This was out of my usual comfort zone, because I don’t think I’ve ever designed a romance book, let alone a historical romance book, but it was a fun opportunity nonetheless. Angela already had books 1-4 designed, so I had the extra challenge to mimic her typography and style, while also finding stock images that represented her story well. For Bride of the Rockies, I had to rebuild the World Fair in the background. I relied heavily on public domain historical images for the skyline, and more adjustment layers than I even want to think about. For Flame of the Rockies, I was actually able to use some old drafts from an entirely different cover, so the background went much faster. I was able to essentially drop it in place and put my focus on the model and lighting. I guess this is why I hoard old Photoshop files. You never know if you’re going to be able to make something out of them.
Lincoln Log Full Campaign
I took a web design class for grad school, and we had to create an entire website, logo, web banner ads, landing page, social media, blog, and full campaign for a fictional company of our choice. Below is my entire campaign and write ups on my design decisions (as well as some Easter eggs I slipped into the project). I ended this class with an A.
The Book of Esther Redesign with Commentary
For class we were tasked with redesigning a short book of the Bible. One of our options was Esther, and even though I wasn’t particularly a fan of that story, I knew there was a lot of interesting history there. I decided to not only redesign the book like the class required, but I also wanted to make it a historical and biblical commentary. My dad and I worked together to sift through the historical references–Dad came up with a timeline based off of James Ussher’s Annals of History while I read Josephus. Below is the cover jacket design and some of the spreads in the book. I’ve also included the introduction to read below the designs, in case you want to know more about what went into the in-depth project. If you’d like to purchase the book, you can find it here. I got an A- on this project.
Fire Writing: The Hobby of Pyrography (Feat. Josiah Vogel)
Music Video: Mary, Did You Know? (Feat. One Accord)
Behind the Scenes of “Faint Not”
Several people have asked me how I put together my Scripture For Life chapel challenge video (If you haven’t seen it, you can watch it here!) So I thought I might take the night alone in my room to write a basic tutorial explaining how I made the animations using just Photoshop and Final Cut Pro X. I started out with the idea. My roommate suggested doing an animation versus a live-action video because I wouldn’t have to feel bad about collecting the prize scholarship when so many actors would have helped with the project. With a cartoon made completely from my computer, I would have done the entire video myself. The first thing to do was come up with a verse I’d like to center my video around. That was easy, since my college verses are Isaiah 41:10,13. I liked the visual image I got when I read the verses, since it specifically talks about the God of the universe holding our right hand and leading us along through our life’s trials.