I’mReady

towork!

AboutWhat is this book about? This book is a unique attempt, to combine a portfolio, resume, and cover letter, all in the form of a comedic commentary. But more importantly, this book shows you what I am capable of. You are an audience made up of creatives, representatives, businesses, or even comic book enthusiasts. I am a Graphic Designer one year after graduating from Art College. This is the story of that year, in horrifying detail.

Graduation

Job-Hunting When you first start hunting, you have this, energy. You think your work is ready and you want to show it to everyone. You want to work, and you want your designs to change the face of tomorrow. Sadly, no one will return your calls. You look around you, and out of all your fellow classmates, only a small few have something “art related”. A few months into the hunt, it was time for a

You do your best to pre-pare for the “Real World”, but honestly, when you are a freshman, or even a sophomore, few are thinking that far ahead. Few are even thinking past the critique of the painting due in a couple of hours. I wanted to soak in everything I could to be a well-rounded artist.

I was told time and time again... “Do not go to art school if you wish to

make money.” I knew exactly what I wanted to do and there was nothing that was going to stop me from com-pleting my goals. I was accepted into one of the best art colleges in the world.

School was grueling and it only fueled my passion. I have at this point aban-doned my computer and all technology to become a “traditionalist”. I wanted to submerse myself, because I thought a better understanding of classical tech-niques led to better design. I was upset with the school for wanting to become “paperless”.

A year has passed since graduation. I have returned to the computer and have learned to unite all means to an end. I have worked in a company, I have freelanced, I have given birth to MassCreate, and this book is the next step.

Timeline

Accepted: Spring 2007 Sophomore Senior Graduation

1. I NEED A JOB

Did you Know?I was accepted into

Ringling as a Graphic Designer, but switched to Illustration before

attending,

“Art School Critiques”

“I had to create my dream portfolio for my dream job”

re-think. Something was not hitting and it was pretty obvious what. I was an Illus-trator applying for Graphic Design jobs. It is not unheard of for an Illustration major to turn to graphic design work. My portfolio however, was all paintings. I needed images to show that I could do graphic design. It was time to go back to the cave.

I’mReady

towork

The While working on a new portfolio, I needed a goal. I had to ask, “Where did I want this new portfolio to get me? What was my dream?” I had an opportunity to step away from assignments and let the artwork dictate where I wanted to be. I gave myself a month of hard work and when it was done, I had 35 new portfolio worthy pieces. I have been a music junkie since I was little. My Itunes has broken the 20K song barrier. It is no surprise my new work was geared toward the entertainment industry. I dreamed of working with music. Because my musi-cal abilities are limited, I wanted to be apart of the industry through Art. I wanted to be a rockstar artist. I love getting up In front of people, giving presentations, I have even painted in front of a crowd of Metal fans at a rock festival before. The portfolio consisted of spec work for Warped Records, wallpa-pers for Deadmau5, and many other volume inspired insights that I can only describe as “Digital Mayhem”. (Digital Illustration never seemed to describe that work close enough)

Its a nice dream... But I needed to be more “well rounded”

3. I CAN HAS JOB?

Backstory:

I love to paint.When I was little, I paintedwith watercolorsships and landscapes.landscapes.I even tookwatercolorclasses in Middle school.It was at this timeI also started taking computertaking computeranimation classes.My goal was Pixar.

at a young age, Iloved computers.It wasn’t until my CA courses did I Realize I could Use it as an Art Tool (instead of just kid PIX)

When I went to college I gave up thecomputer to go backto my earlytraditional ways.

I was frustrated withhow digital and easymy work was becoming.

Now I am mixing the traditional andthe digital to create works withgreater depth and skill.

The transformation is hardly complete, and it is hard to saywhere I will go from here. All I know is there is a lot of workI want to do and I want to learn so much more to create vast mix media projects.

Web,flash,UI,sound,film,modeling,IA,html,storyboarding,mural,instalation,3d,prop,animation,painting,iconography,publication,branding,marketing,development,artdirection .............

Did You Know?I went to Cyber Camp in 6th and 7th grade

where I learned Anima-tion Master. I made a bouncing ball, a chess set, and a woman on a motorcycle zipping by cars blowing up on an

overpass.

“I will be right back”

5. YOU HAVE JOB?

Graphic DesignInternship

TinhatCreativeAfter completing a new portfolio,

one that combined digital and traditional, I landed a Graphic Design internship at Tinhat Cre-

ative. It was perfect. I needed the expe-rience and, at the same time, it helped me fill some holes in my Graphic Design repertoire. As an Illustration Major, my Graphic Design was four years rusty, and it showed. The first day was very slow. It was all work that I could handle, but a combination of nerves and lack of paint made it seem like I was giving a speech in Mandarin. (I do not know Mandarin). I eventually fell into place, re-accepting the joys of layout and minimalist harmo-ny. The nice thing about Tinhat Creative, not only do they build websites and cre-ate logos, and print materials, they also handle a lot of social media. This meant I was making customized facebook pages, twitter pages, youtube channels and more. This was most important for my next project, going into business for myself, as a freelancer. I needed to know how to brand myself, how to connect with my audience, and how to conduct myself as a larger entity...MassCreate

