Not a bad idea, Rey. Not really PHOTOSHOP stuff, more DESIGNER stuff possibly suited for DesignerContest.com... but I might find some time later this week to do play with you folks on this.

One thing (I think) before ANYTHING GOES FURTHER with this:

I think the SLOGAN "Life is Better With Art In IT - So Live In Color" doesn't work for me, it doesn't really MAKE SENSE to me logically. Who says ART is in COLOR? I've seen some pretty darned good art and it only had ONE colour!

I "get" the idea, but you don't want the viewer to require a good "guessing brain" if you are trying to sell them something.

Start with a CLEAR IDEA, then create a CLEAR SLOGAN. That will also help guide your "visual ideas" as you create a new mock up.

MonkeeDrummer: that is what you presented to us, btw: a mock-up. As a mock up it is fine, because from this we can figure out what REALLY needs to be created.

Here ya go , THE WINNING IDEA!

The picture should be of a hot nude model in an art class. In the shot should be a half painted canvas of a picasso nude with crazy boobs and eyes. You could use paintbrushes, arms, hands, etc to block out the nsfw bits.

Ok, so here's the deal (I'm NOT trying to make excuses). The deadline for entry in the scholarship is Feb. 5th. So I like the idea of Rey's little "class project" to show how many ways to make my idea, but it's kinda pointless due to the little amount of time.

and the theme is just "Life is better with art in it," the "... so live in color" was my added part. I'm sorry my slogan wasn't clear enough, but in my (poorly amateurish) mind, it was good, and I thought people would like it. I realize now that the execution was very much lacking, but with the little amount of experience I have, I thought it was pretty good.

Thank you for making it a learning experience for me, because that is precisely what I need to get better. Thanks for the input everyone! (especially you ReyRey, even though you fired me )

-Mikey

I think the best thing is to make few different sketches of different ideas. Very rough sketches and very different ideas... just to find the really good one.

Don't take it too hard... I like nothing about your image.
Finding a great concept isn't easy.
I especially don't like the look... not sure about the idea.
If it is about ART, I want to see something artistic. It has to be simple, punchy, easy to understand and VERY AESTHETIC. I don't like black bars, you need better choice of type... and type can be a lot more subtle... and in my opinion I hate flashy colors.
The talent of creating great aestheticism is something you can improve... looking at some recent design + advertising magazines can help.

I hope it is helping...

I know I'm in no way qualified to make any critiques here. But I wanted to say that I just got a book called "Basics of Design: Layout and Typography for Beginners". I've only started reading it on Tuesday but so far it's great. Maybe you should look for it Monkee?

It's NOT pointless. Not trying to bust your nads here, but the POINT is to LEARN something. Not just COMPLETE this project. Sorry, gotta give you the Rolling Eyes emoticon for that one.


Don't beat yourself up so hard (you sound like ME )! You had the goNADS to ask, and now I'm just saying don't walk away from this. That's all. Of course, you do what you want. In any event I hope you get a scholarship for your course!



Again, not trying to be a PooPooHead here, but we all gotta start somewhere. Here is a good little book (had to dig deep into my old box o' books to find it...) that is pretty cool and interesting... gets you thinking about how design works. And I did NOT photoshop this, Robin Williams DID write this, and he's a SHE!

Cheers, Rein.

It's Due February 5th? That's over a week left. How much time do you need? If you sketch down a good idea, take a good 3-4 hours to ponder and sketch images and concepts. Then go do it. You've got a lot of time to do this yet. You can do it! Don't skimp out on scholarship opportunities. They can pay off better than cash contests.

Trust me, when you get to college, you'll find out that you'll be lucky to have a whole week to do anything. This was a good little practice run to get some feedback. Now it's time to put something out that represents you at your best. Make yourself proud, so when you show your final product off you can say, "oh yeah. I did that! That's mine!"

Concept, Plan, Execute the plan, and then fine tune. Forget what you've done so far, and how much time it's taken to do it, it will only prevent you from making something fantastic.

Once again everyone, thank you so much! Just the fact that you're taking the time to try and help is very encouraging, and I really appreciate it!
So, I don't wanna leave this where it is now, but I also have (VERY) recently decided that I'm probably not going to that school anymore, I'm most likely going to stay local and major in graphic design (minor in business). But like I said, I don't wanna just drop this, I'll still try a redesign, cuz I really do want to get better at this.