Preliminary work for Identity Design

After doing some research on logo branding. I researched other Inns and ideas and also the general feel of the area. Most of the images of Hudson valley came up with the mid Hudson bridge. So I decided to incorporate in some of my ideas. I did a series of thumbnails in my sketchbook, after which I scanned in and colored my favorites on my iPad because in order to show the feeling with colors.

M2 Exercise 2

 I had to try 3 words. Each one I tried a slightly different method. 

Sleep
 I simply looked up the best font that closely matched my drawing. I didnt want to do much to the font itself. Instead, for the "P"  I used the shear tool and laid it down in persepective. I changed the overall tracking and kerning a bit and added a drop shadow to give it a slight 3d appearance.

 Water
I imported the original hand sketch by using  place , I then used the trace image option to create a vector out of it. After that used expand. It was difficult navigating in there to find the right outline thickness and coloring. I tried gradient but didnt really feel exactly what I was going for. I will probably continue working on this

 Bumpy
I found  a "bubble like" font. Typed in the word then create outline. I isolated each letter, tweeked using the direct selection tool. For the bumps, I added ellipses. Then selected the letter and bumps and used the shape builder tool to merge the objects into each other. I then moved the letters up and down.

M2 Exercise 1: Hand-drawn Word Illustrations

 

After doing several pencil sketches decided to go with these layouts. This was a great exercise in creative brainstorming. 

  

 

 

Artist statement

Tom Lenz

For the past 25 years I have been a professional scenic artist and art director working in the theming industry. All over the world . I have spent these years helping to create environments and attractions  for people to experience and explore and enjoy. I’ve worked on projects with Disney, Universal Studios and Warner Brothers to name a few.  I am very passionate about my art and my job and also teaching and guiding others. I have led large groups of artists to carry out massive scale projects. I also enjoy designing environments and scenery, as this is where my ideas are sprouting to life.

In my own personal art, I want the viewer/audience to have an amazing experience when viewing it, similar to what they would see in my work at a themepark or in a movie I worked on. I like to use various mediums but my favorite is painting. In creating art I also want to have my own experience in the act of creating it. I feel like many times my art is similar to a fisherman. The deep waters of the mind and infinite space around us, connects, it is the art I pull from this connection, many times it is on a spiritual level. Making my own art is a progress of self reflection and meditation and grants me creative inspiration. As of lately I have been studying sacred geometry, which I feel is a universal language that connects us to the cosmos and each other. I am also obsessed with outer space and all the beautiful forms this infinite “sea” has to offer. A lot of my work revolves around dark and light and the ever ending dichotomy these 2 have with each other. I  have been using phosphorescent pigments so that in darkness the painting actually glows. Some of the techniques I like to use is airbrushing as well as traditional brush. I’m beginning to learn all about laser cutting and 3D printing and have started to incorporate that into my work.

Some of my latest artwork

 Triad(with phosphorescence)

Planetary 1(with phosphorescent pigment)

Planetary 2