Likes

SocialMediaBrandingLogosTypography LayoutDesignPrintPosterCol lateral BusinessCardsWebDesignCampaign DirectionBrainstormingCopyWriting B l o g g i n g P h o t o A l t e r a t i o n G r a p h i c IllustrationVectorGraphicsCartooning StoryBoardingMeeting Clients

DislikesCSS HTML Cheap Filters Not Enough Work Slow Internet Reset Preferences YouTube Icon Uploading Page Tangents Bad Design A Dirty Computer Screen Cold Coffee PC Load Letter

The Do’s and Don’ts of Design

7. SHARING IS CARING

MASSCREATE is my test Brand as a Freelance Designer. I use MassCreate to display my portfolio, and connect with my audience as a Corporate Identity.www.mass-create.com

showcases graphic d e s i g n , d i g i t a l , and traditional I l l u s t r a t i o n

“Tinhat Creative showed me how

to conduct myself as A brand. I built MassCreate to be

that Brand”

9. IT’S OKAY, I DON’T REALLY NEED A JOB

Education

Work, Art

Ringling College of Art and Design, Sarasota, FLBachelor of �ne Arts May 2011, Major: Illustra-tionMassachusetts College of Art, B�ton, MAProfessional Artist Workshop, summer of 2006

Cybercamp, Andover, MAFor two years took an instructive course on computer animation. Learned to use Animation Master. Self taught the program. Enhanced my computer skills, summer 2001, 2002MIT Splash, B�ton, MAWatercolor Summer Workshop, summer of 2003

�nhat Creative, Design Intern, B�ton, MAResponsible for formatting collateral print media and we�ite architecture and layout to �ecution. Gave critique for other design team members on log¢ and other brand media. Provided design for web pages. Eradicated lo�e ends on large ongo-ing projects, to ensure completion in a timely manner. September-December, 2011

Aldous Collins Painting and Arts, £ll time summer assistant, B�ton, MAPainted houses that where part of the historical society, which had to be restored to a high level of standards. Helped customers make color decisions. Completed jo¥’ ranging from prep work to final quality finishes. Had to work efficiently with a team. Had to meet deadlines and work within an estimated budget. Summers 2008-2010

Freelance Artist, Logo/Branding Project, B�ton, MACreated a bands logo, when company began, and then, hired again to create a new logo once the band was signed to greater B�ton media station. Was responsible for creating the bands identity for t-shirts, bumper stickers, p�ters, and other media. Had to work within a deadline. Part-time 2009, 2010

Has mastery in oil and watercolor techniques proficient in figurative and gesture work. ¬celled in programs including, but not limited to, Phot�hop, Illustrator, In design, Quark ¬press, Corel Painter X, Word/works, CSS/HTML, And basic working knowledge of many other common programs.

Computer & Art Skills/Techniques

Donal C. Casey172 South Street, Hingham, MA, 02043,

781-749-7345dcasey@c.ringling.edu www.mass-create.com

That Wasn’t so bad. One might even say it’s good!

11. REVERSE PSYCHOLOGY?

Archive

...And Now for the best part, where the art meets the

pavement! I will take you on a journey... INSIDE!

13. HAVE YOU SEEN GAS PRICES?

In chronological order (all within the last year)

EW...gross

15. I AM NOT EVEN PICKY

17. EVERYTHING NEEDS AN ARTISTS TOUCH

*After 8 hours of staring at a screen

19. WOULDN’T YOU WANT ONE THAT DOES MORE THAN JUST ART?

“Mom says you can’t make mon-ey drawing lions, robots, and chicks with guns... Don’t you want to prove here wrong?”(all donations payable by check to “Donal Casey”)

21. I’M ECLECTIC

23. ...SMART, FUNNY, DECENT LOOKING...

*never again

25. MY EAR IS NOT REALLY THIS DIRTY

I feel I could grow with the help of a hands on company.

Just consider...

To all you future employers,look out.here comes your man!-pixies-pixiesdo you like the pixies?I guess I will find out

That's it. But that's so not it! There is so much more I want to show you!

I cannot wait to work! until then I will be getting ready for you!

Don’t forget to check out www.mass-create.com forall my latest design work. while there, you canLike us on Facebook or tweet...whatever your poison... either way, its more of this dysfunctional humor daily.

I’mReady

toWork

27. DONAL CASEY DCASEY@C.RINGLING.EDU 978-387-7112 WWW.MASS-CREATE.COM FACEBOOK.COM/MASSCREATE

DONAL CASEY...is Ready to Work. “Unemployment is harsh and some-times, funny. The truth, if you are trying to find a job as a Graphic Designer and Free-lance artist, you have to sell yourself. That is the one thing I found horribly awkward. That is why this book was conceived, so you could learn about what I do and understand my personality better through my art and commentary. It is the reason I entered the art Community in the first place, I had a lot to say, and words just did not cut it.”

Donal CaseyAuthor, Designer, Writer,

Photographer, Painter, Cartoonist

dcasey@comcast.net(978)-387-7112

WWW.MASS-CREATE.COMFacebook.com/masscreate