Don't be scared.

I took this in honor of Halloween - I decorated my apartment with a few gimmicky decorations and thought I should photograph them in all their spooky splendor.  Don't be scared, they are only plastic.

"You didn't wash your necks." "Sometimes we don't wash our necks, but that's ok." "I...wash my neck...take a look at my neck!"

These are some images from a Flash interactive I did over the summer, on the major structures of the neck.  I will link to the actual interactive when possible, but for now chew on this.

Ima slap yo' baby.

Here are a few material/light shots from my babies...still a lot of work to go.

Watch it baby.

So I have been tied up with some larger projects these days, so I figured I will post up some progress of them.  For my Maya class this semester, our big final assignment is to create an environment (anything you want) and then render out the scene with textures and lighting, plus have a camera fly through.  I wanted to do something medically-based that will hold my interest for the whole semester, so I decided to recreate what two fraternal twins would like in their mother's womb (fyi I am a fraternal twin with my brother (see below) so there is an obvious correlation here).

Moving on, below is a screen shot of my baby, the beginning of what will be two babies in the womb.  Woop. 

ERIN'S HEART & SOUL

Here is my rework of the website design I am doing for my amiga Erin Stevens. Previously, this specific design was orange and green, but I think these colors work a little more to fit in with Erin's personality and style. I have yet to create any secondary pages because I am waiting for the ok from Erin so I don't waste ma time! Hope she likes what I've done so far.  The other images are the rollover states for the links. Looking at it now, I am going to change the text under the heart on the off state to green, like the other links. Then on rollover, the heart color will change to green and the text will turn white. Woop!

So I lied a little...

Below you will find my final versions of the medical icons for my most recent Advanced Graphic Design project. We had to choose three medical branches, and I, of course, chose Psychiatry as my last branch which certainly was freakin hard to represent. So my three branches were Ophthalmology, Nuclear Medicine and Psychiatry. While I was brainstorming, I figured I would call my last branch Neurology, because that's exactly what the icon looked like. However, I developed (I hope) a more representative icon for Psychiatry, although at one point I was ready to accept my current very Neurological-type icon.  By the way, we had to develop a color version of the icons as well.  We could use as much or as little color as we wanted, so I wanted to highlight the 'smaller' parts of the major structures that I created.

Frank Armitage Lecture coming up!

Frankie boy. Mr. Frank Armitage will be featured again this year, on October 22nd and 23rd, at the annual BVIS event The Frank Armitage Lecture. David Bolinsky, Medical Director and Partner for XVIVO, will be the guest lecturer. Site creation and design for the event was done by my fellow classmate Lindsey Pionek.

"The Birds"

A screen grab of a website design and creation that I am doing for a friend of mine, Ms. Erin Stevens. Simple and clean. We'll see how coding it goes!

Le babies

Presenting my first real-life edited photograph! (It's the little things in life...) I adjusted hue/saturation, shadow/highlight, applied a photo filter and performed other small minor manual alterations. Woop! The subject is one of the many succulents I have flanking my kitchen windows. They are called 'Hens and Chicks' and they are cute little fellows aren't they? If you look close at the red glass stone on the far upper-right, you can actually see me - my hands and head surrounding the big black camera lens. Very cool. Unintentional, but nice nonetheless.

I CON CREATE ICONS.

Our most recent project for advanced graphic design was to create icons for three branches of medicine. I started with a very flat, graphic style, but as I went on I really let my imagination take me where it wanted. The second idea I came up with is very 60's, and completely different from the other icons. For the last design, I wanted something bold and striking. So, below are the three very different styles I developed. If you prefer one, PLEASE let me know, because I have to pick one to finalize for the final hand in. (Click to enlarge in new window!)

Don't get saucy, I've got my Bovie.

This vector illustration was created for my Surgical Orientation class over the summer. As the title implies, this instrument is called a Bovie, and is used for cauterizing and cutting various tissues. This was done in Illustrator and didn't take too much time at all.

Scorpion-Cactus hybrid?

Another MAYA creation. What is it? I don't know, but it was fun to create!

Lymphedema

Another Advanced Imaging project...I chose to do an image of a woman with lymphedema, and show through transparency, her lymphatic system and the disconnect that is causing her to have lymphedema. Although still in progress, I'm happy with what I've got done already. (The lymphatic system is basically like the 'garbage men' of your body...it gets rid of your cellular waste through a system of channels in your body. When those connections between the channels are broken, the body has no way to get rid of those wastes so the cellular fluid builds up in the person's extremities. In most cases, people with lymphedema have had their lymph nodes removed due to cancer, or radiation therapy and in women, it is most prevalent in the arms after breast cancer surgery. The affected limb becomes swollen, heavy and is prone to infection. Read more about it here, on Wikipedia if you like).

