Better late than never: Hi, I'm Gabi!

Hi, I’m Gabi! I am a sophomore majoring in English, and, as of last week, minoring in Communication Design. A newcomer on the Los Angeles scene, I grew up in a small town in Connecticut on the Long Island Sound just outside New York City. Although I love New York, it’s hard to complain about the amazing weather in LA. I grew up with a multicultural upbringing. My Mom is from Argentina and my Dad is from South Africa. I am a recent fan of the fashion blog, Man Repeller. My roommate got me hooked on it. It's awesome. Check it out: http://www.manrepeller.com/ I have taken a few art classes, but have never taken a design class until now. Look below for some of my previous work!

Hi! I'm Sophia and here's a little about me!

My name is Sophia and I'm an International Relations major here at USC! I plan on minoring in French, and I am also hoping to declare a minor in Communication Design! I'm from a small town outside of Boston, Massachusetts and I came out to USC so that I could experience a different part of the country. I was drawn not only to USC for the unique programs offered here, but also to Los Angeles and being in a city that is home to so many different cultures and people. I love studying languages and am currently taking Spanish and French here at USC. I'm really interested in the way people interact and communicate through different means, and I am excited to learn more about how art can facilitate conversation between people and across cultures.

I grew up loving to make art, but aside from a drawing and painting class in high school, I have not had much formal teaching in art. One of my favorite artists is my father. His is not an artist by profession but he has always set aside time to paint and he taught my sister and me how to draw when we were younger. The picture below is of a painting he gave me for Christmas this year as a way to remember our family vacation to Santorini, Greece.

I really enjoy drawing, but have grown to love painting in recent years. Below are two of my paintings, both of which were done with watercolor.

This one was a gift that I made for my friend Nicole when she graduated college. She loves traveling and has lived in several different countries around the world, so I figured a map would be appropriate. Additionally, she always wears really bright colors so I decided that it would be fun to incorporate bright colors into the painting.

This painting depicts a vineyard in the village of Borja which is located in the Aragon region of Spain. The vineyard is 100 years old and the painting was inspired by a photograph a good friend of mine sent me while he was working at the vineyard in Spain this past summer.

I look forward to learning more about design in this class and can't wait to work with all of you!

Hi I'm Chrystal

Hi everyone!

I'm Chrystal, and I'm a freshman majoring in Environmental Studies...for now, and planning to at least minor in Communication Design, if not transfer into Roski to major in fine arts/design, but who knows really. I was born in San Francisco and moved to an international school in Beijing when I was twelve. Beijing is where I consider home and where I hope to return in the future to work with the abundance of social and environmental issues that are being clumsily dealt with in China (if at all...but lalalala I ramble).


(Edit: breaking up the horrible block of text I created, a digital doodle circa 2010 when I was really into the Black Eyed Peas...)

I've always been the "artsy" kid in class and liked to draw, but I became interested in design and began to take art more seriously when I became involved in a student magazine towards the end of ninth grade. I thought it was cool so I joined the formatting team and was introduced to design, but more importantly I met older students who were amazing designers/artists/people and mentored me and inspired me to improve. And so I became involved in the art/design community and developed a passion for it and did more things within it as high school went on - you can view my portfolio here. (Sorry the presentation is questionable and the writing is a bit lofty, I used it for college apps if that explains anything).


(If this interests you my portfolio has more toilets)

Anyways! The point of that story was that I often find the most inspiration in the creativity/talent/etc of the people around me so I'm really excited to be actually taking a design class with everyone! I sound super cheesy so here is a cool quiz on a cool art/design/visual things blog I discovered about an hour ago, just to make it more kitschy:

http://justsomething.co/are-you-a-dog-or-a-cat-person-find-it-out-with-this-infographic/

(I'd post the picture but it's really long)

Also, two websites that are so nicely designed sometimes I just visit them to drool over:
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/
http://www.cooper.edu/