Masks and Mishaps

Over the past few days I made some clay masks for a customer. They were drying ever so peacefully on the back deck yesterday afternoon that I decided to leave them out there this morning and thus keep them from stinking up the apartment. Then I left to run errands...and on the way home it started pouring.

Lesson of the day:

clay masks + pouring rain = sad pandas

The masks are clay and most of them are flat and simply decorative, so you can put them up on your wall or somesuch. Managed to rescue them as well as I could, so here they are:

Mask 1 - Day of the Dead half-mask

Mask 2 - Ashanti Ghost, based on this one.
due to its size I had to put it on cardboard backing...which didn't like the rain either
Mask 3 - Day of the Dead - full face. Resting on a full face mask mold to help keep the shape.
Mask 4 - inspired by this.
Mask 5 - first to be made.

However - marvels of nature include the sky, light, and everything turning very saturated shades of green during a thunderstorm. I still find that incredibly cool (there was the one time everything turned sepia...but that was mostly due to smog, which made it inherently less cool).

CaribFest calendar artwork I

First set of photos of artwork going into the CaribFest Kingston 2009 Special Edition program. Each is an image for the calendar inside.

So far all are water-soluble oils on canvas board

October - Silhouette
September - Green Dress
July - Limbo Dancers

Still finishing up/taking pictures of the rest of the months.

Writing Sample

This brief was published in the Spring'09 issue of the Queen's Alumni Review. It appeared in the Alumni Notes section as a spotlight on the marketing initiative that the ThankQ Graduating Class Gift Commitee organized in November of '08 as a means to kick off fundraising events for the Winter term.

"Students prepare to give back

On November 24, every building on campus was plastered with paper tags identifying all the items inside that had been purchased with the assistance of alumni gifts. From chairs to blackboards to computers, more than 2,000 items were tagged, drawing the philanthropic message to the attention of students. If the tri-colour letter-size tags were not visible enough, three massive “tag” banners were put up on Grant Hall, Stauffer Library, and the fence of the Queen’s Centre construction site.

Tag Day was organized by the student-run ThankQ committee, to recognize student and alumni contributions to Queen’s and to help students think about their class gift campaigns in winter term. November 24 represents the day in the academic year in which students’ tuition stops covering the real expenses of their education: alternate sources, including donations from alumni and students, cover the shortfall for the rest of the year. The ThankQ committee helps graduating students in each faculty raise funds toward their class gift to the University. The 2008 graduating class raised $23,000 for Queen’s.

The tags, which were only on display for 24 hours – long enough to remind students of the extent of the tradition of giving at Queen’s – also promoted the class of 2009 website. For information on the year’s class gifts and each faculty’s progress, go to www.classof2009.ca."

Digital Media Portfolio, updated

A sampling of most recent digital work.

THANKQ GRADUATING CLASS GIFT PROGRAM

As part of my volunteering with this group, I was requested to create a logo and advertising material to promote a university-wide fundraising event.

The event: a Nintendo Rockband tournament where student-created "bands" face one another while playing the game to raise funds for the Graduating Class Gift.
The challenge: make the brand unique, while echoing the Nintendo Rockband video game style.

The logo:

The posters:


The Blog
For event details and registration info, Rock the Gift has it's own Blogger page, with a custom-designed header.



QUEEN'S STUDENT ALUMNI ASSOCIATION

As the VP of Marketing and Communications, I was requested to make some promotional material for a weekend Career Conference on campus. The visual identity of the QSAA brand had to be maintained throughout: using specific "Queen's" colours, fonts, and logos.

The colour image was 1/2 of page 2 in the Queen's Journal

The grayscale image was 1/2 of 5 in Golden Words, the humorous Engineering newspaper




LOGO WORK

Civil Alert

A little while ago I posted a work-in-progress that had since undergone more changes to become the logo of Sabir Bey's Civil Alert World.
When I had received the order, the request was to make a purple metallic phoenix with a gold glow to it. Looking at it now, I may make some changes to it in the near future.

