My styles and Influences as a Graphic Designer

      I have been studying graphic design for the better part of 6 years now, and I can say with utmost confidence that I have really made a distinctive style for myself as an artist.

     Like most graphic designers, I started out my artistic career using traditional media and trying a lot of different styles and techniques out to see which one fit me personally. Though I explore many styles in my art, in my 'pen and paper' work I have found that I can resonate most with the American Traditional tattoo style. 

About My Style

     

     Diving more into my graphic design work, I use several different styles and techniques. Which one or ones that I use depends solely on what type of project I am working on. For example, when designing logos, I tend to stick to a more simplistic look and feel as long as that fits the brand, company, or person I am designing for.

     But when I'm designing a digital art piece for someone, I usually hone in on techniques I would use in my traditional media artwork. Such as the design below, where I designed a rose and dagger for an individual who wanted something in my personal American Traditional style. In this, I used a lot of traditional techniques, like shading and highlighting from a light source, symmetry, and gradients.

My Influences

     There are so many artists that I look to for inspiration and new ideas that I couldn't talk about every one of them in just one post. But I have a few people that have influenced a lot of my designs, both on paper and digitally.

     The first of those people is my high school graphic design teacher, Lara Muck. She, like myself, does traditional art alongside her graphic design work. I had the amazing opportunity to work with her for 3 years in the Advertising Design class that she taught at my local trade school where I went to school. She taught all kinds of things in the class and tailored things to student's specific needs. She has made logos and advertisements for other companies, as well as her own company that she started with her husband. With her help and guidance, I was able to expand my styles and learn how to successfully make solid graphic design pieces. I was also lucky enough, with the help of Mrs. Muck, to have a design I made for one of her classes go as far as to be nominated and win an award at the Skills USA postcard design competition. 

     One other person that I look to for inspiration is Ben J Crick. Mr. Crick is a New York-based designer that has worked for and designed for brands as large as Coca-Cola and Spotify. I originally discovered his work through my immense use of Spotify, as he has done a lot of the branding and cover art for the personal playlists that Spotify makes for their listeners. I love the simplicity of his work and how he works with, plays off of, and manipulates the photography that he uses in his designs.

     The person that has influenced me since I was a child, and inspired me to become an artist and make a career out of what I love is Kat Von D. Kat is several things, a tattoo artist, a traditional media artist, a musician, and a model just to name some of them. I grew up seeing her on television shows like Miami Ink and LA Ink, showing her work as a tattoo artist, and her personal growth as a person. As I got older and found out that art was a real passion of mine, I looked to Kat for inspiration and looked up to her as a role model for myself. She has overcome many obstacles, as a Latina woman who came from nothing, working in a male-dominant industry and thriving. Seeing someone like her go through everything she has, and still being able to continue doing what she loves was very inspiring to me both as an artist and as a young woman looking for where I fit in the art industry.