Accessibility, art, design, ideas
UX design goes beyond simple web page design. A good designer is competent broadly in these 5 areas, and usually deeply in one or two. Design and Accessibility are my two loves.
User experience journey and design strategy
Information architecture
Visual design
Interaction design
Usability and accessibility
Prototyping
Design Process holds it all together and keeps the work moving.
I'm selecting the illustrations and case studies for this gallery.
My titles have included graphic designer, fiber artist, newsletter producer, 3D artist, production artist, web designer, user experience designer, photographer, illustrator, sketch artist, and accessibility subject matter expert. Design is design is design. It's a way of looking at the world, of organizing information to communicate a message, keep folks engaged, help them feel something and encourage them to act.
I'm selecting the illustrations and case studies for this gallery.
Oh, I love how photography has changed over my lifetime.
I was given my first "Instamatic" camera when I was 10 and immediately started looking at the world through a view finder and delving into the science and art of light, and how composition tells a story or catches a moment or mood. I hated that film was dear and gratification so long in the future when the photos were finally processed. I worked my way through college working in a photo darkroom and the smell of fixer makes me a little nostalgic.
But I love today's digital immediacy, that everyone has a camera in their hand, and photos are plentiful and authentic.
I'm selecting the best photos for this gallery.
I'm a revived sketcher, taking up a pen and watercolor after a long break, earnestly filling sketchbooks since 2014. My sketchbooks are part exploration of techniques and topics, but also part art, journal, and wisdom. It feeds me to keep one and I can't imagine ever abandoning the habit again.
"Don't talk unless you can improve the silence." Ink washes, hand lettering and washi tape.
Studying the parts helped me with the watercolor sketch.
Sonny! Done in a Danny Gregory style. June 2015
15 minute sketch, in the parking lot at work one morning. What can I capture in a short amount of time.
Sketching in my backyard garden. I bought that gear at a little farm down the road. Now it's living a second life as yard art. May 2015
Inhabitants of the Schuylkill Farm Park at Rte. 113 and 2nd Ave. in Royersford, PA.
A quick 5-minute sketch that looks fresh and spontaneous. No I don't own a dog, but it makes me happy that I can sketch any time, any where, on any thing in just a few short minutes.
Every day in May, an annual online event where sketch artists make art every day based on a list of prompts. Gotta keep that daily habit.
Practicing foreshortening and cross-hatching, in 20 minutes waiting for boarding.
A gnarly creekside tree on Strathmore Toned Tan paper with black Noodlers ink and a white Signo gel pen. This detailed sketch cost me 9 mosquito bites! March 2016
Urban sketchers are like-minded sketchbook artists from all over the world who draw on location, capturing what we see from direct observation. Our drawings tell the story of our surroundings, the places we live and where we travel. We cherish our individual styles, support each other and draw together.
We share our drawings online. Mine can be found on Instagram @ellenking.
Join with us or learn more at Urbansketchers.org or Urban sketcher manifesto.
My favorite thing in Chicago are the lions outside the Art Institute on Michegan Avenue. I sketched this late at night because my USK Symposium days were jam-packed with workshops, July 26-29, 2017.
As it says Fruitland Jackson (yes, that's his real name), at Buddy Guy's Legends blues club on Wabash in Chicago, sang for us one day at lunch. I started the sketch that day and finished later after gluing the receipt in my sketchbook. Love making my sketchbook part art, part journal, part scapbook! July 2017
This view of the Aveda Institue (a beauty school) was captured from a doctor's waiting room a few blocks away, using a crayon-type water-soluable pastel on a toned paper. Love the effect! August 2017
The Spruce Street Harbor Park invites you to relax and enjoy the view of the Delaware river with these chairs and hammocks. This was sketched during an Urban Sketchers Philadelphia meet-up, July 2017.
Stroll through Spruce Street Harbor Park and this is your view. July 2017, Urban Sketchers Philadephia meet-up.
I love the simple beauty of the flowers and plants in our world.
A pen and watercolor white daisy blossom with yellow center on a black background.
Pencil sketch, then pen and watercolor glaze. Let it dry add more pen details and a fanciful hand-drawn label "Welsh Poppy".
I take notes on what I'm reading and I love tossing in a quick sketch. This is about the Golden Ratio and how many examples can be found in nature including the seeds in a sunflower head. Pencil and watercolor wash.
I'd just been to the garden store and bought a box of spring flowers for the backyard garden. Rain came and delayed my planting so I sat on the covered deck and sketched the collection. I love the the crisp vibrant light after a rain.
A quick sketch of the first flower on a geranium bud, in pencil followed by quick watercolor wash, details added when dry.
Take a line for a walk and see where it goes! These sketches explore the use of line, minimalism, and the art of seeing.
This chick has character.
This one is definitely a one line, blind contour. Quirky.
Blind contour drawing of my sleeping cat, Sonny
One line (almost). Trying to figure out on the fly what details to leave in and what to leave out and still tell an interesting story.
Well, it's almost one continuous line. I may or may not have lifted my pen up.
