Isometric Designs

These are my first illustrations created using an isometric perspective. I found the perspective a bit challenging but it was harder to illustrate in a free form fashion.

In order to make things easier for myself, I winded up creating a custom grid on the walls and flooring of the isometric room. I was able to get the measurements of the room through a project manager that I had worked with as these illustrations were designs for a virtual world website for a large plush toy company. The themed rooms were to be featured on their website for their virtual world animal characters.

Once I got the measurements and created the custom grid, I began creating the sketching out ideas for the interior designs of the rooms based on the themes I was assigned. I worked on over 7 different theme room designs and created custom furniture in different angles and views (SE, SW, NE, NW). The rest of the themed rooms were given to others on my team as we all had to reach the client's deadline by completing a total of 20 themed rooms.

I enjoyed the learning process of working with illustrations in not only an isometric perspective but in different angles within an isometric perspective. So, for example, if I created an Easter themed bed, then I had to create that bed in a front, back, left and right view so that animators could program the views into the room's virtual world function on the website...and more importantly, so that the animal characters could interact with the furniture by having the user be able to rotate the views of the furniture pieces.

The themed rooms featured here are the Zoo, Art and Music Theme rooms respectively.

"3rd Eye Cinema"

3rd Eye Cinema is the name of a company that I started with friends and fellow classmates in my Visual Communications program. A lot of us had the same classes throughout the program and as a result, many of the connections developed into friendships.

One of the most enjoyable classes that I had was my Final Cut Pro class. As with my 3D Studio Max course, I didn't know what to expect. I hadn't taken a video editing class before or done anything extensively with motion graphics. I was very intrigued however and as with all of my classes, I dove in head first.

We were given quite a few assignments and the theme of our final project was to be developed by the class as a group effort. The initial idea was to do a karate skit but I felt that we should perhaps do a horror film. I have to admit I wanted my idea to come through because I am a fan of horror genre films. I argued that this would be different and exciting and we could choose to add in other genres to a horror theme...for example, horror comedy, horror drama and so forth. It could have gone any way.

Everyone eventually agreed to my idea and we each brainstormed and worked on creating a plot. We decided to base the horror film on our campus...making it a whodunit horror film that took place in a school environment.

We worked through creating a storyboard after developing our plot, and we even got school administrators, other students in different programs, and various teachers involved in a lot of the acting roles. The next step was to shoot our scenes and take turns getting involved in different film crew roles so that we learned about all of the processes involved in making a short film.

I found that everyone became closer and I really enjoyed the energy and chemistry we had together as a group. It was so amazing that I started to think that we could do this as a business if we wanted to...if we all invested in the idea, put our heads and talents together and went for it. As the film was near the end of its production, I brought up the idea to my friend and classmate Emily. She immediately liked the suggestion and later we discussed it with everyone else in class.

This brought on, initially, the idea of starting a film/video club on campus. We talked to a few administrators and signed up for petitioning the inclusion of this club. Our idea was accepted and we started to have regular meeting and advertise the club around campus for others to join. We got great response and at some point, I brought up the business end of the film making idea again, but I wanted to include people who were in our small circle because that was where the trust and chemistry was.

Everyone in that circle came on board and we went ahead and established 3rd Eye Cinema. I was responsible, as president, for getting the business affairs together and establishing the meetings. We got the FBN statements filed, we began writing our business plan as a group and I mentioned I would start working on the website.

Some people agreed that one of my character designs was going to be the mascot design of the company. I had created a character called Panash [puh-NOSH] and I established the website design around him as well as our business colors which were blue, lime green and deep purple.

The page template was created in Photoshop CS, taken into ImageReady CS for slicing and rollovers, as well as optimization and then it was taken into Dreamweaver CS for further customization, set up and HTML adjustment. We were able to get a domain deal through one of our favorite instructors as well as web hosting. So once all of that was set up, I used CuteFTP to load the HTML and image files onto the server.

What happened to the company that we started? Well it was all about timing and ongoing collaboration. It was a tough year and we were all nearing the time of graduation so classes and projects were piling up intensely as well as personality obligations. Meetings were harder to schedule and hold consistently so over time, the buzzing energy around the business fizzled out and became scattered.