BRANCHES. BRANCHES. Oh my...

Maya class. Create a complex branching network. Ok. Got it. How about a glowing metal pipe system? Cool? Ok, cool. (click to see a larger image)

Alright, so here is the last slide to my mitosis storyboard...nothing too serious, just showing the finishing of cytokinesis (the 2 cells actually dividing). Soon, hopefully by tomorrow, because that's when it's due, I will put up the final composed storyboard, with camera angles and top-down views. Woop!

You dirty scoundrel!

Advanced Graphic Design. Yup. Advanced. Nah...it's just the next (as in the only) graphic design class offered to us second years in BVIS. However, we have the same professor, a Mrs. Donna Hughes, who is one of the most instructive, efficient and passionate professors we have in BVIS. I love her. Anyways, our first assignment was to create any mode of advertising to alert the public of the H1N1 flu virus (a.k.a. the Swine Flu). Obviously, pigs were heavily utilized by many of us...and I am no exception. This would be an ad for the side of a bus. I wish Nathan, a fellow classmate, had a blog/portfolio up, because his billboard was FANTASTIC and I would link to it if I could! Mine is ok.

Wood.

So we had to do some artwork over the summer, just whatever you felt like doing...I went to the Morton Arboretum and was inspired to paint some outdoor scenes, so I did! This has some traditional watercolor underpainting (gasp!) and the rest was done in Photoshop. I wanted a more 'contemporary look' so I left most of the background white, putting in random leaves and such. I actually loved doing this painting because I had to explore to get photos to work off of. Also, Photoshop CS4 is pretty much the bomb, considering I never got too attached to CS3.

Big movement.

So after a long ass hiatus, I am returning to my blog. However, I think I will spare all of you and mostly post up art I am working on. Why? Why the hell not, that's what I say. So to celebrate, I will begin with a post of some storyboard images for an animation on mitosis that I will be creating in the coming month. Considering my class is so creative, I'm sure there will be some pretty amazing animations by the end of the semester. Anyways, study my storyboards and learn the wonderful process that is cell division.

My actual portfolio!

Here is it, check it out!

So I guess I'll just keep posting work I've done...

So exciting! A t-shirt design I won, for The Frank Armitage Lecture Series event we had at UIC hosted by our Biomedical Visualization program. I get a whole $20 as a prize-oh, wait scratch that-due to 2 winners, the prize got pushed down to $10....Rolling in the dough.

School is kicking my hiney!

So school is hard. Go figure. Anyways, here is my latest assignment, line-only drawing showing the pancreas/spleen/colon relative to the surface and deep anatomy-no shading or rendering. I actually like this one, the simple graphic style is new to me.

I do enjoy graphic design.

We had to develop a couple mock up web sites for any random website that we found disturbingly poorly designed. Although the website I drafted wasn't terrible, it certainly could use a face-lift. Here are my mock-up 'About' and 'Facial Prosthetic' pages.

Livers are gross! JK!

SO. Test number 2 out of the way-hard but I tried. I can't gauge how I think I did-I do however have a new drawing. I had to show an anomalous heart-it had an extra vein entering it from the liver. The emphasis was light on form, and although I apparently am shadow happy, I like the way it came out.

Crossing of the Anterior and Posterior Cruciate Ligament.

I <3 you!

I held a human heart and lungs in my hands today. The heart was surreal. The lungs, when squeezed between my fingertips, felt like bubble wrap because of the air still trapped in them.

My first graphic design project!

My first graphic design project requiring me to use any set of data and create an image to represent that data. I chose obesity....well just take a look and see! Click to enlarge!

I like your veins...

WOW. That test was nothing like what I, and basically everyone I talked to, thought it would be like. Wow. I wasn't expecting that at all.

However I did well so I'm happy. Hehe!

A word from the wise...

"Forget about grades . Most of you were in the top 5% of your undergraduate class or you wouldn’t be here. After the first quiz, half of you will be in the bottom half of this class. For some students this can be very traumatic. Let it go. Do the best you can, stay caught up and remember that you are not studying anatomy to get into med school. You’re already here - congratulations. You’re studying anatomy to learn the language of medicine and to care for patients. Later on you’ll have plenty of opportunities to pick up the things you miss or don’t fully understand here."

Anatomy test coming soon.

Shake what yo momma gave ya! My first drawing assignment.