Ellen Duda

For those of you who are interested in what I’ve been up...

Sat, 29 Dec 2012 11:29:16 -0500

For those of you who are interested in what I’ve been up to for the past 6 months, check out this episode about Sol Food Mobile Farm on Growing a Greener World.

(yes, it’s true…i lived on that bus for 6 months!)

Happy Holidays! Now that I’ve returned from my cross...

Fri, 28 Dec 2012 18:29:43 -0500

Happy Holidays! Now that I’ve returned from my cross country trip with Sol Food Mobile Farm i’m getting back into the illustration game. I have to admit I’ve missed spending hours tweaking colors and sketching ideas….feels like I’m home again.

Here’s my holiday card for the year…if you’re lucky you may receive one in the mail! Cheers!

How much are your city prints?

Thu, 20 Dec 2012 15:19:12 -0500

I have 11”x18” prints that I sell for $30 each

I did some screen printing this weekend!! With only a week and a...

Tue, 08 May 2012 19:20:00 -0400

I did some screen printing this weekend!! With only a week and a half of school left, I’m trying to take advantage of all the facilities. I made a few “Home” screen prints for a craft fair in June…and because I just wanted to!!

I recently have been working on a lot of branding and...

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 16:33:00 -0400

I recently have been working on a lot of branding and promotional materials for my non-profit Sol Food Mobile Farm (www.solfoodmobilefarm.org) which included the design for a bandana. I designed and screen-printed the bandanas by hand and had a great time doing it! My teachers saw the bandana and “strongly suggested” that I use the design layout and use it for an Eastern State Penitentiary project. Our department had recently partnered with ESP to have seniors create new promotional items for them. So a few severed arms and crumbling buildings later, I had the design for an Eastern State Bandana. I’m pretty happy with how it turned out and the clients liked it too!! It’ll be pretty cool to see if these end up in the gift shop or not.

This is my favorite piece from the 21 days 21 pieces series. We...

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 11:58:33 -0400

This is my favorite piece from the 21 days 21 pieces series. We had to create a piece that was inspired by a TV show and I naturally picked Twin Peaks. There was something about that show and the huge displays of doughnuts that always made me want doughnuts and coffee.

This next segment is one I like to call “If Ellen Was a...

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 11:48:17 -0400

This next segment is one I like to call “If Ellen Was a Fine Arts Major”

I just finished a fives week class with Martha Rich, where she assigned us the project of 21 pieces in 21 days. Originally I was super stoked about the project and imagined all this amazing things I would make. The reality was that I was pressed for time and stressed out of my mind while trying to simultaneously finish up my portfolio for the final jurying of the year. Needless to say there were some duds in the 21 days, but there were a few pieces that I really liked.

Here’s the array of pieces that I created in the 3 weeks.

Things have changed a little bit in the past...

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 11:33:56 -0400

Things have changed a little bit in the past months…I’ve transitioned into the digital world and are starting to create images that I’ve always had in my head, but could never figure out with paint. Here’s a sampling of some of the work that I’ve been evolving with.

The farmer was the first image that I created and the rest, evolved from there. My new process involves a meticulous pencil/pen drawing that is then scanned in and collaged together with other textures and shapes. I’m really enjoying myself.

I’ve been itching to do a book cover recently, because...

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 11:25:42 -0500

I’ve been itching to do a book cover recently, because I’ve felt like my past attempts have fallen short. What better an opportunity than to do a cover for one of my all time favorite books!! My concept for the cover was that the mental institution was a broken and over powering system that crushed McMurphy. I wanted to depict this concept with the use of type and limited symbols. In the end I’m pretty happy with the cover and my continued adventures with type!

I worked on a small spot illustration for a “Modern...

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 17:01:50 -0500

I worked on a small spot illustration for a “Modern Love” article from the New York Times. The article was about two people who didn’t want to be tied down and lose their ability to travel, but they fell in love and figured out they could just travel together.

“We wouldn’t be tied down so much as tied together.”

This was my last assignment for Katherine Streeter and I’ve really enjoyed working with her. The quick deadlines and interesting projects have made me enjoy going to class on a Monday morning.

Had too much fun making collages in Katherine Streeter’s...

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 16:55:00 -0500

Had too much fun making collages in Katherine Streeter’s class today. It was really nice to not be staring at a computer and just let things happen without analysis. The exercise makes me wish I could start an arts and crafts club….this may become a post-grad goal.

The collages are silly and don’t mean anything, but I really liked the way they came out!

This was my interpretation of The Graduate, for a class with Tim...

