Art and Design Commons^™

Exploring Pedagogical Approaches: A Comparative Analysis Of Information Delivery Methods In Fish Dissection Instruction, Kiara Smidt

Honors Projects

The Covid-19 pandemic prompted a global shift to remote work and education, challenging traditional teaching methods. This research explores the effectiveness of audiovisual versus visual-only guides in teaching perch dissection anatomy, safety, and procedure. The study involves a cross-sectional experiment with students from an Introduction to Biology course at Bowling Green State University. Participants were divided into groups using either a video or a written guide, and their knowledge was assessed before and after the dissection. Results calculated through a Student’s t-test indicate no significant difference in overall effectiveness between the two methods, apart from labeling an anatomy diagram and …

Vinyl Cover - ..Normal?, Kayla Dos Santos

Illustration Student Work

I listen to Indie/Indie Rock/Indie Alternative music, so based off of some of the covers from the songs in my playlist, I decided to use similar colors and compositions.

Always Judge A Book By Its Cover, Abby Miller

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The goal for this honors project is to build my illustration portfolio and to explore the world of children's book illustration. This project will facilitate my improvement in design layout, theming, and illustration. I would love to pursue a job involving children's book illustrations at some point in the future and completing this project would help me to understand the challenges that come with designing such covers, it would improve my ability to illustrate in a purposeful manner, and it would strengthen my portfolio overall.

Songs To Scream To, Camille Walker

Illustration Student Work

This work depicts a woman with her brain levitating out of her head. Tv static leaks from her eyes and her mouth. This work was made as an album cover for a small playlist.

Vinyl Cover, Lauryn Harden

Illustration Student Work

For this assignment, I wanted to tell a story of a girl unraveling the stories of the abandon kingdom she's entering. I went a surreal, atmospheric theme for this playlist so I can capture the curios yet ominous journey that the character is about to face. The song that I choose to reflect the illustration was White Palace by Christopher Larkin. The setting has a monochromatic scheme of grays while the character had dulled out colors to show that she's out of place. The character is about to cross the bridge, making her way towards the palace.

Ddx217 Images For Advertising Example 1, Paul Morris, Talana Hacking

Exemplars

This work is for Project 2 of DDX172. Students had to create a themed portfolio of Illustrator work utilising different techniques. The work shows masterful and successful illustration work. The student was not fazed and went out of their comfort zone.

Candy Poisoning And You!, Kaylah Fraser

Illustration Student Work

A zine that dispels the myths around candy poisoning and what we can do to combat the issues going on around Halloween.

Leafy Sea Dragon, Phycodurus Sp., Kennedi X. Light

PANDION: The Osprey Journal of Research and Ideas

Artist Statement

Leafy sea dragons, Phycodurus sp. are part of the Syngnathidae family. Syngnathidae is a genus made up of seahorses, pipefishes, and sea dragons. All three of the species are known to have beautiful patterning. However, leafy sea dragons got their name from their leafy appendages like their fins and limbs. The reason I chose to draw a leafy sea dragon is due to my own interest in astrobiology. Astrobiology is the study of life in the universe and astrobiologists look for signs of life within the universe. I would like to be an astrobiologist one day and focus …

The Conversation, Minwoo Kim

Illustration Student Work

Two person conversation

Beast And Man In India: Undoing John Lockwood Kipling’S Imperial Citation, Oishani Sengupta

Criticism

This article posits that John Lockwood Kipling’s Beast and Man in India (1891), the illustrated compendium on animals that mixes discussions of colonial cross-species entanglements with personal reflections on transforming local arts and crafts in India in the service of imperial power, is a multiauthored book. Centering the presence of Indian illustrators as central to Beast and Man’s texture, this essay uses the term “imperial citation” to highlight the range of strategies Kipling uses to overtly and covertly appropriate the labor of Indigenous creators within the fabric of this volume. By placing the material text within the context of colonial …

I Buried The Fireworks Under The Tree, Sihan Zhu

Masters Theses

Unreachable memories always surround me. I've been trying to extract logical parts from my chaotic memories, hoping to find a connection with the world within the soundless, intangible black fireworks stored in my retina under the grand fireworks display. When I first encountered intaglio printmaking, I impulsively drew subconscious memories on the plate, arranging them along some chaotic storylines. Gradually, I realized that I needed to create my own logical structure. So I started using specific visual symbols and repeating them, using the repetition of the printmaking process to search for logical clues. Printmaking with its special rhythm allowed me …

