The Void Within is a large game design project that I worked on with a team, Team Nailed It, out of the Oulu Game Lab in Finland for three months. During that time. we worked on many concepts, designs, and requests. As stated to the right, I was tasked with making the art document that we turned in as a final.
Our game is set in Hell and our protagonist, Rona, is tasked with reclaiming her soul which has been stolen by the devil. She faces many trials as she goes through the layers of hell and discovers many things about the lies she’s been told throughout. We worked very hard to get where we are and we’re excited to see where this concept goes in the coming months.
Thanks to Team Nailed It for allowing me to help out on this project and for Oulu Game Lab for being supportive of the endeavor. Here’s hoping that we get to work together again very soon!
With a new logo and experimental grooves, Clyde Machine is back with another album release. Download it for free Clyde Machine’s soundcloud December 7!
Wow! To have made a cover of a featured artist from the likes of Above & Beyond is something I've dreamt about. I originally made this as fan art for Naden, but after submitting it to him, he enjoyed it enough to consider it for his album, eventually using it as a background for his cover art for his release of his Essentials Vol. 1 found below. I'm very proud of the result and hope to continue this trend!
Please check out Naden and his gorgeous music here:
Soundcloud
Spotify
Facebook
Logo for a coworker who is currently starting his own company, FlyBliss, which will sell fly fishing supplies and merchandise.
This was made as a project for the Knoxville Area Career Fair Consortium, a collective of small colleges who are dedicated to giving the best opportunities to their students. I wanted to reflect professional outlook and positive reinforcement in my logo. This booklet gives an overlook of what my choices were and why I felt that they were necessary. Download the full pdf here.
This project, worked on by myself, Sam Al Harmanneh, Randall Freeman, and Andy Merrell, was for our History of Graphic Design class. We were tasked with a subject and writing a newspaper including a News, Arts, Entertainment, Lifestyles, Sports, and Classified sections in period. We were given "Bauhaus" and chose 1929 as a base year. We then reported on stories that we found from around or during that time. While most went with the standard Newsprint articles, I wanted to do something more akin to an insert, like Parade. The sizes are in fact the same as a Parade insert. I designed and laid out all of the graphics and articles found here. The others helped by writing the articles.
This particular website mock-up is based on the company “Strong” out of Finland. I made it to show a friend an idea. It turned out pretty well!
Made this fancy cover/poster for Clyde Machine, aka Joseph Greene, and his new EP, Authentic. This EP was instrumental to my design, which features hard textures and many patterns. Check out the rest of his discography here:
Logo done for music producer, Skyllian. You can find his official channels here:
https://soundcloud.com/skyllian
https://www.facebook.com/SkyllianOfficial
Via request from the subreddit "r/AboveandBeyond," from a clip where this is briefly shown (link coming soon). Now here for you to download and print at your own convenience. Note that there are two versions, the shown white background option and one with black. Bonus wallpaper at the end!
Firefly Recreation, LLC. is Tennessee’s exclusive provider of Columbia Cascade Company playground equipment, site furnishings, fitness systems, and bicycle security. The owner, Kyle Kaplan, is endorsed by the National Recreation and Park Association as a Certified Playground Safety Inspector.
The logo was designed to be fun, but professional and clean. Color choices were very important to establish unique branding in the area. Overall, I had a fantastic experience working with Kyle Kaplan. You can learn more about Firefly at their website, www.fireflyrecreation.com.
This project was a collaboration between several students at the Carson-Newman Art Department and myself as well as MUA Missy Young. This was so much fun to work on. A very unique look at the five elements that make up our world.
This was made because "Dive" is such a beautiful song and has a vibe perfect for creating artwork to. If you're interested in buying a print, hit the "I'M INTERESTED!" button below the picture and fill out the form with your info and the size that you would be the most interested in. No money necessary yet as we are gauging interest, but you'll be the first to know if we end up printing them. Cheers!
Connect with Flite here:
Soundcloud
Facebook
This was for my Senior Art Show, "The Valency Project." A series of 15 posters were put all around campus in selected buildings, some with generic meaning, but most with specific meaning. The goal was to reach a variety of audiences with the content and to provide a defining style for each place and push my abilities while still maintaining a consistent style and source of information for each poster. These were then presented at my show to trigger visual memories, creating a sort of "catalog" of the images and a collection in the viewer's memory.
The coolest part of this project was to watch people come in with a friend and when they would get to the wall of posters, they would converse with each other about which posters they had seen on campus. Each of them would miss one or two at least, but sometimes between the two, they could fill out how many they had seen. Very satisfying.
A few logos that I made that are for sale. I also make custom logos for artists/companies/etc. Check my contact page for a way to get a hold of me!
Logo created for Dark Cat. You can check out his music here: https://soundcloud.com/dark_cat
This is a logo created for a DJ by the name of Demetrios. He hails from Philly and you can check out his music here: www.soundcloud.com/demetriosofficial
Excited for this game! Made a wallpaper for it, thought it turned out pretty well. :)
Steelseries, at it again with their awesome support. Did a wallpaper/ad for them based off of their prism series (gaming headsets that light up), which they graciously upgraded me to. Keep on keeping on, Steelseries!
So this finally happened. My good friend Jscene provided a render and I scraped together some effects and a concept. I am so glad for the opportunity to work with this rendering genius on such a fun project and it's been too long in happening. Hopefully, we can release another one of these at some point. In the meantime, as always, enjoy!
You can check out his renders here:
http://jscene.deviantart.com/gallery
Made for NJK Consulting, Inc.
Posters made for students attending Carson-Newman University
Talons Up! was made for Carson-Newman University's Mossy Creek Maniacs student group. It ended up being sold to Carson-Newman University and is now a permanent fixture of the athletic department.
Done for the celebrity chef, Patrick Wiese, this logo was one of my favorites to design. It came out so perfect. If you're in Hamilton, Ontario, you'll may catch a glimpse of the Twisted Kitchen food truck. It's comfort food with a twist! Make sure to check out the website as well, though, not designed by myself: http://www.twistedkitchen.ca
Project for school done for illiteracy awareness.
The goal for me was to draw off of the experiences that I had with others that were illiterate. A lot of people are ashamed of their illiteracy and try to hide it. This is to open eyes to people around you who might struggle.
I have donated this design to tnliteracy.org and am hoping to donate it to as many organizations as possible. If you are interested in the design, all you have to do is message me at gradysm@gmail.com and I'll give you a copy to edit for yourself.
In one of my classes, we were approached to make a logo for "The Journey Program," a program for youth as an alternative to juvenile detention that helps them build confidence and their gpa. Our teacher told us to avoid using a compass. I was sick for that class. Luckily, the class unanimously agreed that my compass was stylized enough to make it unique from other compass logotypes. I was relieved. The lines not only make up the arrows to each side, but represent the paths that we all take and how they interesect from time to time. This was the runner up choice from the group.
Art I have done over the past year.
My first actual environment painting! I'm so thrilled with how this turned out, seeing as I've never actually put in the time to do this before. I probably spent close to 30 hours making this work, so it's definitely not something I can do often, but it sure feels great when the work pays off. Feel free to make up a story!