WinterTrekking.com

The Winter Trekkers and Campers Online Community requested a logo showcasing some of the equipment that is featured on their website.
The logo appearing in the top left corner of the page was originally drawn by hand from a photo reference, then scanned and turned into vector art.
This was a collaborative work with ArtTina.

Sk8kicks.com

Sk8kicks.com requested a logo and a banner for their website. The shoe logo was heavily edited from a stock photo, as was the graffiti background. All images are credited to the Stock Exchange.

GOLF101: Queen's Toronto Alumni Golf Tournament


Queen's Toronto Alumni The Queen’s Alumni Branch of Toronto required a logo that was both reminiscent of Queen’s University branding, and was youthful and sporty.

The title suggests a class code that would be appreciated by recent graduates and the overall look is academic in its simplicity but still conveys the necessary message. The “Q” is a vector similar to that used by Queen’s University on its academic materials.


WEBSITE SUPPORT

Over the past four years, I have been the webmaster for Shaping in Canada, Inc., our family-owned fitness studio in Toronto, Ontario.

In addition to ensuring timely news updates of classes and promotions, I have been requested to photograph the studio and keep an up-to-date gallery. Currently, I am working on re-designing the site layout for a third time to make it more user-friendly and enticing.


TRADITIONAL ART

For a gallery of my works in ink, colour, and sketches, please visit my DeviantArt page.


If you like my work and would like to contact me for commissions, please e-mail me at alissa.sokolski@gmail.com.

2009, bring it on!

With a look back at 2008, the next step is to plan for the year ahead (because every self-respecting blogger has their list of resolutions)

...and in no particular order, here they come!

GRADUATE FROM UNIVERSITY
Ok, I lied, this is a first and foremost thing...and with enough kicking and stubborn pouting I hope to enter the "real world" confused, broke, and loving it in April '09.

GET A "LIFE"
Meaning finding employment of some sort/meaning which would sustain me and my burning desire to get my own apartment/home/box by May '09.

GET PHYSICALLY HEALTHY
From shedding "exam" pounds, to eating better, to returning to belly dance class for the hell of it, I really need to get into a nice, healthy routine.

SOLIDIFY RELATIONSHIPS
People, who I love dearly, watch out! I'm not going away anytime soon :)

GEEKIFY!
Really put an effort into learning about subjects that are hella boring in school, but define and embellish our existence.

MORE ART
With some big projects already on the go, this year I will really make a dent in improving my style and skill and make something notable of this hobby.

this is totally doable

2008 in review

The new year is here to stay it seems, and demands of many to look back at all the happenings, goings-on and achievements of 2008.

For the most part things were great, some amazing things have happened, as did some bad. For the sake of personal record, the top 10 (in no particular order) of 2008:

1. Making it into 4th year at university (and so far staying there)
2. Re-kindling and revamping a wonderful "friendship" with an epic genius of a man
3. Cultivating an interest in all things gadgety, techy, and otherwise geeky
4. Landing the most kickass volunteer position imaginable
5. Quitting one job in favour of another
6. The return of dad from his long-term employment overseas for good
7. Getting some legitimate design orders
8. Seriously beefing up my book and graphic novel collection
9. Being driven to tears by the tight-knit relationship with my housemates
10. Going from this:

to this:
...not very much it may seem...but there's big things on the horizon, just you wait

A big "Thank you" to everyone that has kept in touch with me until now, provided their support and irreplaceable advice, and been a source of perpetual awesome. Some days it's you guys that keep me going at churning out crazy ideas and misadventures to entertain you with (other days it just happens naturally).

I feel like I really took off in all directions and actively started pursuing a wide range of interests in the second half of the year. I'd say it roughly coinsides with a re-introduction to Radiohead via James Houston's cover of Nude: Big Ideas (don't get any), and thus far I'm really pleased to look back and see how far I've grown since back in August.

More importantly, in retrospect this shows how far I've got to go...and I couldn't be any more excited!

...so, 2009 bring it on!