Archive for September, 2012

Today we wanted to highlight two pieces of student work from this week. Although they’re very different in subject, style, and composition, we were impressed with the final results achieved by both students.

Allison Jabaay created this pastel baby announcement. We love her typography choices and the different baby outfits she designed. The mixed colors on the baby’s name are fun, too!

In Tabletop Photography, Robin Weir captured this image of an elephant toy. She fulfilled the assignment so well. We love the interesting subject she chose and how the lighting turned out.

This morning we have four pieces of student work to share with all of you.  We love the creativity of these designs and hope that you do, too!

Natalie Zempter impressed us again with the intricate pattern of this snowflake design. Make sure to check out more of Natalie’s talent on her blog.

Jesette Vichot made this crab illustration and we love the summery subject she chose, the uniform color palette, and how each pair of the crab’s legs are different.  From Babies, Toddlers & Kids, Alison Cooney captured this tender moment of a napping toddler.  We loved her choice of soft lighting and how interesting the composition is.

Valerie Abenroth took a picture of  this sleepy baby for an assignment in Babies, Toddlers & Kids.  We love the soft, up-close texture of the blanket in the background, the pop of color from the pink bow, and the overall serenity that this photo portrays.

Here at Nicole’s Classes, we’re fortunate to meet a lot of amazing students from all over the world, each talented and fun to work with. Helga Varadi from Budapest is no exception. After getting to know her through a few of our classes, we wanted to share her insights and talents with all of you!

How did you hear about Nicole’s Classes?

I found an Illustrator video tutorial on Pinterest. I watched it then watched all the videos on the site. I didn’t know about Illustrator before, but it looked easy to use based on those 2 minute tutorials. So I decided to give it a try. I was also curious how an online course and its software would work in practice. It is very comfortable to follow the program from the other part of the world, even from my bedroom if I like.

What got you interested in design?

I’ve had a non-creative job for years and I realized that I needed a creative activity. Do you know the feeling after a nine-to-five workday when you start to use your imagination to create something? That feeling became my addiction. So I started to draw and paint and I’ve also got a passion about decorating and DIY-ing. Then two months ago I found Illustrator. I knew nothing about it, just signed up for Illustrator 101 and love happened. It’s a great program with wonderful teachers who are passionate about their work and their devotion encourages her students.

Which classes have you taken from Nicole’s Classes?

I’ve taken Illustrator 101 and other advanced design classes. I plan to take the rest of the Illustrator classes and Photoshop classes. I try to push my limits hoping that in a few years I will be one of those lucky ones who can live by their passion.

Have you done anything further with skills learned in Nicole’s Classes?

So far I have only designed and printed small gift cards for friends and a few practical things around the house (e.g.labels). Even such tiny DIY products make me and people around me happy. Some friends already asked me to work together and I might do that in the near future. There was talk about posters, menu cards, gift wrap. One of my dreams is to launch my own business sometime. I’m sure that it would include a lot of my own designs, too (brand logo, web design, flyers, packaging etc.). Before that I definitely have to learn a lot more, but it would be fun to turn these skills into products.

Where do you get inspiration for your work?

It would be hard to list all the sites I browse day to day to seek beauty and graphic happiness. Inspiration comes from everywhere, from a photo composition to color combination, from vintage cards to design chairs. I collect a lot of them on Pinterest. I also spend a lot of time on Dribbble, Behance, design-seeds and on other designer blogs. One of my favorite graphic artist is Nidhi Chanani. Her illustrations are full of happiness. And I could name a lot more artists and designers with all kinds of beauty in their works. These little pieces inspire me to look at things differently and I hope one day they help me to create design in my unique way.

Sample Work:

Without further ado, check out some of Helga’s work! We also have featured her work here, here, and here!

Here is a set of four business card designs. It was hard for us to choose a favorite. Which one do you think Helga should use for herself?

Here Helga uses geometric shapes to illustrate grapes and leaves. Very clever!

In this simple invitation, Helga mimics the floating feathers in her text treatment.

We love Helga’s illustrations of Audrey Hepburn! Here she is experimenting with a color illustration and with a grayscale geometric representation of Audrey’s face. Clever work, Helga!

Helga illustrated this adorable dog wearing a tie! Very cute and lots of personality!

We are so thrilled that Helga has been able to discover Illustrator as an artistic medium, from not even knowing what Illustrator was a few months ago to being able to produce such amazing work now! We are confident that great things await Helga as she continues to develop her new skills!