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 16:59:00 -0500

This was my interpretation of The Graduate, for a class with Tim Bower. I wanted to focus on the feeling of being unattached and unclear about who he wanted be. It’s still kind of a work in progress, but it’s one of my first narrative pieces done in my digital style.

Just recently finished a two week project for Katherine...

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 13:44:31 -0500

Just recently finished a two week project for Katherine Streeter. We had to create a full page spread and use hand lettering on one of the pages. I’ve been listening to Arcade Fire a lot recently, so I figured what better an opportunity than to create an illustration about their recent album.

If you haven’t heard The Suburbs, you should give it a listen!! Definitely one of my all time favorite albums.

It’s official gang, I am DONE with my Senior Thesis...

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 18:03:24 -0500

It’s official gang, I am DONE with my Senior Thesis (almost, I have a few final details, but no more nit picking the pieces!!). Here is my collection of city posters that I have lost much sleep over. The final prints are 30” x 17” and NYC & NOLA both have metallic lines!! (silver and gold respectively). This has been such a long process, that it’s nice to finally take a breath and look at what I’ve accomplished. I would have to say that this project gave me a love/hate relationship with typefaces, but i hope to become more comfortable with them in the future.

Mazel Tov!

(if you would like to buy prints, please contact me, I am more than happy to spread the city joy!)

In one final push of the semester, I worked on a mock up Ad...

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 11:09:00 -0500

In one final push of the semester, I worked on a mock up Ad campaign for a bluegrass radio station. I couldn’t help but pick a bluegrass station, because of my love for the south and some down home music. The whole project was kind of an experiment where i made more textures than i actually used (i wasted $10 on wood that i never even used the grain of!!) and lost a lot of sleep. I’m pretty happy with the end result and really happy to be going on winter break where i plan on sleeping LOTS and eating tons of cookies!

In light of my birthday today i felt like posting one of my...

Fri, 09 Dec 2011 19:25:49 -0500

In light of my birthday today i felt like posting one of my cards with my favorite kind of shoes!! happy birthday to me!!

In progress, in progress, in progress!!! Recently I’ve...

Mon, 05 Dec 2011 17:34:00 -0500

In progress, in progress, in progress!!!

Recently I’ve been drilling away at my senior thesis and the promotional poster for the show. I cannot count the number of hours i’ve been spent so far OR the countless revisions i’ve done….BUT i thought i would post some screen shots of the recent projects.

My senior thesis is a collection of 4 promotional city posters. My plan is to create fun (yet sophisticated) posters of New York, San Francisco, New Orleans, and Chicago. So far I have NY and SF…neither of which is entirely perfect….but i think New York is FINALLY getting there!! My hopes are to screen print the final posters with metallic line work (hopefully)!!

The poster promoting the show is supposed to be a visual representation of what the ELY does for each student. My idea was that the ELY is like a dance where we take the basic steps we’ve learned thus far and try to create a new unique dance, the result is something that is distinctive to each person. The image is very simple, but I like the idea.

Hopefully with the help of lots of coffee and chocolate I will be able to finish all of these projects with in the next two weeks….WISH ME LUCK!!

“We’re not in Kansas...

Tue, 22 Nov 2011 01:05:00 -0500

“We’re not in Kansas anymore…”

I’ve recently been taking an Arts of Great Depression class….it’s really uplifting (obvious sarcasm). So when i was given the assignment of depicting a famous person and their pet, i just couldn’t get the dust bowl out of my head. Thus, came Dorothy and Toto and what i think probably would have happened after she came home.

For a while i have had an urge to do a fashion illustration and...

Thu, 20 Oct 2011 15:50:00 -0400

For a while i have had an urge to do a fashion illustration and last week i thought what better time than right after New York’s fashion week!? So i started looking through the runway shows and found myself becoming progressively more and more bored. I wanted to see the crazy outfits with ridiculous hats and crazy props. Instead, i saw beige suits and white dresses. After googling “Is China’s Fashion week better than New Yorks?” (it was…), this article popped up from the New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/08/fashion/tents-but-no-circus-new-york-fashion-week.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all). The article says everything i was thinking, so in response to fashion week and the article, i made this illustration (inspired by the wonderful Alexander McQueen).

Future Islands has to be one of my favorite bands, so I was hell...

Wed, 12 Oct 2011 18:30:00 -0400

Future Islands has to be one of my favorite bands, so I was hell bent on making this poster. Also, it’s perfect timing because their new album just came out!! Can anyone say Thanksgiving break dance party??