The Dark House And Its Inhabitants, Emily Bielski

MFA in Illustration & Visual Culture

From the inception of the genre, Gothic horror has been fixated on the domestic space in distress. This essay explores domestic archetypes and roles of the Gothic novel, serving as a “tour of the house”, analyzing the iconography of the dark castle, and how it externalizes and exacerbates the fears and behaviors of its inhabitants. The power dynamic of the household is starkly divided by the expectations and authority of masculine and feminine figures. In turn the “house” becomes a vehicle for the anxieties of the inhabitants—both experienced and inflicted—regarding gender, sexuality, isolation, and abuse. Exploration of the visual and …

Legends Of Light: Crafting Middle Grade Fantasy In The Tradition Of Catholic Philosophy And Medieval Visual Culture, Bernadette Lamb

MFA in Illustration & Visual Culture

This essay promotes the writing and illustrating of middle grade literature that mirrors the wonder-inducing experiences of leafing through an illuminated manuscript and stepping into a Gothic cathedral. An examination of Catholic medieval visual culture moves into a discussion on its underlying philosophy and theology, which are profoundly centered on relational healing and the dignity of the human person. Christian writers including St. Pope John Paul II, C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, Josef Pieper, Madeline L’Engle, Dr. Bob Schuchts, Makoto Fujimura, and Andrew Peterson inform an exploration of mercy, forgiveness, and love as self-gift in the context of illustration and storytelling …

Visual Development For Wellspring, Jane Frances Anderson

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The primary focus of this thesis is the study of visual development for worldbuilding, starting with creative writing and documentation and translating the written content into visual concepts in both 2D and 3D. This project includes an original narrative, setting, and characters and explores aspects of the visual development pipeline. The content below contains work in visual research, 2D character design, 3D character sculpting, 3D printing and assembly, hard-surface modeling, matte-painting, illustration, compositing, and heavy creative writing.

“The Escapades Of Cat & Dog” The Process Of Creating A Children’S Book From Start To Finish, Cosette Simmons

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The focus of this thesis project was to learn and understand the amount of work that goes into children’s book illustration, as well as bringing the story of another’s to life. “The Escapades of Cat & Dog” was written by my grandfather, George Petrella, to tell the story of my mother and her sibling’s pets going on kooky adventures. The script was given to me back in 2017-2018 not to long after my grandmother, Jane Petrella, passed away due to cancer. The result consists of a 36 page 9 by 9 inch fully illustrated book intended to be …

Visual Development Of The Night Sky Circus, Rebeca Ortiz

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This creative thesis explores the process of visual development and how one can apply it to their own body of work. Visual Development encompasses the entire concept design process, from the idea to the final design. Vis Dev artists document their journey to depict how an idea becomes a fully refined and polished concept. They illustrate a wide variety of elements, such as characters, costuming, props, and environments. The development of all of these factors then allows the artist to cultivate an imaginative and creative world that could be used for multiple forms of entertainment, such as animated films, video …

Ideation And Iteration For Creatives, Sandee M. Chamberlain

KSU Distinguished Course Repository

This course addresses the development of visual literacy including concepting, initial approaches of creating an encompassing aesthetic, creating timelines for production, and exploring the refining aspects of creative production. Students will devise an advanced creative problem and provide a documented account of their creative journey to present as a process journal at the end of the course.

In A Small Sea, Thomas Giebler

Master's Theses

A pool of water stands before you. It is nebulous and free flowing. As you peer in, you realize how vast and deep something initially so unassuming on the surface has become.

This is my small sea.

Within this sea that rests between my ears, I am a small ‘c’ creator. This body of water is filled with experiences, inspiration, and vision. In this place, I synthesize the world around me into my work, creating microcosms that are full of life, color, and story. The idea of microcosms is the cornerstone of my design.

Within each of my created worlds, …

Mettle, Chelsey Augustine

Master's Theses

While many see Graphic Design as a separation from art, for me, it has always been a happy blend between my fine art and technological skills. In both areas, I think about what I want the audience to think of feel when the pieces in question. Form, color, anatomy, and concept are all part of my creative process, regardless of whether I am creating digitally with a Wacom or building a wax form in the foundry.

During my graduate studies, I started to get into a flow of building narratives to hone in on conceptual branding ideas. Being able to …

Mycelium, Minjoo Lee

Master's Theses

Mycelium (noun)

/mʌɪˈsiːlɪəm/

plural: mycelia

the vegetative, root-like part of a fungus, consisting of a network of fine white thread-like filaments (hyphae).

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From as long as I can remember,

I’ve drawn inspiration from nature. I’ve always looked to create art and designs that contain the same visual elements and story-telling that is so present in nature.

In mycelia, I found inspiration in the fact that they are vital in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems for their role in the decomposition of material. They give life to what has died, turning negative into positive.