However, I still think it's a great idea and I still own the rights to the name and identity as well as the domain, so I'd like to do something soon with the business idea in the near future. It certainly shouldn't be completely abandoned.

"Pink Laughter Kingdom"

Pink Laughter Kingdom is a world concept that I came up with about 5 or so years ago. I created a personal philosophy called Pink Laughter and decided to flesh it out into something design-oriented. It's essentially a fantasy world centered on a strong philosophy. Here is the philosophy:

Pink Laughter is: a visceral expression and entity of joy, creativity, fantasy, imagination, "surreality", childlike curiosity, wonder, elation, zanism and innovation. This is a state of being, a state of mind and an emotion. The magic and state of pink laughter can be invoked at any time. It satisfies deeply the inner spirit while reflecting it outward, filling up an otherwise emotional bottomless pit and creating an erupting volcano of hyper magic, iridescent moods and wild, arcane, joyful, cacophonous, perpetual echoes of laughter.

Whatever you gravitated towards or found fascinating as a child has to be tapped into again. It goes back to the core, the central plan and mother epiphany. The state of Pink Laughter makes this possible through invocation. It soothes the savage beast within and brings out the Alice (from Alice in Wonderland) in all of us.

The Pink Laughter philosophy permeates into the way I live life, create art and think. It's a magical realm that welcomes all.

I'd love to expand this world concept through a series of stories and character developments. I was initially attracted to developing the Pink Laughter Kingdom world concept not only because self-philosophy but also due to my fascination with languages and micronations...

I remember spending lots of time, when younger, trying to development my own language. I came up with the idea right before high school and I took action of coming up with a language once I had taken my first French class. I realized that creating a language was going to be quite a large feat and that it would take much of my time.

I always carried around this small but thick notebook. In it, I'd write lots of poetry, create drawings and jot down various phrases, words, ideas and fantasy make-believe names. I decided to use this notebook for developing the mechanics of my language. I named the language Jeoydo, which stands for I We Us. I based it off the English language and some Latin language grammar rules (for example, manner of conjugating verbs). I spent about 3 years taking the language into various stages of development, but shortly after I attended college, I found myself less involved in a lot of my creative pursuits and passions. This was truly when I lost focus in a deep and authentic sense...

However, this early involvement left a legacy of ideas, which as I mentioned before, was picked up on years later.

What came out of these ideas were some design pieces: The Road to Pink Laughter Kingdom (which displays the PLK Flag), Pink Laughter Kingdom Currency, Pink Laughter Kingdom Map and various character illustrations.

These illustrations were mainly created in Illustrator 10/CS2 and some were taken into Photoshop for digital painting enhancement.

I'd like to revamp some of these illustration ideas as well as expand other ones that have yet to be created or completed. And of course, I have plans to create a series of stories based on this world.

"Abstractis"

This piece was a mixture of modeling done in 3D Studio Max 6 and digital manipulation in Photoshop CS.

I first created an abstract land environment in 3D Studio max. This image is the original image with the blue sky background and the deep blue-green water flooring. After looking at it a bit more, I felt that more could be done with it, so I decided to render the image again and take it into Photoshop for further dressing.

I used various layer options, masking and digital painting as well as detailed text creation and treatment...and I came out with the magenta themed image. I felt the title Abstractis was appropriate and fitting.

"Moogle Room" and others

Moogle Room was one of my first big assignments with 3D Studio Max. The objective was to create a themed room. I've always liked the Moogle characters from the Final Fantasy series, so I felt inspired to create an elegant but sophisticated and playful room for individuals of Moogle size. I created a room and rendered it in various angles without lighting and then as a final touch, added lighting for the finished image.

When I first took a class in 3D Studio Max (version 6 was current at the time), I really didn't know what to expect. I had never taken a 3D Design class and I'd never done any modeling...however, I had been fascinated by animation and 3D artwork for the longest time.

I remember seeing 3D Studio Max's GUI back in 2002. A boyfriend, at the time, had the program and I would use his computer during visits. The program looked very complicated and intimidating. There were so many features and I couldn't make sense of them.

So when I took the 3D Studio Max course, I came in with this impression as well as a lack of experience actually using the program. I didn't know how I was going to do.

What happened is that I became obsessed with 3D Studio Max and found that I enjoyed it thoroughly. I wanted to know all that there was to know about it and I was especially fixated on lighting, materials and modeling. There were many nights I stayed up on my computer at home learning as much as I could about 3ds Max, doing online tutorials and experimenting with various designs.

I found that I learned very quickly and thus took to the program easily. This inspired me to contemplate on whether I wanted to explore animation professionally or stay with graphic design. I eventually decided to finish pursuing my degree in graphic design. I liked how versatile I could be in the learning process of this direction. As a result, I didn't invest myself in the program much further because I was so busy with other projects.

Learning 3D Studio Max opened my mind up to better ways of implementing chiaroscuro (use of light and shadow) in my 2D digital work. I found that using the program was a good way to train the eye in developing a better understanding of 3D perspective and effects. I'd like to get back to using it more often because when I visit sites such as 3DTotal, 3D Kingdom, CG Society and the like, I feel an urge to play around more in the program and see where I can take my skills...because I know there's potential there for more creative expression.

"Beach Scene"

I created this illustration in Illustrator CS3 and really didn't have any idea of what I was going to create in terms of a vacation scene. As I looked at various images online to brainstorm some ideas, I immediately knew I wanted something playful and child-like.

I thought of a vacation that never ends where you have an entire island to yourself...clean beige sand granules intermixed with eroded minuscule rock crystals, fragrant salty sea water stretching out into the far away milk-chocolate colored mountains in the horizon, arched palm trees that flirt right above your head which provide nurturing shade and curious but fun-inspiring sailboats and beach umbrellas sprinkled about respectively on both water and land.

I am reminded of the times I've visited several artist colonies and towns along the central coast of California. One of my favorite places in that area to go is Cambria near San Simeon. There are great stretches of beach which are literally covered and littered with tons of semi-precious rocks and stones including moonstones. Many stones are jasper, agate and so forth. Collecting these wonderfully little stones for hour after hour is what I consider one of life's simple but highly rewarding pleasures.

I'll have to make a trip back out there someday and this time, I'd like to experiment with some of the rocks I'll collect for jewelry and mosaic tile designs.

"The Kingdom of Passoli"

This illustration was very basic in the beginning. The creatures coming out of the tunnel were made from basic shapes but I found their simple structures to be profound, stimulating looking and rather playful...so I decided to flesh them out further and create a general story concept and design around them. The creatures are called Passolites and they are beings who comprise The Kingdom of Passoli. I thought about putting them into my Pink Laughter Kingdom concept as a warring and mischief-making nation at odds with the inhabitants and towns of Pink Laughter Kingdom, but I might make The Kingdom of Passoli story one of its own.

The design went through various stages and was composed of many layers. It was initially created in Illustrator and then taken into Photoshop.

The initial image looked like this:

"Floraline Metropolis"

This piece was created in Illustrator 10. I wanted to create my own rendition of the color wheel thus I decided to work with a floral theme. This illustration took a long time to create and the piece had many many layers. After the initial design was drawn in Illustrator, I took it over to Photoshop CS to began digital painting and manipulation. The detail (as there is a LOT) of this piece can really be seen and fully appreciated at a larger scale. The original size is 3000 x 3000 pixels.

Several people mentioned that this piece looked like a mandala of some sort and it made them feel a sense of well-being looking at it. I like this interpretation and I'd say there was a dormant objective in this vein of thought when I created the illustration. Nature, reflection, harmony, peace and the power of color and energy (unity) are entities projected amid a stylized metropolitan background.

"The Day Spa"

This illustration was created in Flash CS3.

I wanted to capture a serene and peaceful day spa which hosts a bit of magic realism. It looks to be ordinary in some sense, but it's somewhat offbeat, baroque (warped) and cartoon-like. The implication is this is a completely different dimension that one can escape to emotionally...and once those emotions are tapped into, the The Day Spa becomes a real place to reside in. It's a place where day never ends and tranquility abounds. You can relax in the small pool, hot tub or spread out on the sparkling but warm reflective floors while gazing out of the windows into horizons and horizons of beautiful sky, rich grass and radiant sun.

"Blaiza"

An illustration of a playful trinity of trickster and enigmatic clowns created in Illustrator and further developed in Photoshop.

These clowns were inspired by my fascination with the Southern Oracle trials and related characters from The Neverending Story...as well as by my fascination with trinities overall.