pen Tool, Clone Tool and being able to subtract and duplicate specific elements are really key functions that work best with Photoshop. 

 The Arby’s logo can be seen slightly in the red bar stripes. because this image is on a white background I had to remove the white using the magic wand. I wanted the least amount of white as possible when I used the clone tool to blend the red layer.

 The White Castle logo can be seen as part of the blue star backdrop. I had to first remove the yellow and fill in the white with a tonal blue.

Forgive me for being an artist and poor patriot! I was not totally sure how the lines and stars and stripes lined up (of course i knew there were 13 and 50 but that was it!) so I used this flag clip art as my guide . it was not used in the image but used as a guide for accuracy ( ex the blue stops at the 4th red bar, 6 stars then 5 then 6 etc)

 

used in the red bars. its a png image created on a transparent background so i was save a step in having to remove any white. 

 

This was probably the biggest headache . I needed blue and believe it or not there are not many fast food companies who use blue. I used the pepsi logos and edited them quite a bit by removing the white and red and filing in with tonal blues. I wanted to maintain the appearance of the logos as much as possible and am not totally happy with the outcome but…que sera, que sera!

  

Everybody’s Favorite. I went with the traditional McDonald’s logo as opposed tho the new one. I left the golden arches because it added something I could not put my finger on…but it just looked better.

THE FOLLOWING

 all used in part in the design. the Taco Bell logo had to be edited quite a bit and the color adjusted to blue instead of purple. The Burger King logo was edited quite a bit as well. I removed everything except the red Burger King text using the pen tool. The KFC logo and face was just so darn iconic I didnt mess with it much. I filled in everything except the face in red with the paint bucket. 

I blended all the images together using the clone tool,used the grid and shape tool to create and position a white stripes layer and imported a layer of stars that i aligned and created in illustrator. I adjusted the tone of the entire composed image so that the colors had the same ‘feeling” and then added a grain filter. lastly i added the text using the IMPACT font and hand drew the X and Whopper with the paint brush tool.

Fast Food Nation

For this assignment I choose to create a poster that was designed to spark critical conversation around America’s addiction to fast food. I created an American flag composed of fast food logo’s. I wanted the viewer to not immediately notice the logos but for it to sink in after viewing the text . I thought it would be funny and a little harsh to add the text ‘Home of The Whopper’. 

Feedback and responses are welcome!

A WOMAN HAS THE RIGHT TO CHANGE HER MIND

The only thing I know is that I paint because I need to, and I paint whatever passes through my head without any other consideration.
Frida Kahlo

Tree of Life In Reflection by C. n’dada vaz

Source Photo of Frida Kahlo

Inspiration Erykah Badu in Face Paint

Aztec and Mayan Pyramids (used in montage)

Tree of Life Mexican Folk Art (used in montage background)

Inspiration Leonardo da Vinci’s SKULL #2

Inspiration Día de los Muertos Tattoo Design

Inspiration Día de los Muertos clip art

Wing of A Blue Roller,  Albrecht Durer 1512 (used in montage background)

Christina Aguilar Album Cover

Monument 6 . Olmec Afro-Mexican Art. Aprox 1500 BCE

Inspiration Tracee Ellis Ross in Red   I have always loved tattoo art (although i don’t have a single one) and am particularly fond of “Raza Style” Tattoo work. I am also a Frida devote, lover of color and amateur anthropologist. Mix all that up and 5 days of no sleep later you get my first ever Photoshop montage Tree of Life In Reflection. P.S. I’m getting a tablet ASAP. I’m working on my laptop without a mouse. My wrist hurts. ouch!  P.S.S. I used the first tutorial as my guide and adjusted it for my needs… WHO Knew layers where so important?!  P.S.S.S Is there an option to easily toggle between layers without clicking on the panel. AND is there an option to APPLY changes to smart objects without clicking ok (or apply) every time?