TATUME ISLAND Tattoo Studio was born out …

The Collaboration Between Art And Botany, Hee So, Sierra Beecher

Undergraduate Research Posters

Using past research from my work study with Dr. Beecher where a team of students focused on quantitative and diagnostic anatomies of salt marsh and beach grasses on the Atlantic coasts, I used the research collected and created vector-based diagrams that were easily readable for Biology students at VCU. These illustrations were used in a manuscript we have been preparing, which has been accepted by the “Castanea” scientific journal. During the research fellowship, I was able to design a poster that portrayed the benefits of collaboration between art and botany, and Dr. Beecher presented the poster at the ASPB conference …

An Exploration Into Public Art, Samantha Fazio

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This project explores both the processes of designing and creating a mural and the community impact of public art. It aims to answer questions including: What goes into creating a mural? What is public art and why is it important? How does it socially and economically impact the community and its members? In doing this project, I aimed to gain a deeper understanding of how to create a mural and of the greater cultural context that public art projects exist in.

Illustration, Lynne S. Foster

Open Educational Resources

No abstract provided.

Digital Imaging And Illustration, Lynne S. Foster

Open Educational Resources

No abstract provided.

Lisa Congdon: The Self-Taught Design Pioneer, Kate Foley

Communication Design: Design Pioneers

Known for her colorful, bold, and whimsical folk art-inspired illustration and design style, Lisa Congdon brings joy and passion, fueled by her own self-taught journey, to the modern world of graphic design. Congdon is a fine artist, illustrator, and writer, producing works driven by her experiences with mental health, social justice, being queer, and being a woman. “And while all of those things can feel really dark and hard sometimes, there is a certain amount of joy that I feel, and that’s always what I want to try and express to the world” (Johnson, 2021), she shares. Although her path …

Sarah Boris, Emily Gaugler

Communication Design: Design Pioneers

Boris Sarah Boris has been in the art and design industry for over fifteen years, but some might say she is just getting started. Boris worked for design industries and art organizations such as the Barbican, the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA), and Phaidon Publishing, but in 2015 she took a more independent approach and opened her own design studio in London, Sarah Boris Design. Since opening her studio Boris has pursued personal explorations, collaborations, and commissions. Her work is clean, bright, and impactful, and she is gaining admiration from students and design critics. She has a gift for creating …

Mrs. Florence Mante's Amazing Grace School, Daniel Keith Davis

LSU Master's Theses

Mrs. Florence Mante’s Amazing Grace School is the story of both Mama Florence and the children that she has dedicated her life to. Mrs. Florence Mante is the Ghanaian cofounder of the Amazing Grace Preparatory School. The West African school is committed to developing African leaders and ending the cycles of poverty in the village of Kodiekrom. My thesis focuses on using interview-driven artwork and collaborative storytelling to depict the unique challenges and triumphs of Mama Florence’s life in Ghana. Digital illustrations, a narration from Mama Florence, and music take the viewer on her deeply compelling journey, raising awareness for …

A Perfect Escape: Fantasy, Place And Narrative In Adolescence, Cydney Cherepak

MFA in Illustration & Visual Culture

This essay explores the realms of special places, the literary genre of fantasy, narrative, and comics. These topics are traversed alongside subjects of adolescence and the creation of stories for middle-grade readers. Framed with personal stories, as well as peaks into my process, I investigate these subjects through the lens of my own life and work, specifically my thesis project, a comic for middle-grade readers titled Beyond the Castle Walls. Beginning with adolescence in association with special places, I consider the work of developmental psychologists David Sobel and Edith Cobb as they pin-point the role of secret forts, nature, …

Superficial: An Exploration Of Decoration, Fashion, Taste, Camp, And Trends, Jillian Ohl

MFA in Illustration & Visual Culture

Since the rise of consumer culture in the late 19th century, Americans have had a complicated relationship with decorative objects, the idea of taste, and the cycle of trends within our classist society. This essay examines some of the decorative objects in my childhood home such as patterned wallpaper and an antique chair as well as a contemporary brand name mascara. While these objects do not have major functional properties, their decoration and superficiality bring me joy. To better understand my appreciation of decoration and aesthetics, I assess how an object or fashion is considered in good or bad taste. …

Meet Me In The Middle Ages: Engaging With Fantasy, Reality, And Collaborative World-Building, Amanda Greene

MFA in Illustration & Visual Culture

This critical essay accompanies and describes my thesis project, Medievalia Miscellany, a magazine for middle-grade readers which explores the world of medieval fantasy through art, comics, stories, and activities. Throughout the essay, I use my own term “archaeological upcycling” to discuss and explore a variety of relationships between ideas of parts and a whole. I then use it to characterize the way stories are created out of many different parts and how these parts help a reader to relate to both the world of the story and the world in which they live. I describe the genre of medieval fantasy …