The Emotions project is now a book. I was digging this little widget tool from Blurb. The fullscreen and thumbnail pagination views are very nice. I’ve added a new “hipstamatic” film light-leak style image for each student.

If you haven’t used Blurb, I encourage you to make your own book. Thier Booksmart application practically does it for you — with templated styles to choose from. Order it with the paper upgrade. The quality of printing is fantastic.

Yesterday morning I completed an “Emotions” photography project for my son’s 3rd grade class.

Last Thursday, I went to speak to the class about advertising. We discussed modeling and making emotional expressions with our faces. We brainstormed a lengthy list of emotions, and then stepped outside to take some pictures. Fellow class parent Kelli Martin and I photographed each child doing various emotions in a marathon session yielding hundreds of photos.

I selected nine images for each student, and then cropped/retouched into an 8×10 grid for printing and framing. Four fun versions were created: color graded, distressed, gradient map illustration, and cartoon.

I returned yesterday morning and presented the imagery to the class in a fun Keynote slide show that included their images, and a clip of video showing several of the students doing their expressions.

In addition I supplied each student with a printed poster of their classmates, and links for digital copies to share with their families.

What do you think? Here are a few more samples.

Monday night I completed “Fall Fun 2010″, a Gap-like art project featuring all 23 of my son’s kindergarden classmates. Just before Thanksgiving I photographed the children in the schoolyard. I explained my job as an art director for advertising, and told them that they were all “Talent” or “Models” for my project.

It was challenging to fit so many people into such a small space. Blame that on the state budget. Number two son, Miles, is featured jumping into a pile of leaves.

Today I went back to unveil the final product via a big screen projection complete with music. I described the “client presentation” process, and told them they were the clients. They were very good clients, since they liked everything. I gave them each “leave behinds” of an 13 x 19 archival giclee (poster print suitable for framing) and a personalized 5×7 image with a link to this post. It is really fun how excited the kids are when they see themselves on the screen for the first time. They literally vibrate with energy!

This is part III of a 4-part series. Last year I did a summer scene called “Summer Break 2009″ and two years ago a winter scene titled “Snow Day 2007″. Only one season left!

Right click the image above and choose “Save link as…” or “Open link in new window” to download a copy of the large version.

What do you think? (make a comment below)

I was pretty excited back in in Q4 2008 when awarded an assignment to design an in vehicle motion graphics logo startup sequence with sound design for Lexus Enform – the cutting-edge new premium subscription telematics service available in all 2010 Lexus models.

This was a case of reverse-engineering logo design. Come up with a compelling 6 second futuristic 3D animation for Enform that plays upon startup of the vehicle, and back that into a logo for print using corporate colors. In a combined design project, over 400 logo variations were created, with several final rounds making their way to Toyota headquarters in Japan for reviews and approval.

The final “ribbon” concept that you see here recently made it’s debut in all new 2010 Lexus models. So, if you buy one, please let me know so I can check it out!

[ Click the image above to see the slideshow ]

In these stylized expanding video banners, users can explore three Lexus innovations per vehicle via hot spots and a building block nav. Featuring the entire Lexus fleet of twelve vehicles, these banners function more like a microsite. One of the many click-thru destinations is the Lexus Innovation section of Lexus.com.

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Don’t forget to  rollover to explore Lexus technology  so you can see my nifty transparent block wipe transitions.