Tom Tian: Visual Artist: Vector

Showing posts with label Vector. Show all posts

7/2/13

Monogram-a-Week/Whenever: Patriotic Extra

By my reckoning, I owe you guys at least ~~eight~~ nine monograms. Regular releases will resume next week, so keep your eyes peeled!

5/5/13

Monogram-a-Week: 11

The eleventh installment in our ongoing, haphazardly updated series. The full initials should be "WJS," but I couldn't quite fit the "J" into it.

4/21/13

Monogram-a-Week: 09

Pardon the interruption. We now return to our regularly scheduled programming.

3/10/13

Monogram-a-Week: 06

This week's entry: A handwritten and hand-lettered "JK."

3/8/13

A quick, very straightforward illustrated save-the-date postcard for Healthy Water Solutions, an affiliate of the Illinois chapter of the Sierra Club. The corresponding event focuses on the use of hydro-separation and other engineering initiatives to reverse the environmental degradation of the Chicago River and reinvigorate an economically moribund sector of the city. The basic illustration and layout was in turn adapted onto a mail piece and signs.

12/28/12

The Produce of Leisure

Drawn in Illustrator CS5

It's been a slow week all around, which means finally having some quality time for side projects. These "quick" portraits of Audrey Hepburn and Ernest Hemingway, based on photos by the legendary Yousuf Karsh, were drawn dot-by-dot in Illustrator CS5 over a couple of hours.

1/2/12

Year of the Dragon

Drawn in Illustrator CS5; lightly post-processed in Photoshop CS5

The actual Year of the Dragon begins on the twenty third of January, so consider this an anticipation of things to come.

Update: Now available as a wallpaper at the following sizes (right/ctrl-click and select "view in new tab/window" for full size):

1024 x 768

1920 x 1080

10/28/11

Mr. President

Drawn in Illustrator CS5; original size: A1 (594mm x 841mm)

A strictly unofficial vector poster of Barack.

8/31/11

Northern Cardinal

Drawn in Illustrator CS5

Quick vector sketch of a northern cardinal in winter.

8/22/11

Put a Bird on It!

Drawn in Illustrator CS5

Pardon the dearth of content as of late. The Hypocrite Reader didn't feature any illustrations this month, and I've been busy with a separate project for another client in the meantime. Anyhow, here's a goldcrest, which, like all birds, is something you can put on a shirt or mug to make it art.

6/15/11

Against the Crowd

Drawn in Illustrator CS5

I love inking and coloring by hand, but sometimes digital is genuinely a better solution (especially if you find yourself in a bind time-wise, like I did). Anyhow, this lovely piece of work is for this month's installment of the Hypocrite Reader, which has yet to be released as of press time.

4/26/11

What Big Eyes You Have

Drawn in Illustrator CS5.

Owls' eyes aren't this big in real life.

3/30/11

Candid Assessments: The Point

Old cover is on the left; my quick reinterpretation, laid out in Illutrator CS5
using Trade Gothic is on the right. Copy unceremoniously borrowed from
The Point's website, so pardon any mistakes.
Cover features City (Westward) (2008), by Jason Salavon.

I recall looking over a classmate's shoulder once in an art history lecture to find him "designing" a cover for what turned out to be the first issue of The Point. The publication of record is a seldom-released but well curated, reputable (and widely distributed) small-scale journal that attracts good writers owing to its close connections with the University.

Problem is, that's not the impression most people would get upon seeing said magazine for the first time, and the haphazard design is to blame.

The masthead is plagued by the loose leading between the words "THE" and "POiNt," the iffy kerning between the letters "N" and "t," the unsettling disproportion between the counter and bowl of the letters "P" and "O," respectively, and the unnecessary tension between the word "THE" and "POiNt," which, though of disparate size, are equally heavy. I also take issue with the inconsistent use of upper- and lower-case glyphs, which quite frankly just plain contradicts the professionalism of the content within.

As for the teasers, I really can't say much except that I'd prefer it be set flush left, and that the two tiers of teasers could either be set in separate columns or at least use a more generous paragraph break.

I have no idea what the inside pages look like, but the cover's indecisiveness (is it a journal or a magazine?) inspires doubt. I do, however, like the fact that it's printed on something that resembles a standard trade paperback/ISO A4 instead of ANSI A1, which ought to make it slightly easier to read.

Good content deserves good design. Let's hope that changes soon.

On an unrelated note, here's a doodle I made of a happy lumberjack: