Here is my fantastic workspace for the start of page 2 in my sketchbook. My theme for 2012′s Sketchbook Project Tour is Waterslides I Never Rode. Indeed, I am too bulky for a bromeliad-leaf slide.

I waited a few days. I thought, “I want this job. I don’t care that it doesn’t relate to my major whatsoever and that it pays little above minimum wage. I love animals, I love staying busy doing something completely useful, I need a job, and I want this job.”

As a shy individual, I was not sure that I made this fact apparent for my recent interviewees. So I did something I know best. I made a card. I hand-wrote my thank you and interest in the job, then attached a tiny ball of yarn made of thread wrapped around a cardboard circle. With my cat as a model, I decorated the card with paper silhouette cats to play with the ball of yarn.

My contact info is edited out here. Remember to add your number and/or email at the end.

I walked into the store that afternoon and explained to a cashier with a moment, “I have a thank you card to give for the interview I had last week.” A man standing nearby was the store manager. He took the card. “Have you been called for a second interview?”
“Not yet.”
He walked to a small office at the end of the row of cash registers, grabbed a monthly planner off the desk, and came back, asking, “Can you come in on Friday at 2:30?”

On Friday at 2:30, I was sitting in that office, ready for a second interview. Instead, the manager explained the grand impression my thank you card left. And that I had the job.

Here’s my secret. I walked into that pet store with a thank you card because I didn’t have anyone’s email. Also, there wasn’t enough time to use the postal service. Being my own personal messenger was the best thing I could do.

The effect of a thank you varies, of course. I hand-wrote a thank you for only one other interview. It was for an internship at a large public relations firm, and the emails I received were: a thank you for the thank you, and a notice that they had chosen someone else. But a thank you is better than no thanks, and an old-fashioned thank you is sometimes better than a regular thank you. Don’t ever forget your manners.

Each participant, of which there are over 28 thousand, picked a theme and received a sketchbook, where he or she could fill with ideas the theme inspired. Then we all sent them back, and these thousands of sketchbooks will show in exhibitions across the United States, providing, well, providing whatever it is that art does for people.

My theme is “I’m a Scavenger.” The first half of the book is about collected objects, while the second half is a process of revisiting memories.

The sun was bright, I was swimming in the pool, and when I looked into the water, there was a fine outline around my hands. Bright blue along the right edges of my fingers, and yellow along the left. “I wish I had a camera.” Instead, I stared. I stared until the image was locked. I am a lover of tactile things. I don’t fully understand until I have tried something myself.

To view more pages from the sketchbook, visit
my art house co-op profile.

My summer internship is just about over, finishing with a grand finale (or grand opening) at First Watch on Monday morning. As a public relations intern, I have regularly updated the First Watch at UCF Twitter, used Facebook to promote, and recruited and motivated UCF students as brand ambassadors to help promote the event on UCF grounds, student-affiliated housing, bookstores, downtown, and through Facebook and word of mouth.

I hope to see lots of breakfast lovers at First Watch tomorrow morning!

First Watch

First 50 in line get buy one, get one breakfast vouchers
First 100 in line get 2 chances in the free breakfast drawing

First Watch on Facebook

First Watch at UCF Twitter

First Watch Video [Video Removed]

Wake Up for Breakfast: Article

Chicken Soup flyer

This project, a public relations campaign for a publication coming out soon, was done in the Summer of 2007 in Public Relations Writing class. The book is real and is coming out soon, so look for it! Our class was divided into four groups to create campaigns for this project, then our ideas were given to the UCF Alumni Association so that they could apply their favorites to use in their own campaign. I was in a group with three other people and together we made a campaign outline, a news release, a fact sheet, and a media release. As an extra, we made a “flyer,” shown above, a soup can explaining how to send in stories for publication in Chicken Soup for the UCF soul.

Here’s the press release:

Press Release page 1

Press Release page 2

Project #1

My name written in its own definition

Can you see the word? This was created with Conte crayon and a little bit of colored pencil.

Next project:

Labels for cocaine

I looked up nicknames for cocaine and included high class sounding ones in this painting. The calligraphy was done with a brush and paint resist. The contrasting, but realistic perception of a life with cocaine is portrayed with the “dirty” wash and spatter surrounding the words.

Next project:

Revision of an advertisement

The top ad is my project. The bottom ad is the original. I wanted to take The Pita Pit back to it’s Mediterranean roots instead of looking like Greek food college style. Poor college kid’s prices and authentic food sounds a lot more appetizing. Done in Adobe Illustrator CS.

Pen and ink

Above is a drawing of J.R.R. Tolkien, author of The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, and various other stories of middle earth.

Scratchboard

Scratchboard is the reverse of pen and ink, where pigment is removed rather than added.

Linoleum stamp

The first time I carved a linoleum stamp was in ninth grade and I’ve made several since then, but this one is the most detailed. That little creature is a meerkat. Remember Timon from The Lion King? That’s him.

Gouache

This horse and scenery are painted on a piece of black mat board.

Here’s the direct mail piece, for which I wrote the letter, made a simple mail-in form (not shown), and an envelope. I did it all in Microsoft Word.

Envelope