I'm a Wanderer

You have all probably wondered about exactly what I am doing in school this semester since I never really put it out there. What is this girl doing? What are some of the things she is talking about? Does she even take classes anymore since I hear so much about her social life now?

To be honest, the many distractions have to be cut in half. I love it, don't get me wrong , but yes, it must (unfortunately) slow. I am in the beginning-ish of a full-time graduate status, but I have the least amount of classes that I have had since starting this program. I am taking Advanced Graphic Design with Donna Hughes, Animation with Greg Blew, two credits of Project Research, and an online Pathophysiology course that will be starting soon. I need to start working more on the Project Research more before it is too late, and I will be this upcoming week at least that is the plan. I want to graduate on-time (aka this May) which means I really have to get my thesis project moving. Ugh.

Otherwise, my favorite class is of course, Advanced Graphic Design. Donna is so good at what she does and during our individual discussion about our progress with our work she shows the insight and creativity she possesses. It is incredibly inspiring to get to know more about reasons behind colors, shapes, type, etc. I finally received my book 1000 Symbols: What Shapes Mean in Art and Myth, and I immersed myself in it right away. I have always been fascinated by any form of art, but more so I was interested in the meaning behind it, the personal history behind the individual who created the work. When you know those components, it is not just a pretty picture anymore, it is more relevant and I hold a much greater appreciation for the art. Masters like Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo (my Classical favorites) have this deeper meaning in their work and I am just in awe on how they did it. Though I will mostly likely never be honored like these two, I strive to hold meaning behind my art. Though I may not have the ability to do this in much of my medical illustration, I can in my graphic design which is probably why I love it so much.

We are working on creating symbols for three different branches of medicine in the class presently. The kicker is that each symbol has to be distinguishable, but at the same time, all be cohesive as a group. When I looked at the syllabus, we had 4 different preliminary meeting where we had to be at certain points in the process, but not officially completed for an entire month. An entire month to dish out three basic symbols? That's a piece of cake. Well, when I started, I was shocked at how difficult it was. First you have to break them all down to the basics and then you have to make sure that they look similar enough at the same time. Quite a challenge, but I am finally at a place where it all just came together in what I wanted so it is well on its way. I just have pages of crude sketches and some Illustrator files that I have been working with at the time, but nothing finished. In a few weeks, I post like always.

What I have above are the symbols of the American Hobo that we talked about in class a day during a symbols and icons lecture. Never would I have thought about this but it makes complete sense for a roaming, free-spirit community, would have a way to communicate. Very easy to identify and able to be written with a simple piece of chalk or coal, these symbols did the job and kept many hobos out of trouble and able to survive in their lifestyle. I thought it was interesting and worth the share. I images have the meanings underneath them; take a look for yourself!

Photos courtesy of vinci.org. Hobo symbols.