Map Art (week 2)

This is a part of a booklet I designed in Graphic Design 2 for a promotional campaign. In each country I drew an animal that is endangered in that area. I also only choose animals and countries that the National Wildlife Society is involved with. I tried to choose positions and sizes for the animals that best fit the outline of each country. At the same time I tried to keep a balance in line weight and shading. It is one of four drawings that I did for this project. You can see the rest of the drawings on my portfolio site: www.brianwrosenberg.wordpress.com.

The third image is a piece of map art from Vlad Studio. This is one of types of map art that I’m attracted to because of its creative and graphic qualities. The line quality and negative space gives it great aesthetics. I think that the weakness of this map is that each country is treated with the same graphic effect. There is an astonishing amount of diversity in the landscapes, wildlife, and cultures of each country. For my map art I want to express this diversity through illustrations that together make up an abstract map of the places being represented. When we get our guidelines for this assignment I will know which materials and techniques I will apply. When the piece is finished I will add a picture and a reflection in a later post.

Drawing Three: Self-Intro

I am originally from Philadelphia, near King of Prussia. I spend every summer in Ocean City, MD where I manage three retail stores. I moved to Madison half way through high school, because my father, who is a famous scientist, retired and now consults for pharmaceutical companies here in Wisconsin.

I enjoy studio art in my personal life and I have entered and won a number of 2D art competitions. In one competition my work was chosen for the competition’s advertising campaign, and became the image on all the posters and cards promoting the exhibit. Growing up I found that faces and hands are the hardest things for anyone to draw, so I have always drawn them as much as possible. I usually draw photo-realistic portraits, surrealism, and tattoo designs. I tend to stick with black and white, but I also like using prismacolor pencils.

The portraits I draw are usually commissioned. I charge $50-$100 per number of people in the photo, or by hour. I draw a lot of family portraits for people to give to relatives. Occasionally, someone will want an original drawing of themselves, so I draw a lot of people’s favorite senior photo or face book profile picture. Most mother’s are actually more interested in pictures of their pets than their family, so I’ve probably drawn just as many animals as I have people.

In the fall of 2009 I earned an AS degree from UW Richland. I am now a Junior here at Stout with a concentration in Graphic Design. Despite considering myself a fine artist, I am here at Stout to learn the digital art and imaging programs so I can make a living in the advertising and design industries.

After I earn my BFA degree, I want to go back to the east coast to Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh for a Masters Degree. I hope to work at a design firm creating anything from album, poster, and t-shirt artwork to web site graphics and brand identity systems.